The Trees Community :
The Christ Tree -4CD box- (US, 1973-1975)***°°
Intro :
I once heard a CDR taken from the Trees 1975 LP on Pomegrenate, and, like with Book of AM, I realized this was something special.. The word spread further.. After a few years I heard that Hand/Eye had found a contact for the group and prepared a reissue with the addition of a lot of extra material (they didn’t know yet how much was going to be added). I was thrilled. It was the label’s most ambitious project to date, so it took more than a year before the mastering, the printing was all done. In the meanwhile, Radioactive published a bootleg of the LP before this could happen, which became like the death wish of the label, adding more anger than was already caused with previous obscurities, leading to court cases for the label by many small victims.
Biography :
The Trees community were a live-together Christian contemplative group who put their results into music. They were based at the Cathedral Church of St.John the Divine in New York, where they were able to use a kind of rehearsal room that could have 10 to 40 people attending. Their project, “The Christ Tree” was performed during the seventies through a tour in the US and Canada. They created a meditation using musical signatures of many nations and cultures, while using over 80 musical instruments. The musical group varied between 14 and 7 people, with a vast core of 7 members, of which four now are already deceased. They were first named the ‘New York Tent City Symphony of Souls in Christ’ until they changed their name into the ‘Trees Community’. The group recorded one cassette album called “A portrait of Jesus Christ in music” (originally issued at the wrong speed) and after that, one LP in 1975, an album which became the famous collector. Besides that they also had various unreleased recordings, like some live recordings and rehearsals of which The Abbey recording stood out and was taken for reissue, together with a live recording from 1974 as a bonus track, and two other bonus tracks. Besides there was also a program called “The Passion”, which became the fourth CD.
The booklet contains a very detailed biography of each member.
The music :
CD1: “The Christ Tree” (1975)
This album, starting beautifully with sitar, harp and Christian harmony vocals, starts first very clearly structured, then becomes a rather free excursion through the world and various genres, and instrumental improvisations referring to various cultures, in different sections, while the group returns to songs. This freedom is done which such calmness like in meditation, while it brings you into direct confrontations with these worlds and experiences, in a way I think I am afraid wouldn’t work for those Catholics that I know here in Belgium, because they would find it too direct and not like confirming their relationships with experience-less dogma. For those who are able to face things a bit more directly, this is a truly remarkable recording.
+ "The Christ Tree, Live" (1974)****°
The bonus live recording gives an idea how their repertoire was performed and developed live. With a bit of spoken word in the beginning, this is slightly more like chamber music, as a remarkable piece of art, sounding like a (psychedelic or better spiritual) folk opera. Also here the energy is confronting you to experience this and listen to it very attentively. The live version of "Psalm 42" is very different and truly wonderful !! All other tracks are equally surprising, with a true sense of inner musical control, and with a vivid spirit, also in the small free improvisations.
CD2: "A Portrait of Jesus Christ in Music" + 2 bonus tracks (“Kohoutek”, “Psalm 44”)****
This sounds like a religious-inspired musical play, where harp and sitar mostly or just harp lead the music, with some flute, and a few other instruments here and there, while various voices (mostly in close harmony) sing the story, with a charming melodic sweetness. Another beautiful piece of art. The two bonus tracks fit perfectly.
CD3: April 15, 1973 at The Abbey of Gethsemane, Part 1
CD4: April 15, 1973 at The Abbey of Gethsemane, Part 2 :
"The Passion" + bonus track (“Chance Chord”)****/***°
In the first part of recording the group also introduces the instruments they use : koto, bilanji, sitar, tambura, bell wheel, church bells, cello, Venezuela harp, guitar, flute, percussion instruments and drums. The two CD’s are a beautiful, successful and pleasant acoustic song-opera, with a nice flow. Here the vocal harmonies mostly lead the music, accompanied by these instruments, in a sparse way, like with some guitar fingerpicking, harp, or sitar with tambura, and so on, and with just here and there a few spoken narrative passages. The last few, even more sparse tracks have more and more something of a celebrative march, and that’s how the music ends, with lots of bells ringing, and some harmonic vocal choir mantra…
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