That Which Colours The Mind

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Recordings from 1954-1957 are featured on this CD, which -- though only featuring nine tracks -- is packed to capacity, falling just shy of 80 minutes in length. The first five tracks, produced by George Avakian in 1957, comprise the core of the disc, filled out by three recordings originally featured on the UNESCO Anthology of Indian Classical Music, as well as a 1954 Shankar performance of "Raga Puriya Kalvan." One selection ("Le Mode Sindhi-Bhair Avi") is actually credited to Ali Akbar Khan and another ("Sitar, Sarode et Tabla") to Shankar, Khan, and Chatur Lal, though Shankar is the sole credited artist on the other seven cuts. A glance at the packaging might deceive casual browsers as to the era and nature of the music, with a title that alludes to a psychedelic vibe (though there's no track named "That Which Colours Your Mind" on the CD) and a back cover blurb that makes much of his influence on the Beatles, throwing in a quote from David Crosby for good measure. However, these recordings were made a good decade or so before Shankar's influence on rock spread, and are very much in the tributary of Indian traditional music that is found in much of the sitar player's work. They might not be considered among his more notable efforts, as the fidelity isn't quite as high-grade as it would be on numerous subsequent releases, though the passionate yet serious performances are on par with his usual standard. The fidelity isn't an issue at all, really, on the Avakian-produced 1957 tracks, and only lowers a bit on the selections from the UNESCO album and the one from 1954. Shankar's sitar is always haunting, and the rhythms propulsive on the faster, percussive-oriented sections, with backing by Chatur Lal (on tabla) and N.C. Mullick (on tamboura) helping fill out the 1957 recordings. The liner notes could have done with more information about the recordings themselves, however, although they contain numerous Shankar quotes about all manner of things, from Indian music, George Harrison, and John Coltrane to the young audience he drew beginning in the mid-'60s. ~ Richie Unterberger