Steve Tibbetts ~ USA ~ Minneapolis, Minnesota

Exploded View (1986)

The collection I acquired in January had all the Steve Tibbetts LPs from Yr to Big Map Idea. I've owned Yr for many years (but never on LP until now), and at one point or another I owned Safe Journey and (possibly) the album I'm covering here. 

I did listen to Northern Song earlier this week, which was his debut for ECM. This title I hadn't heard prior. Once again, as I say often about the label, it's all very adult. It was a pleasant listen, almost all acoustic guitar and hand percussion, though not something that captured my imagination in any way. So it found itself to the sell bin.
 

Next up would be my revisit of Safe Journey which I recall starting off with a bang, which it indeed does. He brings back the electric aggression of Yr, and as I noted on that review, one can hear the atonal guitar sounds of David Torn. Then... back to the style of Northern Song. There is another electric number, and you can tell Tibbetts is probably struggling internally on where to go next with his sound.

Exploded View would be the answer to that question. Seemingly he is going to follow the same formula as Safe Journey, except he's extending the electricity much further here. And adding a ton of percussion from long time collaborator Marc Anderson. Asian themes are predominant. The album gets stranger and wilder as it goes, always a hallmark of a good album. Exploded View seems to exist to defy ECM and their traditional adult jazz format. My memory of the contents of Exploded View are considerably more faint than Safe Journey, questioning how I heard it in the first place. I wasn't expecting to keep this, but this title is highly unique and satisfying, so I will.

Interesting to note that ECM didn't even bother to release this on LP here in the States. It went straight to CD in an era when players were still expensive.

Ownership: 1986 ECM Germany (LP). Acquired in 2026.

2/6/15; 11/5/26 (review)
 

Steve Tibbetts (1977)

Steve Tibbetts' debut album is as groundbreaking as his more recognized second album Yr. My recollection of his debut was something more akin to an instrumental acoustic guitar album with a blazing freakout electric piece at the end. But actually there's more than that on display. There are synthesizers throughout, and the acoustic guitar accompaniment is more common in what one would hear on a French electronic album back in the 1970s. Which makes me wonder if Tibbetts didn't spend a bit of time in the Import section of his local Minneapolis record store. And, yea, 'How Do You Like My Buddha?' is still a killer closer.

Ownership: 1977 Frammis (LP). Acquired in 2018.

9/14/18 (review)

Yr (1980)

Minneapolis based guitarist Steve Tibbett's second album is quite a diversion from his debut, and as well for the ECM label that reissued this a full eight years after the fact (with a new cover). Starting where 'How Do You Like My Buddha?' left off from the otherwise all-acoustic debut, Tibbetts gets straight to the point of the album at hand. The all instrumental Yr features Tibbetts on acoustic and electric guitars, keyboards (including quite a bit of mellotron), and all sorts of stringed instruments. Accompanying him is a bassist, and no less than four credited percussion players. So while the album cannot help but feel tribal, especially looking eastward toward Asia, the album doesn't comfortably fit in genres such as World Fusion or New Age. Primarily this is due to Tibbett's decidedly psychedelic guitar style. There really is no album like Yr in the vast annals of musical history, that I'm aware of anyway. Including from Tibbetts himself who more or less began to adopt the ECM aesthetic going forward. Perhaps early David Torn provides a slight guidepost, but this is far more warm and alive. Even if you've heard other Tibbetts albums, I strongly encourage you to lend an ear to Yr (so to speak). It's a revelation.

Ownership: 1980 Frammis (LP). With signed insert #769. Artist is shown as Steve Tibbtz. Acquired in 2026.

First copy: 1988 ECM Germany (CD). Promo. Acquired in 1991.

1991; 7/24/13; 8/11/15; 7/17/18 (review)

Also own: Big Map Idea

Previously owned: Northern Song; Safe Journey; A Man About a Horse

7/17/18 (new entry)