Williams"s group Lifetime, which looked on paper like an organ jazz-funk trio, produced in 1969 this headlong hybrid from jazz complexity and rock immediacy. Williams, fresh from edging Davis towards his jazz-rock-soul period, concocts a driving, high-volume fusion that has more conviction and flare than anyone else"s would until the advent of the great Mahavishnu Orchestra a couple of years later. That band was led by Williams"s collaborator here, John McLaughlin, as blistering and savvy a guitarist as any jazz-rock saw. Larry Young"s organ is a skirmishing juggernaut, clearing and blasting into space above, behind, beneath, and between the drummer"s crashing, jittering rhythms. A cautionary note: To be sure, Williams"s singing on Emergency! is brave, at best, but it is blessedly limited. --Peter Monaghan