Canterbury Artists
Brett...
Lots of info about Daevid Allen, Hatfield and the North, Pip Pyle, Robert
Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine, Hugh Hopper etc.
I'm sure many of you subscribe, but details follow for those who want to
know more...
CALYX - The Canterbury Website
http://canterbury.free.fr
WHAT'S RATTLIN'? BACK ISSUES - ONLINE ARCHIVE
http://musart.co.uk/watrat/watrat.htm
+ search engine : http://musart.co.uk/ssearch.htm
BACKWARDS - LISTE DE DISCUSSION 'CANTERBURY' EN FRANCAIS
Pour s'abonner: mailto:backwards...@egroups.fr
* To subscribe, send me an e-mail with 'WR sub' in the subject line.
* To send a message for inclusion in the next issue, send it with 'WR:
[subject]' in the subject line.
* If your e-mail address changes, please notify me and mention both your
old and new addresses so I can remove the old one and add the new one.
* If you can no longer receive WR or don't want to anymore, don't forget to
unsubscribe! (i.e. let me know)
* All contributions are welcome! Please write to: CA...@club-internet.fr
--
Brett
The other day when I was walking through the woods, I saw a rabbit
standing in front of a candle making shadows of people on a tree.
Box0
>The other day when I was walking through the woods, I saw a rabbit standing in
front of a candle making shadows of people on a tree.
what's up, Brett? you could have tested van vliet's theory had you asked it to
do a diamond!
Simon Knights
blan...@saltwells.dudley.gov.uk says...
> Just received the latest mailing from the Whats Rattlin mailing list.
>
> Lots of info about Daevid Allen, Hatfield and the North, Pip Pyle, Robert
> Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Soft Machine, Hugh Hopper etc.
> I'm sure many of you subscribe, but details follow for those who want to
> know more...
>
>
> CALYX - The Canterbury Website
> http://canterbury.free.fr
>
> WHAT'S RATTLIN'? BACK ISSUES - ONLINE ARCHIVE
> http://musart.co.uk/watrat/watrat.htm
> + search engine : http://musart.co.uk/ssearch.htm
>
> BACKWARDS - LISTE DE DISCUSSION 'CANTERBURY' EN FRANCAIS
> Pour s'abonner: mailto:backwards...@egroups.fr
>
> * To subscribe, send me an e-mail with 'WR sub' in the subject line.
> * To send a message for inclusion in the next issue, send it with 'WR:
> [subject]' in the subject line.
> * If your e-mail address changes, please notify me and mention both your
> old and new addresses so I can remove the old one and add the new one.
> * If you can no longer receive WR or don't want to anymore, don't forget to
> unsubscribe! (i.e. let me know)
> * All contributions are welcome! Please write to: CA...@club-internet.fr
>
>
You are still getting WR ? I subscribed since 1996 but nothing has come
through from Aymeric for over a year - how often is it coming though now?
Would be able to email the most recent copy?
Regards,
Simon Knights,
Canterbury,
UK.
--
Brett...
>
> You are still getting WR ? I subscribed since 1996 but nothing has
> come through from Aymeric for over a year - how often is it coming
> though now?
>
Not that often. Every three or four months seems about right.
> Would be able to email the most recent copy?
>
I'll check the headers and if it is OK, I'l post it here.
--
Brett
My wife and I went on a picnic. I don't know how she did it, but
she got poison ivy on the brain. When it itched, the only way she
could scratch it was to think about sandpaper.
Brett...
:: ::
:: - WHAT'S RATTLIN'? - ::
:: The "Periodical" Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts ::
:: Issue # 202 ::
:: Friday, September 12th, 2003 ::
:: ::
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear fellow Rattlers,
I know, it's been a while... A very long while indeed ! I guess things got
a bit busy here, lots of other stuff to do, and - I must say - not a lot of
outside input to lure me out of my WR inactivity... Anyway, I will try not
to forget anything in the long blurb that follows. Lots of nice things have
happened on the Canterbury scene in the last months. I hope nobody missed
any interesting gigs near them - one thing I make sure is to keep the Calyx
"concerts" page regularly updated, and to a lesser extent the "new
releases" and discography sections.
But let's begin with a piece of very sad news indeed. In late August, we
mourned the loss of a major writer and journalist in Ian MacDonald. Brother
of Bill MacCormick of Matching Mole fame, Ian was the editor and a major
contributor to the New Musical Express durings its (perhaps not
coincidentally) most Canterbury-friendly phase, ca. 1972-75. His writings
on Soft Machine, in particular the January 1975 two-part, multi-page
feature, are classic stuff. Of course he went on to write more great stuff,
most famously his Beatles book "Revolution In The Head", a true work of
genius. His essay on Shostakovitch was also acclaimed in classical circles.
A collection of some of his pop writing, "The People's Music", had recently
been published. He had other books in the pipeline, including a much
awaited study of David Bowie's oeuvre. I am personally very sad that a man
of such great talent should leave this world much too soon.
Going back in time somewhat, I would like to say a few words about the
Tritonales festival which took place "in" Paris last June. I was asked to
help with programming it, which resulted in a number of Canterbury artists
and bands being present (although it was the promoter's intention from the
outset to feature this musical scene). Although plagued by heavy strikes in
the public transportation network (particularly affected by this was
Richard Sinclair's show, which was unexpectedly and disappointingly one of
the least attended of the festival), on the whole the festival pulled
decent crowds. Strangely the most crowded show was Daevid Allen's - I say
strangely because the music he chose to play was decidedly un-ear-friendly,
yet very few people left during the performance, which can be best
described as... I don't know, "glissando-core-noise" ??
The Canterbury section of the festival began with two evenings of Polysoft,
celebrating the release of their excellent live album, recorded at the
Triton a year ago. The first show was evidently under-rehearsed but,
following some serious rehearsing the following day, things got much
tighter the second night and Polysoft delivered what was possibly the very
best performance I've ever seen by them (and I've seen all but one of their
gigs thus far). No new stuff compared to last September (although I'd
foolishly suggested to P-O Govin that they try doing "Teeth"...), but
there's enough classic stuff there to keep the customer more than
satisfied. We'll see what happens next now - apparently the band are keen
on doing more shows if the demand is there.
Richard Sinclair was expected to perform in duo format with his longtime
pianist David Rees-Williams, but had another ace up his sleeve in the shape
of the great Theo Travis, saxophone and flute player from the latest
incarnation(s) of Gong. The resulting trio produced very nice sounds
indeed. As usual with Richard's performances, the numbers tend to be
stretched a little too long sometimes, something than can be said of the
show as a whole, although some of us will never get enough of Richard's
singing and playing anyway. At one point it seemed to gig would never end,
when Richard literally dragged a reluctant Rees-Williams from the bar to
have him play a solo piano piece. In addition to the usual mixture of old
and "recent" stuff we were treated to a sketch of a new piece, a typical
Sinclair melody with lots of beautiful chords. For most of the show Richard
played bass, which remains my preferred instrument for him, although he can
do some very nice things on acoustic guitar too. Anyway, it was nice to see
Richard perform again in Paris after a 9-year gap. As he seems keen on
touring again (there are plans for US shows this autumn), let's hope a new
album can become a reality sometime in the not-too-distant future.
That the In Cahoots show happened at all was nothing short of a miracle,
and the band's plane from London got cancelled, as many were that day. In
an heroic gesture Phil & co rushed to Waterloo station, paying outrageously
expensive Eurostar tickets to try and make it to Paris at all cost
(indeed). Which they fortunately did. This wasn't the end of their
problems, as the rented keyboard never arrived, and Peter Lemer was forced
to use a genuine Fender Rhodes piano instead of his usual electronic
piano-like keyboard, which I personally feel was a plus, being a lover of
classic analog keyboards. Pete did use an electronic keyboard, but mostly
for Moog-like leads on pieces like "Your Root 2". This was the second time
I'd heard the new InCa line-up with Mark Fletcher on drums, and the choice
of material was vastly different. This gig was mostly a live presentation
of the new album, "All That", three months prior to its release, where the
Seattle show had been conceived as a retrospective of the band on the
occasion of its first American visit. This said, not all the material was
unknown to me, as "All That" includes two pieces that InCa has played
regularly on tour for over five years now (Pete Lemer's "Big Dick" and Fred
Baker's "Upside") and, somewhat surprisingly (but rather convincingly), a
re-make of "Your Root 2", with more developed horn parts and a more
faithful interpretation of the piece's tricky riffs. Still, we were treated
to four new Phil Miller originals, beginning with what's become a new
favourite of mine, the epic "Black Cat", full of tempo changes and great
solos from the whole band, each set to a different backing rather than the
usual and somewhat worn out jazz habit of people just taking solos in turn
until the final re-statement of the theme. Overall, I think "All That"
(which I've now heard in its studio avatar many times) will stand as one of
the very best InCa records, certainly on a par with "Parallel" and possibly
better.
No disrespect to former InCa drummer Pip Pyle, whose own band Bash made
quite an impression on the crowd the following evening. They too had an
equipment problem, albeit minor - I solved it by lending my own wah-wah
pedal to Alex Maguire, who didn't have one for some reason. The quartet
played a set (or rather, two sets) largely similar to their debut at
Progman Cometh last year, with some exceptions - a further Pyle original,
"Sparky", was given its debut, as was Patrice Meyer's funnily-titled
"Bashy-Bazooka" which has replaced "Horny Brownie" in the set; another plus
was the addition of Elton Dean for the last couple of numbers - Equip'Out's
"Cauliflower Ears" and the "Carousel" / "John's Fragment" medley. Bash
comprises four excellent players, each a unique voice on their respective
instruments, and the material, mostly composed by Pip especially for this
project, makes excellent use of their individual and collective talents. I
can't wait to hear the album.
John Greaves' gig the next day was recorded for a proposed live album,
although I'm not sure this will happen - in any case, John has no shortage
of projects and upcoming releases, with his 'JazzSongs' trio album now
imminent and a couple of very exciting albums coming in 2004 which I'm
forbidden to tell much about right now. The Tritonales show was by John's
'Roxongs' electric trio, with Jef Morin on guitar and Manu Denizet on
drums, and summed up the great qualities of this line-up. Jef has come into
his own in the few months since joining and is definitely an interesting
and original player, if not as immaculately professional as his
predecessors Francois Ovide and Patrice Meyer - actually, I suspect John is
rather happy with that. Not much in the setlist that was really new - I
think the live album is intended as an assessment of the project rather
than a showcase for a new material, although there are now a handful of
songs not recorded on album yet. I don't know if more gigs are planned in
the near future - it seems John will be concentrating on the trio with
Sophia Domancich and Vincent Courtois for some time, as John secured a
rather prestigious contract with Harmonia Mundi for this project.
I won't say much more about the Daevid Allen "Guru & Zero" show than what I
wrote above, except to say that Didier Malherbe was a last-minute addition
to the line-up, and did some interesting stuff although he seemed to
struggle to find his place in the surrounding electric mayhem. The Acid
Mothers Temple people, in various degrees of stonedness (one in particular
close to lethal, at least it seemed), made a lot of noise indeed. I think
this is the kind of performance you either love or hate. In my case, I
alternated between the two and, sometimes, felt a strange mixture of both.
Apart from the musical aspect I think it was quite a bold gesture from
Daevid to "treat" his audience to such an experimental sound rather than
play down to their expectations. I'm not sure about the merits of the
music, but the event in itself was certainly food for thought.
There were other great moments during the festival - most notably, for me,
Offering (a DVD and live album are under serious consideration), Guapo,
Sotos and Mats & Morgan - but I don't want to go on and on. Let's just say
that the second edition of the festival is set to take place during the
same period next year. Hopefully there'll be more great music to be heard
then.
We had the pleasure of seeing some friendly foreign visitors among the
attendence - our good Japanese friend Hiroshi Masuda, who has acted as tour
promoter for many artists in Japan, including Richard Sinclair last year;
Cuneiform Records boss Steve Feigenbaum; and Progman Cometh festival
promoter Jerry Cook, who told me then about his plans for the second
edition, which has since taken place. Although much less of a Canterbury
event this year (headliners were Procol Harum and the Alan Parsons (Live)
Project), a really healthy dose of Canterbury music was heard both days,
with an all-star line-up assembled around Jerry and friends (Jerry is also
a drummer, of 1970s prog trio Glass fame) and featuring many excellent
players in all sorts of combinations. I wasn't there to see that, nor is
any recording of the event expected to surface, but I am reliably informed
that material by In Cahoots, SoftWorks, Hatfield, etc., was played, in
addition to original compositions by Jerry's Glass cohorts, brothers Greg
and Jeff Sherman. Present at various times, sometimes all together, were
Richard Sinclair, Phil Miller, Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Fred Baker and Alex
Maguire, alongside the Glass trio and assorted friends. I know that Jerry
is concurrently working on a studio project and I assume he took the
opportunity to get some of these musicians to contribute to it in the
studio, so that there will be an outcome for all of us. In any event,
congratulations to Jerry & team for their immense contribution to keeping
this scene alive at a time when there's not much support to be expected, it
seems, outside such dedicated festivals, and it's harder than ever for
Canterbury artists to gig with any regularity.
One - relative - exception to that is SoftWorks, the all-star line-up of
Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper and John Marshall. Although
things are moving forward at a slower pace than initially planned, this is
still an ongoing concern, and rather successful in its way, thanks to the
Herculean efforts of manager Leonardo Pavkovic of MoonJune Records in NYC.
Leonardo arranged a high-profile Japanese tour for the band last month,
which was very well received. I hope we get some feedback from some of our
Japanese subscribers. Apparently, "As If" was added to the setlist for the
occasion, which I think is a piece well-suited to the style of the band.
"Abracadabra", the album, was finally issued in the USA in July, and more
American dates are planned, but apparently not before 2004 now.
Also of high profile is Robert Wyatt, who is back in the limelight this
autumn with no less than two new releases, one semi-archival and one brand
new. "Solar Flares Burn For You", on Cuneiform Records, consists primarily
of Robert's 1972 and 1974 radio sessions for the BBC, plus additional
material including two instrumental collaborations with Hugh Hopper and a
new song in demo form. More info on that below. The new studio album,
"Cuckooland", is set for release late this month. If it were a vinyl, you
could call it a double-album, clocking in as it does at over 75 minutes.
There's a great variety of stuff in there, including a sort of
album-inside-the-album in collaboration with (and with words and music by)
Karen Mantler, a very successful partnership I think, from recording
sessions that took place in the summer of last year. The remainder of the
sessions, also at Phil Manzanera's studio near London, is closer to
"Shleep", although the sound is sometimes different due to Robert now using
modern synthesizers more extensively. Many contributors can be heard,
including guitarists David Gilmour and Paul Weller, SoupSongs members Annie
Whitehead and Jennifer Maidman, and new faces like Gilad Atzmon (woodwind)
and Yaron Stavi (double bass) who both appear on several tracks. Robert's
sweetheart Alfie contributes several lyrics once again, including a nice
tribute to the Paris jazz scene of the 1950s (dedicated to expatriate
journalist and friend Michael Zwerin). All in all, it is quite a big chunk
of music to digest, so my final word on the album's merits will have to
come later; suffice it to say that there's some excellent stuff in there,
and the six years wait was worthwhile. I'm sure there will be a lot of
press coverage on Robert in the coming weeks - he spent a whole week in
Paris alone to do interviews.
Coinciding with this renewed activity from Robert, Patrice Boyer's tribute
to the great man in Charleville-Mezieres will take place in November. There
is more information on the event in the concerts section of Calyx, if you'd
like to attend. An impressive line-up featuring John Greaves and Karen
Mantler alongside various French musicians will perform their own
arrangements of some of Robert's songs. John told me he'd chosen "Gloria
Gloom". Should be interesting. The concert will be recorded and chances are
that a CD of it will appear. We'll see.
Last, but certainly not least, there is much activity lined up for Caravan
in the wake of their new album, "The Unauthorised Breakfast Item", which is
due for release (at last) soon. In the meantime, arrangements were made for
fans to buy a pre-release version of the album direct from the Caravan
website, featuring an additional disc of live recordings - four songs off
the new CD recorded live in Japan last April, and the orchestral version of
"For Richard" played last year at the Quebec International Festival, which
would turn out to be David Sinclair's last performance with Caravan. Dave
is featured on a couple of the new album's songs, including what I think is
by far the best piece on it, "Nowhere To Hide", with Jim Leverton on lead
vocals. By the way, Dave is currently working on a solo album with various
vocalists, including cousin Richard who has contributed vocals to a couple
of songs; apparently, the In Cahoots rhythm section are expected to make an
appearance, as is Doug Boyle. Meanwhile, back in Caravan, Jan Schelhaas has
once again replaced Dave Sinclair and plays on the remainder of the album.
Most of it has been written by Pye Hastings, and although a lot is in the
poppier style favoured by him in recent years, an apparent effort has been
made to develop the instrumental dimension of the material, with tasty
solos from Doug Boyle, Jimmy Hastings and Geoff Richardson. Still some will
probably pine for the more 'progressive' direction of older albums, in
which case they are strongly advised to attend any of the band's upcoming
gigs, which still feature a majority of classic material. Meanwhile,
they'll surely find much to enjoy on this album and, also, hopefully it
will win new converts. Last thing - in addition to a rather extensive
provincial UK tour in October/November, and a few dates in the Benelux in
December, a special show will take place at London's Bloomsbury Theatre on
November 30th, which should enlist the participation of several former
members of the band. Whether this includes any Sinclairs I'm not sure.
In other live news, In Cahoots and Richard Sinclair are both slated to
appear at a progrock festival in London, Progeny, alongside more typically
neo-proggy outfits such as Arena and Pendragon. Something a strange
mixture, but a token of the promoters' open-mindedness. Also of note are
Gongzilla's US tour, sadly almost finished already as I write this (I saw
them in New York City in July and they were very good), and Camel's
farewell tour featuring the return of keyboard player Ton Scherpenzeel.
Plus plenty more on the Calyx concert agenda.
I think that's about it for now. I will now get ready to send this out and
reassure everything who though either WR or I had disappeared for good.
Rest assured this won't happen in the foreseeable future. Just be reminded
that the more contributions I get, the more likely it is that WR will
appear on a more regular basis as this is often the impetus for me to get
an issue together. By the way, I'd like to thank my friend Ian Chippett
who, apparently with that very intention, contributed the following
interview with Pip Pyle which I'm sure will delight his many fans among
WR's readership. May there be more like that... Thanks Ian, and thanks Pip !
Best regards,
Aymeric
PS: Oops... Almost forgot - the second volume of Soft Machine BBC radio
sessions, covering the period of 1971-74, is in the pipeline. Release
imminent from the great Hux Records, who are also releasing a superb set of
Elton Dean's Ninesense sessions from 1975 & 1978 - the only material from
that great ensemble currently available on CD...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: IChi...@aol.com
Subject: Now it can be asked!
Date: Wed, 10 Sep 2003 13:20:53 EDT
One of the advantages of living in Paris is that the possibilty of running
into Canterbury icons is rather stronger than if you live in, well, even
Canterbury. Thus it was that I came into contact with Pip Pyle who is
probably in the Top Three Canterbury Icons category. He agreed to do this
interview by email and I'm sure Rattlers will find it both amusing and
instructive. Pip only refused to answer one question (quite rightly as it
was a bit cheeky) and proved a perfect interviewee. Thanks, Pip.
Q: This is a silly question but one Robert Wyatt likes. What's your Top
Ten, all right, Top Five albums of All Time?
A: I don't think it's a silly question at all. I've always dreamt of doing
Desert Island Discs ever since Ronnie Scott cited a Faye Dunaway blow up
dolly as his luxury. Actually though, it's a really hard question to answer
as my tastes change from day to day and my memory with it. Asking for five
is harder than asking for ten, so here's twelve. I'm feeling really jazz
this week (I was watching a TV programme I really liked last night so I got
up TURNED IT OFF!! I don't care if I live or die) so the selection is
predominantly jazz and in no particular order of preference (more
chronological):
- The Beatles "Revolver" : A very conservative choice maybe, but honestly,
I can't leave them out; they were so influential on what just about anyone
did who was born in the fifties. I did prefer them after they got into
drugs though.
- Miles Davis/Gil Evans "Sketches of Spain" : I could add plenty of other
Miles albums too, at least from the Tony Williams, Herbie Hancock, Wayne
Shorter period and from the later "Bitches Brew" Dave Holland, Jack
DeJohnette, Johnny Mac era. But this one has some astonishingly beautiful
trumpet solos, you can hear every beautiful nuance of that SOUND Miles has.
And of course Gil Evans has to be the all time guvnor of jazz arrangers.
Just the idea of a Rodriguez' guitar concerto for brass! Brilliant!
- John Mayall's Bluesbreakers "Bluesbreakers" & Jimi Hendrix "Axis Bold As
Love" : both these groups I saw when I was about 17 in London. I was (still
am) a big rhythm and blues fan. Mayall's band with Eric Clapton was very
fine musically, especially with Aynsley Dunbar on drums. Mayall was the
"purist" rhythm and blues specialist and Clapton was God. I needn't say
much about Jimi, he just nailed me to the wall.
- Eric Dolphy "Out to Lunch" : Not only for Tony Williams but that alone
still is terrifying to me today. The rhythms are fresh out of space,
mathematical, analytical, clever and cute. And he's only 17 the complete
bastard!! But this whole record has a sound helped by the atmospheric sense
of vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson and feeling of Freddy Hubbard and Richard
Davis that is totally original and never been got close to by any band
since. It's a one off musical environment.
- Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band "The Doughnut In Granny's Greenhouse" : I saw this
group at the Marquee once and noticed a really appalling smell as soon as I
got inside the club. They had hung really rotten meat all around the stage.
If that's not avant-garde I like to know what is. Funniest thing I ever
heard, saw or smelt.
- John Coltrane "Crescent" : I could cite just about any one of the
recordings of this monster quartet, with Elvin, Jimmy Garrison and McCoy
Tyner. Everything they did was of a spirituality so beyond anything I'd
heard before
- Charlie Haden "Liberation Orchestra" : Just such lovely tunes and playing
and you feel that everyone is having such a great time together
- Mike Gibbs Orchestra "Just Ahead" : I saw this band often in the
seventies, and this is one of those concerts recorded live at Ronnie's Mike
Gibbs is a prodigious arranger and composer. The band boasts the best in
the English jazz scene, Kenny Wheeler, John Taylor, Babbington, Chris
Spedding, Henry Lowther Harry Beckett, Malcolm Griffiths, Ray Warleigh,
Stan Sulzmann, Dave MacRae, John Marshall, Frank Ricotti, Skidmore etc. I
am pleased to see that Mike is touring England again now with a new big
band. I recommend everyone to get on the Eurostar immediately.
- Charles Lloyd Quartet "Live In Russia" : This is a little-known record of
the quartet live in what sounds a great concert (the vodka must have been
flowing). It was the first American jazz group to come to Russia. The
Estonians just didn't know what hit them! With J D J on drums and Ron
McClure on bass and a very young and exuberant Keith Jarrett hammering shit
out of the piano. He didn't used to sing in those days.
- Tony Williams Lifetime "Turn It Over" : I saw this band too in 1969 at
the tiny Hampstead Theatre Club. Christ they were LOUD!! But I was
completely mesmerized by the sheer brilliance and technique of Messrs
Williams, McLaughlin, Bruce and Larry Young. You felt like you'd just got
off a big dipper when you got outside.
- Robert Wyatt "Rock Bottom" : 'nuff said on these pages, I think.
...There you go. Already I feel guilty for leaving out Frank Zappa, Harry
Parch, Carla Bley, Miroslav Vitous, Weather Report, still there you go.
Q: Over the years you've played with an awful lot of people but it's always
been (or so it seems) with like-minded musicians. Does this mean you draw
the line at doing session work with less congenial musicians even if they
pay serious money? Why? Can't stand the boredom or is it a question of
principle? After all, your name probably wouldn't appear on the cover!
A: Absolutely not, I'll do anything for money! I think it's great to be
able to earn money playing your instrument and a privilege to be able to do
so. The problem is you have to really play well and probably like someone
else or how someone else would like you to play and really behave yourself.
No noodling or squeeky bonkage. I'm not consistantly good at any of those
requirements and believe me to be a sucessful session man you have to be
VERY good at them. But in any case I have done plenty of things that I'm
not particularly proud of and try to avoid people knowing about, so I'm not
going to go into that here!
Q: They were all brilliant but which particular version of National Health
did you most enjoy playing with?
A: I enjoyed all of them but I think just after John Greaves joined and we
did a quartet tour with Phil and Dave was perhaps the best. He really
loosened up things musically, socially and intellectually...
It was also a lot of fun with Alan after he rejoined as the replacement for
Dave, although arguably some of the music never reached its full potential
before Al got so ill.
Q: Sneaky one here. Who has been the most difficult musician to work with ?
A: Ah! I'm not falling for that one! They're all mad anyway. Some of them
get paranoid, some have enormous egos, some have amnesia, some are bread
heads, some are inarticule about what they want to do musically. Some of
them have feet that smell like Munster cheese in the van. In fact most of
them have all of those things! In any case he'd take such terrible umbrage
and never want to play with me again. Often musicians that are difficult
socially, like Pete Lemer, are great to play with. It's never a
prerequisite for me to like a musician as a human being for me to be able
to play with them. It's can be a kind of battle on stage and that friction
can sometimes produce very good music. Alternatively, playing with someone
you love, as I did with Sophia in L'Equip'Out wasn't really the utopia I
hoped it might be, because we'd bring too much of ourselves into the music
sometimes. So, I'd prefer to avoid answering that and be positive and say
who was the easiest musician to work with. Fred Baker. And Elton, too. They
just pick up their axes and all this brilliant stuff comes teeming out.
(Aside, trivia anoraks Teem Out, did anyone ever get the jeu de mots in
L'Equip'Out. I don't think so.)
Q: Any chance we might see Absolute Zero in Europe one day?
A: Well, I certainly hope so. I really enjoy playing with that band for
many reasons, both musical and social. I really think they deserve some
recognition after all the years of writing and playing and trying to get
things happening. Certainly all the signs are good, we've been getting some
excellent revues and there is already interest from people in the US and
South America to have us play. I think they are very talented musicians and
are dealing in an area of music of their own that's hardly been touched by
anyone else. Our CD will be coming out any week now with Recommended
Records, Chris Cutler's label. He's very keen on the band and excited about
the CD and hopes to be able to help us get gigs. Apart from the usual
problem of getting promoters to book whacked out bands like ours is that
Enrique and Aislinn have literally tons of equipment. It really is
essential to their sound. The music and the technology are completely
interwoven. If they just rolled up and plugged into a PA system music, some
sort of music would come out but it wouldn't be the music they had written.
We did a tour in the US a couple of years ago and the air freight costs
were nearly as high as our wages.
All I hope is that micro technology will soon make all the effects
accessible on laptops in briefcases instead of huge racks in 10-ton trucks
and I know that Enrique and Aislinn are looking into minuturizing the
group.
Q: You cleverly avoided mentioning the musician you found it most difficult
to work with. What has been the music you've found it most difficult to
play? And which have you enjoyed playing most?
A: Well actually, certain Absolute Zero's music is right up there in the
Clever Bastard stakes. They write a lot of rhythmical things which, apart
from the complex time signatures and quintuplets and all that stuff,
already not exactly easy to play, also employ the use of overlaying time
signatures one on the other, like I'll play in 9 and Aislinn will
superimpose a 13 or something over that. I noticed that often we'll be
counting the one in the bar in several different places! At first when I
got their scores and heard their music I thought, fuck this, it's just too
hard. But I took a lot of time looking over the charts and finding ways to
make sense of them and now we're really beginning to tear them up and play
it more off the wall.
Some of the National Health stuff was pretty tricky too; especially Dave's
which has to be played pretty much as written and really in the pocket.
Phil Miller's music is challenging too in that he never writes anything at
all for the drummer so it's up to you to find something that he likes
which, while I enjoy trying to find feels for him, seemingly it often turns
out to be just the thing he doesn't want, which is pretty frustrating.
Sometimes even the simplest thing in music can be almost the most
difficult. I've spent all my life trying to play a really slow laid back
rhythm and blues shuffle like Jimmy Reed or something. Adrenaline usually
seizes hold and ruins it! Technique, energy and exhilaration can be an
obstruction sometimes! You just need to play what you hear in your head.
Perhaps sometimes I think too much! Obviously Jimmy Reed's band didn't have
much happening up there then, but it sounds just perfect!
As for who I enjoy myself the most... Well that's difficult. Once again, if
I say so and so then someone else is going to think I didn't enjoy playing
them. Honestly I've enjoyed playing with all the bands I've ever played
with at some point or other.It's rare that I don't enjoy playing. You may
have a bad gig here or there but otherwise..... There were certainly
occasions with In Cahoots that were really enjoyable. We did some monster
gigs. I've had so many fantastic jams with Elton Dean and Alex Maguire,
too. Perhaps the most consistantly enjoyable group I ever played in was
Soft Heap with Elton, John Greaves and Mark Hewins, I don't remember a bad
gig ever. Perhaps I just don't remember at all!
Q: Do you have any plans for a follow-up to "Seven Year Itch"? What would
you put on it?
A: This isn't a particularly good time to answer that question because I'm
either trying to get a CD out for my new band Bash! (for which, as you know
I have already written all the material) or feeling somewhat in the
wilderness musically. At the moment I have so few gigs I'm going stale. If
I didn't jam with my mates at home and generally practice my drums I would
probably starve to death spiritually. Anyone need a 50+ drummer out there?
Or want to manage one? I do however have several songs that I wrote post
"Seven Year Itch" lying around plus a couple of ideas for other people's
songs like Syd Barrett's "See Emily Play" that might see the light of day
eventually. I'd like to get the Bash project underway if I muster up enough
energy to confront the general apathy that awaits us in the music business.
I doff the bitter cynical muso hat grumpily in their direction.
Q: What are you listening to yourself these days?
A: Well I have to confess that I listen much less to music nowadays than I
did when I was young. I used to spend all my time lying around tetanized
under the influence of mind altering stimuli such as music and drugs.
Blimey! Listen to that major 7 chord! It's like a huge green isosceles
triangle! I suppose nowadays I listen far more to the people I'm playing
with at the time, like Freddy Baker, Patrice Meyer, Elton Dean and so on.
I'm not playing with Phil Miller right now, but I'd always give any of his
music a good listen. Otherwise there's my mate John Greaves who's playing
with Vincent Courtois, an excellent young cellist. Of relatively new groups
I quite like Radiohead, funny though I swear I hear Gong and Robert Wyatt
in there! Glissando guitars and men with high voices with no vibrato...Oh
yes and a Canadian group called Sisters Euclid that put out a great first
album "All Babies Go To War" last year, that's great. It's not because I am
no longer curious, but you have to wade through so much dross in the media
to find anything interesting nowadays. When I was a kid there was even good
stuff on the radio let alone at all the jazz and blues clubs in London. But
I think there's enough shelf life in chaps like Coltrane, Elvin Jones and
Miles alone to see me out.
Q: What was your reaction when "The Rotters' Club" novel by Jonathon Coe
appeared? I suppose you must have been informed beforehand. Personally, I
thought it just about summed up the period. Did he choose the title "on
purpose"?
A: Well, he called me up out of the blue and said that he'd written this
book about the seventies and that Hatfield and The North figured in it and
could he quote part of the lyrics to "Share It" and use the title "The
Rotters' Club" for his book. There's a character called Trotter in the
book, which was the cart and which was the horse, I don't know. I said I
was okay about that and he sent me a copy of the book with the inscription
"For Pip Pyle, whose music has made the inside of my head a pleasanter
place to be, for twenty five years", which was a nice thing to say, plus a
bit of money, which was a nice thing to do.
I read the book and thought, yes, that does sum up the period pretty well.
It was somehow quite nostalgic, the Miner's Strike, Scarghill, CND and all
that. I couldn't quite work out how he could have seen the Hatfield gig in
Birmingham that he describes as I worked out he could only have been 14 or
15 years old. Subsequently he got in touch with me when he came to Paris to
do a reading of another new book of his and we had dinner together. In fact
it was his older brother who had seen Hatfield, although he himself is a
great fan and knows almost as much as about Canterbury music as Aymeric
(The Bill Frindall of the Canterbury Scene) Leroy does. We have
subsequently become good friends. He even lent me his very luxurious flat
in Earls Court over Christmas last year.
Q: If you had to cobble together a Best Of Pip Pyle (you're allowed one
very long CD), what would you put on it?
A: Do you mean my compositions or any old stuff I've played on?
Q: Let's say five or six things you wrote more or less alone and five or
six things you played a large part in.
A: Well that certainly cuts down the options as I am hardly prolific as a
composer. Cobble together a load of old cobblers eh? I 'm forever
optimistic that the next composition I write will be the best and rather
scorn what I've done before. This at least keeps you going for it, like a
dog straining uselessly on a leash. I think Seven Year Itch is the most
sucessful CD I've done in that, apart from the drumming, which never really
got a look in, I did manage to record the songs pretty much exactly as I
hoped to. I think the best instrumental tunes I've written will hopefully
see the light of day on the Bash CD if I manage to get it released. These
tunes were different to other instrumentals (with the exception of the
Foetal Fandango that I wrote for L'Equip Out) in that the germ of the idea
in every case was a rhythmic feel or a drum part and that I was really
writing with the individual players in mind instead of just a specific
musical idea or a song (that's usually an ode to some girl who has made you
temporarily lose your marbles).
Perhaps these are a dozen of my best efforts to date, or The Least Worst of
Pip Pyle, if push came to shove:
- "Oh Mother" (with Daevid Allen) - 1971 Gong from "Camembert Electrique"
(Virgin V 2012)
- "The Yes/No Interlude" - 1975 - Hatfield And The North - The Rotters'
Club (Virgin 2030.)
- "Fitter Stoke Has A Bath" - 1975 - Hatfield And The North - The Rotters'
Club (Virgin 2030)
- "Share It" (with Richard Sinclair) - 1975 - Hatfield & The North "The
Rotters Club" V2030)
- "Foetal Fandango" - 1987 - Pip Pyle's Equip' Out* (52 Rue Est RE004
original vinyl, release CD Voiceprint)
- "Goodbye to the Old World" (with Alain & Yvon Guillard) - 1989 - Alain et
Yvon Guillard - Pazapa (Gimini JCC 014 CD)
- "Cauliflower Ears" - 1991 - Pip Pyle's L'Equip' Out -" Up !"(Too Much 3
TMR 301)
- "What's Rattlin'?" (with Richard Sinclair) - 1994 - Richard Sinclair -
R.S.V.P. <sinclair.html>* (RSS CD001)
- "Shipwrecked" - 1998 - Pip Pyle - "Seven Year Itch" (Voiceprint VP198CD)
- "L'Etat des Choses" - 1998 - Pip Pyle - "Seven Year Itch" (Voiceprint
VP198CD)
- "Dead Dog God Dingo" (with Peter Blegvad) - 2000 - "The Pig Part" -
Pyle/Iung/Greaves (Voiceprint VP225CD)
- "Further On" - 2003 - "Crashing Icons" CD - Absolute Zero (RER)
Q: I have heard that there's a Live Hatfield CD in the pipeline. Should we
hold our breath?
A: There is a strong possibility, I think everyone agrees on the principal,
but so far a year has gone by since I chose my selection for it and I'm
waiting for the others to either okay that or propose something else.
I chose quite a lot of blowing stuff, this is for several reasons, first of
all I like it and secondly the group did a lot of that on stage, yet hardly
ever in the studio. I think it gives a perspective of the band never
represented on recordings. Other criteria that influenced my choice to try
and use pieces that have never been on record before, like a tune of Phil's
called "Finesse Is For Fairies", an untitled old tune of Dave Stewart's,
and the segment of Dave's that I culled from "Rifferama" that hadn't been
recorded before.
I think they will be of interest to fans that have never heard these tunes.
I tried to get some of the silliness that went on stage, plate smashing,
and stupid tunes like "The Laughing Policeman" etc. Pity we didn't have any
recording of the rows we used to have, they would have put the Troggs' tape
in the shame and we could have made it a double album. About 35 minutes of
it is BBC John Peel stuff. Some tunes have a good live performance feel,
like "Let's Eat" and "Fitter Stoke", the latter I almost prefer to the
recorded album version.
Q: Does this mean that Hatfield wasn't the idyllic love story we have
always fondly imagined? Can it be?
A: Well, it was pretty idyllic at first, like most love stories. But to
continue the analogy, (and to exaggerate a little to make the point and as
many waves as possible), it later became like being married to 3 egomaniac,
tyrannical bitches at once. I think that's probably true of a lot of groups
that have spent two years pretty much exclusively in each other's company,
socially and musically. Bickering invariably ensues. We had some laughs and
good times too, but towards the end they were fewer and further between.
Divorce is the only cure !
Q: You've played with a load of great musicians over the years. What would
be your ideal band if you could put one together from all these people? And
one consisting of people you've never played with?
A: Blimey guvnor. That's an impossible question. I can honestly say that
for Bash I got the three musicians that I wanted and knew could play that
music right, so I mustn't grumble or fantasize too much. I can't honestly
say that I've ever felt a terrible need to go up to musicians I don't know
and say "I've just GOT to play with you man!". I suppose that would take a
certain amount of bottle to do. Perhaps I should have done! What about Dean
Martin with Roger Ruskin Spear, Liberace, Bert Weedon, Fred Frith, Paul
Rogers, Lol Coxhill and me? See the problem?
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cune...@aol.com
Subject: for WR
Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 08:40:49 EDT
Robert Wyatt
"Solar Flares Burn For You"
Cuneiform Records Rune 175
(on September 16th):
1) Alifib
2) Soup Song
3) Sea Song
4) I'm A Believer
5) Blimey O'Riley
6) Solar Flares Burn For You
7) God Song
8) Fol De Rol
9) Little Child
10) We Got An Arts Council Grant
11) Righteous Rhumba
12) 'Twas Brillig
13) The Verb
1)-4) : BBC Top Gear 1974
5) & 12) : Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt, winter 2002/2003
6) : film soundtrack 1973
7)-11) : BBC Top Gear 1972
13) : RW home demo 2003
the 1973 film "Solar Flares Burn For You" is also included as a quicktime
movie!
All except for 1)-4) have not been previously issued.
This album was compiled with Robert's help and includes his artwork, photos,
stories and etc. Liner notes by Aymeric Leroy
best!
Steve
Cuneiform Records
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Graham Bennett" <ben...@syzygy.nl>
Subject: Soft Machine biography
Date: Fri, 23 May 2003 11:40:42 +0200
Hi Aymeric,
Readers of What's Rattlin' may be interested to learn that I'm writing a
biography of Soft Machine. (You know all about this Aymeric, of course,
from our correspondence over the past few months.) My aim is to make the
biography as complete and accurate as possible, so apart from researching
the music press I've also conducted lengthy interviews with many of the
band members and also some of their associates. The current planning is to
finish everything this summer (although Soft Machine were masters at
leaving lots of niggly loose ends...), so with a bit of luck the book will
be published before the end of the year.
It occurred to me that some readers of What's Rattlin' might have some
interesting information, photos, videos, mementos or memories of Soft
Machine that would be useful in piecing the story together. If anyone can
help, I'd be very pleased if he or she would get in touch with me. Anything
used will, of course, be fully credited. I can be contacted at
<ben...@syzygy.nl>.
Keep up the good work.
Graham Bennett
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Rick Chafen <rch...@yahoo.com>
Subject: Kevin Ayers Remasters
Date: Tue, 17 Jun 2003 09:30:32 -0700 (PDT)
Hello, all . . .
Over the last couple of days, I've received the first four Ayers
remasterpieces. So, once again, Mark Powell has done a fabulous job.
Wonderful booklets, replete with bonus photos, and then, of course, the
bonus tracks.
Tracks from Odd Ditties were added to the albums closest to their time
frame, so they're all remastered, and then the six previously unreleased
gems make them all essential for anyone reading this list.
Religious Experience with Syd Barrett's quirky guitar (and the story
accompanying it) are really fun. Wow! to think how long those tapes sat
somewhere, neglected. Once again, it shows up how the past keeps getting
bigger all the time.
Bedford's full take on the orchestra of Lady Rachel is great to behold. The
six-minute free-for-all called Hat on Shooting at the Moon is delightful. A
completely different vocal take on Stranger in Blue Suede Shoes, and the
wonderful Decadence with very much Steve Hillage!
What great fun it all is. The biggest surprise for me is actually in the
booklet for Bananamour. Incredibly, at no time in the last thirty years did
I ever see (or even hear about that I can recall!) the sixteen page booklet
reproduced in its entirety here.
This is no time for hesitation. Get all of these right away. Keep Mark
Powell busy at EMI, and Kevin, who's out TOURING! could be reinforced as
well.
Hope the Paris festival has been a thrill for all.
Awaiting the Caravans.
Cheers,
Rick
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Steve Dinsdale <Steve.D...@TEAMtalk.com>
Subject: Softs BBC Sessions CD
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2003 12:52:43 +0100
What a totally excellent package, comparison of the sound quality with the
original Strange Fruit release is a revelation. It also now becomes apparent
that Strange Fruit must have used the edited masters for the `Triple Echo'
LP as tape sources for disc one rather than the originals, and that the
second disc was a scattershot representation of whatever else was available
to them at the time. The azimuth problems with these originals will also
suggest that Triple Echo was pressed from an incorrectly lined-up copy of
the session tapes.
Things have moved on in the years since the original compilations, and
thanks largely to my good friend Phil Lawton's efforts in the Radio One
archive all of the available material has now been succesfully marshalled,
documented correctly, and even digitized.
Just one thing though, The Playhouse Theatre in question on some of these
early sessions is most certainly the one in Northumberland Avenue in the
West End of London, NOT the one in Hulme Manchester suggested by the
session details in the CD booklet. This was where the BBC recorded many
early sessions including Jimi
Hendrix and Led Zeppelin. The Manchester venue was largely concerned with
`Light' music, something no-one could accuse the Soft machine of
perpetrating !
Regards
Steve Dinsdale
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Xavier Xavriano" <xav...@hotmail.com>
Subject: music of Dave Stewart and National Health
Date: Wed, 02 Jul 2003 04:04:09 +0000
Hi,
Love your website! I am a composer/musician from South Bend Indiana, USA,
and I would like to know if you have access to any charts or scores of any
of the music of Hatfield and the North or National Health and/or if you
have any interviews or articles with Dave Stewart sharing insights into his
compositions. Even better however would be some information of how I may
contact him.
Thanks,
Nick
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: Cune...@aol.com
Subject: In Cahoots
Date: Wed, 9 Apr 2003 09:38:43 EDT
Cuneiform Records is very pleased to announce that in September, 2003, we
will be releasing the new CD by Phil Miller/In Cahoots "All That"
The lineup of the band is the same as the band that blew everyone away at
their US debut in Seattle late last year:
Phil Miller - guitar
Elton Dean - alto sax, saxello
Jim Dvorak - trumpet
Peter Lemer - keyboards
Fred Baker - bass
Mark Fletcher - drums
The band will be performing all of this new album at their show at "Les
Tritonales" Festival on June 4th.
Steve
Cuneiform Records
http://www.cuneiformrecords.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: caravansongs.co.uk
Subject: Caravan new studio album.
Date: Fri, 16 May 2003 07:47:57 EDT
Hi Aymeric
Caravan Songs are pleased to announce a pre-release special edition of the
new studio album "The Unauthorised Breakfast Item" is now available for
pre-order and will be delivered in early July. This is a limited edition
press of 2,500, fully signed by all the band and will comprise of a 2CD
set. The studio album, plus a bonus CD of tracks live off the album and the
orchestrated version of For Richard at Quebec last year. It will be a case
of first come, first served and will be a web and gig release. Cost will be
£16 and this includes postage to anywhere in the world.
To order please go to http://www.caravansongs.co.uk.
The albums official release will be in late September and this will be
widely available.
A reminder as well that the next UK dates will be 1st August at the Astor
Theatre - Deal and at Whitchurch Festival on the 2nd August. Whitchurch is
a 3 day event but day tickets are available.
Kind Regards
Vicky
PS: The band had a fantastic time in Japan, many thanks to Smash West for
the impeccable organisation.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Kenneth Egbert" <inviz...@earthlink.net>
Subject: Hugh Hopper Takes Over My Listening Room (with help)
Date: Sun, 4 May 2003 15:55:21 -0400
Hello, Aymeric:
Since you keep forgetting to forbid me to write for WR I'm taking this
opportunity to pass on a few new reviews of recent goodies, all this time
from the fearsomely fuzzboxed Mr. Hopper's OUT box. Or OUT fuzzbox,
whichever makes the most sense. With assistance, of course.
To wit:
BONE - Uses Wrist Grab
Nick Didkovsky/Hugh Hopper/John Roulat
Cuneiform - USA (CD)
Label Web Site: http://www.cuneiformrecords.com
The Cuneiform label has become, since they released However's CALLING! in
the mid 1980s (get that one if you find it in a USED bin somewhere),
America's best-known answer to ReR Recommended, Chris Cutler's label: a
refuge for intelligent rock/avant/whatever/string cheese. The latter will
play a part later on in this review. In a chat with Richard Wolfson of ReR
some years back, I thanked him for keeping it up and not trying to go out
there in the Industrial Midlands and attempt to find something
trendier. His even-handed reply was, "We'll continue until they stop
us". Joyce and Steve of Cuneiform would say the same, I'm sure.
Now via Cuneiform comes a virtual power trio (largely because this was a
case of multi-MP3/MP4 file swapping), since the members of which have never
occupied the same room together. If so, I have yet to find the seams, and I
did look. Bone is a stellar exercise in just how far one can push the
guitar/bass/drums ethic, and there is to be found here Fred Frith Guitar
Quartet skronk, seductive atmospherics, heavy riffing (albeit in strange
time signatures), fuzz basses run amok, even an intelligent drum solo. But
percussionist John Roulat hails from a fine American trio called Forever
Einstein (http://www.forevereinstein.com) and if he can keep up with them,
acting as foil for Hopper and Didkovsky should not break too much of a
sweat. Not too much. Hopper we all know quite well, and I would not presume
to write an introduction for him as a result, while Nick Didkovsky, founder
of a crack musical Special Forces unit known as Doctor Nerve, is a
guitarist of frenetic technique and viciously mischievous humor. He's also
a member of the FFGQ, possibly one of those about whom the semidivine Frith
has been heard to sigh, "I tour with these people for months at a time...".
Full disclosure department: Nick D. and myself became friends back in '96
after I interviewed him. He was also kind enough to appropriate a song
title for this CD from some stream-of-consciousness Email I sent him ages
ago. I beg forgiveness of one and all.
The end result of these three gentlemen Emailing nameless outrages back and
forth for several months at a clip is a CD somewhere between the trio cut
on Frank Zappa's 1974 solo project APOSTROPHE (the title jam featuring
Frankie, Jack Bruce and Jim Gordon) and King Crimson's RED with Eno at the
knobs instead of the semidivine Fripp. No pun intended. The chill-out coda,
Hopper's "Little End Or Beginning," has some of that edge-of-sense Uncle
Brian ambience: there's a whispering of crinkled paper (John R. making out
checks to the phone company and power company, putting them in
envelopes...?) under repeated multi-tracked Didkovskys essaying gentle
flourishes and arpeggios and your classic Hopper slow buzzsaw theme. And
now the CD rejects and we get to hear Ditty One. Hit that Play button! "To
Laugh Uncleanly At the Nurse" (also in the FFGQ fake book) sounds like it
was going to be a flamenco until Arnold Schoenberg got hold of it.
Didkovsky's use of fuzz here owes some small debt to Fripp but one thing
I've noticed about these two guitarists is that they both have equal
command of studio wizardry but Fripp will stick rather closely to what can
be duplicated in a live situation with a minimum of cloning. Nick D. sees
no ethical problem putting four of himself on the same tune; to his credit,
as on the crunching "Foster Wives, Trophy Hair" (don't ask. Please), he
refuses to drown out his compatriots; Hopper disconnects the bass
afterburner for this one and I can still hear him roaring like a primitive
saurian, landing in all the right places between Roulat's precise 5/8 time
downbeats.
Hopper favors us hereupon with the Toho Monster lurch "Big Bombay"
(analogous with his treatment of "Miniluv" on HOPPER TUNITY BOX many
generations ago; basically an immense chord change mowing down all in its
path), at the end of which a drone passes through The Riff and disappears
going the other way, taking the track with it (nice Roulat working out on
the cymbals a la Al Foster); and the tasty "Jungle Rev," a distant view of
tonal and atonal snakes in a sort of tonic aspic. Drifting Didkovsky arcs
and swoops, Roulat disassembling a washing machine and making a cyclotron
out of the spare parts in the far foreground, and a patented Hugh
speeded-up bass theme. Ethereal. Ah, but we haven't even touched on the
rumbling "Overlife Parts 1 and 3" (hopefully they're saving Part 2 for the
next release), the "carousel-missing-most-of-its-horses"-like "Green
Dansette", or for that matter "Chaos, No Pasties" which might be the
STARLESS - era Crimso covering a Claude Vivier mazurka. And more. Hit that
Play button again!
Cleverly, Didkovsky mixed this CD's tunes to have a minimum of silence
between them so you would have to check the cover to see where you
are. Only increases the pleasant sense of being overwhelmed. Assault with a
friendly weapon, it might be called. The madness herein is very
catching. Avail yourself of it soon. Oh, yes, string cheese is good for you
in moderation, but BONE you can have as much of as you like.
HUGH HOPPER Jazzloops - Burning Shed, UK (CD)
HUGH HOPPER/ MIC GIDON Flight And Shade - Burning Shed, UK (CD)
Label Web Site: http://www.burningshed.com
Thanks kindly to London's Burning Shed Records for giving us two new peeks
into Hugh H.'s many-faceted creativity. Mic Gidon is a French guitarist and
vocalist who dabbles in the many methods of sampling, and his voice
occasionally recalls Charles Aznavour, of all people. But that Europeans
have a better sense of history than Americans is well documented! Gidon
actually pushes Hopper in a pop direction, albeit a very odd one; short,
punchy tracks with buzzing high-speed bass patterning, R&B guitar whang,
cabaret slouch ("On the Watch"), even a bit of snicker now and again ("East
West", with some nice piano by Frances Knight, features Gidon occasionally
singing through his nose). But everywhere can be heard Hopper's
delightfully if purposefully meandering melodies, which will (as could be
heard on Hopper's two collaborations with poet/ singer Lisa Klossner) keep
this CD nice and far away from any Hit Parade we would prefer not to
frequent. But then, Robert Wyatt's last CD was reviewed favorably in
PEOPLE Magazine, so who knows what's pop and what's not any longer? Hoary
old Canterbury trainspotters like myself will shed a quiet tear at "For
Alan", a reflective midtempo instrumental with a slow-reaction melody like
those at which we all recall the late A. Gowen excelling. If Phil Miller
helped compose this one, I wouldn't be surprised. So, a very fine go
overall, no dearth of pleasant surprises.
JAZZLOOPS may grow out of the avenue of Mr. Hopper's impetus that produced
1984: apparently assembled from existing sources, this CD is a series of
eleven different flavored stews of varying source material. One can hear
the definite contributions of Elton Dean, Didier Malherbe, Frank van der
Kooij, Patrice Meyer, Simon Picard, and Nigel Morris (the credits admit to
further assistance from Robert Wyatt, Pierre-Olivier Govin, Steve Franklin,
Kim Weemhoff and Christine Janet), and the method used is to blend varying
sections of longer jams and unfinished pieces into more focused
compositions. Hopper is certainly a master at this, given past efforts like
his collaborations with Kramer (especially HUGE), and you can't fault
either his always-fresh bass runs or his choice of saxophonists. "1212" is
an arid R&B workout with steady drumming, a detailed funk riff and tasty
van der Kooij alto, for example, and the first-up"t3" sports a more
experimental cast, snaking near-Arabic guitar lines about a detailed
lattice of cymbals and liquid-lead bass. But several of these tracks seem
to demand a context they can't supply themselves. Jungle drums and drones
lift up "sfrankl" but there is no real lead voice. "calmozart"'s drum
patterns are interesting and the horn lines are pretzelly in a "Chloe And
The Pirates" kind of way but again it's as if the musicians are waiting for
something to happen that never really does. "digwot" has no such problems,
though, what with Malherbe's snake-charming tenor undulating above shifting
tectonic-plate like sheets of sustained tone, and the closing "Nigepo" has
a very ambiguous but still driving beat, echoed Wyatts enveloping a rhythm
track reminiscent of Miles Davis' "Red China Blues." And no, part-way
through the recessional, your CD player is not malfunctioning. Crafty Hugh!
This is probably a case of the artist catching the critic off guard (easier
than it sounds); one doesn't expect ambient music of Hopper but that was
probably the point. Let's not forget "Oyster Perpetual" or "1983", after
all.
Merci encore,
K.E.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* FORTHCOMING CANTERBURY-RELATED CONCERTS *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
[for more info : check out the 'Concerts' page of CALYX]
http://canterbury.free.fr
==> CARAVAN <============================================================
Oct 11 - CANTERBURY, Gulbenkian Theatre (Canterbury Festival) / Oct 27 -
WORCESTER, Marrs Bar / Oct 28 - WOLVERHAMPTON, Robin 2 / Nov 13 - LEEDS,
Irish Centre / Nov 15 - EDINBURGH, Liquid Rooms / Nov 16 - NEWCASTLE, Opera
House / Nov 21 - MILTON KEYNES, The Stables / Nov 22 - LEICESTER, The
Charlotte / Nov 23 - NORWICH, The Waterfront / Nov 27 - BRISTOL, The Fleece
& Firkin / Nov 30 - LONDON, Bloomsbury Theatre, London (35th Anniversary
Show with guests)
Dec 12 - ZOETERMEER (Netherlands), De Borderij / Dec 13 - HELMOND
(Netherlands), Plato / Dec 14 - VERVIERS (Belgium), Spirit Of '66
Line-up: Pye Hastings, Jan Schelhaas, Richard Coughlan,
Geoff Richardson, Doug Boyle, Jim Leverton, Simon Bentall
More info/updates at http://www.caravan-info.co.uk
==> GONG & CO <==========================================================
Sep 28 - WOODSTOCK, NY (USA), The Colony Café (6pm) / Sep 30 - TROY (NY),
Chapel & Cultural Center at Rensselaer (8pm)
Gilli Smyth & Gong Matrices : Gilli Smyth (vocals), Pierce McDowell (bass),
John Ragusa (flutes, harmonica, conch shell etc.), Rich Goodhart (hand
drums, dousongoni, sanza etc,), and probably James (synth)
Oct 21 - LONDON, Royal Festival Hall ( Mind Your Head 3:Sacred Music)
Acid Mothers Gong : Daevid Allen (vocals & glissando guitar), Gilli Smyth
(space whisper), Didier Malherbe (sax & flute), Tatsuya Yoshida (drums &
vocals), Hiroshi Higashi (synth & theremin), Cotton Casino (synth &
vocals), Kawabata Makoto (guitar) & Josh Pollock (guitar)
More info/updates at http://www.planetgong.co.uk
==> John GREAVES <=======================================================
Sep 13 - PARIS (France), Maison de la Radio (Studio Charles Trenet)
(5.30pm) [this concert will be broadcast on September 21th at 9.30pm during
the radio programme "Le jazz, probablement..." on France-Musiques] / Nov 27
- PARIS (France), New Morning / Dec 06 - POITIERS (France), Maison des 3
Quartiers / Dec 13 - BELFORT (France), Le Granit (Nuit du Violoncelle)
with Sophia Domancich (piano) & Vincent Courtois (cello)
==> IN CAHOOTS <=========================================================
Oct 31 - LITCHFIELD, Garrick Theatre / Nov 15 - LONDON, Astoria [Progeny
Festival]
Line-up: Phil Miller, Elton Dean, Jim Dvorak, Peter Lemer, Fred Baker, Mark
Fletcher
==> Didier MALHERBE <====================================================
Sep 09 - PARIS (France), Maison de la Radio (Concert FIP) / Sep 14 - PARIS
(France), Satellit Café / Sep 17 - AMNEVILLE (France), Le Consortium / Sep
26 - LES LILAS [nr Paris], Le Triton (Vents d'Anches - Poetry & Music)
[solo] / Oct 25 - ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), Festival de Doelen
HADOUK TRIO with Loy Ehrlich (hajouj, kora & keyboards) & Steve Shehan
(percussion)
More info/updates at http://www.didiermalherbe.com
=========================================================================
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* AND OTHER GOOD GIGS... *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
==> CAMEL <==============================================================
Oct 08 - MURCIA (Spain), Sala Gamma / Oct 09 - GRANADA (Spain), La Copera /
Oct 10 - MADRID (Spain), Macumba / Oct 11 - BERGARA [nr BILBAO] (Spain),
Sala Jam / Oct 12 - BARCELONA (Spain), Bikini / Oct 14 - PARIS (France),
Elysée-Montmartre / Oct 19 - ROTTERDAM (Netherlands), Nighttown / Oct 20 -
AMSTERDAM (Netherlands), Paradiso / Oct 21 - UTRECHT (Netherlands), Tivoli
/ Oct 22 - MAASTRICHT (Netherlands), Platte Zaol / Oct 23 - TILBURG
(Netherlands), 013 / Oct 24 - RIJSSEN (Netherlands), Lucky / Oct 25 -
VERVIERS (Belgium), Spirit Of '66 / Oct 28 - LONDON, Astoria
More info at http://www.camelproductions.com
==> GONGZILLA <==========================================================
Sep 12 - CLEVELAND, OH (USA), Beachland Ballroom / Sep 13 - GARRETTSVILLE,
OH (USA), Nelson Ledges Quarry Park (Rhythmfest) / Sep 14 - MT. PLEASANT,
PA (USA), Boykin Ball Festival
Line-up: Bon Lozaga (guitar), Hansford Rowe (bass), Benoît Moerlen (vibes &
marimba), Gary Husband (drums), Phil Kester (percussion)
==> MAGMA <==============================================================
Oct 15 - NANCY (France), Nancy Jazz Pulsations (Magma + Offering
double-bill) / Oct 17 - PARIS (France), La Cigale (JVC Jazz Festival) / Oct
18 - BOBIGNY [nr Paris] (France), Festival des Percussives Canal 93 / Oct
22 - MONTAUBAN (France), venue tbc / Oct 23 - BORDEAUX (France), Festival
Musique de Nuit / Oct 24 - SAN SEBASTIAN (Spain), Jazz Festival / Oct 25 -
TARBES (France), La Gespe / Oct 26 - BERGERAC (France), venue tbc / Nov 01
- QUIMPERLE (France), venue tbc
Line-up: Christian Vander, Stella Vander, Emmanuel Borghi, James McGaw,
Frederic D'Oelsnitz, Philippe Bussonnet, Isabelle Feuillebois,
Antoine Paganotti, Himiko Paganotti
=========================================================================
=========================================================================
END OF ISSUE 202
_________________________________________________________________________
WHAT'S RATTLIN'? - WHAT'S RATTLIN'? - WHAT'S RATTLIN'?
_________________________________________________________________________
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_________________________________________________________________________
Simon Knights
blan...@saltwells.dudley.gov.uk says...
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
> :: ::
> :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN'? - ::
> :: The "Periodical" Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts ::
> :: Issue # 202 ::
> :: Friday, September 12th, 2003 ::
> :: ::
> ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Thank Brett, that's great. The last one I had was issue 195 from August
2002.
--
Simon Knights,
Canterbury,
UK.