Label: ???? Records (Russia, Unofficial Release), RUNE 172
Style: Canterbury Scene, Jazz Rock, Instrumental
Country: Canterbury, England
Time: 47:39
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 323 Mb
Matching
Mole was the band that drummer/vocalist Robert Wyatt formed after he
left the pioneering UK outfit Soft Machine in July, 1971. Soft Machine
had been hugely popular in France, and Wyatt named his new band after a
play on the French translation of Soft Machine: machine molle. Over the
course of its brief, one- year existence, Matching Mole developed a
characteristic sound, a unique take on fusion, with interesting
structures that encouraged individualistic expression through solos. Its
legacy included two studio albums, over fifty concerts in Britain and
continental Europe, and a number of TV and radio broadcasts.
Matching
Mole's first, self- titled album was released in early 1972. Wyatt
originally began it as a solo album in 1971, but midway through the
recording broadened its scope. Matching Mole as released featured the
band's first quartet line-up - Wyatt and guitarist Phil Miller
(Delivery, Hatfield & The North, National Health), organist Dave
Sinclair (Caravan), and bassist Bill MacCormick (Phil Manzanera's 801) -
as well as a guest, electric pianist, Dave McRae (Mike Westbrook). The
group supported the album with shows at home and a European tour. Not
long after, Sinclair left the band and McRae joined full time.
The
quartet of Wyatt, Miller, MacCormick and McRae proved to be Matching
Mole's most experimental as well as most active lineup, performing
numerous concerts throughout Europe. The band recorded a second album,
Little Red Record, which was produced by Robert Fripp of King Crimson
and released in 1972. Shortly after the album's release, Wyatt decided
he did not want the responsibilities of band leader and dismantled his
band.
In 2001, Cuneiform Records released Smoke Signals, containing
previously unreleased live recordings. The material was selected from
several different performances and arranged on the CD to replicate a
typical Matching Mole concert. The band was so pleased with the way this
record came out that when one of the members chanced upon a forgotten
live concert from the same period, Cuneiform was contacted and
arrangements were made to release this new Matching Mole CD, entitled
March.
Like Smoke Signals, Matching Mole's second live album was
recorded during the band's most intensive gigging period, the spring of
1972. On the CD, Bill MacCormick, Dave MacRae, Phil Miller and Robert
Wyatt, the band's most adventurous line-up, give free-spirited
renditions of songs from the ouevre of Matching Mole and some Canterbury
friends. The songs include four drawn from Little Red Record as well as
two works from the band's first album and a surprising version of
Caravan’s "Waterloo Lily". The live recording was remastered and edited
by writer Michael King, who compiled the prior live Matching Mole CD and
wrote a biography of Wyatt, Wrong Movements (1994, SAF Publishing).
Like Smoke Signals, March features cover art (including sculpted/modeled
matching /marching moles) by Tom Recchion, an artist, musician, and
former Warner Bros, designer based in California.
The two live
Matching Mole albums released by Cuneiform double the recorded output of
that important Canterbury band. The live recordings illustrate that the
band's concert renditions of recorded songs differed dramatically from
the heavily overdubbed versions on its studio discs, and thus reveal the
integral role that jazz and improvisation played in Matching Mole's
work, in theory/aethetic as well as practice/performance. March is sure
to prove to be a revelation for both long time fans of and newcomers to
the Canterbury school of progressive music and the work of Robert Wyatt.
(disco-robertwyatt.com/images/matching_mole/images/march_big2.jpg)
01. March (04:49)
02. Instant Pussy (04:53)
03. Smoke Signals (06:20)
04. Part Of The Dance (09:54)
05. No Alf Measures (05:44)
06. Lything And Gracing (11:36)
07. Waterloo Lily (04:21)
No comments:
Post a Comment