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- WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?
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:: The Weekly
Digest for Canterbury Music
Addicts ::
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Issue #
1
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Sunday, May 12th,
1996
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From: Aymeric Leroy <bigbang@alpes-net.fr>
Subject: Various
Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 16:45:37 -0300 (EDT)
First of all, thanks to all those who responded positively
to this
digest project. This is starting very slowly, as expected,
I think most
of you will start sending contributions when some
interesting topics
are raised. That's what I'll try to do for a start.
As far as I'm concerned, I'm interested to read how you
came to
discover Canterbury music, what bands you've seen live,
under what
circumstances you first heard such or such record etc.
I'm currently putting together a list of all the concerts
played by
classic Canterbury bands (a comprehensive list of the gigs
featuring
Robert Wyatt was put together by Mike King in his
excellent book
"Wrong Movements" which is a must-own for any Canterbury
fan). Anyone
with such data is welcome to send it to me. But what seems
even more
useful would be to compile set lists of the tours. What
material did
Khan perform on stage, apart from the tracks from "Space
Shanty" ?
What did Hatfield play in the early days ? I remember
hearing a live
tape of Hatfield with Richard Sinclair singing "God's
Song". When
National Health toured the US in 1979, they'd dropped most
of the
material from the first two albums. I've got a tape of
1979 gig, and
you hear songs later done on "D.S. Al Coda" and even Pip
Pyle's "Foetal
Fandango" recorded by l'Equip'Out in 1985. Anyone seen
Pierre Moerlen's
Gong live ? What did they play from the Allen-era Gong, if
they actually
played anything from before "Shamal" ? What did
Holdsworth-era Softs
play ?...
There are probably countless other subjects of interest. I
restrict
myself to bands that I know quite well, but discussions on
early Gong
and Kevin Ayers, for instance, are also welcome.
Although I wouldn't mind reading discussions about the
"classics", I
also think it's a subject that's been covered many times,
and hopefully
we can get away from that a little. There's plenty of
other things to
discuss as well. When you read the amount of writing Peter
Frame did
around his 1977 "Soft Machinery" family tree (featured on
the Softs'
"Triple Echo" compilation), and the time that has passed
since (almost
20 years !) and the bands he didn't even write about then
(Gilgamesh,
Nucleus, almost nothing on Egg...)... we won't be short of
topics.
I'd like to set a few rules before we really start :
1) The subject of Canterbury music is wide enough to
warrant endless discussions, so please let's not get too far away
from it - bands and artists that are too vaguely related, like
Fred Frith's solo projects or Camel, Curved Air (that's some I can
think of), are not strictly Canterbury-related in my opinion.
2) Please try to avoid mails just saying things like : "I
agree with you" or "I only like early Soft Machine, the rest is
crap" or similarly embryonic (thus uninteresting) statements.
3) Send your comments and answers to the messages to ME,
not the people who wrote. Except, of course, if this is a very
personal message... :)
4) Please try to send your emails with "WR : ..." as
header. It won't cause huge problems if you don't, but it will be
easier for me. Remember this digest is run manually - although I
try my best to make it look automatic ! :)
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From: "Julius & Jennifer Saroka"
<JandJ_Saro@msn.com>
Subject: (none)
Date: Thu, 2 May 96 22:44:18 UT
yes! i would like to receive the newsletter.
right now things are hectic in my life, but when they
settle down a bit
i may even be able to contribute a few little tid-bits of
information since i
worked on US tours for Daevid Allen and R.Sinclair (solo
and with Caravan of
Dreams).
looking forward to hearing from you!
peace, love, and understanding;
julius
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From: Julian Christou <christoj@plk.af.mil>
Subject: Various
Date: Sun, 5 May 1996 21:22:06 -0600 (MDT)
This disgest idea sounds very good ! Some ideas off the
top of my head.
Firstly, latest releases - i.e. announcing what new
releases or
rereleases are available and very importantly where from
(and how much)!
e.g. the recent Soft Machine releases on One Way including
"Land Of
Cockayne". Secondly, who's touring and where. Both of thee
could point
to the Calyx page for more info for example. Third, Who's
playing with
who - rumours and hopefully more about upcoming projects
etc. As for
debates, we could end up getting into the same stuff we
see on r.m.p
like the recent one concerning the "best" Softs period.
Although that
might not be too bad. I subscribe to a number of other
digests and these
discuss albums, tours, unofficial recordings - boots; tape
trading etc.
as well as general discussion about the musicians, the
"best" period of
the band, what-if's - i.e. if Mike Ratledge and Hugh
Hopper reformed the
Early Softs etc.
Just a few ideas. [thanks - A.L.]
Have you listened to the BBC In Concert Vol. II which
features this
line-up earlier on ? I think it's a great concert. In some
ways better
than the live side of "Six", especially the reworking of
"Slightly...".
Now if there were only a full live set rather than these
edited
ones. That is also especially true for the "Bundles" line
up. The recent
releases cover the Softs live from pretty much every era
but the latter.
I saw the "Six", "Seven", "Bundles" line-ups more than
once. All shows
were excellent. I'd like to see a live album with
Holdsworth on it.
Speaking of live, I have a "Fan Club" live album from the
"fourth"
period recorded live in Bremen, i.e. with Wyatt. Very good
performance
but poor sound. Do you know anything more about it?
[No. But discussions on bootlegs are also welcome - I
personally don't
want to support the people who make bootlegs, but it's
certain that
they are sometimes very useful to know how a particular
band evolved
in a period when they didn't release any album - A.L.].
I was lucky enough to see Kevin Ayers a number of
time in the early 70's,
once with Steve Hillage on guitar just before he joined
Gong. That was
either Decadance or 747 - I don't recall which line-up was
called what.
BTW whatever happend to Archie Legget? I have his Virgin
single "Jamaican
Jockey" - no idea who plays on it though.
[Archie Leggett died in July 1994 - don't know what he'd
done since
leaving Kevin Ayers' band though - that's a long period of
time ! - A.L.]
"5" is my favourite Softs period. It introduced me to Jazz
and I love
the free-form experimentation and the increased use of the
Fender
Rhodes. In these days the Canterbury music scene had a lot
to offer.
>From Kevin's songs to Caravan's blows to Wyatt's
Matching Mole to the
avante garde edge of Dean. I also think it contains some
of Ratledge's
best compositions, i.e. Teeth, All White, Drop & As
If. Of course this
is just my opnion - grin.
Later Softs was IMHO much more formulaic. Not that I don't
like it but it
lacks the spontaneity of the Dean era. In fact I'm
listening to "Six"
right now, the opening of the live side and "All White" on
oboe isn't quite
the same as Elton's sax. This was the first Softs concert
I saw, as a
student in London in the Autumn of 1972, I saw them play
at Sadler's Wells.
A truly great show. Mike R. never seemed to acknowledge
the audience. And
the "duelling" electric pianos were just amazing as the
intro to "Drop".
I wonder of there were any BBC Concerts by the Holdsworth
era Softs.
Which is a good point maybe for the digest. A pretty good
discography
exists of the Canterbuty Bands but what about various
radio b'casts
especially the In Concert and Top Gear shows - this would
be for all bands.
Does anyone know if something like this exist anywhere?
[I did see a book that detailed all BBC sessions recorded
in the 70's,
and probably sooner and later, which even had bands like
Gilgamesh listed,
with complete line-ups and setlists. If anyone has this
book, Canterbury-
related facts are VERY welcome !!! I think the book was
published in 1994 or
1995, I saw it in the Dublin Virgin Megastore last Summer
- A.L.]
Best regards for now.
Julian
--
+------------------------------+-----------------------------+
| Dr. Julian
Christou |
Phone: 505-846-4712 x330 |
| PL/LIG, Phillips
Lab |
FAX:
505-846-2213 |
| 3550 Aberdeen
SE
+-----------------------------+
| Kirtland AFB, NM 87117-5776 | E-mail:
christoj@plk.af.mil |
+------------------------------+-----------------------------+
"One trend that bothers me is the glorification of
stupidity, that
the media is reassuring people it's all right not to know
anything...
That to me is far more dangerous than a little pornography
on the Internet"
... Carl Sagan
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From: Jeffrey Melton <Jeffrey_Melton@hysoft.com>
Date: Mon, 6 May 1996 10:37:54 -0400
Subject: Subscribe to Canterbury Digest.
Please subscribe me to the digest. I'm currently a writer
for Expose
magazine. Our next issue will have an interview I
conducted with Pip Pyle in
March.
Jeff Melton.
[That's great news ! I can't recommend Expose highly
enough by the way -
essential reading for anyone with an interest in
Softs/Hatfield/H-Cow
style of Canterbury music, and beyond - more info on the
CALYX Contacts
page]
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From: rvs@crosfield.co.uk (Robert Smith)
Subject: Re: WR Caravan gig
Date: Wed, 8 May 1996 11:35:19 +0100 (BST)
Hi everyone. I think I only saw Caravan live once. It must
have been about
1981 at the Odeon Tottenham Court Road in London. There
weren't many people in
the audience. The lineup was Pye Hastings, Geoff
Richardson, Dave Sinclair,
Richard Coughlan. Most of the performance was good, except
near
the end, Geoff Richardson got annoyed with the spot light
operator. When ever
he came to do his solo bit, the spot light was rather slow
in getting to him.
Which obviously affected his play. Which was a shame,
because when he did the
solo guitar bit at the end of (I can't remember the name
of the last track,
side 2 of `Better By Far') it was rather manic and
aggressively played instead
of the controlled emotion heard on the album. I think this
shows that Geoff
Richardson, although a great musician, is probably a bit
conceited, and also
that the mood of the player is communicated in his music.
Just thought I'd
share that thought with you!
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From: "David Humphries" <davhump@easynet.co.uk>
Subject: Phil Miller
Date: Wed, 8 May 96 18:12:22 UT
Hi. I'd love to get your letter.
I'm a big Phil Miller fan. I'm a guitarist myself and I've
always been
amazed at how original and un-influenced his playing is.
This guy
really takes some risks. You'll never hear him play a
conventional
blues lick or heavy riffs.
But what I like most about Phil are his compositional
abilities. His
pieces are probably my favourites of all. Whenever I
listen to "Dreams
Wide Awake", "Above and Below" or "Underdub", I love it.
He has a
talent for very complex, yet highly melodic and memorable
melodies
which he harmonizes in a very special away. How could
anyone else
have written "Calyx", for instance ?
But I admit I've been a little disappointed by Miller's
recent work.
I didn't really like In Cahoots' "Recent Discoveries" -
too jazzy for
my taste. And Short Wave, although they're good (with a
line-up like
that, you can't go wrong, can you ?!), is far less
adventurous than
Hatfield or NatHealth. But I'm confident that Miller will
continue to
put out some great music. For instance, his solo album
"Digging In"
from 1991 was, IMHO, great and groundbreaking. Some may
complain about
the "electronic" or "computerised" aspect, but I don't.
The use of
programming and all-electronic equipment creates a very
special atmos-
phere - and the compositions are excellent.
If you don't know Phil Miller's solo work - start with
"Cutting Both
Ways" (1987), his first. This has the all-star line-up of
Elton Dean,
PM, Peter Lemer (keys), Hu Hopper (bass) and Pipp Pyle
(drums). Lemer
sounds a helluva lot like the late A. Gowen, plenty of
moog leads.
And Elton's playing is, as usual, top notch. And there's a
couple
tracks w/ Dave Stewart playing.
Well, I'm off now. Good luck with the digest.
Dave
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From: Rob Illingworth <ri001@netgates.co.uk>
Subject: back to the egg
Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 17:48:17 -0400 (EDT)
many thanx 4 "what's rattlin'"
i'll try and send you a review of the jan peter blegvad
gig
in the union chapel, london (if i can remember wot they
played!) john greaves and blegvad,k were in the line
up
byeee
ps i was amazed to see that hopper-tunity box is coming
out on cd- great stuff
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From: Nigel Cochrane <nigelc@essex.ac.uk>
Subject: In Cahoots concerts
Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 16:59:40 bst
In Cahoots gigs May 1996:
Sat. 25th Monkey's, Hermit House, Shenfield Road,
Brentwood, Essex.
Sun. 26th The Vortex, Stoke Newington, Church Street,
London.
Tues. 28th Boat Race, 170 East Road, Cambridge.
Thurs. 30th St. Mary's Art Centre, Colchester, Essex.
Information direct from "the Millers" yesterday.
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From: Bootsy7743@aol.com
Subject: (none)
Date: Tue, 7 May 1996 01:19:47 -0400
PLEASE SIGN ME UP FOR THE "what's rattling digest"
PLEASE GET CARAVAN TO TOUR THE U.S. AND PLAY A GIG IN NEW
YORK CITY !
GONG WAS HERE AND SOLD OUT BOTH SHOWS.
[By the way, it seems Caravan's acoustic CD is now out.
Anyone heard
it ? - A.L.]
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From: Nervos@aol.com
Subject: (none)
Date: Thu, 9 May 1996 16:07:44 -0400
I'm 40, been a Canterbury fan since the 1st Softs (who I
heard of cuz they
were opening for Hendrix). Arranged to have Caravan play
at my college's
Freshman Orientation Week in 9/74. Saw Caravan a few
times, Softs in '74,
Isotope with Hugh H, Caravan of Dreams. Ran a record store
in Berkeley in
'80-'81, where Daevid A did an impromtu poetry reading at
my urgings! Looking
forward to MORE WR!
best, GaryM
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From: DavAlbert@aol.com
Subject: Gong tour
Date: Fri, 10 May 1996 20:52:33 +0400
Hi everyone,
I was planning to do see Gong play in NYC in March, but
eventually
couldn't do it. Could anybody write about any of these
gigs ? I'd
like to know what happened, what material they played, how
they
made up for Tim Blake's absence, etc.
Thanks - David
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From: Lars.Ohlsson@megacom.se
Subject: Tribute
Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 14:53:11 +0100
There is one excellent band that never gets any mention is
the Swedish
progressive band Tribute. It's a band that was mainly
active in the mid-
80's, releasing two studios albums - "New Views" (1984)
and "Breaking
Barriers" (1986). For the latter they were joined by
ex-Gong drummer
Pierre Moerlen, who also played on the live album "The
Melody, The
Beat, The Heart" (1987).
Later, they split up and from 1989 onwards the band was
mainly Gideon
Andersson (keyboards, bass), the main composer, and
guests, including
his two sisters Lena (vocals/percussion) and Nina
(vocals/sax). They
did "Terra Incognita" (1991) and, as far as I know, plan
to release
the follow-up this year.
I think it would be fair to say that Tribute was heavily
influenced
by Mike Oldfield's music. The use of synths, lead guitar,
female vocals
and generally the very rich instrumentation is quite
reminiscent of
his best albums. When Moerlen joined, he'd just been a
member of the
Mike Oldfield touring band, so I guess that's where the
connection
happened. I think most people who liked Pierre Moerlen's
Gong circa
"Downwind" or "Time Is The Key" would love Tribute.
I understand Tribute's CD's have recently become available
again, after
being oop for some time. I particularly recommend "New
Views" and the
live album.
All the best,
Lasse
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From: Bruce_Martin@gatonet.st.au (Bruce Martin)
Subject: Reissues
Date: Sat, 11 May 1996 23:28:47 +0200
Please add me to your list:
Bruce_Martin@gatonet.st.au
I'm 27. I first got into Canterbury music when I was about
15. The first
C-record i heard was National health's of Queues and
CUres. Loved the
piece by J.Greaves. Got me into Henry Cow, Hatfield etc.
Too bad the
guys never come to Australia - never seen any of them in
person.
I have a question : could anyone give an update of Henry
Cow and
NAtional Health reissues. Are all the albums on CD now ?
Later, BRuce
[Let's hope there's someone from East Side Digital on the
list... They
are responsible for most of the reissues by those two
bands : the superb
National Health Complete double CD, which has all three
studio albums
plus two bonus tracks, and most of the Henry Cow albums,
though they
seem to lack the Henry Cow/Slapp Happy "Desperate
Straights" which I've
never seen on CD. Individual reissues of NH albums are
available from
Charly and Voiceprint in the UK. Anyone with more info is
welcome to
submit it - A.L.]
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END OF ISSUE #1
_________________________________________________________________________
WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?
- WHAT'S RATTLIN'
? - WHAT'S
RATTLIN' ?
_________________________________________________________________________
CALYX - The Canterbury Website
http://www.alpes-net.fr/~bigbang/calyx.html
Send all correspondence regarding 'CALYX' and 'WHAT'S
RATTLIN' ?' to :
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