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- WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?
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:: The Weekly
Digest for Canterbury Music
Addicts ::
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Issue #
13
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Sunday, July 21st,
1996
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[Note : this issue comes earlier than you may have
expected it - that's
because I'm going on holiday today, and I prefer not to
wait an extra
10 days before sending this to you - A.L.]
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From: "Jeffrey S. Kamil" <harryhat@wco.com>
Subject: Facelift
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 08:08:44 -0700 (PDT)
Where or how can issues of Facelift be obtained?
Jeff ("H the H")
[Thanks for giving me the opportunity to plug this
excellent publication
(this has nothing to do with the fact that they'll be
running my retros-
pective article on Pierre Moerlen in their next issue...).
FACELIFT is
edited by Phil Howitt since 1989, and he can be reached at
the following
address : 1 Erlington Ave., Manchester M16 OFN (U.K.);
Phil is about (...)
to publish the long-awaited 15th issue, which features,
apart from the
piece mentioned above, interviews with Phil Miller and
Bill McCormick,
a few new Mark Hewins tales, and the usual "tons of
reviews". This issue
will be available for £1.50 (UK), £1.80 (Europe) and £2;25
(elsewhere).
Back issues are also available : same price for issues
11-14, £1.OO/1.20/
1.50 for issues 1-10. Subscribing is of course the best
way to support
FACELIFT : a four-issue sub starting with the next issue
costs £7.50 (UK),
£9.30 (Europe) and £11.25 (elsewhere), payable by cheque,
postal order,
eurocheque or IMO (or cash in registered letter at your
own risk) - A.L.]
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From: cookie@cwconnect.ca (Julian Belanger)
Subject: SUBSCRIBER!
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 13:51:17 -0700
Hello,
I'm only 25 years of age and have been a huge fan of the
Canterbury
scene since I was 18 years old. I especially love The Soft
Machine, Matching
Mole, Gong, and Caravan(in that specific order). I haven't
heard Hatfield
And The North yet. I have heard Dave Stewart's work with
Bruford though.
It's too bad I feel alienated when I listen to the
Canterbury scene since
it's virtually unknown in my great country of CANADA! Then
again, I like it
that way.
I've turned on a couple of my good friends onto this
scene. They love
it!!! They really love the dirty sounding rustics coming
from those
Canterbury organs. It's great to have finally found a
homepage on this
great scene.
Thank you, JULIAN BELANGER
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From: ptlk@netcom.com (Peter T. Thelen)
Subject: Canterbury-like bands
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 96 19:18:15 PDT
Although not specifically associated with any of the well
known canterbury
bands, I think Minimum Vital has absorbed their share of
influence from
National Health, Hatfield, Caravan, etc - esp. on "Envol"
and "Les Saisons"
Also, I don't see mention of Kenso on the above list. If
ever there was a
band who operated in the shadow of National Health...
Also....Happy The Man?
Perigeo's "Genialogia"?
And some of the zeuhl guys like Zao, Rhesus O, Potemkine,
and even Magma
themselves on their first two albums exhibit some strong
Soft Machine-
like qualities. What do you think?
Peter
[The Rhesus O album - which features Jean-Pol Asseline and
Francis Moze
of Magma - has just been reissued by Musea. This is a nice
album in the
vein of "Third"-period Soft Machine. About Zao, I'd
compare "Shekina" ,with "Six"-era Softs, although the string
quartet makes it sound very
original at times. And of course the first two Zao albums
were very
influenced by "Third". Faton Cahen and Joel Dugrenot were
big SM fans
(SM=Soft Machine of course !...) - A.L.]
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From: "Lisa Shannon" <lisanico@access.digex.net>
Subject: various
Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 22:46:03 -0400 (EDT)
Hi everyone - yikes, it's hot here in suburban Washington,
DC, USA, even
though it's nearly 11:00 at night. I'm listening to
the Dog-Faced
Hermans.... But I digress....
> [There were two 801 albums : the first one was a live
album recorded at
> the Royal Albert Hall in London in sept. 1976. The
line-up was Manzanera,
> Brian Eno, Lloyd Watson (g), Francis Monkman (k),
Bill McCormick (b) and
> Simon Phillips (d). Then in the summer of '77, a
studio album was recorded
> with lots of guests (16) : "Listen Now !".
That's the one I was thinking of that I thought was too
poppy
& overproduced. I think that's the first record that I
ever sold within a
week of buying it!
> I do have a question though, regarding Dave Stewart.
Is there more than one
> Dave Stewart,
There are three - Hatfield Dave is Dave #1 or "real Dave,"
Eurythmics Dave
is Dave #2, and then a third guy is Dave #3. Someone
else
will no doubt post this as well, and they'll remember the
name of this
final Dave. This confusion was why I bought
Eurythmics' single "Belinda"
back when, thinking it was Hatfield Dave - I liked the
single, but boy it
sure wasn't Hatfield!
Thanks to Michael Bloom again for the great 801 Live
story. I always feel
like you're gathering the children for story-time when you
write these
descriptions: "Once upon a time there was this man
named Eno, and he..."
Signing off -- L.
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From: Jose.Douglas@turner.com
Subject: Dave Stewarts
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 07:59:26 -0400
Hi all,
In response to Bob's question about Dave Stewart,
There is only ONE Dave Stewart, the one that played with
Egg, Hatfield,
National Health, and now plays with Barb Gaskin.
You see, there was never such a band as "The Eurythmics".
People question
Dave Stewart whether he was the guitar player for "The
Eurythmics" all
the time. I e-mailed Dave a few months ago and asked him
just who where
"The Eurythmics" and below was his reply:
"There never was any such band as 'The Eurhythmics' - the
name was devised
by a sadistic English teacher from Blackburn as a spelling
test for his
class of 12 year-olds."
[You'll note that Dave made a spelling mistake himself,
which either proves
that his theory is valid, or that Dave is 12 years old...
- A.L.]
BTW, I've got SPIN (Stewart/Gaskin), and I just can't get
into it. I
guess I just don't like "Pop music for adults".
[Nobody would pretend their stuff is entirely satisfying
to people who
loved Dave's earlier, progressive work. I don't
understand, though, why
Dave has completely let down his instrumental work, save
for a few colla-
borations with Phil Miller. I notice this is the case with
a lot of keyboard
players that were "famous" in the 70's. Most of them are
reluctant to play
live or in band contexts. I'm thinking of people like
Eddie Jobson, Kit
Watkins etc. Probably keyboardists are the ones who have
the hardest time
playing in bad sonic and organisational conditions. Could
be the subject of
a discussion ? - A.L.]
Regarding my ordering of Phil Miller CD through Cuneiform
Records, I
had faxed my order to them. I'll try and re-fax again
shortly (Thanks
Steve).
[The mail-order run by Steve is called Wayside Music.
Cuneiform is the name
of their record label - A.L.]
Best,
Jose
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From: Julian Christou <christoj@plk.af.mil>
Subject: More of Where Are They Now?
Date: Fri, 19 Jul 1996 10:47:39 -0600 (MDT)
Hi group
Well I've been travelling and not been able to keep up
with the list for
a while. And also in a couple of weeks, I'm off to Germany
for about 5
months and I'm not sure what my access will be like from
there.
Anyway, as per the heading...
What ever happened to:
Dave McRae
- I consider him a Canterbury artist for his
work with
Matching Mole and also Nucleus. He also contributed
to some of Wyatt's solo stuff. Is he still around?
[A good opportunity to include more info on this great
keyboard player.
The following is taken from Ian Carr's book "Music
Outside" : "I find it
difficult to write about people who are currently fairly
closely associated
with me [the book was published in 1973], but I must say
something about the
two New Zealanders, Brian Smith and Dave MacRae. They are
both virtuosi and
complete masters of all aspects of improvisation [...].
Brian played in a
rock band in New Zealand with Dave MacRae until they both
went to Australia
where they met up with bassist Rick Laird (currently with
John McLaughlin's
Mahavishnu Orchestra), and all three of them played
together in a well-known
Australian rock band called the Bob Parris Combo [...]. In
Australia, Dave
worked as an arranger/producer for a record company
turning out half-a-dozen
pop singles a week, and he also wrote a jazz ballet which
was performed in
Melbourne by the American Dance Theatre. In 1969 he went
to the USA where he
worked for the next two years. He became involved with the
Los Angeles com-
munity played mostly with various kinds of experimental
bands, and he spent
a year on the road with the Buddy Rich Band touring US and
European festivals.
Rick Laird was the bass player in the band at that time.
Dave also played
with Duke Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie at the Monterey
Festival in 1970. He
arrived in England in the summer of 1971 and joined
Nucleus almost immedia-
tely. He brough a new dimension to the band, because he
has a thorough
understanding of electronics and their use in music. His
conception is
rooted in the jazz and rock tradition, but it is also
devastatingly origi-
nal"........... Dave MacRae went back to live in Australia
in the late 80's
and is currently living in Newport. I must confess I've
had his address
(given to me by Robert Wyatt) for some time, and planned
to do a written
interview with him, but I haven't done it yet. I feel it's
time now ! - A.L.]
Steve Cook
- More fringe Canterbury but he worked with the
Softs
and also with Mirage with Brian Godding & George Khan?
[Steve Cook's first work of note was on the second album
by the folk/prog
band C.M.U., a/k/a Contemporary Music Unit, in 1973. In
1974, he joined Gilgamesh, replacing Neil Murray for a few months.
Then he joined Barbara
Thompson (Jon Hiseman's wife) and her band Paraphernalia
in 1975. He also
started working with the Mike Westbrook Band around that
time. Then there
was of course Mirage, which he joined after Roger Sutton's
departure. He
joined Soft Machine in 1977. Most of his subsequent work
was with either
Thompson or Westbrook (he's played on countless albums by
Westbrook,
alongside Brian Godding and the like. He also played with
Soft Machine
at the last series of concerts by the band in London, in
1984, at which
point the line-up included... Dave MacRae ! Yes ! As for
his current
activities, the CMU booklet, written by Michael Heatley,
says : "Steve plays
very rarely but has his own company designing programmes
for computers".
That's the most up-to-date info I can offer. I seem to
remember Steve was
in Westbrook's band 6 or 7 years ago when I saw the "Off
Abbey Road" show.
I'm pretty positive Brian Godding, and possibly Alan
Wakeman, were in - A.L.]
Well that's all for now.
BTW, I love the discussions showing up here and the
contributions from
Aymeric and Steve@CuneiWay. Good work guys. Pity about the
NH release
being delayed ... C'est la vie.
Julian
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END OF ISSUE #13
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