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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - :: :: The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts :: :: Issue # 137 :: :: Thursday, August 19th, 1999 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: CuneiWay@aol.com Subject: Re: Sunship & live Delivery Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 17:47:40 EDT [In WR#136, Mal Humes" <mal2@mail.mal.net> wrote:]>As far as Sunship (Gowen, Muir, Holdsworth and ???), a few years ago I>asked Steve at Cuneiform to try to ask Alan's widow if there might be any>recordings. Steve said he'd pass the request through Hugh Hopper and I>never heard anything more about it, so I presume there are none or that >release of such is unlikely. I did ask Celia via Hugh, who told me that she has no such recordings. Apparently Laurie Baker does [just read about it myself WR #136!], but those are the only ones that have surfaced that I know of. >Not Gowen related, but I am also aware of a very interesting recording of>Delivery in 1971, all instrumental, that includes versions of Phil Miller>songs that showed up later in Matching Mole and/or Hatfield. The copy I>heard had fairly bad quality but amazes me because it hints at Matching>Mole, Hatfield and National Health and seems to predate them all, in an all>instrumental lineup showcasing Steve and Phil Miller. It seemed to>foreshadow National Health in choice of musical direction. I recall it>being quite different than the vocal oriented work with Carol Grimes and>I'd be happy to try to put Steve@Cuneiform in touch with a copy of this (or>further leads on the NH 1979 shows) to see if it's worth pursuing further>as an archival release. I really think it deserves to be heard by more>people and it is apparently also in circulation in some archival trading >collections. If it's what I think you are talking about, this is the Delivery "Tower Of London" show, which for years traded under the date of "1971", but we now know from Mike King's research that it was actually 7/21/72. I've heard this tape. The music is pretty good, & as Mal says, very interesting & definitely a taste towards Hatfield. But the sound is awful, & there is no reason to suere working on the Delivery CD & he gave us access to his archives, & it wasn't in there. So, this is an item that is definitely NOT releasable, unless a perfect, professionally recorded copy magically shows up. I'd just like to bring up a point that Aymeric brought up too; I don't want to spoil anyone's fun on this list - talking about "what if" & "what could be" is great fun, & it can actually serve a greater purpose and make things *eventually* happen. But unless you are a bootlegger, there are certain sonic & musical standards that must be maintained. Additionally, THE MUSICIANS have to want it to happen. Rights must be gotten - clearances obtained - photographers paid - blah, blah, blah. All the BORING things that make it a business - but that also make it possible. I and many others read the exchanges here with interest & amusement. But please don't expect there to suddenly be a series of 15 live Hatfield [or whoever] CDs. I just don't think it's very practical or likely to happen. Remember that patience is often rewarded - these things take time. One think slowly leads to another. The fact that we did Spaced & made the musicians happy with the presentation & contractual/money issues led to us being able to release Virtually. The fact that we were able to please the musicians again have led to Noisette. Maybe after Noisette there will be something else by the Softs on Cuneiform. Maybe not. You get the idea. We are always exploring avenues and talking to musicians, and working on ideas, & we have some REALLY exciting ideas & projects percolating around that I can't talk about at this time because they may or may not happen. But honestly, we are working very seriously on things that I think will interest readers of this list. Now, back to the all the fun "what if's" at hand.... Sincerely Steve/ Cuneiform ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Dan Cowan" <dcowan@az.com> Subject: Beat Instrumental Caravan article Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 15:09:16 -0700 Anybody out there with a collection of old "Beat Instrumental" magazines? I'm particularly interested in the issue from 1968-1969 (can't remember which) that included a two or three page article about Caravan, towards the back of the magazine. It's been years since I lost my copy, and I'd like to get another copy in good condition to add back to my small collection of B.I.'s. Thanks! ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: policy.office@mihra.org (Roger Bunn) Subject: Dick Crouch Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 22:15:52 +0100 WE ARE Sorry to hear about the death of Dick Crouch. Paz was a good band in that they had fun playing their music and were not like far too many "jazz" musicians these days, over self congratulationary. Also in regard to >PS: Watch out for Phil Manzaneras new CD it features Robert Wyatt on 8 >tracks, he even plays trumpet again ! (If only Phil could play guitar worth a damn huh?) This seems to prove a point. I have long suspected that our beloved Robert was not the man of integrity that his reputation cracked him up to be. In fact I find his lady, Alfreda of greater quality as a human being, and not as scared of putting higher objectives above personal reputation. As someone who was deeply involved with the era and the music. This is very Sad to see, but ghastly true... While such sentimentality covers the gross limitations of the present day.. As for the following? Dont waste your money. >"Harvest Festival" is a 5 CD boxed set in a 12" coffee table book>format, which includes around 120 pages of text and colourful>illustrations. The concept behind it is to celebrate the 30th anniversary>of Harvest records, which was in the UK, EMI Records' progressive music >label. Artists signed to EMI at the time who were moved onto, or signed directly to, Harvest at that time included Kevin Ayers (with and without the Whole World), Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett, Edgar Broughton, Deep Purple, Pete Brown (and his Battered Ornaments or Piblokto) and later (the tail end of) Soft Machine to name but a few. Thanks.. Roger Bunn ex PIBLOKTO Follow the appreciations of the Shan Democratic Union, film maker John Pilger, HH the Dalai Lama, The Free Burma Coalition, Dennis Skinner MP, Tony Benn MP, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, parliamentarians, Socialist Workers' Party, Dr and rugby star JPR Williams, sportspersons, Hendrix bassist Noel Redding, Abdullah Ibrahim, musicians, All Burma Students Democratic Organisation, All Burma Students Democratic Front, and numerous others. [All of the above is of course Roger's personal opinion. Perhaps it should be reminded that Roger was the original guitarist in Roxy Music, before David O'List, and then Phil Manzanera took over - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Craig Shropshire <v-dorje@ticnet.com> Subject: Archival Hatfield & Gilgamesh Date: Fri, 13 Aug 1999 01:51:56 -0500 >[In WR#135, twostools <utwo@twostools.com> asks:]>This is a general calling out to see if anyone knows of early Alan>Gowen recordings or involvement from "Assegai" or "Sunship" being >available? >How about live recordings of Gilgamesh (BBC Broadcasts?) or more live >Hatfield and National (aside from Missing Pieces). Well yes. I have an excellent Hatfield Top Gear show that was given to me by Rich Sinclair. Really superb! Much heavier sound than normally associated w/ the band. Someone needs to release it! (it features a hilarious "jingle" as well)... and also a N.Health live at Gasper`s in Chicago (I can't recall the date). Decent boot quality. There are *many* of these floating about. Trade lists abound... -Craig Shropshire ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Rich Williams <punkjazz@snet.net> Subject: Live Health/Archival releases in general Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 21:02:41 -0400 [In WR#136, Scott F <sdf@twostools.com> wrote:] >>The 1979 tour with the Alan Gowen lineup (with Pyle, Greaves, and Miller>too) release would be ideal in its novelty and historic value. The WXPN>broadcast in Philadelphia was a fine show as was the Boston (from Toad's?).>The 1979 4-piece lineup has a better potential market too - it's a stripped>down version of the band, also we think Alan Gowen's last tour, and it's>likely to have significantly different workings of the material than >anything on Missing Pieces. The 79 shows were what first caught my ear, and yes, there is quite a bit of great material there. The shows I'm aware of are: 11/5- Boston, The Modern Theatre, (not Toads which is in New Haven Ct) 11/6- Philadelphia The Hot club 11/7- Roslyn NY My Fathers Place (Broadcast by WLIR-FM)11/8 -Pennsylvania?? The Main Point?? Broadcast by ??? 11/11- Toronto Canada 11/30- New York City The Squat Theatre12/1- Hartford Ct. Trinity College(Broadcast by the schools radio sta) Obviously a big gap in there between the 11th and 30th, so There must be more. Highlights for me are an early version of "Seven Sisters" (yes, the tune on Pip Pyles new CD), and early proto-versions of Greaves compositions "Silence" and "The Rose Sob", but mostly they played on the material that later was recorded on DS al Coda, and one from "Before A Word is Said" as well as a few mid-period chestnuts. Gowen's playing on this tour was particularly inspiring - other thanKit Watkins, I've never heard anyone else get such an organic, human, expressive sound out of a minimoog. Another highlight was the addition of Peter Blegvad at the NYC show. There were more European shows after the US tour with Gowen, I know they played in Sweden in feb 80. [and Aymeric responded with some thoughtful comments that I generally agree with, except:]>It generally requires high studio costs to clean up the tapes, >remix them when possible, etc. The desktop digital audio revolution is here NOW! The kind of mixing/remastering/recovery jobs that we are discussing can now be done in software. On the same computer that can be used to create and format the artwork for a release quality CD package, on the same computer that can actually burn a limited run issue of CD's. It seems surprising to me that not many artists take advantage of the lower costs offered by these new technologies. A few months back, Chris Cutler seemed to encourage a dialog among the interested parties, in making these kinds of releases financially feasible for the artists, so if I can offer any technical assistance in these area's, that would help make this kind of thing possible, please e-mail me privately. Rich punkjazz@snet.net ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Roger Farbey <r.farbey@bda-dentistry.org.uk> Subject: Book Review Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 15:20:37 +0100 Hi, Here is a review of what I would consider to be an essential new book for serious Canterbury fans:- Innovations in British Jazz Volume One 1960-1980 John Wickes: Soundworld, 1999. UK 14.99 pounds. ISBN: 1-902440-01-3 Books like this appear once every twenty or thirty years. The last one like this I can remember of this calibre relevant to this music was Ian Carr's 'Music Outside'. This 300 plus page masterpiece covers just about everyone who was anyone in the jazz and jazz-rock world during the 1960s and 1970s. Importantly for Canterbury fans there is a lot of stuff here on all the key players. Apart from the obvious (Soft Machine and Nucleus) there are bits here about Caravan, Lol Coxhill, Elton Dean, Delivery, Gilgamesh, Egg, Gong, Alan Gowen, Hatfield and the North, Steve Hillage, Hugh Hopper, Isotope, National Health, Robert Wyatt, etc, etc. The list, as they say, is endless. Within the pages of this book is a large number of photographs, illustrations and over 150 album covers from that period including Gilgamesh, Isotope and Soft Machine amongst many others. An all-important factor in this book is the context in which these musical luminaries evolved. The Canterbury scene did not just appear, it was born out of the various musicians in the area playing music which was at least influenced by contemporary jazz. Very often Canterbury bands played contemporary jazz as an integral part of their sets (as with Soft Machine circa Third, Jimmy Hastings contributions to Caravan and Lol Coxhill's soprano sax in The Whole World). This book puts an essential perspective on the background to the Canterbury and contemporary jazz scenes and shows how inextricably interlinked many of the musicians from both genres became. Lol Coxhill, Elton Dean and Hugh Hopper are good examples of this Canterbury/contemporary jazz connection. As someone who remembers this period of music it is more than gratifying to read a book which so closely relates and recalls what was happening in the UK then. There are lots of things I had forgotten (the Jazz Centre Society gigs at St Katherine's Dock for example) and similarly lots of things I vaguely remember but thought I had imagined (such as Brotherhood of Breath albums on the now defunct RCA Neon label). Relevant chapters to Canterbury fans include 'Experimentalism in Rock' and 'UK Progressive Rock and Fusion in the 'Seventies' but there are loads of other nuggets scattered all over this indispensible book. Highly recommended. Available from good bookshops or from:- Soundworld Publishers 10 Baddow Road, Chelmsford, Essex, CM2 ODG United KingdomSend sterling bank draft and add another 2 pounds for postage. Alternatively you can contact the publisher by e-mail on: TTaylor228@aol.com Roger Farbey ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** FORTHCOMING CANTERBURY-RELATED CONCERTS ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [for more info : check out the 'Concerts' page of CALYX] http://www.alpes-net.fr/~bigbang/concerts.html ==> CARAVAN <============================================================ [P.Hastings-G.Richardson-D.Sinclair-R.Coughlan J.Leverton-D.Boyle-S.Bentall] Oct 01 - London, Astoria [+ special guests Annie Haslam/Michael Dunford] ==> DIDIER MALHERBE <==================================================== Didier's website: http://www.multimania.com/malherbedidier/ ==> BON <================================================================ [B.Lozaga-H.Rowe-V.Stevens] Aug 27 - Albany (NY), Valentines / Aug 28 - Waterbury (CT), Brass City Records / Aug 31 - New York City (NY), Knitting Factory / Sep 01 - Baltimore (MD), Café Tattoo / Sep 02 - Richmond (VA), Hole In The Wall / Sep 03 - Wilmington (NC), Bessies / Sep 04 - Chapel Hill (NC), Local 506 / Sep 05 - Raleigh (NC), Borders Books & Music / Sep 10 - Mt. Holly (NJ), Down To Earth / Sep 12 - Arlington (VA), Iota / Sep 24 - Cuyahoga Falls (OH), Borders Books and Music / Oct 01 - Philadelphia (PA), Upstairs At Nick's / Oct 02 - Wheaton (MD), Phantasmagoria ==> KEVIN AYERS / BELGIAN DATES <======================================== Aug 20 - Mechelen-Vismarkt, Dijlesfeesten Aug 22 - Wilrijk, Spytelinck Kasteel Sep 19 - Bornem, CC Info: BOOM! Bookings, phone: + 02 360 28 51 ==> GONG <=============================================================== Oct 15 - Glastonbury, Town Hall (+ 1/2 other UK dates - tba) / Oct 18 - Leverkusen (Germany), Jazz Tage (tbc) / Oct 20 - Nancy (France), Jazz Pulsations Festival [with Magma & Annie Whitehead 'Robert Wyatt Project'] ==> MAGICK BROTHERS <==================================================== [D.Allen-G.Clark-M.Robson] Aug 25 - Coalburn (Lanarkshire), Full Moon Camp [info: 01555-820-555] / Aug 29 - Hadron (Haute Loire) (France), Les Amis de L'Epouvantail Festival ==> PLANET GONG <======================================================== [D.Allen-S.Sharpstrings-K.Missile-S.Cassidy] Aug 26 - Edinburgh, Carlton Studios (Carlton Rd) [also: Steffe] ==> E.DEAN / H.HOPPER / K.TIPPETT / J.MARSHALL <========================= Sep 04 - Chemnitz (Germany), Augustusburg Castle Info: http://home.t-online.de/home/Olaf.Seidel/ ==> ANNIE WHITEHEAD / ROBERT WYATT PROJECT <============================= Oct 10 - Nottingham / Oct 20 - Nancy (France), Jazz Pulsations Festival [also Gong/Magma] / Nov 14 - London, Queen Elizabeth Hall This project will consist of Robert Wyatt compositions performed by a 10-piece band featuring Julie Tippetts (vocals), Ian Maidman (vocals/bass), Didier Malherbe (sax/fl), George Khan (sax), Harry Beckett (tpt), Jeanette Mason (kb), Liam Genockey (d) and Gazy Azuks (pc). Phil Manzanera (gtr) will also be appearing. Please note that Robert Wyatt *will not* be appearing, although he will be attending various rehearsals to lend his ideas and direction. ================================================================================================================================================== END OF ISSUE 137 _________________________________________________________________________ WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?_________________________________________________________________________ CALYX - The Canterbury Website http://www.alpes-net.fr/~bigbang/calyx.html THE ULTIMATE ONLINE CANTERBURY DISCOGRAPHY http://www.alpes-net.fr/~bigbang/cantdisco.html WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? BACK ISSUES - ONLINE ARCHIVE http://musart.co.uk/watrat/watrat.htm + search engine : http://musart.co.uk/ssearch.htm * 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 former and add the latter.* If you can no longer receive WR or don't want to anymore, don't forget to unsubscribe! (i.e. send me a message)* PLEASE SEND ME PHOTOCOPIES OF MAGAZINE ARTICLES, LYRICS TRANSCRIPTIONS etc.!!!(Contact me beforehand at my usual e-mail address <bigbang@alpes-net.fr>)_________________________________________________________________________