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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - :::: The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts :: :: Issue # 14 :: :: Monday, July 29th, 1996 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (Aymeric Leroy) Subject: What I did on holiday Date: (not long before this was sent out) Hello everyone, It is not my habit (nor will it every be, at least until I rename this digest) of discussing my holiday activities... Yet, I did a few thingsthat are more or less related to WR and CALYX.I won't go into the details of meeting a Norwegian drummer who's formed a band called The Civil Surface and who's a Canterbury maniac...I'll just mention the fact that I attended two nights of the famed MIMI Festival, an event organised by former Etron Fou Leloublan (the French branch of the R.I.O. movement) bassist Ferdinand Richard in the southern French city of Arles. Performing were, among others, Doctor Nerve (an excellent, very intense, NYC-based band led by a mad guitarist called Nick Didkowsky - certainlyof interest to Canterbury fans IMHO) and Peter Blegvad/John Greaves/Chris Cutler.I interviewed the latter trio on Wednesday, July 24th. Unfortunately, the scheduled concert did not take place a few hours later, because of an unexpected rainfall which made it dangerous for the opening band to go onplaying. The gig was postponed to the following night, by which time I'd unfortunately gone on to pastures new (well, pavement I should rather say, as the city in question is Paris). I assume the gig's taken place...Anyway, as soon as I have the time, I'll transcribe the interview and send it out to you... I don't know whether it will be included in CALYX, I may as well offer it to the Henry Cow site (which is about to be updated at long last, according to David Crossen - and Chris Cutler, who told me hewas about to e-mail him some written material).Actually, I had the opportunity to talk with the trio in a more informal context just before the Doctor Nerve, as I'd spotted their faces in theaudience and came up to them. I mainly talked with John Greaves who, among other facts, revealed the following : - Pip Pyle is still working hard on his solo album, now with the help of Jakko Jackzsyk (hope I got it right). John told me he'd sang on one trackand made "noises" on another. The music is song-based. Completion is stillnot near, though John hopes to enlist the help of Jakko, a very professional artist,will make things a bit faster. According to John, Pip is "a perfectionist,maybe even a bit too much". - John contacted Robert Wyatt several times to appear at the (so far) only concert promoting his new album "Songs" in Paris (once reviewed by yours truly on CALYX), but Wyatt (not surprisingly) refused. John is still hoping, though. It may take an incredible amount of time getting Robert to do it, but John is certain he would enjoy doing it ("if we find a big enough drumset behind which he can hide, and if all the members of the audience are asked to wear black hoods" !). BTW, John told me a very funny (well, not really) anecdote about Robert's legendary stagefright. It was at the last Henry Cow/Wyatt concert of 1975 (of a series of three in London, Paris and Rome). When they played the last number, Robert went backstage, swearing he'd never appear on a stage again. But the crowd was cheering, demanding an encore. Robert didn't want to do it. Then came Richard Branson (head of Virgin, as all of you know). He grabbed the handles of Robert's wheelchair, and pushed him back to the stage... Just one of many Branson-related anecdotes ("most of the stories you hear about him, especially the real sordid ones, are certainly true", Chris Cutler told me after I'd told him how the Drury Lane concert had been organised - Branson phoning all the musicians saying Wyatt wanted them to play, then phoning Wyatt saying all these musicians want to do it so much... Well, that's it for now. More of this later, of course. A.L. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: cmeloche@julian.uwo.ca (Chris Meloche) Subject: Canterbury fans in Canada Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:01:34 -0400 (EDT) >From: cookie@cwconnect.ca (Julian Belanger):>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! I wonder where in Canada you're located. I'm in London, Ontario andvirtually every music fan that I know has Caravan, Soft Machine etc...albums in their collection. If not, they at least know about/have heardthem. A friend of mine in Guelph who owned a record shop always stocked (and sold) Caravan CDs. I've featured Caravan, Soft Machine etc... on my radio programme and mustsay that their music generates a great deal of postive feedback. People callsaying that they can't believe that I'm playing the stuff (as they rememberit well from their past) and others call because they hadn't heard it before and are blown away. Cheers, Chris cmeloche@julian.uwo.ca ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eliezer Kaplan <zelwel@earthlink.net> Subject: Elton Dean- Jazzman Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 08:19:23 -0700 (PDT) I've noticed precious little, make that no discussion anywhere of thenew Elton Dean CD on Cuneiform- 'Silent Knowledge'. This newsletter's beengoing on a bit about what's actually considered 'Canterbury music', but likemost good music it seems to defy categorization. Folks like Hopper, Miller,and Dean definitely have leanings to what the rest of the world might call'Jazz', and IMO have created some of the neatest stuff since the heyday ofthe AACM in the late 60's and early 70's. (That would be the Association forthe Advancement of Creative Music- the organization that started here inChicago that brought us folks like The Art Ensemble of Chicago, MuhalRichard Abrams, Anthony Braxton, Henry Threadgill, Douglas Ewart, Kahil El'Zabar, etc, etc, etc.) On a recent trip to the local Tower I found a disk by Dallas trumpeterDennis Gonzales. Dennis is apparently a big fan of the Dean Album'Boundaries' (which I've never seen, but would love to get my hands on), andwanted to have that particular Dean Quintet back him on a recording. He wasunable to get Marc Charig, but did manage to round up Dean, Keith Tippett,Louis Moholo, and Marcio Mattos (along with Rob Blakeslee and Kim Corbet),and they recorded 'Catechism (The Names We Are Known By)'- Music and Arts CD913. This is definitely worth tracking down, if you're a fan of Dean or Tippett. Of course, there's also 'Silent Knowledge'- Dean backed by SophiaDomancich, Paul Rogers, Paul Dunmall, and Tony Levin (the Mujician drummer,not the King Crimson bassist). This is a fabulous disk which bridges theCanterbury ethos with the Late Coltrane/Ayler/Sanders/AACM thing. It ain'tNational Health or Henry Cow, but it's definitely another side of so-called Canterbury music. And Gualchos (to use the American terminology) will kick your butt. EK ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: cmeloche@julian.uwo.ca (Chris Meloche) Subject: Steve Cook / CMU Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 10:04:34 -0400 (EDT) >[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. (snip) - A.L.] I hadn't heard the CMU recordings until recently when I got the See forMiles re-issue of their 2LPs on 1 CD (and featured it on my radioprogramme). Quite fine stuff and highly recommended! I hadn't realized the Canterbury connection. Cheers, Chris cmeloche@julian.uwo.ca ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Eric Rutten <Eric.Rutten@irisa.fr> Subject: Shiny Men Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 10:56:41 +0200 About Canterbury-like bands and albums, a group called The Shiny Men hasmade an LP called "Again!" LP, featuring RW on one song. It came out in1980 (or 81), and it is quite rare (and expensive :-|) because it is on aquite obscure sub-label of United Dairies, the highly-collectable label ofSteve Stappleton and Nurse With Wound. The music sounds a bit like a Rock-In-Opposition group, Henry Cow and that stuff, maybe also Hatfield andNational Health, but then transplanted in the beginning of the 80s. Eric Rutten ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: potts@stats.ox.ac.uk (Henry Potts) Subject: Dave Stewart x 4 Date: Mon, 22 Jul 96 13:44:09 BST There are *four* Dave Stewarts: "our" Dave Stewart of Eggfield Health etc.; the guitarist Dave Stewart, formerly of the Eurhythmics; the otherguitarist Dave Stewart, who played with Steve Hillage live (e.g. on _Open_AFAIR); and the drummer Dave Stewart, who has worked with Fish of late. Now, don't get confused because Dave Stewart and Dave Stewart have bothworked with Hillage, who put out an album called _Fish Rising_, but hasnothing to do with Fish, who has also worked with Steve Howe, who is bestknown from Yes, whose bassist, Chris Squire, is also known as 'the fish'and who put out an album entitled _Fish Out of Water_, the drummer onwhich, Bill Bruford, has worked with Dave Stewart. Simple really... Henry Potts ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: RKMk2k@aol.com Subject: Dave Stewart(s) Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 17:30:59 -0400 There are several Dave Stewarts I know of. One used to pitch for the OaklandA's; as I don't follow baseball much since the strike, I don't know if hestill does, nor do I care. Another Dave played keyboards and later guitar forEurythmics, and was later spotted fronting the Spiritual Cowboys. Yet anotheris the "Canterbury" Dave from Egg, Hatfield, National Health, Bruford, et al.This is also the same Dave who writes a very insightful (thoughself-referential) column for Keyboard magazine called Inside the Music. Hope this helps. Rick [I think this will be all for the Dave Stewart debate, OK ? We all knew there's only ONE from the start ! - A.L.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: RKMk2k@aol.com Subject: Stewart/Gaskin Date: Mon, 22 Jul 1996 18:02:48 -0400 Jose.Douglas@turner.com opines: :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". To which our moderator replies: :[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.] To which I add my two centimes: I liked Spin fine, for what it was, as long as I didn't compare it to The BigIdea. Then, I started waiting for the next Dave'n'Barb platter. I'll agree that keyboardists "are reluctant to play live or in band contexts"these days, especially those who were/are our heroes. I attribute it to several factors: (1) Punk. I'm sure most of us remember Dave Stewart's (yes, "our" Dave's)tale of woe about not being able to get a deal with Virgin Records from the liner notes to National Health Complete. (2) Producers and critics. Why is it that for some people, guitar solos maygo on and on and on interminably, but even eight bars of keyboard lead is too much? (3) Because KEYBOARD PLAYERS DON'T HAVE TO PLAY WITH OTHER MUSICIANS. A little thing called MIDI makes it possible for us keyboardists to emulate(with varying degrees of accuracy) an entire band, orchestra, ensemble, etc.Sure cuts down on overhead. What was it Robert Fripp was saying in themid-70s about the "small, intelligent, mobile unit"? (Where I come from, we just say "one-man band" and have done with it.) Flame on.... Rick ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Michael E. Perez" <m.perez14@genie.geis.com> Subject: subscribe Date: Fri, 26 Jul 1996 01:39:06 -0400 Please include me on your E-mailing list for What's Rattlin'.I can't wait to hear the old version of Pip Pyle's "Binoculars" (I forget the original title now) with Richard Sinclair singing.I heard it once before on a radio special. I hope that it's included in the collection. Thanks. Michael [This is not on the CD... Sorry ! They only include material that was notavailable in another version on an official album... Hence no "Binoculars" with Rich, and no "Brujo" with Broof ! - A.L.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (Aymeric Leroy) Subject: Missing Pieces Date: Mon, 29 Jul 1996 22:13:16 +0000 [Hi everyone,I returned from holiday today, and found a copy of "Missing Pieces" in my letterbox, courtesy of Steve Feigenbaum (thanks Steve).I have yet to listen to it a few more times to give it a proper review(although I know most of the material), but I thought you'd like to readthe following comments written by Dave Stewart about his former NH colleagues' current activities - A.L.] "As I write, Bill Bruford is on tour with a reformed King Crimson featuring the venerable Fripp, Adrian Belew, Tony Levin and some other blokes whose names temporarily elude me [note : Trey Gunn & Pat Mastelotto - A.L.]. Amanda Parsons, though more or less musically inactive, lives in apparent suburbian bliss in East Molesey, rock and roll capital of the South East, with ther TV technician husband Dave and two small male offspring. Phil Miller runs his own band In Cahoots (feat. Pip Pyle & Elton Dean) with a rod of iron, plays in a nifty duo with bassist Fred Baker, and is also one quarter of that ever-entertaining combo Short Wave (also feat. Pip Pyle, plus Didier Malherbe & Hugh Hopper). Pip Pyle, who still plays the drums like an octopus on amphetamine, can be found in most of Phil's musical aggregations, but lives in Paris, where he is putting the finishing touches (crash ! sproing !) to an epic solo album which, when released, will shake the world. John Greaves, recently married, also lives in Paris, and has released several high quality solo albums (the most recent of which feat. Robert Wyatt on vocals). Phil Lee occasionally plays the holy bebop with wind maestro (that's flute and sax, as opposed to the intestinal kind) Jimmy Hastings, and can occasionally be seen on stage at Ronnie Scott's club backing visiting American jazz singers... Oh God, there are so many of us ! Steve Hillage, having relegated guitar playing to the back burner (shame !) earns his living as a record producer, but performs with System 7, who play spacy computerised dance music. Alan Gowen died of leukaemia in 1981. Neil Murray (who does not appear on this CD) [note : is that a mistake ? He's supposed to play on the sept. 1976 recordings, by which time Campbell had left ! - A.L.] seems still to be involved with the high decibel, but by no means less skilled end of the music scene, appearing from time to time with the likes of Cozy Powell and David Coverdale. Mont (now Dick) Campbell has recently released an amazing multi-instrumental solo album called "Music From A Round Tower", which I urge you to buy, as it's one of the best things I've heard in years [note : is it really out yet ? The CD mentions it's out on ESD, (c) 1995, which I guess is wrong - A.L.]. And I, when not scribbling nonsense about bands I used to be in two hundred years ago, am up to my neck in keyboards, tape recorders, track sheets, vocal maps, guitar charts and all the rest of it, finishing off another album of pop music for grown-ups with my partner Barbara Gaskin" [...] Dave Stewart, London, October 1995 [Note about the booklet : it's full of typos, it doesn't look very nice (no effort made on the design at all, no photos), but maybe the final versions will be completely different. If it's not, it will certainly not be to the standard of the "Complete" box set which, as far as I'm concerned, is simply the best CD package ever made, from both a musical and informational point of view - A.L.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (WR) Subject: WR archive Date: Sun, 28 Jul 1996 10:31:12 +0900 [Following is a message Mark Hewins sent out to some of the subscribers of WR. Matt of the Musart site has gently devoted a few of his megabytes to back issues of the newsletter. So anyone with access to the WWW can now get the back issues without me having to do it for each individual request. It's the kind of thing that saves time... Anyway, over to you, Mark !] Hello Everyone..... Mark Hewins here today First of all let me apologise for this being a 'group' mail and not personal... It's the only way we could do it though!! Thanks so much for your continued support and interest in the Music and Musicians of the Canterbury school - whether they live in Canterbury or not! (I did; but I dont now!) Aymeric's fine on-liner is still going strong, thanks to you... Our friends! Musart Matt has now put some of the conversations you have been having in your e-mails on the web! Hope you dont mind your innermost passions being aired in public! If you object though; please send us the issue number and the name you would like to be excluded... There are three ways to it all 1....< http://musart.co.uk/watrat/watrat.htm > 2....< http://www.musart.co.uk/watrat/watrat.htm >3....< http://sonnet.co.uk/musart/watrat/watrat.htm > And; of course... Say hi....If you want.. < http://musart.co.uk/form1.htm > The WWWhello page. Here's hoping you all enjoy yourselves-all the time-Great Luck! P&L>M ################# Wassername the thingermebob ################# 300,000 hits since March '96! MUSART SOUTH LONDON & CANTERBURY WEBSERVER < http://musart.co.uk > ------------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF ISSUE #14 _________________________________________________________________________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 Send all correspondence regarding 'CALYX' and 'WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?' to : bigbang@alpes-net.fr_________________________________________________________________________