::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
  ::                                                              ::
  ::                     - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? -                    ::
  ::       The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts         ::
  ::                          Issue # 17                          ::
  ::                    Friday, August 23rd, 1996                 ::
  ::                                                              ::
  ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Allen Huotari" <allenh@smtpgate.tais.com>
Subject: Mike King's Top 10 Wants
Date: Wed, 14 Aug 96 14:18:45 PST

Hello

I'm posting this to the Canterbury group mind for Mike "Wrong Movements" King

Apologies if anyone thinks this to be an inappropriate use of WR resources
(but personally I think the posting of SHORT wants lists are a great use of
newsgroup space) [no problem for me - A.L.]

So here we go (and don't count too carefully)

        Michael Garrick "Homestretch Blues"
        Michael Garrick "Heart Is A Lotus"
        Alan Skidmore "Once Upon A Time"
        Alan Skidmore "TCB"
        Neil Ardley "Symphony of Amaranth"
        Graham Collier "Songs For My Father"
        Graham Collier "Mosaic"
        Henry Lowther "The Child's Song"
        Joe Harriott "Hum Dono"
        Mike Westbrook "Celebration"
        Mike Westbrook "Release"

These are fairly rare so MK is willing to pay at least $60 US (approx. $75
Canadian) per disc

If anyone out there is in possession of (or can obtain) these records please
respond to me (Allen Huotari) at

        allenh@smtpgate.tais.com

Please DO NOT respond to WR (in the interests of conserving bandwidth)

Again, my apologies if this posting is intrusive

(BTW I've been lurking on WR since issue #5 or so and am VERY happy with
the content so far...everyone keep up the interesting contributions! - ajh)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Michael Bloom <MHB@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
Subject: Hampton Grease Band
Date: Sat, 17 Aug 96 12:18:29 EDT

The marque on the Hampton Grease Band CD reissue is Shotput/Columbia,
so even if it doesn't regularly appear in our local shopping malls, it
will have the benefit of major label distribution. I dunno how it'll be
distributed in France, though. Shotput appears to be an indie belonging
to Glenn Phillips; at least, someone posted to r.m.p that he has a new
CD on Shotput.

Just to nitpick, when the albums were originally released, Waka/Jawaka
was credited to "Frank Zappa" (as befits a "sequel" to Hot Rats), but
Grand Wazoo was credited to the Mothers.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Aymeric Leroy (bigbang@alpes-net.fr)
Subject: Soft Machine on TV
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 96 22:53:58 +0000

I've just seen part of TV program about the good old "70's", and of course
there was a section on progressive rock. They started with Rick Wakeman
(always a good way to make the whole genre look ridiculous, although they
said his work with Yes was "much more interesting" than his solo career -
which is indeed quite true -), and showed bits of live performances by
Tangerine Dream, Guru Guru, Klaus Schulze, Genesis... and some things of
interest to Canterbury fans.

There was a brief snippet of a Soft Machine TV performance from ca. 1976,
and the interesting thing was that the bassist was none other than Percy
Jones ! So to the guy who asked if there was any recording available with
him, there you are. I'd seen another excerpt of that performance already,
but hadn't noticed the bass player wasn't Steve Cook. BTW, John Etheridge
could not be seen. Actually, I've only been able to spot Karl Jenkins'
hands (!) on his electric piano, and John Marshall playing a brief drum
solo (possibly cut). Too bad the excerpt was so brief (about 30 seconds) !

Then there was another sequence, about Mike Oldfield. It was a TV per-
formance of "Tubular Bells", with Oldfield playing bass. I guess this was
the promotional film that was used on Gong's 1974 tour between Robert
Wood's and Gong's performances. Probably most of you know about it, and
so do I theoretically, but when the camera slowly moved up from the piano
player's hands to his face, I was surprised to see... Mike Ratledge ! To
think that he played "Tubular Bells" at about the same time when Soft
Machine recorded "Seven" is really hard to believe. And I understand he
worked quite a bit with both Oldfield and David Bedford during this
period.

I have little hopes about the Soft Machine clip, but if the "Tubular Bells"
thing could eventually be released on video, that would be very nice. I
guess it has other nice performers (Steve Hillage, Chris Cutler ?...) as
well.

BTW, the film was a French documentary made for the European "cultural"
channel, Arte. The "prog" bit was short, almost immediately they switched
to "punk". That was the "rockethically correct" view of the history of
rock, as always. But I guess we have to be content with a few seconds of
our favourite musicians...

A. Leroy

P.S. : A couple of years ago, the Arte channel aired another music
program, this time featuring an interview with Robert Wyatt, and in
between parts of the interview there were [not advertisements, we're
in Europe here ! :)] excerpts from a Soft Machine gig from early 1970
(I can be specific cause you clearly see Lyn Dobson, yet it's not the
septet version). The sound and visual quality is just incredible. Wyatt
is sweating a lot, making strange noises with his mouth into the mike
that is plugged to an echo room or something. And of course Ratledge is
brilliant as he was at the time. All in all we have about 2 minutes of
this performance. The rest (probably an hour !) is in the vaults of
good-old ORTF (old name of French T.V. when it only had one, State-owned,
channel - not so long ago actually !

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Teatse Vogelaar <vogelaar@epsilon.nl>
Subject: some Canterbury matters
Date: Sun, 18 Aug 1996 22:09:34 +0200

Hello Aymeric

There are a few things I would like to mention [about the Harligen
Canterbury Event - A.L.] :

First: The Hopperband-drummer's name is Maarten Kruiswijk and not Martin as
I thought it was. My mistake.

Second: The so far unknown Dutch band will be *Stips*. This is a resurrection
of the Canterbury-like band Supersister from the 70's. When Supersister
stopped, Robert Jan Stips played several years in the band The Nits, which
was rather popular. Just a few months ago they decided to stop and Robert
Jan Stips formed the new band Stips. The 21st of september they will play in
public for the very first time and you might say this is the premiere.
Personnel: Robert Jan Stips keys and vocal, Roy Bakker skins and vocal and
Martin Bakker strings and vocal.

Third: The Richard Sinclair concerts which I gave (Oberhausen, Germany,
and Amsterdam) will not happen. Information comes directly from Richard.

Fourth: Richard keeps saying that the Caravan concert on the 19th of
september will also not happen. I checked the TIVOLI home page (your link)
and found nothing. [I also checked the link and the info on Caravan has
disappeared - A.L.]

Fifth: In the Canterbury Nachrichten no 31 is a lovely piece about Richard's
live thing in Harlingen in january '96. The photo Manfred [Bress, editor of
"C.N."] took for that article is excactly the spot were all this will happen.
He must have known !

Sixth: For the fans that come a long way to the concert there is *perhaps*
also the possibility to sleep on a charter-sailingship, that will be in the
harbour that night. As soon as things are sure I'll let you know.
Hear from you soon.

Bye, Teatse

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: Julian Belanger <cookie@cwconnect.ca>
Subject: Robert Wyatt - "Rock Bottom"
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 00:49:11 -0700

Hi to all fellow "hi-t moonweeders"!!! Does anyone out there know where
I could find "Rock Bottom" by Robert Wyatt on cd. I've gone to my local
retailers to track this sucker down, but none of them can find it. It's
usually listed in their distributor's catalogue, they just can't get an
order number for it. Is it even released on cd yet? If anyone knows,
please let me know. I can't even find it on the net! Aaarrrgh.

Thanks a whole lot,
Julian (from Canada)

[I for one am a bit surprised by this query - here in France, this is one
of the few Canterbury-related CD's that you're sure to find in ANY record
shop - it's widely considered as a classic by the general rock press - A.L.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy)
Subject: Pluggery - "Why Are We Sleeping ?" fanzine
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 1996 13:15:34 +0000

This is long overdue, but nobody's perfect and late is better than never,
so I'd like to mention the Kevin Ayers fanzine, "Why Are We Sleeping ?",
edited by WR-subscriber Martin Wakeling.

Here are details of the back issues' contents :

Issue 1 (Oct. 1992) - Sold Out
Kevin Ayers Story (Part 1 - The Wilde Flowers), A Tribute To Ollie Halsall,
'Still Life With Guitar' reviews and musician details, Colour of Love
details, gig reviews from UK, Japan, France and Germany, Lady June and
Windsong CD reviews, news and small ads. 28 pages, A4 format.

Issue 2 (Feb. 1993) - Sold Out
Archive cuttings (Softs '67 and Whole World), Kevin Ayers Story (Part 2),
1992 media roundup, concert reviews from Holland, Austria and France,
reviews of bootleg CD's 'Spanish Banana' and 'Sweet Dreamer', International
viewpoint and Frozen Moment, news and more. 28 pages, A4 format.

Issue 3 (July 1993) - Sold Out
News, extensive concert reviews from Europe and the States, Memories of
Ollie and a technical appraisal of his guitar playing, Kevin Ayers Story
(Part 3), exclusive interview with Kevin Ayers in Toronto, International
Anthem, Purple Jumper, Spotlight on Cover Versions, small ads etc. 28
pages, A4 format.

Issue 4 and 5 (double issue) (January 1994)
A special edition collating existing known data on Ayers' discography and
bibliography from 1965-93, together with a full index listing of song
titles and musicians from the same period. Listings of live tapes known to
be in circulation are also included. Video, work with other artists and
cover versions are represented. 74 pages, A5 format.

Issue 6 (Aug. 1994) - Sold Out
News, reviews, discography update, exclusive David Bedford interview, 'Joy
Of A Toy' special focus, 'lost' Ollie tape review, and more... 28 pages, A4
format.

Issue 7 (Feb. 1995)
Tour news, Gong 25th, Powerhaus and Picket reviews, Wizards of Twiddly
interview, exclusive Whole World material and pix from Holland 1970,
readers poll in depth results etc. 28 pages, A4 format.

The Awakening Of Kevin Ayers (Oct. 1995)
A special issue reprint of the Kevin Ayers story from previous issues for
readers who had missed earlier editions. 36 pages, A4 format.

Issue 8 (March 1996)</B><BR>
Concert reviews, Kevin Ayers story (Part 5), Kevin Ayers and the Whole
World chronology. 28 pages, A4 format.

****

For my money, the "Awakening Of Kevin Ayers" is particularly recommended.
It tells the story of Kevin Ayers' early solo career, covering the Whole
World period. It has lots of press clippings and is very well documented.

Regular issues mainly have concert reviews, interviews and old press
clippings. They are more for the diehard Kevin Ayers fans, although this
is very interesting reading anyway.

The double "discography" issue (4/5) is great in that it includes
personnel and recording details which are sometimes not even in the
records' credits. It's also a unique database on Kevin's musical
career.

For more information, Martin Wakeling can be reached by e-mail :
marwak@globalnet.co.uk

Subscription details :

A 3-issue subscription is suggested which costs :
3 Sterling pounds (UK)
3.60 Sterling pounds (Europe)
4.50 Sterling pounds (elsewhere)

Single issues can be bought for 1/1.20/1.50 Sterling pounds respectively.
All prices include postage (airmail abroad). Cash - sterling or equivalent
US dollars if preferred - should be sent recorded delivery to be safe.
UK cheques payable to Martin Wakeling please.

Contact address :
Martin Wakeling
112, Parkville Road
Withington
Manchester M20 4TZ
(England)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "Charles Nolan" <YESmanONradio@msn.com>
Subject: Caravan on the air!
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 96 03:00:17 UT

Hi,
I recently returned from London and, sadly, while we were there,
we had to cancel our train trip to Canterbury, due to lack of time!
I walked by the Astoria in the west end while I was there, and thought it
would take a miracle to get back to that location again in time for the
Caravan show that's supposed to be held there in a couple of months!

Anyway, in honor of the release of Caravan's "Cunning Stunts" (all-time
great tongue-in-cheek album names !), we played the entire "Dabsong Conshir-
toe", on WBZC 88.9fm (Pemberton, N.J) A lot was going on during that show.
We introduced a new prog band Finneus Gauge on the show, plus we got a
call from Trey Gunn of King Crimson, so we could not elaborate on Caravan's
music, but we will when we play "Better By Far" in a month.

I have been collecting some of the "live" stuff that you probably have had,
but I just recently purchased a CD called "Caravan,BBC,1969-73", and it is
just terriffic! I love the track,"Feelin', Reelin', Squeelin'" !
        cheers,
        Charlie Nolan

["F.R.S." is of course a cover of the B-side of Soft Machine's first (and
only) single, "Love Makes Sweet Music". This song suits Caravan very well
as there is the same sort of contrast between Richard Sinclair's and Pye
Hastings' voices and between Ayers' and Wyatt's. They used to do this song
a lot in their early gigs, it seems - A.L.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: "James L. Kirchmer" <jamesk@jamesk.seanet.com>
Subject: Soft Machine homepage / etc...
Date: Tue, 20 Aug 1996 01:51:47 -0700

Hello there -

I am writing to you because I am searching the universe for Soft Machine
tapes from the '73 to '76 period (after Hugh Hopper left and Mr.
Babbington came on for bass duties).
I am searching for rare and/or live tapes of this period, and since you
have "curated" a nice ol' homepage for the band, I thought I'd ask you
if you had any or might be able to point the way to them (perhaps on
unauthorized compact discs?)

BTW, I am searching for these tapes as a favor for the amazing bassist
Fred Chalenor, who is an associate of Hugh Hopper (has even recorded an
album with him - called Caveman Hughstore, I believe.....and may record
more with him.....of course......)

thanks for your time - and any suggestions you may have....
James Kirchmer <jamesk@jamesk.seanet.com>, Seattle, WA, USA

[I'm not a bootleg specialist, but I for one have a bootleg CD of Soft
Machine which I recently received as a gift (thanks again, Hiroshi !),
it's called "Hazard Profile" and as the title suggests it's from the
"Bundles" period, and has all the tracks from that album. The sound
quality is OK. Too bad there are no unreleased tracks or reworkings of
previous works ! Is anyone aware of other bootlegs of note ?
BTW, The band is Caveman Shoestore and Hugh Hopper, the record's title
is "Caveman Hughscore" - A.L.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: fenechd@charon.stm.com (David Fenech)
Subject: COS - never heard about them !
Date: Mon, 19 Aug 96 16:55:04 +0200

Hello everybody

> From: Michael Bloom <MHB@MITVMA.MIT.EDU>
> Subject: Bands that sound like...
> Date: Fri, 05 Jul 96 19:34:50 EDT
>
> The first Aqsak Maboul album, "Onze Danses pour Combattre la Migraine", has
> some remarkably Hatfieldish parts. So does the one record I've heard by a
> group called Cos, which was Marc Hollander's band before he formed Aqsak.
> Amusingly, once Aqsak acquired some genuine Canterbury blood (Fred Frith
> and Chris Cutler play on "Un Peu de l'Ame des Bandits"), they no longer
> sounded anything like it. (Hollander later played keyboards for the Art
> Bears tour.)

Does anyone here have more details on the Marc Hollander discography ?

I'd never heard about COS, but I would be very interested in knowing
who played in this band. Is this record still available or reissued ?

[Moderator replies :]

Here's what I have in my personal database :

Discography:

Postaeolian Train Robbery (1975, IBC / 1990, Musea)
Viva Bomma (1977, IBC / 1996, Musea)
Babel (1979, IBC)
Swiss Chalet (1981, IBC)
Passions (1983, BOOTS)

Personnel :
Pascale Son (v)
Daniel Schell (g/fl/comp)
Dirk Bogaerte (fl/v)    1979
Charles Loos (kb)       1975
Marc Hollander (kb/bcl) 1977-79
Alain Goutier (b)       1975
Mutsari (b)     1981
Robert Dartsch (d)      1975-77
Philippe Allaert (d)    1979-81
Guy Lonneux (d) 1981
Steve Leduc (pc)        1975

[Note : the reissue of "Viva Bomma" is scheduled for this Autumn]

So as you see, Hollander was not in Cos from the beginning. From what I
can gather, the band broke up after the first album, and only founders
Son and Schell remained as permanent members thereafter.

Hollander's main activities were as leader/keyboardist of Aksak Maboul :

AKSAK MABOUL :
"Onze Danses Pour Combattre La Migraine" (1977, Kamikaze)
(feat. Geoff Leigh, Michel Berckmans, Denis Van Hecke, Guigou Chenevier,
Marc Moulin, Frank Wuyts and Vincent Kenis)

AQSAK MABOUL :
"Un Peu De L'Ame Des Bandits" (1979, Atem)
(feat. Fred Frith, Chris Cutler, Michel Berckmans, Denis Van Hecke, Frank
Wuyts and Catherine Jauniaux)

I don't have any info on Hollander's other activities handy, but I guess
there may be more info in "La Discographie Du Rock Francais" (published
by Musea).

[End of moderator's reply]

Thanks in advance.

david fenech, one-man-band

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy)
Subject: Forthcoming releases
Date: Wed, 21 Aug 1996 20:54:15 +0000

I've just received Cuneiform's list of new releases for september.
This includes :

Soft Machine - "Spaced" (unreleased recordings from 1969, see previous WR
issues)

and also :

The Muffins - "<185>" (reissue of the final album by this legendary U.S.
avant-rock/Canterbury band. Produced by Fred Frith, this has been out of
print for 10 years, and includes seven bonus tracks)

Present - "Live" (from the 1995 reformation tour by this legendary Univers
Zero spinoff band which includes Roger Trigaux and Daniel Denis - not
really Canterbury, but very recommended).

For more info, check out their website :
http://members.aol.com/Cuneiform2/cuneiform.html

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy)
Subject: Henry Cow "Concerts"
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 1996 12:48:10 +0000

I was reading some old WR issues, and came across an old question of mine
in WR#6 :

>Another mystery is why there's not more Wyatt material from the Wyatt/Cow
>tour of 1975 included in the reissue of Henry Cow's "Concerts" ???

Well, I asked Chris Cutler and John Greaves when I met them, and they told
me that they'd used everything that was listenable... The rest of the tapes
just sound awful. So... no copyright problems or similar things.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: lolorec@aol.com (LoLo Records)
Newsgroups: rec.music.progressive
Subject: Bon live show dates
Date: 22 Aug 1996 04:29:32 -0400

LoLo Records presents : BON
Bon Lozaga ~ guitar ~ Hansford Rowe ~ bass ~ Vic Stevens ~ drums

Sept. 14 ~ Orion Studios  with BOUD DEUN/SOLARIS GUTAR TRIO
                  2903 Whittington Ave.  Baltimore, Md. 410-646-7334
Sept. 20 ~ Middle East   with BOUD DEUN/ GENO WHITE
                 126 Chestnut Ave.  Phila, Pa. 215-922-1003
Sept. 21 ~ Down to Earth   with BOUD DEUN
                  82 High Street   Mt. Holly, N.J. 609-265-9135
Sept. 25 ~ Cafe Tattoo   with GENO WHITE
                  4825 Belair Rd.  Baltimore, Md. 410-325-7427
Sept. 26 ~ The Saint   with Geno White
                  601 Main St.  Asbury Park, N.J. 908-775-9144
Sept. 27 ~ Iota   with BOUD DEUN
                 2832 Wilson Blvd.  Arlington Va. 703-522-8340
Sept. 28 ~ D&S Coffehouse with BOUD DEUN
                  49 Lee St.  Warrenton, Va. 540-347-7484
Oct. 4 ~     Middle East   with Mastermind/ Finneus Gauge
0002000009690001BB6A963,
Bon Lozaga will also be doing a solo show at Progday, Sept. 1.

More shows to be announced later.

Check out Bons' new release "To The Bone" with special guests David Torn,
Geno White, and Caryn Lin. Available now!

Also the new Gongzilla release "Thrive" (with Bon, Hansford Rowe, Benoit
Moerlen, Gary Husband, and David Torn) will be released in early Oct.

Check your local record store or mail order direct from LoLo Records,
Tower Records at 1-800-648-4844, or The Artist Shop at
http://www.artist-shop.com

e-mail lolorec@aol.com for more info.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: (Bill MacCormick)
Subject: Re: various
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 96 22:16 BST-1

[I was recently contacted by Bill MacCormick. He'd seen the website and
sent me a nice note about it. I took the opportunity of asking him a few
more details about what he's been doing since he left Random Hold in the
early 80's. Following are his comments and answers to a posting from a
past issue of WR - A.L.]

> this other guy who sang lead and played rhythm guitar and a little
> slide.

Lloyd Watson.

Somewhere I probably still have the tapes from the pre-gig rehearsals at
Shepperton.   We did a version of another Eno piece (off "Another Green
World") which is the only number from the Queen Elizabeth Hall concert not
yet released.  We had rehearsed a version of 'Mother Whale Eyeless' that
we didn't play for some reason.  I remember the rehearsal versions of it
fondly.   Phil (and I) also have the tapes of a another live concert
(Manchester University 1977) with 801 MkII (to promote 'Listen Now').  It
had guest appearances from Andy Mackay, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme etc.
Wasn't very good quality - though 24 track.

> Charles Hayward from Quiet Sun subsequently made brilliant records with
> This Heat

What has happened to Charles?  Haven't seen him for years!

[Charles has been gigging a lot with the drum trio Les Batteries. I think
this has Rick Brown and Guigou Chenevier also - A.L.]

>Bill MacCormick joined Random Hold, a group I never liked very much
>(they bored me to tears when they opened for Peter Gabriel circa "Games
>Without Frontiers").

Shame 'bout that.   I rather liked it myself :-) though it's true to say
that the demos we produced ourselves before signing for Polydor and after
we were dropped are much better than the album we did release. Amazingly
I found the band mentioned in a newsgroup only last month. Bizarre.

> I have never heard of anything else keyboardist Dave Jarrett did.

He became a Maths professor, I think.

>[And whatever became of MacCormick after Random Hold ? Facelift supposedly
>has an interview with him coming up, so let's wait... - A.L.]

Yeah, I'm waiting too.  I was promised a copy of the magazine months ago!

What did I do?  Got in to politics.   Worked for the Liberal Party
organising elections.  Left in 1989 and I'm now a director of a market
research company (!?) that, amongst other things does all the Liberal
Democrats research.   I'm a local councillor, daddy, balding, fat(ish),
blah, blah.

Regards,

Bill

P.S. Some day someone will find out whether Dutch Radio (Hilversum) still
have the tape of the Matching Mole gig at the Paradiso c. Feb 1972 with
both Dave Sinclair and Dave Macrae.  Now that I would like to hear again!

[If anyone has questions and queries to Bill MacCormick, I can forward
them to him, although he has preferred that I not mention his e-mail
address - A.L.]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

From: (Dave Stewart)
Subject: Stewart/Gaskin etc.
Date: Thu, 22 Aug 96 15:35:42 -0700

Dear Aymeric,

       Congratulations on your nice Canterbury web pages. It's good to
see accurate text without all the usual dumb spelling mistakes.
       [...]
       Barbara and I are playing a live gig in London (Queen Elizabeth Hall) on Saturday September 28th. For technical reasons, we're on first (about
8.30 pm). Tickets can be booked on (44) (0)171 960 4242. Of course, we don't play Canterbury-style music, but if you feel our pop music for grown-ups is relevant to your site, we would appreciate you mentioning the concert!

                     Thanks, best wishes from

                           Dave Stewart

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

                            END OF ISSUE #17

_________________________________________________________________________
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

_________________________________________________________________________