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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - :: :: The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts :: :: Issue # 28 :: :: Monday, October 28th, 1996 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: zolumbo@flinet.com (z) Subject: Re: question about r wyatt lyrics Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 12:21:17 -0500 [In WR#27 A. Leroy wrote:]>The song is called "Instant Pussy". It was recorded for a Top Gear session>on November 10th, 1969, and broadcast on November 29th. The info comes from >Mike King's "Wrong Movements" book. thank you for your reply.if your into trivia- the piano chord structure that wyatt used in the lastsection of instant pussy - is the same as turns up as the background pianochords on track 8 of the end of an ear cd- called 'to carla, marsha and caroline'. thanks again. zolumbo. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: sydster@ix.netcom.com (Syd Schwartz) Subject: Looking for live tapes Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 09:33:45 -0700 Hi- I am looking for some live Canterbury music. I have a handful ofCaravan, Hillage, Richard Sinclair, and National Health tapes to trade,as well as Yes, Zappa, Santana, Dregs, Ozric Tentacles, Grateful Deadand Phish (a band I highly recommend). Does anyone have any of thefollowing they'd be willing to trade? Finding the legit releases herein the U.S. is tough enough--live tapes have proven near impossible! Live Tape Want List: Khan Steve Hillage (Fish Rising or Green material) National Health Hatfield & the North Caravan (Grey & Pink and Waterloo Lily material) Thanx, Syd Schwartz sydster@ix.netcom.com [Concerning Caravan, I assume the "Waterloo Lily" has never been playedonstage by the lineup who recorded it. I remember Richard Sinclair tellingme he'd never played the title song since recording it. As for Khan live material, I'm afraid it's only a dream... or ?!? - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Phil Franks <philfran@mur.hnet.es> Subject: RE:Where is G.F. Fitzgerald? Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 19:39:14 +0100 [In WR#27 Steve Feigenbaum wrote :]> I have a friend who is trying to hunt down guitarist G.F. Fitzgerald> [Canterbury pedigree, if needed: (1) performed on Guitar Solos II (2) solo> album "Mouseproof" included reedman Lyn Dobson, of Soft Machine]. > > If anyone has any ideas or leads, please email me. I've been in contact with Steve F. and also with Gerry and hopefully Steve's friend and Gerry may have some interesting news for us all soon. I thought you may be amused by the only review at the time of release, to my knowledge, of MOUSEPROOF, written by myself after supper of Mexican Mushroom *OM*-lette. It wasn't indigestion but I certainly felt strange for a while. Soon to appear at "The Philm Freax Digital Archive" with my original photos of GFG also in ze pipeline a "Lady June" page et plus GONG! abbasinnyaall!! Phil/m -- Extract From Friends number 20 December 11 1970 (c) 1970-1996 Phil Franks DON'T COPY POST OR REDISTRIBUTE WITHOUT MY PERMISSION, OK? See my Disotherclaimer: http://sunsite.unc.edu/mal/MO/philm/disot.html RECORD REVIEWS MOUSEPROOF G.F. Fitzgerald Uni. UNLS 115 (MAB 2041) "The Self is a vast and seemingly intricate network Spun over a single bridge. The spans expand and intertwine in many lands. Over this bridge there is much coming and going.The centre strut is not fixed even though it holds the bridge together. The strut is here, is there, is everywhere." Many years ago, no doubt in the dead of night, some intrepid freak climbed fly-like up the walls of the defunct International Film Theatre in Westbourne Grove and pasted up a Poster which read "Mouseproof Is Music". Many times did I gaze fixidly from the top of a no.15 bus at the mysterious cat wearing shades, peering through the bars in the poster.And now the mystery is perceived; Mouseproof is an album by ace alchemist and cat-handler Gerry Fitzgerald, featuring some very notable little riffs by such famed performers as Lady June Campbell-Cramer on Etheopian Nose Harmonium and Cochise Brian Cole on Electric Hair slide and coal scuttle.Best track by far is one called "Factory Sample Not For Resale" obviously written to wobble the frontal lobes and tickle the medulla, it works too.Overall effect of the album is like crashing a car into a ditch on acid and then finding that you're unhurt, except for a broken finger nail, and that needed cutting anyway.Listening to Mouseproof the first time it's very easy to recognise traces of Zappa, Dylan, Bonzo Dog, Tod Dockstader and Capt. Beefheart. I listened to it a second time and began to find bits of Ray Connif, Sha-na-na, Mike and Sheila, Soft Machine, Charlton Athletic and some of that nice organic mescaline.But even after a dozen hearings its very difficult to try to describe the sound of your own mind snapping or one hand clapping,indeed, by beautiful music which took so much time and love to get together: "You are the fragrance that draws the bee to the Flower and you are the flower and the bee. You and you are like two indicators pointed in the extremes at moments of crises; from each point streams a vitalness in an opposite direction.From the Point whence the Points originate lies The Meaning.Do not differentiate the indicators; handle only, no situation is either a positive or a negative.There is no judgement anywhere; there is only the Handler who knows.Recall that you are the handler and you are not to be manhandled." Keep each other warm this winter. Phil Franks ---<--{(@ --~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "It appears the future will consist of the digitally remastered past" "The Philm Freax Digital Archive" http://sunsite.unc.edu/mal/MO/philm/ "Phil Franks in Spanish"..."Do you really wish to rebuild your desktop?" http://www.mur.hnet.es/uphm/phil/murhome.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Alex_Lippisch@mcdadv.com (Alex Lippisch) Subject: Gong Dreaming Date: Fri, 25 Oct 96 16:32:43 EST In response to WR#27: - Mark Panagos asks where to find a copy of "Gong Dreaming". It is available through GAS (Gong Appreciation Society) who published it. Their Web site is linked to www.musart.co.uk/, check it out, it is very cool! - Jeffrey S. Kamil,Yes you are right, the Squat Theater was in Manhattan. They had bleachers setup to sit on, it was very primitive and in a "not-so-good" section of Chelsea or Hell's Kitchen I believe. Best Regards, Alex Lippisch, Boston USA ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: dshaw@tiac.net (David G. Shaw) Subject: Re: Fred Chalenor Date: Fri, 25 Oct 1996 14:47:51 -0400 [From WR#27:]>Btw, the individual in question (who cannot get enough of this music)>is Fred Chalenor, an extremely talented professional bass player....>Perhaps some of you are familiar with some of the projects he's been >involved in, such as Wayne Horvitz's Pigpen.... >>[Fred is also known for his work in Caveman Shoestore and in particular>the "Caveman Hughscore" CD with Hugh Hopper from last year - AL] Don't forget Fred's brilliant work with Amy Denio, recording as the Tone Dogs (also featuring Matt "Soundgarden" Cameron). ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy) Subject: (story of a) million-selling record Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 10:41:21 (+0000) Hi all, As some of you may have seen, I have written new individual profiles of various Canterbury musicians, starting with Phil Miller, Hugh Hopper, Pip Pyle and John Greaves. These can of course be found on Calyx, and I hope to include many more in the near future. Please don't hesitate to send suggestions to make Calyx look nicer and what sections need to be amended. In order to write a complete bio of Dave Stewart, I have been searching through various sources of information, including Facelift issues, but I can't find anything documenting the making of Dave Stewart's hit single "What Becomes Of The Brokenhearted". Yet I remember reading about it somewhere. For instance, I remember Robert Wyatt turned down the offer to sing it, and Colin Blunstone eventually agreed to do it for nothing - after a few drinks... Can anyone tell me where this information comes from ? (Any press clippingsetc. about Stewart's post-Canterbury career would also be appreciated). Aymeric ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "Jim Ryan" <Jim_J_Ryan@msn.com> Subject: GONG ETC Date: Sat, 26 Oct 96 16:58:56 UT This is my first posting. Greetings to like-minded music fans. I saw Gong Tue,10 /22/96 in CHICAGO @ CUBBY BEAR. Incredible show featuring Radio GnomeTrilogy & Camemberet Electrique material and 1 shape shifter tune. They hadVarious merchandise, various cds. 3 t-shirts (shapeshifter, camembert and a pixie). lyric books pins & gongdreaming.The band appeared to be having an enjoyable time as well. Bloomido, Pip and Steffi were particularly impressive. Steffi's solo on Master Builder riff just blew me away. i've seen a lot of guitarists and I was in awe. If this is an indication of how a band like Gong is able to tour profitably (I hope), I think this could bode well for other related bands to tour u.s. I personally would like to see Ayers, Caravan, Hopper etc. Any thoughts on this. Bye now ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Jeff Oliver <100024.2461@CompuServe.com> Subject: Review : Stewart/Gaskin in London, Sept. 28th Date: 28 Oct 96 07:35:56 EST Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin played a rare UK gig on 28th September atLondon's Queen Elizabeth Hall. It was part of a day "organised" by UnknownPublic, which is an obscure magazine, which claims to be the "internationaljournal of creative music". The evening session had three acts and started 25minutes late. Firstly, a female cellist in black lycra pants sat and played solo, using two bows to get chords. The sound was akin to dragging a cat across a corrugated chalkboard, with occasional interruptions from a flatulent cow in a tin shed. Formless, yes; entertaining, no. Next came Stewart/Gaskin, plus Andy Reynolds on guitar. They did a fairly faultless set, with some covers, mainly DS compositions. They started off with a cover from their as-yet unfinished new album, arranged in characteristic DS style. This was such a well-known song that its name now escapes me but it got the set off to a great start. Then came "Henry and James", "The Cloths of Heaven" and other familiar DS/BG pieces. Dave did a solo section, with some tantalising snippets of an old Hatfield's tune in there. He really is master of midi with much of the set pre-programmed, including all percussion. His changes of setup between numbers were fairly seamless but the preparation work for a gig like this must have been very demanding. BG even added some keyboards at one point to good effect. They ended with "Subterranean Homesick Blues" (with BG using a bullhorn at the start, but that was probably the only thing that didn't really work effectively). Barbara Gaskin's characteristic voice has held up well. At first hearing you could believe it soft and husky, but it has power too and manages to sound great against Dave's layered keyboards. If I might add a slightly sexist note, she still looks great too. Andy's guitar was a little down in the mix (Ted Hayton) and so didn't always add what it was intended to. What I heard of it was workmanlike and appropriate. Despite the calls for encores at the end of their set, these were ignored. The compere insisted on a fifteen minute break, which extended to 25 minutes as the final band was set up. Two drummers, two keyboardists, one of whom was Django Bates, bass, sax (Ian Bellamy) and Billy Jenkins on guitar. They called themselves Billy Jenkins and the Voice of God Collective. The compere announced that this was a world premier of the piece. There were some pretentious notes in the programme about this including some covers of old songs. Having seen both Bates and Bellamy a couple of times with Bill Bruford's Earthworks I thought this might be interesting. Billy Jenkins was an old fart who, although a talented guitarist, mistakenly thought he was funny. He careered around the stage giving out pieces of paper to the musicians, ostensibly handing them the next piece of the score. In fact they played covers of daft songs (Mellow Yellow, some Bee-Gees thing etc) and then did some impro over them with comedic overtones. It was sort of amusing but clearly the musicians were having more fun than the audience. After 30 minutes, Billy said that there was a 10:30 curfew and stopped. A merciful end that makes me think that perhaps Jack Kavorkian should work in the music business. A sad waste of a very talented group of musicians. A strange event all round. From the applause of the (fairly small) audience, I believe that a two hour set from Stewart/Gaskin would have been greeted as a rather more entertaining evening. I hope that they decide to go on the road when the new CD is released - they are a class act and deserve a wider audience. Jeff Oliver ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Otherroad@aol.com Subject: Gong in Cleveland Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 11:10:20 -0500 Went to the Cleveland Gong concert on Friday. It was a real trippy event and a great time was had by all. Met with Shawn Ahearn and he gave me a copy of the forthcoming 'Shapeshifter +' album. I guess this has only been available as a fairly hard to find import before. Now it will be coming out domestically (USA that is) on Viceroy on November 10 I am told. The '+' refers to a 13 minute live track of 'Goddess Invocation/Om Riff.' If anyone would like to check this out, I've put up a soundbite for it in The Artist Shop <http://www.artist-shop.com>. From the home page, just follow the link to 'Ron's Picks.' If things work out as planned, Gong may soon be members of The Artist Shop, too. My fingers are crossed. Gary ************************************************************** Gary DavisThe Artist Shop The Other Roadhttp://www.artist-shop.com OtherRoad@aol.com SUPPORT THE INDEPENDENT ARTIST!!!************************************************************** ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy)Subject: Interview with Geoff Richardson, October 9th, 1996 Date: Sun, 27 Oct 1996 10:41:21 (+0000) The following is an excerpt from the interview I did with Geoff and Francois Ovide (known for his work with John Greaves among others) before a concert by French singer Renaud, in Voiron (France), three weeks ago. The whole interview (here translated to English) will appear on Calyx sometime soon. * * * * * * * * * * * * Q : Geoff, your role in Caravan has changed over the years. You were first hired as viola player, and then you started playing flute, guitar, writing your own compositions and even became the band's stage announcer. The latest Caravan album, "All Over You", was recorded almost entirely by you and Pye. Yet you've been constantly in and out of the band. Why ?A : Well, at the moment things are a bit complicated. They're going to play some gigs in England, and I'm over here in France touring with Renaud. I told Pye I couldn't drop this tour, we've got 40 concerts in the next couple of months, while the Caravan tour is only a handful of dates. That's too few. So Pye was very upset. But that's life. I've had to cancel six gigs with the Penguin Cafe Orchestra this year too. It's difficult, you know, cause I'm in Renaud's band. Now the people in Caravan, they all have proper jobs, and my job is professional musician. But we remain good friends, and I do hope I'll play some concerts with them next year. Q : What was the reason for your leaving Caravan for the first time, in 1978 ? Were you fed up with the music ?A: Oh no, not at all, it's just that the band was going downhill. I needed to do session work, in order to earn my living. And I also needed to widen my musical horizons. So I played on projects by John Perry, Mike Giles, etc. And in 1979 I started playing with Murray Head in France. Q : What do you think of the musical evolution of Caravan since, let's say, "Cunning Stunts", and the move from progressive rock to a more "commercial" style ?A : Well, that's Pye's struggle, you know. He wants to write more "poppy" songs to make more money. But in a way I don't feel that's the spirit of Caravan. The spirit of Caravan was to do these long, strange progressive things, in the spirit of the sixties and early seventies. Some of it is still there though, cause even though Pye thinks he writes great pop songs, they still have this unusual feeling to them Q : Why do you play so many different instruments ?A : Well, that's because I'm interested in instruments, I love them, I'm always buying new instruments. I think I play fourteen different instruments now. I've just started playing the cello. I've played it for five months. I've brought it with me in Paris and I even used it during a rehearsal with Renaud. Q : Viola was a rather unusual instrument for a rock band. I understand Caravan fans were initially skeptical...A : Oh yes, you know, as I said before I was seen as "the poor man's Jimmy Hastings" (laughs). It was hard in the beginning, but now there a nostalgia for the viola among Caravan fans, it's become part of the legend as well. Actually, I was playing violin originally. I was in a band called Red Acid at Winchester University and one day the drummer walked on my violin and destroyed it completely... So I went to music store, tried a viola, loved the sound and bought it. After I left the university, I went to live in Canterbury and met Pye Hastings. And Pye was interested to have an instrument like that in the band. Q : There's a strange coincidence I've noticed about Caravan : every time Richard Sinclair rejoins, you're out, and every time you rejoin, he steps out. Do you hate each other ?A : No, not at all... Er... In a nutshell I'd say that Richard and his cousin David don't get along very well at all. Richard is a sort of rebel, he always needs to do these difficult, sort of jazzy things. There's a conflict between him and Pye about that. Pye wants to do three-minute pop songs, and Richard wants to experiment. So there's a conflict... You know, we re-recorded "Golf Girl" for the "All Over You" CD, and Richard hated the idea, so we offered him to do the vocals himself. He told us it would be difficult for him to find time to do it, he was going to France for a week or something. But it was possible for him to do it, and he didn't. Maybe he's not well organized, that's all. Q : You released a solo album some time ago. Can you tell me more about it ?A : Yes, it's called "Viola Mon Amour". It came out on Voiceprint, a small record company in the North of England. There were plans with HTD, Caravan's current label, to relaunch it, but after all the problems with the dates, they cancelled it. Right now, I'm composing for "Viola Mon Amour 2"... Q : There's a strange song on "The Album" called "Clear Blue Sky", written and sung by you in a reggae style. How did the idea to do it come about ?A : Oh yes, it's... It was weird... It's my fault, excuse me ! (laughs) I don't mean it's bad, the lyrics are nice, but... It was a hard time for Caravan, you know, we were trying out all sorts of musical styles. At this point Caravan's popularity in England was very low. That was the time of punk and things like that. We thought maybe if we came back with a new style, different songs, in a more commercial direction, maybe it would sell again. But that's a wrong way of thinking, it doesn't work like that. You know, Pye's attempts at writing pop songs... For my own part, I miss the long songs with long solos, I love this sort of stuff now ! That's progressive, and it was an honour for me to be part of a progressive band from the sixties and seventies. I still love to play these songs. Q : Do you think Caravan will play them on the tour ?A : Oh yes, absolutely ! Actually, just before I started this tour with Renaud, I went to visit Pye in Canterbury and he showed me the setlist for the tour, and... My favourite songs were there, you know, "Nine Feet Underground", in a version that's very close to the one we used to do in 1973. At the time, we shortened it a bit, and when David Sinclair left, I even exchanged some solos with Jan Schelhaas, that was very exciting. I still have the scores to all those songs, and I'm ready to play them when the opportunity comes !... ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Richard Sinclair & Heather Kinnear Subject: Richard Sinclair US tour *CANCELLED* !!! Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 19:16:16 +0100 Dear Aymeric, A quick message ,as we are returning to Canterbury for a few days, tomorrow.As always, big THANKS for relaying the news, maintaining the "Canterbury" pages. It's great to see all the news, in one place. However, the 'Richard Sinclair Solo tour USA'- is being postponed untilApril/May 1997, when we hope to include some dates, on the East coast, too.The editor of 'Tone Clusters' magazine, Ken Egbert (NY) -will be helping onhis side of the country. And there is also some interest from Philadelphia... With The Demise of the Delta Pass... it means that we'll have to make travelarrangements by road this time, to play more than just the LA area... Please will you remove the USA stuff... USA Folks are invited to contact us directly, if they would like to run a concert,in their town. signing off for now... Best Wishes, Heather Kinnear. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ** FORTHCOMING CANTERBURY-RELATED CONCERTS ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * [for more info : check out the 'Concerts' page of CALYX - see URL below] CARAVAN / BRITISH TOUR[Pye Hastings-David Sinclair-Jim Leverton-Richard Coughlan-Jimmy Hastings]Oct 28 - Palace Theatre, Newark (Notts) (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 163671156]Oct 29 - Town Hall, High Wycombe (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 1494461000] Oct 30 - Pavillion, Bath (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 1225448860]Oct 31 - Astoria 2, London (w/Tony McPhee and In Cahoots) [tel : 1714340403]Nov 1 - Penytheol L.C., Swansea (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 1792897039]Nov 2 - Wulfrun Hall, Wolverhampton (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 1902312030]Nov 3 - Waterfront, Norwich (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 1603632717]Nov 4 - Assembly Halls, Royal Tunbridge Wells (w/Be Sharp) [tel : 189253207= 2] IN CAHOOTS / BRITISH CONCERT [Miller-Dean-Lemer-Dvorak-Baker-Pyle]Oct 31 - Astoria 2, London (opening for Caravan) [tel : 1714340403] GONG / EUROPEAN TOUR [Allen-Smyth-Malherbe-Sharpstrings-Howlett-Pyle] Nov 7 - Barog, Rotterdam, Netherlands Nov 8 - Noorderlicht, Tilberug, Netherlands Nov 10 - L'Abattoir, Lillier, France Nov 11 - Atelier, Bresse-sur-Grosne, France Nov 12 - MJC, Nice, France (TBC) Nov 13 - Genoa, Italy (venue TBC) Nov 14 - Totom, Vichenza, Italy Nov 15 - Novara (Nr Turin), Italy Nov 16 - Spilimbergo (Nr Turin), Italy Nov 19 - Nantes, France (venue TBC) Nov 20 - Marseille, France (venue TBC) Nov 21 - Paris (Bataclan), France Nov 22 - Aeronef, Lille, France Nov 23 - VK Club, Brussels, Belgium MARK HEWINS/HUGH HOPPER/VINCE CLARKE / ONE-OFF 'POWER TRIO' GIG Nov 12 - Whitstable MASHU / EUROPEAN TOUR[Mark Hewins-Hugh Hopper-Shyamal Maitra + special guest Elton Dean] Nov 26 - Brussels, Belgium Nov 29 - Die (Drome), France Nov 30 - Chez Jacky, Bresse-sur-Grosne, France MAGICK BROTHERS / EUROPEAN TOUR [Daevid Allen-Graham Clark-Mark Robson] Dec - UK and/or European tour (TBC) * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * END OF ISSUE #28 _________________________________________________________________________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' ? 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