WR

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - :: :: The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts :: :: Issue # 42 :: :: Thursday, February 20th, 1997 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: SAhearn777@aol.com Subject: Pangea Music / Progfest'97 Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 19:53:16 -0500 (EST) Hello, This message comes from Shawn Ahearn President of Pangea Music in LA. Amongstother things our company manages Gong and Brand X, as well as having recentlyformed our own progressive rock based record label Outer Music. We will be releasing a slew of great progressive titles in the upcoming year through a variety of key international distributors. This will help to make this type of music more readily accessible to the average fan. We will also be holding the fourth annual International Progressive Music Festival "Progfest '97" at the Variety Arts downtown L.A. Ca. on May 16-17-18. This year promises to be the best progressive music festival ever! Confirmed bands include; Roine Stolt and The Flower Kings (Sweden), Le Orme (Italy), Collage (Poland), Spock's Beard (USA), Ritual and Sinkadus (two great young bands also from Sweden) we are also negotiating with John Wetton to perform King Crimson and U.K. classics and an apperance by I.Q.Other potential performers include; Amon Dull 2, Magma, Arena and Pierre Moerlen's Gong/Shamal band (yes it's possible). Anyway, although it's not purely a Canterbury fest it is progressive music and deserving of support from Canterbury fans. So please stay tuned, spread the word and come to L.A. if you can. Information will be posted everywhere on the net soon. Thanks for the news and keep up the work. Feel free to contact me if you'd like more info or input. I'll be in touch. Shawn Ahearn ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Gibraltar <gib@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu>Subject: Additional Progfest'97 info (from Gibraltar V7#03, 16/02/97) Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 16:44:15 -0600 >From Alex (a co-promoter of ProgFest '97) We're tryin to have John Wetton, but he has the same keyboard player as IQ,and IQ is booked for a gig in UK in may 17th. Wetton is not confirmed yet. Roine Stolt anh The Flower Kings - confirmed Ritual - confirmed Sinkadus - confirmed Spock's Beard - confirmed Le Orme - confirmed Collage, Arena, IQ, J.Wetton, Drama - still working Please keep in touch. Hope to have everything confirmed next week . This will be the best Progfest ever!!!!! Prog regards Alex (mribeiro@westworld.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "James Tonsager" <jtons@minn.net> Subject: Grits Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 20:53:21 -0600 I agree with you completely. I just got the cd from Wayside and it is truly great. James. -- James Tonsager jtons@minn.net jtons@aol.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Fastian@aol.com Subject: Dennis Gonzales, Hatfield, Health Date: Sat, 15 Feb 1997 22:21:59 -0500 (EST) Hello to everyone, The Gonzales cd mentioned in the previous posting is "Catechism" recently reissued on the Music and Arts label. It has great playing by Tippett, Dean,Mattos, and Moholo. This is the band Dean had during the "Boundaries" period. After Gonzales heard that recording, he wanted to play with the musicians (acc. to the liner notes). This is a great record that also has some kwela sounding pieces that Gonzales said was inspired by Dudu Pukwana. I recently got the new National Health "Missing Pieces" which of course is great. Stewart's kbd work sounds a lot like what he was doing with Egg than later on. I would rate this as not as good as the 1st two records, but much better than the 3rd. Finally, I bought from Richard Sinclair (at a solo show) a cassette of Hatfield and the North recorded from radio broadcasts. Does anyone else have this? Side 1 has a "Sounds of the 70's" show from '73 that includes "Nan's True Hole" and side 2 has a "Top Gear" show from '74 which includes "Aigrette", a great song I never heard before. Packaging is not the best,side 1 ends early and you have to switch it over at that spot to avoid tons of dead space at the start of side 2. I would still say it is a must have. Cheers, John Threadgould [I think the track you're referring to as "Aigrette" - which is actually a track from Hatfield's first album - is actually "Finesse Is For Fairies" - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: CuneiWay@aol.com Subject: high school memorization Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 08:34:13 -0500 (EST) [In WR#41, Gregg Westgate <MelGreg@macconnect.com> wrote :] >I would also like to mention to Steve at Wayside that during my high school>years, my friends and I would memorize Wayside catalogs every time they>were updated. Thanks for the virtual education!!! If only WR was around >then! At the risk of dating myself, dare I ask how long ago your "high school years" were? To change the subject slightly, when I was in H.S. (1973-75), & for a few years after, there was a lot of info around about "this type of music" via radio, concerts, etc. I saw actual "legends" such as Daevid Allen at the Zu-fest in late '78, National Health in late '79, Yochko Seffer, Frith solo, Etron Fou in '79 & some others [not even counting my trip to London in '77, where I saw Henry Cow [with Etron Fou opening] twice, Hopper/Dean/Tippett /Gallivan at a tiny bar [where I managed to spill a beer on Julie Tippetts -- oooops!], Lol Coxhill with The Dave Green 4tet, & other non Canterbury related acts. And of course, there were all the concerts by all the great locals like Grits[who Aymeric generously classifies as Canterbury related, even though I know for a fact that they didn't listen to Canterbury music - or really any "progressive rock of ANY kind] & The Muffins [who most certainly DID listen to this kind of music], as well as Happy The Man [magnificent] & However & many others [not necessarily Canterbury, but swell all the same]. It seemed to all stop pretty dead [with few exceptions] around the beginning of the 80's - can I blame Reagan for that? :-) I guess my point is that I don't know what's going on here or why, but there seems to a BIG resurgence in the availability of information *as well as* the music itself. Information can certainly be traced to the net & all it's permutations. The music itself being available can be traced to....???? Obviously there are labels making this stuff available [I take a large bow, as should many others], but suddenly there are opportunities to actually SEE music live. In the past, other than the occasional Victoriaville festival, Knitting Factory gig or large, not so interesting acts [Asia, anyone? - and NO, I didn't go], there was nothing local to see. Now, in the last two years I have seen shows in DC or Baltimore by numerous great or very good bands: Bon solo & with his trio, Boud Deun [a *local* good music band! what a concept!], Volare [great, really young, Hatfield like band], the Gong US tour [twice!], Miriodor, Blast, Rattlemouth, French TV, Echolyn, Deus Ex Macchina, etc. etc. etc. And this is just the last two years, & the ones I was able to attend & can think of. I don't know why it's happening, but it's a good thing! And it makes me VERY glad. Is this happening elsewhere? Or is DC/Baltimore [more Baltimore] just starting to blossom again? Steve ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: LARRYNORK@aol.com Subject: Caravan 1st Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 10:13:47 -0500 (EST) Can you tell me how I might find the first Caravan album now on CD? Where can I order it? Your cooperation is appreciated. LarryNork@aol.com ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: sid smith <106050.2211@compuserve.com> Subject: Robert Fripp & Matching Mole Date: Sun, 16 Feb 1997 11:20:14 -0500 Hello Rattler's, Things on Elephant talk - the King Crimson digest - are pretty interesting at the moment with Robert Fripp responding to all manner of posts personally. I'd posted off a quote by Bill McCormick from the RW Wrong Movements book about Fripp producing Matching Moles second album : "Having Robert Fripp as the producer was an absolute disaster, if only for the reason he reduced Phil Miller (Mole's guitarist) to a quivering wreck so that he could barely move his fingers. It was a bit difficult for Phil anyway who held Fripp in some high regard. I got along with him perfectly fine but then again I didn't feel particularly threatened. There was some distinct tension and the end product being certain takes of things that we would have like to have used, which had a good feel to them, were not used because Fripp refused to allow them to be used. It got to that stage. It seemed like a good idea at the time but it turned out not to be." I posted this without comment really just for people's information. You canimagine my suprise when Fripp posted the following response: Sid: In Wrong Movements (the excellent hisory of Robert Wyatt by Mike King) Bassist Bill MacCormack remembers the Fripp produced sessions for Matching Moles Little Red Record. "Having Robert Fripp as the producer was an absolute disaster, if only for the reason he reduced Phil Miller ( Moles guitarist) to a quivering wreck so that he could barely move his fingers"... RF: Often interviewers, writers, journalists ask me questions about the famous people I've worked for / with; e.g. biographies of Bowie and Gabriel. I decline to comment, on the grounds that these relationships while professional are also inevitably personal, and include private moments. So, although I wouldn't like to change anyone's opinion of me a towering and terrorising presence, there were other dimensions to the production of that record which even someone as near to the vinyl as Bill might not have seen. These were discussed between Robert Wyatt (a wonderful spirit) and myself at the time, and are inappropriate for discussion here. If we are going to make reasoned and reasonable judgements of an event, we have to know all the circumstances relevant to the time, place and persons. This is not the only way we arrive at or come to conclusions, knowings, or judgements: some are direct, and penetrate the nature of a situation. In Guitar Craft they are called "Points of Seeing". In the same way that when a performance gets up and flies, normal time changes or even stops, so with a point of seeing: its nature is creative, the perception is non-sequential, it is direct and takes place in a flash. These "quality knowings" or experiences become the basis for our judging or assessing the rest of our mundane lives. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Guy Jeffrey <guy@sol.com.au> Subject: Khan Date: Mon, 17 Feb 1997 16:58:33 +1100 Hello Aymeric I have been reading WR just about from the beginning and during that time my Canterbury collect has grown to a quite substantial size. It has one noticable missing element.... KHAN! Where in the known universe can one come across this little gem! I have been looking on the net for over a year for this one.... and nobody has it. In desperation I ask you, do you know where I might get it? Do you know someone who would sell it? I would even accept a tape as I would love just to hear it! I have everything else of any worth with Steve Hillage's & Dave Stewart's name, but not this one. Every body seems to rave about this one... I would dearly like to hear it. Great work BTW with WR. I can't belive how popular Canterbury music and prog rock in general seem to be on the web. Anyhow I love reading your period instalments, especially the Gong history, you should do more of these. All the best Guy Jeffrey (Sweating in front of my computer in a hot Sydney summer) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Phil Howitt <phil@facelift.sonnet.co.uk> Subject: New Facelift (s) Date: Wed, 19 Feb 97 19:49:19 +0000 PRESS RELEASE New issues of Facelift now out!!! Issues 16 and 17 of Facelift, the magazine exploring the 'Canterbury scene andbeyond' were published on 16 February 1997. Subscribers should be receiving their copies within the week. Facelift has been published now for almost 8 years, starting off initially as a tatty photocopied 24-page fanzine relying on reprints of old gig ads and the odd original article, with a print run of 100. It is now averaging about 80 pages, with a glossy front cover and professional DTP layout throughout. Print run is 1000 copies, it is distributed by mail order into around 35 countries worldwide, as well as through specialist distributors such as Wayside (US) and Impetus (UK). More importantly, it features original interviews with all of the artists we aim to cover. The magazine sets out to cover the music of bands such as Soft Machine, Caravan, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Gong and artists such as Robert Wyatt, Steve Hillage, Kevin Ayers, and moving a little further field to include related musicians such as Allan Holdsworth, Bill Bruford and musicians from Henry Cow. So far our interviews have included: Daevid Allen, Tim Blake, Peter Blegvad, Dagmar, Pye Hastings, Steve Hillage, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper, Jakko, Lady June, Phil Miller, Pierre Moerlen, Bill MacCormick, Pip Pyle, Mike Ratledge, Dave Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Gilli Smyth, Dave Stewart, Ultramarine, Mike Wedgwood and the Wizards of Twiddly.... We have also run biographical features on the likes of: Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt, Elton Dean, Caravan, Soft Machine, Kevin Coyne, Henry Cow, Gong and Ollie Halsall. We are not a head-in-the-sand retrogressive magazine. Most of the musicians mentioned above are currently producing music, and Facelift rates promoting the current activities of 'Canterbury' musicians just as important as dwelling on the past. You'll find a healthy news section in each issue, as much gig information as we can carry within our often unorthodox publishing schedules, and we reckon that at present there is on average a CD release a week to make it into our album reviews section. What's in the latest issues? Issue 16 has a Steve Hillage cover, including a 8-page interview and a 7-page mini-biography detailing every record release from 1968-1997 as well as band line-ups and quotes from other musicians. The other main feature is the story behind the Soft Machine's archive CD from 1969, 'Spaced', written by researcher and Robert Wyatt biographer Mike King.But we also feature reviews of the latest releases from Daevid Allen/Kramer, Bon, Mont Campbell, Gongzilla, Didier Malherbe and System 7, as well as archive material re-released or put out for the first time by Kevin Ayers, Hugh Hopper, National Health, Soft Machine, Hopper/Sinclair. There are also reviews of recent live shows by Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin, Gong in the USA, Caravan and In Cahoots on tour.Plus 7 pages of news, 3 pages of book reviews and contact addresses for everthing you read about. Issue 17 has 3 main features. The cover features Pierre Moerlen, as he and variousassociates from the late Seventies (including Bon Logaza, Hansford Rowe, Mireille Bauer and Benoit Moerlen) talk about Pierre Moerlen’s Gong in anarticle that first appeared in French language magazine Big Bang.The second feature is a 12-page interview with Bill MacCormick, bass player with Matching Mole, 801, Random Hold and Robert Wyatt.Then there’s a brief biography of Kevin Coyne, including a discography.Other features include our ...and beyond... which reviews some of the many CDs we receive which aren’t strictly ‘Canterbury’ in nature. Mark Hewins relates three more alternative Canterbury tales, each of these anecdotes from the early 80s days of Soft Heap.And Stephen Yarwood looks back at a Lol Coxhill benefit gig in the late 70s which included performances from Steve Miller, Ivor Cutler and National Health. How do you get hold of issues 16 and 17? Well, each issue costs £2 to UK readers, £2.50 to European readers, £3 to readers outside Europe. Readers are encouraged to take out 3 issue subscriptions (prices £6; £7.50; £9respectively) or subscribe up to issue 20 on this price structure. UK readers generally send cheques or postal orders made payable to Phil Howitt and send to: Phil Howitt, Facelift Magazine, PO Box 69, Manchester M16 8RD, UK Oversears readers may send International Money Orders. Because IMOs are soexpensive to buy (often the price of a subscription on its own), many overseasreaders send cash by registered mail which seems fairly safe, although it is at your risk. We prefer sterling or dollars, but accept pretty much any currency.Since the price of setting up a Visa or Access facility is far too high toconsider, this is probably the best option for overseas readers to subscribe.All subscribers receive issues within 2 weeks of them being published (quicker the closer you are to the UK). Whilst a lot of you reading this may be used to getting your information freeover the internet, Facelift stays as close to the spirit as is economicallypossible by always publishing its issues at cost price. As we’ve gained morereaders, magazines have become cheaper to produce and so we’ve increased thenumber of pages. You get what you pay for! Ultimately I hope to produce awebsite of my own to include features, although I don’t see this as a substitute for the magazine, just an addition. In the meantime I’m passing on any news that comes my way to the Calyx website and its What’s Rattlin newsletter. For anyone interested in back issues, check out the website set up for us by Ponk Records at: http://www.ice.net/~ponk/facelift.htm whilst back issues 1-14 are indexed at: http://www.ice.net/~ponk/flindex.htm and most are still available for anyone interested. Issues 5-6, 8-11 are currently out of print. Issues 1-4 and 7 cost £1 each in the UK (£1.20 Europe, £1.50 elsewhere)Issues 12-15 cost £1.50 each (£1.80 Europe, £2.25 elsewhere) Anyone requiring further information can e-mail me at: phil@facelift.sonnet.co.uk or write to me: Phil Howitt, Facelift Magazine, PO Box 69, Manchester M16 8RD, UK Phil ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mashu@musart.co.uk (Hewins/ Hopper/ Maïtra) Subject: Andrew Cyrille Date: Wed, 19 Feb 1997 11:04:52 GMT Hi Aymeric, Mark Hewins here..... Hugh's just reminded me that he and Elton have played with Andrew Cyrillebefore. On the Carla Bley tour... More Andy connections... Blimey! Music & Arts Records (similar name huh!) Anthony Braxton's main outlet (I think) has now re-issued the Dennis Gonzalez CD I am on with Andrew 'The Earth and the Heart'. Also the one he did with Elton et Canterbury al. I'm not sure what that was called 'tho.... I'll ask Elton when he's about.... The page is < http://www.musicandarts.com/JazzNewReleases.html#december > Also IMPETUS records address has changed and Paul Acott-Stephens has asked us to give out their new location (They issued; and still hold stocks of 'Adreamor' by me and Hugh; and Soft HEAP 'A Veritable Centaur, among many others)It seems a long way away (nearer Moscow than London! But they WILL be on-line soon; apparently IMPETUS RECORDS Paul Acott-Stephens 10 HIGH STREET, SKIGERSTA, NESS, ISLE OF LEWIS, OUTER HEBRIDIES, HS2 0TS, UK tel: (+44) 01851 810808 fax: (+44) 01851 810809 Hope this information is helpful! P&L>M MASHU - Mark Hewins - Shyamal Maïtra - Hugh Hopper - http://musart.co.uk/mashhp.htm ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark HEWINS <hewins@musart.co.uk> Subject: More Cyrille Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 04:06:34 GMT Hello again.... BTW Another facto on the Andrew Cyrille connection question.Paul Rogers, the String Bass player (Mujician, EDQ, Sophia/Lydia Domancich etc.) Andrew and I did a trio tour of the UK in 1990... 5? concerts... There was a reveiw of one of the Leeds one in the 'Wire'. I remember...Great to see Kew Rhone re-issued on CD.... I'll be buying it.... P&L>M MARK HEWINS ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bigbang@alpes-net.fr (A. Leroy) Subject: New Expose issue Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 23:58:42 +0000 Issue no.11 of this excellent US progressive/symphonic/fusion/electronic rock journal has just arrived in the mail. While the contents this time around have little genuine Canterbury origin to them, there are many articles and reviews worth mentioning, starting with a surprising live review of Magma's recent Strasbourg concert by none other than Pierre Moerlen ! BTW, Moerlen was briefly a member of Magma in the Autumn of 1981. The real treat of this issue is a fascinating retrospective of Happy The Man's career. HTM is one of my 5 all-time favourite bands, and Dan Casey has managed to interview all of the band's past members, as well as writing a very informative overview of their musical legacy. A must ! Other features of interview include an artist profile of Zeuhl band Shub Niggurath, roundtable reviews of National Health's "Missing Pieces" and Bon's "To The Bone", reviews of a couple of Chris Cutler-related projects, Rick Biddulph's "Second Nature" from 1994, Soft Machine's "Spaced", and many more. 72 pages of essential reading for fans of intelligent progressive music. More information from Peter Thelen - ptlk@netcom.comOr the Expose webpage : http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/1831/expo-nl.html ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Phil Howitt <phil@facelift.sonnet.co.uk> Subject:News Date: Wed, 19 Feb 97 19:49:19 +0000 A few bits of news that you might not know about: Pierre Moerlen is apparently itching to get back involved with Gong. He's composing with Steffy Sharpstrings and Mike Howlett at present, so I hear. Gong made the music pages of The Sun (England's renowned trash tabloid) when it revealed the involvement of The Orb in a remix album, namely Gong's 'You' album remixed. This is very very exciting. I've known about this for a while but was asked not to pass on any information. Now I figure that if the Sun can tell people about it then why not me? Gong's greatest album will be remixed by very well known dance artists such as The Shamen, The Orb, System 7, 808 State and also by lesser known ones such as the wonderful Global. At least 3 wanted to tackle 'Master Builder' and apparently the Orb piece is very impressionistic! Phil Howitt (Facelift) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF ISSUE #42 _________________________________________________________________________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 Send all correspondence regarding 'CALYX' and 'WHAT'S RATTLIN' ?' to : bigbang@alpes-net.fr _________________________________________________________________________