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:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: :: :: :: - WHAT'S RATTLIN' ? - :: :: The Weekly Digest for Canterbury Music Addicts :: :: Issue # 44 :: :: Tuesday, March 4th, 1997 :: :: :: :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: "musonic@localaccess.nl" <pop.musonic@localaccess.nl> Subject: to Mike Ratledge Date: Sat, 05 Apr 1997 00:19:15 -0800 Hi Mike, I am very interested in your music. Slightly all the time e.g. is for me - for more than 20 years one of the pieces of music which I found very inspiring. I am not a professional musician myself; I play jazz and classical music (Bach, Beethoven e.g). In normal life I am a neuropsychologist in a revalidation clinic. I really like to contact with you and talk about music, philosophy and life itself. Jerome Korse, Tilburg, Holland jerome.korse@usa.net [Well, Mike, if you're reading this... :)] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: neato@pipeline.com Subject: ardley Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 22:13:15 -0500 [In WR#43, davidl@mail.tss.net (David Layton) wrote:]>The album is called "Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" by Neil Ardley. >The Canterbury connections are as follows:>2) It features trumpeter Ian Carr and percussionist Trevor Tomkins [neato says:] - Carr was of course one of the founders of Nucleus... from which Soft Machinealumnus Roy Babbington, John Marshall and Karl Jenkins all came... Inaddition Dave MacRae (of Matching Mole) also appears... Paul Buckmaster exThird Ear Band is linked via his association with Miles Davis in the early 70's, about who Ian Carr wrote an early biography... - at the time of it's release "Kaleidoscope..." was touted as "new" "TubularBells"... In any event it was an interesting work on the Gull label alongside works by Isotope, Turning Point and Arthur Brown cheers all my mistakes were once acts of genius neato@pipeline com [A few corrections : Ian Carr was *the* founder of Nucleus. It always was his band, although Jenkins wrote most of the first two albums. Also, Dave MacRae was in Nucleus (from Spring'71) *before* he joined Matching Mole, actually Wyatt met him when he auditioned to possibly replace Marshall in Nucleus when he left for Jack Bruce's band. And Roy Babbington had been playing with Keith Tippett, Elton Dean, Pip Pyle, Phil Miller etc. long before Nucleus, so that band was not his introduction to the Canterbury scene. At last, I'd like to second your recommendation of Carr's excellent Miles Davis book - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: smalwood@santafehotels.com (John Smallwood) Subject: Ian Carr Date: Fri, 28 Feb 1997 20:51:09 -0700 (MST) Dear A L and the rattlin' bunch, Noting the comments by David Layton about Neil Ardley and Ian Carr, I thought I'd add a few notes to the list: >The album is called "Kaleidoscope of Rainbows" by Neil Ardley. This is a>large-ensemble jazz-rock suite based on the Balinese five-tone musical>scale. Released in 1976, the sound is somewhat like Keith Tippett's>"Centipede", but less avant-garde and more "composed." I think it is >better than Centipede. 1) Absolutely. And it was released on CD. 2) Neil Ardley wrote much of the text for the "How Things Work" books that most of our kids read very day 3) Ian Carr and Neil Ardley still work together in a band called Zyklus, which mates the Zyklus computer with Ian's impovisational jazz trumpet 4) For more than a decade Ian has been part of the United Jazz+Rock Ensemble. which has released nine albums in Germany on Mood Records. Also in this band are Jon Hiseman, Barbara Thompson, Kenny Wheeler, and Albert Mangelsdorf >Carr worked with a number of acts in the early 70s including Centipede.>He also recorded a CD in the 80s called "Old Heartland" which features>John Marshall on three tunes. "Old Heartland" is another fine British-style >jazz/rock/orchestral album. Old Heartland is a masterpiece: a solid, heartfelt attempt to combine jazz and classical music. It's hard to find now, and was only released in the UK on MMC Records. Ian has also recorded a solo trumpet album in Shakespeare's cathedral in London and it is available in the US (most of the recording was done after midnight to avoid the sounds of the underground trains). And of course Ian's best known for his work with his band Nucleus, a band which, in my opinion, has been sadly overlooked by jazz historians. Did you know that Nucleus was playing its brand of innovative jazz-rock (even at the Newport Jazz Festival) about the same time that "Bitches Brew" was being released? Finally, Ian Carr is also a writer. He has written the definitive Miles Davis biography, and is currently working on the second edition. Sony and the BBC have hired Ian to be involved in a first-class documentary. Ian also wrote Keith Jarrett's authorized autobiography. Thank you. John Smallwood Santa Fe, New Mexico ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mail@musart.co.uk (MUSART - mail) Subject: Live Review - Miller/Hewins/Miller Date: Sat, 1 Mar 1997 19:13:51 GMT STEVE MILLER / MARK HEWINS / PHIL MILLER - St John's ARC, Old Harlow - Jan 11th 1997 Its been eight long months since Steve Miller was last at St John's, but a startling new performance marrying passion and invention made the wait well worthwhile. That earlier occasion was a feast of Jazz improv. With four fellow musicians which comfortably straddled genres to fuse both recognisably classic patterns with wild invention. But on Saturday the audience was in for a darker treat as Steve was joined by two outstanding Guitarists for a tour kicking off on the seamier side of the soul and transporting it through swirling transcendental oceans of sound. The evening opened with Steve's thoughtful Piano leading off in a series of tentative phrases, to be joined by the strings of his brother, Phil, and Mark Hewins, both bringing with them refreshing differences in style and approach. Bent studiously over his electric Guitar like a scientist peering into a microscopic universe, Phil seemed to gaze intently into himself before extracting his finds in complex bursts of notes, sometimes playing catch-up with the motifs of the Piano, weaving around them and racing ahead, or transforming the sound with one of the many alternatives in his box of tricks to an angelic sounding synth or a sternum-trembling bass. Mark Hewins varied his instruments during the night from acoustic to electric, but whether playing them for sounds like Asian temple bells or with tender, intricate fingerwork, he never for a moment lost the puckish sense of energy and invention which characterising much of his contribution. In the first half, the trio seemed content to start out at a laid-back pace and simply see what came along, picking up on themes and expanding them until they had created a primal, urban exploration conjuring visions of grimy express trains thundering through subterranean tunnels in a blur of sparks and a stench of oil, bustling city streets and the pandemonium of a society coming apart at the seams. After the interval the tone lightened although sacrificing none of the earlier intensity and experiment, freeing the players up for a little jousting and instrumental banter, one moment following the lead of the Piano and the next switching to a new refrain from one of the Guitars. All three Musicians worked exceptionally well together, achieving on several occasions the illusion that they were three pairs of hands responding to a single will and drawing the focus of the listener into a profound close-up. In all, a wonderful trip to places you barely knew existed, with guides who themselves enjoy walking unmarked paths. Paul Newman (from The Star, Jan 16th 1997) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: SAhearn777@aol.com Subject: Progfest'97 Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 01:55:42 -0500 (EST) Hi Canterbury people, Just a quick message. Please note and spread the word about this year's Progfest'97 in LA, Ca. May 23-24-25. Though not a Canterbury thing as such it easily could host some Canterbury bands in the future if the support comes through ! I'm up for it. Anyway this years lineup is (in no particular order): John Wetton Band Speock's Beard (USA) Roine Stolt & The Flower Kings (Sweden) Sinkadus " " Ritual " " Le Orme (Italy) Arena (UK)) For info email Pangea777@aol.com or look for our new web page Pangeamusic.com Spreaad the word and hope to see you there. Shawn Ahearn Pangea MusicManagement company for Gong, Brand X and organizeres of Prog-fest ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: mail@musart.co.uk (Canterbury Musicians Server) Subject: MASHU / POLITE FORCE / VOICEPRINT Date: Sun, 2 Mar 1997 18:41:41 GMT Hello everyone,Here's some information on buying Canterbury recordings released by Voiceprint Records.... VOICEPRINT CONTACTS Credit Card HOTLINE +44 191 512 1104 Rob's P.A. - Anne-Marie (for BULK orders - 10+) the tel: +44 191 512 1103 fax: +44 191 512 1104 web; < http://www.webworlds.co.uk/the-wilderness/voiceprint/index.html > Unfortunately, this has not been updated recently; however there is an e-mail order form... With a SCARY message to all paranoids out there, (we haven't heard of anyone losing money off credit card transactions on the web... We've been doing it for two years) e-mail < rob@vprint.demon.co.uk > PO BOX 5 Derwentside Co Durham DH9 7HR UK More Later... P&L>M ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: PETERGIF@aol.com Subject: Caravan/Syd/E.Roos/Camel Tour/Cafe Jacques Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 10:49:43 -0500 (EST) Hello to Aymeric and to all Canterbury Nuts. I wrote to WR a couple of issues ago regarding the new Caravan album hoping to stir some debate, which I sorely miss because most of the Canterbury nuts that I know are dispersed all over and I don't get to talk to them much. Thanks to Syd (the twisted man) and to E.Roos for their comments. I have corresponded with Syd and found him to be as nuts as I am about this stuff. We just like the band Caravan for different reasons. I think what it boils down to is that I like the songwriting style of Julian Hastings. It just seems to grab me and make me listen. I don't expect Pye to write music like Grey and Pink 25 years later. I like the progression that he has made through the years. That is not to say that Richard Sinclair has not made extremely valuable contributions to the band, but without the Pye Master, there would be no Caravan. Also....... I just received the Camel tour dates on a Post Card from Camel Productions, and I am not happy that Camel's only dates in the US are in California... That sucks. One last thing.....I have two albums produced by Rupert Hine of the band CAFE JACQUES which were released on Columbia (1977,'78) in the US.... Geoff Richardson, and John G. Perry appear as guests on both LP's. They are very good records from a band which never took off. Does anyone know if there were any other releases from this band aside from "Round the Back" and "International"? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Julian Christou <christoj@ug1.plk.af.mil> Subject: Re. Bill McK Date: Mon, 3 Mar 1997 11:12:39 -0700 (MST) Once again thanks to Bill MacCormack for contributing to the list. Good to hear from you again. I agree with the other list member who said that LRR was one of the most influential albums - after all where would H&tN be w/o MM paving the way (and personel). I appreciate what Bill said about their LRR sound being heavily influenced by Dave McRae. In the early 70's he was also a member of Nucleus and for those who haven't, try checking out Roots and Labyrinth as they both feature some wonderful contributions from him, especially the latter. Definitely a Fender Rhodes maestro! BTW if anyone knows of their release on CD please let me know. As for the Fripp influenced production, just check out the BBC IN Concert to the LRR recorded by the same line-up. Much more of the raw sound w/o the overproduction. Bill are there any more MM unreleased tapes out there? Wyatt's "Flotsam Jetsam" had a great Peel Session track on it, I vaguely remember the b'cast and there were more tracks recorded. Any chance of them seeing the light of day? Also, Bill, I'm not sure if this is a rehash but is the 801 live album ever going to be rereleased with the full concert on it? How much was left off the album? Ciao Julian ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Helene Collon <stellast@club-internet.fr> Subject: Kew. Rhône lyrics (Part One) Date: Tue, 04 Mar 1997 01:49:58 +0000 Dear What's Rattlers: A few issues ago (who can keep track of such a mass of information?) someone expressed the wish to know more about the Kew.Rhône Lyrics (as to *understanding them*... any contributions are welcome!) This is what I found in an old issue of *Amateur*. On Kew.Rhône (a record) A Few Words by the Editors of *Amateur* (a pamphlet) It seems to us at Amateur that certain works by certain artists are not really complete until they have been thoroughly glossed, until commentary and exegesis, like colonies of clinging limpets, have extended the original contours and made the work of one the work of many. It seems to us, furthermore, that *Kew Rhône* (a singular conceptual "concept album" of songs by John Greaves and Peter Blegvad, sung by Lisa Herman) is such a work. It cries out for annotation and analysis! Regrettably, no one in the nine years since its release has come forward to provide this service. In fact, so *superb* is the indifference of the community, that it was left to lyricist and illustrator Peter Blegvad to interview himself (in 1976), a mono-dialogue published here as Appendix B for the first time, a dia-monologue which, for all its vagaries, sheds some light at last on the ideas and provesses which inform these remarkable *chansons insolites*, these little machines made of words, music, and pictures. [see below for interview.] But first, specially for the several millions of you yet to have experienced *Kew Rhône*, we at *Amateur* propose to improvise a brief text to serve as an appetizer to the feast of the record itself. The record-sleeve is handsomely illustrated with pictures and diagrams "to be used in conjunction with words (enclosed)" [pictures and lyrics enclosed in Amateur and album/CD cover]. It so happens that the words to two of the songes are not fully comprehensible without recourse to these pictures. This is *Kew Rhône*'s most conspicuous innovation ˜ that one is invited to involve both listening and looking (deciphering) in one's delectation of the disk. The front cover shows a painting by Charles Willson Peale (∑) a Yankee Original (and veritable Amateur), sire of Titian, Rembrandt, raphael, Rubens, and several other Peales. He made a set of false teeth for George Washington, and his "Great School of nature" was the first museum of natural history in the United States. Peale's painting is called "exhuming the First American Mastodon" [Note 1: In Europe the mastodon is called the mammoth]. The song it now illustrates "interprets" seven scenes from the crowded tableau with a brazen disregard for the painter's original intent. [The song] describes a world wherein those who cannot escape risk being *named* (defined) by "the wheel Nomenclator" (an apparatus which features prominently in Appendix A and which, by the way, satisfies the criteria for "Bachelor Machines" established by Michel Carrouges). The song describes a world in which "definition" is acquired as liberty is lost, and the stages of this dread encroachment are denoted by various umbrellas. It must remain to future scholars to decide if the bleak sentiments of this song owe more to the neo-Platonism of William Blake or to *Peter Pan*, by J.M. Barrie. Blake wrote of birth as a "descent into generation" (the unconfined spirit lured by moisture into the jacket ofmatter wherein it languishes), while Barrie's regressive maverick perceives adulthood with its responsibilities and strictures, as a kind of kinetic death. It seems to us at Amateur that traces of both concepts are detectable in the song. It is getting late, and the reader is perhaps not that curious ˜ so let us close our discussion with a few points which may suggest the thematic coherence of *Kew Rhône* as a whole. We have seen that *Seven Scenes from the painting∑* is a song about the perils of being defined or named [Note 2 : Cf. "Names are not the pledge for things, but things for names." : the Rumanian proverb proverb in the song *Twenty-Two Proverbs".] Now consider the OuLiPo-influenced title track, *Kew Rhône*. It is in two parts. The first, composed entirely of anagrams of the title, we will examine in a future text. The second is a palindrome : "Peel's foe, not a set animal, laminates a tone of sleep." "Peel" is of course C.W. Peale, and the animal, the mastodon. But why is the latter not "set"? Because it is enjoying a spell of unknown duration (unknown to us at Amateur) immediately following the excavation of its mighty bones from a New York farm in 1806, during which it was referred to in excited bulletins as "The Great American *Incognitum*". from the visionary vantage offered by *Kew Rhône* that looks to have been the tusker's finest hour. Appendix AThe text of *Actual Frenzy* (set to music by John geeaves but NOT on *Kew Rhône*.) [Note 3: It has, however, been recorded and can be found on a seven-inch sampler EP released by Recommended Records] which "describes" the painting, mentioned above, by C.W. Peale.˜ First that a wheel [Note 4: "Thus there are the seven forms of the mother of all beings, from whence all whatever is in the world is generated; and moreover the Most High has, according to this mother, introduced and created such properties as this mother is in her wrestling forms (understand, as she brings herself with the wrestlming into properties) into a wheel..." *Signatura Rerum*, Jacob Boehme.] like a mill-wheel turns between two trees.˜ Then that the trees store a substance in their foliage which they broadcast in installments to the wheel.˜ Then that this substance nourishes and lubricates the wheel and makes it turn. ˜ Then that two men are walking inside the wheel.˜ First that their walking turns it. Then that its turning forces them to be always walking. ˜ Then that the foliage blows green.˜ Then that the nourishment broadcast is envy, that if the wheel had what it wanted it wouldn't turn [Note 5: "everything that moves, moves for the sake of something which it has not and which is the goal of its motion; ... everything that moves, then, has some defect and does not grasp the whole of its being at once." *Letter 26 to Can Grande*, Dante.] and the men would not be walking.˜ Then that even turning slowly, wheel is emblem of a kind of frenzy.˜ Then that a space extends to either side of trees and wheel and recedes to a horizon behind them. ˜ Then that much of this space is peopled.˜ Then that the space advances to constitute a foreground and that this foreground encompasses a pit.˜ Then that certain people in the space are holding objects.˜ Then that in a space like this one an object is the attribute of whoever bears it, much as saints in icons bear as attributes the implements which killed them.˜ Then that in a space like this one even a wheel like a mill-wheel has its attribute: the continuous chain of buckets which it drives.˜ Then that when the wheel turns, buckets rise from the pit full of rocks and mud, empty themselves down a chute at the top of the cahin, and return down the other side, bottoms up, for more.˜ Then that a bucket descending empty is emblem of *residual* frenzy.˜ Then that a bucket coming up full is emblem of *potential* frenzy.˜ Then that a bucket as it empties is emblem of *actual* frenzy. Appendix BOn the lyrics to "Pipeline" ˜ excerpts from an interview with the author. Q: When is an object "prime"?A: When it and the First Principle are the object's only factors.Q: Not sure I'm with you. By "First Principle", do you mean God? A: I mean that to which nothing you applied would stick. Q: Can you give us some examples of prime objects?A: Certainly : these Manhattan doorbells (proffers photos). The fountain pen Nijinsky designed in the asylum is prime. These bronze flames from Milanese tombs are prime (proffers sketchbook). Prince Albert's season ticket to the Great Exhibition, on its pillow in a glass [...] in the V. & A. Museum, is too. A famous example is the glass of milk Cary Grant takes up the stairs in "Suspicion"; Alfred Hitchcock made it prime just by putting a light inside the glass. By the way, the song "Catalogue of Fifteen Objects and their Titles" lists what you might call candidates for primacy. I have only ever drawn them, I will have to build them, they have to be real to qualify. Kenneth Clarke cites Piero della Francesca's "idea that the whole complex of appearances should be reducible to five shapes which, because they are geometrically complete, partook of divine perfection." Perhaps by crossing what Clark calls this "magical hocus-pocus of Pythagoreanism" with a little Pataphysics one might establish the theoretical basis for a similar set of prime objects. Q: Of what use would they be to anyone?A: A tantric cargo cult might find them useful [as] contemplative aids, as tantrikas do mandalas. The cult could affirm that while no object if the One, all point beyond themselves towards It.Q: For your purposes in "Pipeline" a lenght of pipe in a pit was prime, while for instance a wand put there would not have bee. Why?A: A wand is not quite ordinary. What [the] pit had in it had to be. I tested several cylinders : rods, dowels, wands. But all were wanting. Aesthetically, a wand's too slender. Pipe is squat, colser to the quiddity I sought. [Amateur respectfully interjects : a document dated October, 1982 seems worth quoting here. A letter from Peter Blegvad to another Peter, the document was never sent. It has been suggested that it was written to himself. "Dear Peter,The song John Greaves and I wrote about a length of dug-up pipeline was originally about a dowel. A dowel seemed somehow "less", that is ˜closer to "nothing", than a pipeline (notwithstanding the latter's hollowness) and this negative quality for a time seemed to suit the song. But what manner of dowel and what of pipe was I reacting to? I'd done no reasearch in the field. Surely, I thought, indicating the world outside my suttered windows, surely out there pipes exist that would be palpably "less" than some dowels (less "quick", perhaps, to use a term D.H. Lawrence assigned or dneid to various articles and appliances). I became conscious of vivid eidetic pictures of my personal Dowel and Pipe. I had reacted to the Dowel in the mind which, simple as dowels are, was unlike any dowel in the world. I became obsessed with bringing such mental image "to light", of *illustrating* them, of having them to compare with their material counterparts" Amateur now respectfully returns you to the 1976 interview. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark Bloch <webmaster@indexstock.com> Subject: Re:Pip Pyle's questions on himself in WR#43 Date: Mon, 03 Mar 1997 16:41:53 -0500 At 09:36 PM 2/28/97 +0100, pip wrote:>can you urgently tell me when and where I was born and what I have been >doing for the last thirty odd years or so? You were born and you have indeed been doing it >Other questions I'd like help on are: how long are three (fairly short)>bits of string and where can I bulk buy second hand hooverbags? The Hooverbags and under J Edgar's eyes. (biguns) The strings are in Marcel Duchamp's 3 Standard Stoppages >Can you also E mail a second hand 1950s musician's brain. Yes how about Jerry Lee Levi's (Elvis spelled sideways) child bride? I'll be she can tell us a thing or 2! Thank you for many fine ears in the cervix of the Queen ps >- Fresh from Mark Hewins : the Polite Force CD is out of the factory, and>now available from the Voiceprint label... featuring Mark, David Sinclair, >Graham Flight and many others. Mark Bloch ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Mark_Panagos@intersolv.com Subject: Re: WR#43 Date: Mon, 03 Mar 97 13:51:12 EST Hello Rattlers; I just came accross an interesting CD in a used CD shop here in Colorado Springs. It's by the Lorenzini Orchestra and its called "Lorenzini Orchestra V". The reason I bought it was because Didier Malherbe is one of the band members. Its a very good album and, at times, is reminiscent of the Canterbury "sound." The title of the album implies (to me, anyway) that this is the Lorenzini Orchestra's fifth album. As I've never seen any other releases by this band, I wouldn't know. In any case, does anyone out there know anything about these guys? Are there any other recordings by them? Thanx, Aymeric, for the web page and especially WR. Someday I'm going to go back and read all the back issues of WR since I've only been a subscriber since WR#26. After all these years of listening to Soft Machine, etc., its nice to have found a connection to this great music. "Your madness fits in nicely with my own." Mark Panagos [Mimi Lorenzini was the leader of French fusion/prog band Edition Speciale, with his then-girlfriend Ann Ballester, during the second half of the 70's. In 1978-79 this band included Mireille Bauer, formerly of Gong. ES was an excellent band, in spite of slightly dated lyrics/vocals. In the 80's, ML and AB moved on to a more jazzy style, with different line-ups. The Lorenzini Orchestra V you mention is one of those, and the "V" refers to the fact that it's a quintet. Malherbe has been involved in a lot of their projects in the last 15 years, and so has Pip Pyle although he's not featured on any of their records. Pip was also in the ML trio in the late 80's. And Ann Ballester was in the band that eventually became L'Equip'Out, in 1984 : a quartet with Ann, Pip Pyle, Sophia Domancich and bass player Bernard Weber. Although they don't live together anymore (since 1992), ML and AB are still playing together on a regular basis - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: Age Rotshuizen <Age.Rotshuizen@pjmi.knaw.nl> Subject: Mike on Joy of a Toy Date: Tue, 4 Mar 1997 15:35:34 +0100 Hello Rattlers, Here's another question: Does anyone know on which tracks Mike Ratledge appears on 'Joy of a Toy'. 'Song for insane times' is naturally one of them, but I'm sure I hear his organ on some other tracks. Same goes for Hugh Hopper. Kevin thanks them both on the cover. Thank you very much! Age Rotshuizen [Martin... ? - AL] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- END OF ISSUE #44 _________________________________________________________________________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 _________________________________________________________________________