Canterbury Binge: 2024

[Mascodagama]

Steve is messing with our heads, today.

[Mascodagama]

Bastard.

[Dave (in MA)]

Steve is messing with our heads, today.

He did the old money-on-a-string prank with a Soft Machine release.

[chalkpie]

Thoroughly enjoying Folly Bololey this morning by the North Sea Radio Orchestra. "Sea Song" is such a captivating piece. "Alifib" is also great. Definitely worth a spin if you're a fan of Rock Bottom.

[NogbadTheBad]

Thoroughly enjoying Folly Bololey this morning by the North Sea Radio Orchestra. "Sea Song" is such a captivating piece. "Alifib" is also great. Definitely worth a spin if you're a fan of Rock Bottom.

Saw that live at the RIO Festival. It was excellent.

[chalkpie]

Saw that live at the RIO Festival. It was excellent.

The entire Rock Bottom? Wow.

[Progatron]

^^ Just listened to Rock Bottom yesterday! (The original.) Goes without saying, but it's an all-time classic. I always seem to hear something different in it.

[chalkpie]

^^ Just listened to Rock Bottom yesterday! (The original.) Goes without saying, but it's an all-time classic. I always seem to hear something different in it.

Absolutely. That album is a lifer

[Batchman]

^^ Just listened to Rock Bottom yesterday! (The original.) Goes without saying, but it's an all-time classic. I always seem to hear something different in it.

Absolutely. That album is a lifer

Agreed 100%. And not taking anything away from Wyatt's genius, but we should not forget the key role Nick Mason played as producer. I am sure that his experience with Pink Floyd helped to create a structure, flow and overall atmosphere to the material that made the album what it was.

[calyx]

Agreed 100%. And not taking anything away from Wyatt's genius, but we should not forget the key role Nick Mason played as producer. I am sure that his experience with Pink Floyd helped to create a structure, flow and overall atmosphere to the material that made the album what it was.

Mason's involvement as a producer was only in the later stages of making the album. All of Robert's initial backing tracks were done with just Steve Cox engineering. The album's structure was all Robert's, as far as I know. But Robert did credit Mason for the overall sound of the album.

[Munster]

Nick Mason was quite an accomplished, if not particularly prolific, producer. Apart from a lot of the Floyd stuff and Rock Bottom he also worked on Shamal, which has a beautiful sound, and Steve Hillage's Green. He also co-produced Fictitious Sports with Carla Bley.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catego..._by_Nick_Mason

[Batchman]

Nick Mason was quite an accomplished, if not particularly prolific, producer. Apart from a lot of the Floyd stuff and Rock Bottom he also worked on Shamal, which has a beautiful sound, and Steve Hillage's Green. He also co-produced Fictitious Sports with Carla Bley.

Fictitious Sports - another fine album, more of a Bley album than a Mason solo album, and Robert Wyatt is featured on there too.

(I can no longer help noticing that the very end of Faces' "Stay with Me" is identical to the main melody of "Boo to You Too.")

[Munster]

^^ Just listened to Rock Bottom yesterday! (The original.) Goes without saying, but it's an all-time classic. I always seem to hear something different in it.

Rock Bottom is an amazing album and, although it is a cliche, there really is nothing else like it in popular music. My go-to Wyatt solo album, though, remains Ruth is Stranger Than Richard. This is the first album I heard of Wyatt after he went solo and it has three of my favourite tracks on it: Team Spirit, Solar Flares and Muddy Mouth. I can also dip into Ruth, whereas I have to listen to Rock Bottom in its entirety (the whole album plays like a single track to me).

I was listening to Rock Bottom this morning, thinking about the early days of Virgin Records, and thought I would look up Simon Draper. I found this in-depth article about him. It refers to Rock Bottom: “So Virgin took on Wyatt as a solo artist. Rock Bottom, his 1974 debut for the label, is a heartbreakingly poignant allegory of Wyatt’s emotional regression and gradual self-rebuilding during his recovery from the accident, couched in a blurry oceanic sound that recalls Miles Davis’s In A Silent Way and Jimi Hendrix’s 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be).” I hadn’t seen it described like that before.

https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.co...virgin-records

[per anporth]

Rock Bottom is an amazing album and, although it is a cliche, there really is nothing else like it in popular music. My go-to Wyatt solo album, though, remains Ruth is Stranger Than Richard. This is the first album I heard of Wyatt after he went solo and it has three of my favourite tracks on it: Team Spirit, Solar Flares and Muddy Mouth. I can also dip into Ruth, whereas I have to listen to Rock Bottom in its entirety (the whole album plays like a single track to me).

I was listening to Rock Bottom this morning, thinking about the early days of Virgin Records, and thought I would look up Simon Draper. I found this in-depth article about him. It refers to Rock Bottom: “So Virgin took on Wyatt as a solo artist. Rock Bottom, his 1974 debut for the label, is a heartbreakingly poignant allegory of Wyatt’s emotional regression and gradual self-rebuilding during his recovery from the accident, couched in a blurry oceanic sound that recalls Miles Davis’s In A Silent Way and Jimi Hendrix’s 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be).” I hadn’t seen it described like that before.

https://daily.redbullmusicacademy.co...virgin-records

I enjoyed reading this, Munster - thanks for the link. Simon Reynolds is, for the most part, a pretty astute writer - he gets the "culture", he gets the "theory", but he also gets the music.

I chcuckled reading that Branson had to be told what records to select for Desert Island Discs!

I also was struck by the close loops between Draper & John Peel & then Draper working in the record shop on Saturdays, & getting the direct feedback from punters. It's a telling diagram for how Draper had that uncanny knack for being "ahead of the curve".

The article also reminded me of how many of the "Front Line" records I bought back in the late 70s - it was these, rather than the Island releases, that really opened the door for me to reggae - both vocal groups like the Galdiators, but also toasters & dub. As I recall, these releases were all priced at around £1.50 - maybe a half/two-thirds of the price of mainstream releases.

Anyway - back to Rock Bottom: here's a lovely version of Sea Song by the sorely missed Bill Rieflin & Chris Connelly (who happens to be an old school friend of mine!):

[Munster]

Anyway - back to Rock Bottom: here's a lovely version of Sea Song by the sorely missed Bill Rieflin & Chris Connelly (who happens to be an old school friend of mine!)

A beautiful version of a great song. Largo looks like a good album. I will investigate it further

[pb2015]

Nick Mason was quite an accomplished, if not particularly prolific, producer. Apart from a lot of the Floyd stuff and Rock Bottom he also worked on Shamal, which has a beautiful sound, and Steve Hillage's Green. He also co-produced Fictitious Sports with Carla Bley.

The Pink Floyd book by Nicholas Schaffner had a bit about Mason's work as a producer, mentioning that he was never involved creatively but was great at organizing and keeping the projects running.

[Dave (in MA)]

Here we go:
https://mailchi.mp/waysidemusic/preo...1971-vinyl-set

Waiting for the CD announcement.
FB:

José Luis Bottini
Quando estará disponível o CD?

Steve Feigenbaum
José Luis Bottini - End of May, 2024.

[proggy_jazzer]

Did a couple of through-listens to Two Rainbows Daily last evening while enjoying a Friday night cocktail. What a lovely album! The keyboard sounds always put me in mind of the Metheny/Mays masterpiece As Falls Wichita... which was recorded just a couple months later across the pond. Similar sounds but each with an approach that is unique and true to the individuals involved. Bittersweet, as both the keyboard geniuses are now gone, and Gowan so soon after his recording; what might he have done given more time? Anyone else ever notice the similarities between these two sides?

[mellotron storm]

Did a couple of through-listens to Two Rainbows Daily last evening while enjoying a Friday night cocktail. What a lovely album! The keyboard sounds always put me in mind of the Metheny/Mays masterpiece As Falls Wichita... which was recorded just a couple months later across the pond. Similar sounds but each with an approach that is unique and true to the individuals involved. Bittersweet, as both the keyboard geniuses are now gone, and Gowan so soon after his recording; what might he have done given more time? Anyone else ever notice the similarities between these two sides?

I like how you connect these two wonderful albums. Huge fan of both.

[Piskie]

Double cd Steve Hillage live at Bataclan 1979 has arrived from the Planet Gong Bazaar today. Good to have live versions of some of the Open material like 'The Fire Inside' (a personal favourite of mine - great chords)

[Rick L.]

Attached this in one of these threads a couple years ago, but here it is again. Make sure to listen to the whole thing. Or, don't.



OK, bye.

[Batchman]

I nearly forgot about Tin Huey. They were part of the Akron scene in the 70s that produced Devo and Pere Ubu.

Having listened to the whole piece (this may be a spoiler for those who haven't), I've observed that all the live and cover versions I've heard of "Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road" feature the vocal obbligato (wa-wa-wa-wa, wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa) that I first heard on the Wyatt/Henry Cow "Concerts" performance -- but it's notably missing from the original Rock Bottom studio recording. Did this originate with the Cow performances or did Robert include it on live renditions prior to the release of Rock Bottom?

[Steve F.]

. Did this originate with the Cow performances or did Robert include it on live renditions prior to the release of Rock Bottom?

There are no prior live renditions. Robert played the Drury Lane show and then did not play live again until the 3 gigs with Cow. He basically stopped being a live performer after the accident.

So, there weren’t ‘live renditions’…

[NogbadTheBad]

Attached this in one of these threads a couple years ago, but here it is again. Make sure to listen to the whole thing. Or, don't

OK, bye.

Will check it out

[Munster]

Any excuse to play this great track again.

I've observed that all the live and cover versions I've heard of "Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road" feature the vocal obbligato (wa-wa-wa-wa, wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa) that I first heard on the Wyatt/Henry Cow "Concerts" performance -- but it's notably missing from the original Rock Bottom studio recording. Did this originate with the Cow performances or did Robert include it on live renditions prior to the release of Rock Bottom?

I hadn’t noticed this before. The ‘vocal obbligato’ first emerged as far as I can see on the version of Little Red Riding Hood recorded live at Drury Lane on September 8 1974 (as Steve points out). This was just before Wyatt went into the studio between October 1974 and March 1975 to record Ruth is Stranger Than Richard, from where Muddy Mouth (above) comes. And then, on May 21 1975, Wyatt was recorded singing Little Red Riding Hood with Henry Cow in London (heard on Concerts) and again in Rome on June 27 (the Hamburg disc of the Henry Cow boxset). So, in answer to your query, the vocal obbligato did come before the Henry Cow concerts but not before the recording of Rock Bottom, which took place between February and March 1974.