Little Red Record [Import]

Matching Mole | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 15, 1993)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Bgo (Beat Goes on) (UK)
• ASIN: B0000011MV
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,597 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Starting in the Middle of the Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away

2. Marchides

3. Nan True's Hole

4. Righteous Rhumba

5. Brandy as in Benge

6. Gloria Gloom

7. God Song

8. Flora Fidgit

9. Smoke Signal

Editorial Reviews

1972 album with Brian Eno on synthesizer and Robert Fripp producing for Robert Wyatt. 9 tracks. Sony. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fusion for those who don't really like fusion, June 26, 2000

By 

Paul Minot (Waterville, ME United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Little Red Record (Audio CD)

Those familiar with the post-spinal injury'song-oriented output of Robert Wyatt, or with his more restrained contribution to Soft Machine, will be thrilled to hear the no-holds-barred BLOWING he does on drums here. The music hints at the style he was to subsequently pursue on his later albums, but does so in the context of a fine Canterbury style fusion outfit including Dave MacRae and Bill MacCormick of Quiet Sun, Phil Miller of Hatfield and the North (never better than here), and a guest appearance by Eno on synthesizer. Add the spartan "audio verite" production of Robert Fripp, and you have a witty and often thrilling avant-fusion album somewhat like a much more gritty Hatfield. Like I indicated in the title, I don't often like fusion as a style, but the energy and imagination of this recording overcomes any such inhibitions on my part. A MUST for fans of Hatfield, National Health, or Henry Cow, in my opinion, and an absolute revelation regarding the wonder that was Wyatt on drums. (Check out Marchides for confirmation.) It is a shame this band had to stop at this point due to Wyatt's injury--they likely had much more to offer as an ensemble. At any rate, you have this to enjoy--buy it!

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Little Red Landmark, July 19, 2005

By 

James HS (Tennessee) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Little Red Record (Audio CD)

In sharp contrast to the debut self-titled "Matching Mole", there's a great deal of evidence - to the ear alone - that each band member collaborated and contributed throughout the process from song-writing to final product.

Robert Wyatt's presence, as always, obvious ... one very tall man regardless of his stature or, later, wheelchair.

Bill McCormick: a soloist, a tunesmith, and a solid reliable Canterbury sound. And that's precisely what a bass player should be in this context.

Phil Miller always seemed to have to suffer pain to play. He puts an incredible amount of effort into doing what he does, and it showed when I saw him live. I was happy to hear him more to the fore, both playing and writing.

Dave McCrae. He's no Joe Zawinul, he's Dave McCrae. This album made his mark for me. He pushed the early 70's gear further than it was designed to go, and without him this album would not be so remarkable. As good as Dave Sinclair was, I don't think he could have managed the same effect.

Miller and McCrae give the whole direction of the album more of a fusion sound than the first album had, and although some feel it doesn't work too well, I disagree strongly.

The most notable difference, however, is the atmospheric contribution of Brian Eno on VCS3. Don't expect to hear something of what might now be called the "Eno sound", though. This was before digital, where synth players had to know about the construction of sound as well as the construction of music. Eno gives an air of Morton Subotnick, The Twilight Zone, and inhaled surrealism to this album. Not Roxy Music, not Music For Airports.

The same goes for Bob Fripp's production ... this isn't Swastika Girls, not Septober Energy (although it comes close). There's an occasional production glitch - most notably with keyboards being a little too hot (to my ears, perhaps not yours), but without detracting from the music. I'm glad that's all he did; his guitar is not what I'd want to hear on this album

All together, the tracks form a whole experience. Of course the original was on vinyl, two sides with the natural break between each. But played on CD, straight through from beginning to end, it's more of a journey.

I've read that one reviewer discarded this album after one listening. Only one!!! So much music has been rejected without effort!

It's not only the reviewer's loss, but also a loss for you if you follow his advice and not bother with this album. Sometimes good music takes more than one handful of hearings to make itself clear. And that's true for most of Robert Wyatt's work until you accept him as he is.

Wyatt has the rare ability to create poignantly serious lyrics and music that are filled with humor and romance with a tinge of surreal strangeness. In that, he's a poet and an artist. But in all the covers of his songs that I've heard, the elements only come together when they are sung in his unique voice. That was true for the debut album, and it's no less true for the second and last release during the band's lifetime.

Put that together with the obvious skills of the other musicians, and what have you got. It's probably "Music for musicians" more than it is "Music for the masses", which seems a little out of place given the album title, and Wyatt's burgeoning political voice.

Take the time, make the effort, and you will be rewarded. Sure, it's a typical example of 1970's progrock in some ways. I bought the album when it was originally released in the UK, and it does begin to sound a little dated. But there is still an overwhelming uniqueness to the whole thing. There wasn't anything exactly like this before, and there hasn't been anything exactly like this since. For me, it will always be a landmark in my musical journey. Listen to it, and find out where it takes you. Explore.

Choice picks: Gloria Gloom, God Song, Righteous Rhumba, Nan True's thingy (virgin sex!!), and of course SITMOTDWCDOPA. Hahahaha! Darn it, the whole album. Sex, laughs, music, drinking, politics... what else is there? Religion.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Elemental, December 18, 2004

By 

Leo Sullivan "hilarleo" (Berkeley Cali USSA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Little Red Record (Audio CD)

When I first got my used, abused, scratched wreck of an import LP copy in the 1970's, I could not escape from this dense 'beer coaster' sound fast enough. Seems it's true, this one do grow on you. It finds a crack in your brains, then the living experiments just slither in. I have been praying for this re-release for 20 years ever since.

Here is a true sound scientist's sweeping, edging into-and-outa chaotic jubilation, and the roiling clouds of beyond all glory.

I can understand utterly why listeners are all-go-or-no-show. What I don't get is how this disc remains one undiscovered masterpiece, absent on anyone's best-o'.

It is true this disc is demanding-So much that I compare this creation to the imaginary, rarely-all-there Grateful Dead roadtrip-- or better, the ultimate source that is The Holy First Velvet Underground Disc.

Wyatt's writing resides right alongside the 'literary experiment' of Lou Reed. What the "Little Red Record" may lack of VU's 3-minute pop-gem voidsongs of one heroin-doomed chanteuse, it surely makes up for with musicianship an' an elemental riot of complicated kaleidoscopic Lysergi-political fun. Share with until it is all yours all over again.