Customer Reviews

Little Red Record

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I love Robert Wyatt. Matching Mole was the last band he was in before the accident that took his walking away. My Gosh, my gosh! I am listening to this record, recorded in late 71 or early 72 and with this band, they take it WAY outside! This record hints at the Canterbury scene that was and is to come. Lush and wild keyboards, great guitar, and supurb band unity! You can here how the Hatfield and the North were influenced as well as MANY other bands (many played on that album a year or so later). Robert acknowledges his socialist view point, which is probably why this record was not pushed too hard in the United states. It is a shame really as this recording was in it's time and AHEAD of it in many ways. Phenominal spin!

I cant BELIEVE i never heard of this album before. Then again, why would an american who grew up under the New Wave scene, know about a band that only made two albums, and was barely heard outside of England? WHY? Well, maybe because Brian ENO plays on a large part of the album. Or, maybe because Robert Fripp produced the album. (and I'm SURE he plays a guitar piece on one song, down in the mix. It's his guitar, his sound, his melodies, etc.) ANYWAY, if you like the first three SOFT MACHINE albums, then you know the star of this band, ROBERT WYATT. (He was the drummer.) After this album, Robert Wyatt had an accident, and ended up paralysed from the waist down. THat ended this band, but started his solo career, which is also quite fantastic music. But MATCHING MOLE is an animal all its own. You have some of the psychedelic jazz sounds that are on the THIRD SOFT MACHINE album. You also have some shorter, focused, druggy folk songs, which became perfected in WYATT's solo work. Most importantly, this is a core album in that late 60s early 70s CANTERBURY SOUND, that included Caravan, Gentle Giant, Gong, Hatfield and Rotters Club, Egg, and Soft Machine. Its PROG/ART ROCK/FUSION JAZZ/mixed with lighthearted British humour. ( Not humor, but "HUMOUR"...try to dig it, mate.) So, just ask yourself: DO you LIKE ENO, when he was still in his early phase, during THIRD UNCLE or SOMBRE REPTILES? Do you like Robert Fripp and that KING CRIMSON sound? (From around the LARKS TONGUE Period.) Its just such an incredible mix of genius UK musicians at the very top of their game. I admit, that I've not been listening to albums all the way thru recently. Well, after listening to the best cuts off this album, I turned right around, and played the whole CD. So yes, DO buy this if you like that Canterbury sound, or even if you just love PROG ROCK, either from the Genesis/King Crimson/Yes- first wave of that sound, or the new PROG like Porcupine Tree, PHISH, Black Mountain, or even fusion like Medeski Martin and Wood, or the 70s jazz fusion. I'm very impressed with this album, people.

All belong to the same lineage of Canterbury clan hatfield, soft machine, national health et al. Essential Robert Wyatt and Phil Miller two big names from the Canterbur scene. I keep on discovering new sounds and variations. This is fusion that is meant to be fusion but indeed fusion in Jazz rock English fashion and so enlightening and rich. Even after so may spins you'll never tire.

I bought this album simply because I wanted to hear how Robert Wyatt sounded like outside the world of Soft Machine. Well, at first, I wasn't too impressed with Little Red Record. I found the music seem to be rather wanky and directionless, but then it started to grow on me. Side one (if you own the original LP, I think it was the first four or five cuts) seems to fumble, but side two (the last three or four songs) tends to work better. For some reason the band worked better when they were more experimental (like on side two) than they were doing fusion noodling. The thing I love of side two is one piece starts with this creepy sounding synthesizer courtesy of Brian Eno. Another piece is a short piece that sounds closest to Soft Machine, and that last piece is simply an unbelievable piece that starts off in that jazzy Canterbury style and gets quite experimental at the end with the electric piano. I don't suggest Little Red Record to those who are new to the Canterbury scene. I suggest they should try Soft Machine's Third, Caravan's In the Land of Grey & Pink, or Hatfield & the North's self-entitled debut first.

You know, reading the other reviews on this particular album I see a lot of truth to some of the opinions but I do think it is greatly unfair to review this album by comparing it to Wyatt's early works with the Softs. It needs to be placed on time and space and see what were the conditions surrounding its recording. I am not trying to propose a psicological research on the album, I'm only suggesting that Robert's state of mind and mood at the time greatly influence Matching Mole's work on this album; after all he was well know for just letting his feelings aboard his writting and performing abilities (just check Rock Bottom for example; a deeply melancolic and self exploratory album which was his first recording after the accident. Or maybe End of an Ear; a very avant garde project almost satirical about his life as a rock star just by the time he got fed up with the Soft Machine and was "unemployed").
I really beleive that at that time Robert was desperatly trying to run away from the Soft Machine psychedelic-heyday-rock star stigma and just be himself, a virtuoso drummer and great composer (not to mention his ability for manipulating his own voice).Robert was just being Robert.
Of course we cannot take away credit for the great job the rest of the band did. Matching Mole is a great example of a no-barrier Progressive Rock band that, on their short career, experimented with sounds as far as they could get without thinking about mainstream consecuences.
After all, who could not be thrilled with the opening words from Robert at the begining of track #2;
IT'S BROWN, LIVES UNDERGROUND, MIOPIC.....IT'S THE MOLE!

Next to a noticeable debut, Wyatt's quick follow up can feel sloppily rushed, but still manages to offer enough notes-for-thought to justify a listen.

You know, my original review stunk, so here's an updated version (created June 12, 2011).

Little Red Record is *significantly* better than the bands previous album. In fact, Little Red Record doesn't even resemble that album in the slightest. This is because the instrumental chops are actually good on Little Red Record, whereas on Matching Mole's debut the band just seemed to ramble a lot and never accomplished much besides a few disjointed and unmelodic keyboard solos and mellotron passages (and a mediocre attempt at ineffective atmosphere).

Little Red Record makes up for it entirely though, and justifies the bands existence. There's some amazingly intense moments on here too. First of all, "God Song" has a magnificent vocal melody and lyrically it's a creative masterpiece.

"Gloria Gloom" has an INCREDIBLY frightening 3-minute intro. WOW is that particular part of the song extremely effective, haha. It reminds me of a church in the middle of nowhere (like in some town down south with a population of around 150) and, during a certain time of night depending on the weather conditions, a ghost will come out of the grave and wreak havoc on the entire town. Creative imagery! As the 3 minutes rolls along... it just gets more unbearably ominous and intimidating. Talk about a fantastic moment. It immediately loses steam as soon as the mumbling vocals come in, but luckily a vocal melody appears later and darn near completely saves it, though it never again goes back to that amazing intro (though it
*tries* to near the end).

The second best song is definitely "Marchides". An intense King Crimson-like jazz jam that takes up a good portion of its running time, and it's mostly notable for how *melodic* it is despite its relentless intensity. The song eventually shifts into pure atmosphere, and kind of loses my attention span by this point.

"Nan True's Hole" has a heavy... um, I THINK it's a keyboard riff but I can't say for certain. Perhaps it's guitar trickery. Either way, the British female singer talking over said riff is a bit out of place, but the lyrics are interesting to say the least. Some of the guitar soloing is decent too.

"Flora Fidgit" is a melodic jazzy instrumental reminiscent of Hatfield & the North. I love it, personally. Sure, the keyboard solo sounds severely dated, but I never cared about datedness in rock music, and you know what? I NEVER will! "Smoke Signal" contains mostly atmosphere without much else, but it's decent enough. It doesn't strike me as filler perhaps because some portions of the song veer towards light jazz, and these moments are alright in my book.

I get the feeling Matching Mole was trying to make a statement with this album. What that statement is shall remain unknown, because they never gained the success or fan support for anybody to ever find out what their intentions here were. This band most certainly does not stand in the same league as Caravan, Soft Machine or Hatfield & the North. Let's get that perfectly straight. Still, as a very listenable album with its share of experiments, you can't go wrong with Little Red Record.