Customer Reviews

Matching Mole

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Although stretching the boundaries set by the earlier works of Soft Machine, Caravan, Gong and the rest of the Canterbury crowd, Matching Mole remained true to the artistic vision first set out by those bands. Without compromise and respecting the intelligence of the listener they produced a body of work unmatched to this day. Not always succesful, most of the cuts available represent a revolution easily as important to the rock of the 60's and 70's as bebop was to the jazz of the 40's. They took their artistic vision to the limits, producing a body of work remarkable in it's melodic invention. Listen to this album many, many times before making a judgement. "Caroline" is as finely crafted a pop tune as ever came from the Brill building.

Matching mole (a play on the french name of Soft Machine (Machine Molle)), Matching Mole (MM) was Robert Wyatt's first group after leaving the Softs (although it was his second album, following his solo "End of an Ear" (EOAE)). Consequently, it sits comfortably between these earlier works and MM's second album and Wyatt's later solo work. The second side reminds of EOAE, with a lot of atmospheric techniques surrounding Wyatt's wordless vocals. The first side contains three bona fide classics. First, "Caroline" is relatively straight-ahead tune, but the melody is infectious and the sentiment very heartfelt through Wyatt's plaintive vocals. The next is a clever Wyatt play on song structure. The lyrics simply specify the structure "And this is the first verse/And this is the bridge/Or perhaps its just another key change" (of course, accompanied by said key change). The melody will stay in your head for days (in a good way).

Next is Phil Miller's "Part of the Dance" a long instrumental piece featuring Miller's typically long melody lines. It merits many listens as the playing is outstanding by all members.

This may not be MM's best (or most accessible) effort (see "Little Red Record"), but contains enough stimulating and thoughtful music to keep real music lovers (and Wyatt fans) very happy for a long time.

3 1/2


Wyatt adds more humor to soften the intensity but can (when inclined) jam no less hard, proving his solo worth with this accomplished set of experimental ramblings.

Influential Album!
Artist Dimthingshineon recently did a cover of Matching Mole song: "O Caroline" on his latest 4 CD project called "Nostalgia" released in 2009. [...]

Matching mole (a play on the french name of Soft Machine (Machine Molle)), Matching Mole (MM) was Robert Wyatt's first group after leaving the Softs (although it was his second album, following his solo "End of an Ear" (EOAE)). Consequently, it sits comfortably between these earlier works and MM's second album and Wyatt's later solo work. The second side reminds of EOAE, with a lot of atmospheric techniques surrounding Wyatt's wordless vocals. The first side contains three bona fide classics. First, "Caroline" is relatively straight-ahead tune, but the melody is infectious and the sentiment very heartfelt through Wyatt's plaintive vocals. The next is a clever Wyatt play on song structure. The lyrics simply specify the structure "And this is the first verse/And this is the bridge/Or perhaps its just another key change" (of course, accompanied by said key change). The melody will stay in your head for days (in a good way).

Next is Phil Miller's "Part of the Dance" a long instrumental piece featuring Miller's typically long melody lines. It merits many listens as the playing is outstanding by all members.

This may not be MM's best (or most accessible) effort (see "Little Red Record"), but contains enough stimulating and thoughtful music to keep real music lovers (and Wyatt fans) very happy for a long time.