Music From the Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 31, 1990)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Editions EG Records
• ASIN: B000003S2R
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #266,812 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Penguin Cafe Single

2. Zopf: From the Colonies

3. Zopf: In a Sydney Motel

4. Zopf: Surface Tension

5. Zopf: Milk

6. Zopf: Coronation

7. Zopf: Giles Farnaby's Dream

8. Zopf: Pigtail

9. The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter

10. Hugebaby

11. Chartered Flight

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Something Rich and Strange, March 28, 2000

By 

Mr. A. Pomeroy (Wiltshire, England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Music From the Penguin Cafe (Audio CD)

A unique and strange record, even by the standards of the pan-musical Penguin Café Orchesta, 'Music from the Penguin Café' was originally released on Brian Eno's 'Obscure' record label in the mid-seventies, by mail order only.

'MFTPC' is hard to describe, and very few retrospectives of the group's career (sadly, leader Simon Jeffes died in 1997) give this more than a passing mention, as it's almost beyond criticism - a totally self-contained universe of music, mixing primitive electronics, Brian Eno-style ambient, classical and folk to form a side-step into a timeless, alien environment. Surreal and dreamlike, it has a very distinctive 'live' sound, with birdsong faintly audible in the background of some of the tracks. Imagine Michael Nyman's wiggiest moments, as produced by Brian Eno's second assistant tape operator, and you're half-way there.

After this (and the similar follow-up, 'Penguin Café Orchestra') the PCO settled down and become much more conservative - their later work is tuneful, folky, and much less experimental.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Man, you never can meet CD's this good so often, March 21, 2002

By 

Blue Monk (San Diego, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music From the Penguin Cafe (Audio CD)

The first time I listened to this album was when I was a teen. Ever since, I have been addicted to Penguin Cafe Orchestra's work, but this first album is the best of all.

I owned an LP of this but recently bought a CD again, and listened to it more carefully with a better-sounding system. This made me to rediscover this gem. What a wonderful music they made! I don't think pieces in this album are so "weird". Actually, I found some of them are most relaxing music that I ever heard. But they could be a different kind of music, anyway.

The only and probably minor problem with this album is that, probably due to the inferior recording condition of their day, some pieces are suffering from distortion.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Only Penquin you need on a desert island, April 17, 2001

By 

Verne Robinson (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Music From the Penguin Cafe (Audio CD)

Hilariously excellent music. People this talented are impossible to explain. I saw the documentary about them on PBS light years ago. Bought CD, lost CD. Could not live without CD so came back to Amazon and bought it again.