M1-21 Norman Lovett

M1-21 John Peel Sings the Blues BadlyNorman's pithy IMDB biog reads something like this: Height: 5' 10" (1.78 m). Spouse: Fi Lovett (1989 - present). 2 daughters, Lily and Kitty. Is a comedian. Orginally [sic] auditioned for the part of Rimmer in "Red Dwarf" (1988 & 1999), but was cast as the talking head of a computer called Holly instead. Was considered for the role of Zazu in The Lion King (1994).This may lead you to think that, while he seems to be leading a happy and stable family life, he hasn't been too good at landing plum jobs in massive blockbuster feature films. Well, that's as may be, but I feel gratified to have been at behind at least, one of his winning moves. For it was I who picked him out of a hoard of hopefuls who sent me their demos after I dished out on BBC Radio an invitation to the public to submit tapes as an audition for the final track to be added to Miniatures.Kick-started his career? Hmm, mebbe not, but it was just 4 years after Miniatures that Norman made his TV debut and went on to appear in 32 (so far, says IMDB) TV shows and films, including playing a computer named Holly in "Red Dwarf" as well as voice-overs for popular long-running ads for Barclays and Sugar Puffs, and his wittily-titled self-written TV comedy show "I, Lovett."As an ex-pat since the early 80's I realise I am pitifully ignorant of Norman's status as, I gather from googlewikiyoutube as well as IMDB, a well-loved character on Brit TV and in several films. So to save myself  putting a foot wrong, here are a few links so that you can fill in any gaps in your knowledge of him:Norman's famous Sugar Puffs voice-overGet on his Wiki218 (as of today) delights on youtubeThe man's site, with some very entertaining videosLive show featuring (shock! horror!) plastic bags and clothes pegs. Let it never be said that Norman stints on the quality and variety of his propsOn his Miniatures track, Norman impersonated, very well I thought, England's best-loved DJ and heroically staunch supporter of all kinds of fantastic independent music (including my own Hybrid Kids), John Peel (RIP). Since his much-too-early passing in 2004, John's family and friends have set up the John Peel Centre for Creative Arts, a thriving organisation who are, among many other worthy deeds, soon to make John's entire, massive record collection available as an online interactive museum. Cor!The unique thing about Norman's miniature which sets it apart from all the others is that he broke the "fourth wall" and spoke directly to the listener about his selfishly high expectations re his appearance on this album. Norman's cheeky yet endearing charm is that he communicates personally to his listeners rather in the manner of, say, a friendly barman. I think this cosy, matey side of this slightly surreal geezer from the penny arcade who called his own phone and answered it will be what keeps him in the public eye for many years to come, and though I haven't yet seen them, I'm sure his two DVD's are tons of fun. The new one, "Outside the Box," was recorded just after Norman finished a run in Edinburgh, so he's primed and red hot. But as he says - "not that you'd notice of course; Norman’s style of laid back surrealist whimsy masks the fact that he was 'on fire' that night." More of a quiet chuckle than a belly laugh, then. How very British.Next up: let's shake our elbows...Read/Leave Comment

M1-20 Steve Miller

M1-20 AliceSteve Miller, a bit like me, started his career playing in R'n'B and rock bands (in this link on a pre-Zeppelin Robert Plant demo - he was an in-demand studio musician and played on Free's classic "The Hunter"), and gradually moved into a more contemplative way of playing as the years rolled by. His comment above about "Alice" describes to a T the way I have been performing for several years now. So as an ex-rocker, if he were with us today, I am sure he would not mind me kicking off with a few words about a rocker who bears the same name.The US Steve Miller actually went in rather the opposite direction to us two Brits, in a vague sort of way. I say that because his first two albums as the Steve Miller Band - Children of the Future and Sailor, while featuring some raunchy blues-rock tracks, were also quite psychedelic and contained some impressive long tracks one could even think of as  precursors of ambient music or soundscapes. Very interesting stuff. Anyway, as the years rolled by Stateside, his music moved more into rock and funk and blues, passing through some classic hits such as "The Joker," "Abracadabra," and for me his best track of all "Fly Like an Eagle." Now approaching 70 years old, Steve is very much into blues (apart from a brief flirtation with Paul McCartney on his 1997 "Flaming Pie" album).OK let's get back to the Steve Miller I came here to talk about. After his baptism as a pro musician playing blues and rock, he quickly showed a preference for jazz, especially of the modern, experimental kind prevalent in England and especially among Canterbury-related bands in the 70's. He worked a great deal with Miniatures artiste Lol Coxhill, in their band Delivery (1966-75-ish, on and off) - a marvellously eclectic prog band which also featured among its members such greats as Carol Grimes, Judie Dyble, Steve's brother Phil, and Roy Babbington.Eventually half the band left to form Hatfield and the North (taken from a road sign I and countless musos used to see frequently en route to all points north of London on the A1 Great North Road in those days - doubtless the new band had struggled to find a name, and on the way to some sweaty dive saw the sign and said, "bugger it, that'll do"). Steve then was asked to join legendary Canterbury band Caravan, as their organist Dave Sinclair (who now, like me, lives in Japan - Kyoto rather than Tokyo - I played a little on his new album) had left. Steve, being more piano- than organ-oriented only made one album with Caravan. He then hitched up with old Delivery bandmate Lol Coxhill to form a duo which recorded two splendidly improvisatory and humourous albums, one of which contains the fabulously-titled track "The ant about to be crushed ponders not the where withal of boot leather."I am listening to this album now - or should I say "tasting it" (as in wine-tasting) via 30 second snippets on Amazon. I enjoy it for its quietly radical, sometimes bucolic, polite-but-occasionally-with-a-finger-shoved-up-one-nostril approach to music, all too rarely heard these days. The duo was democratically billed as Coxhill/Miller Miller/Coxhill, but I think Lol "wins" as he gets both the first and last names.Carpentry called coaxingly to Steve after this period, and I can imagine him enjoying the solitude, sawdust and slow meticulous work, after the smut and sweat of the music biz. And I bet he did some very good work, too. Luckily, he did not disappear off the map completely, and through Lol I was able to contact him to invite him to make his miniature. We met only once and he did seem rather quiet and shy, perhaps feeling uncomfortable to be in the middle of London instead of in the peaceful surroundings of Hertfordshire, and when the tape of his track popped through my letterbox, I was not surprised to hear its deliciously serene harmonies. It still moves me very much today - despite (or rather because) of the fact that you can hear it was recorded in a house rather than a studio, which makes it all the more personal and endearing.Steve left us much too young, in 1998, at the age of 55. After he was diagnosed with cancer his friends - many from Delivery - got together to hold a benefit concert for him at the Vortex Jazz Club in London on June 28. It was Steve's last concert, and many said that it was one of his best, most moving performances ever. Luckily, thanks to guitarist Mark Hewins, Steve's compadre in several of his later bands, a brief video exists where Steve does indeed play a truly entrancing solo. The lighting was very low, and as the camera pans towards Steve, he is scarcely visible, just a few points of light in the surrounding darkness. It is as if he is a spirit just popping into this dimension for a while to bring beautiful, inspiring sounds to us. He really was, wasn't he. Six months later, he had returned to the source.Phil Miller, his devoted brother and brilliant guitarist, later released two solo piano albums by Steve, on his own Crescent Discs label, available here (UK) and here (USA). I'm ordering them...Next up: chap with a very a-peel-ing voice...Read/Leave Comment

M1-19 Ken Ellis

M1-19 One Minute in the Life of Ivan Denisovich One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich (1970) was a gritty, sub-zero film featuring Tom Courtenay, based on the book of the same name by Alexander Solzhenitsyn. The author was writing from his own experience, and in spite of the horrendous conditions in the gulag where he spent four years (and was diagnosed with cancer), he went on to exile and eventual freedom, and died some 50 years later at the venerable age of 89.Not long after the release of that film, a young Australian comedian living in London hatched an idea for a remarkable new kind of one-man show, which in time came to be regularly announced in Time Out magazine:Before experiencing this truly underground performance, I first met Ken at the home of Matthew Meyer, who was then a Swiss film student, and is now known as Oliver Matthias Meyer, a maker of fascinating and socially conscious film documentaries. Matthew had contacted me with regard to making music for his first experimental short (which remains untitled, but I remember that it mainly featured close-ups of the unusually large Marty Feldman-type eyes of a young female friend of his). Of course, Matthew was skint so there was no fee involved, but I recall several evenings of feasting and jollity in his apartment which were ample recompense. During these tipsy suppers, Ken would often drop by and on occasion be suddenly moved to stand up and recite, gravely, in the style of a politician, the lyrics of a song such as "Respect" (Otis Redding) or "Be-Bop-A-Lula" (Gene Vincent).It was all the more hilarious because Ken would invariably be dressed in the formal manner which you see in the photo above; he never so much as loosened his tie. Apparently he had been dryly performing such recitations at Speakers' Corner, much to the bewilderment of passers-by who, while used to vociferous nutters grabbing their few seconds of public attention, or more committed speakers with something of real value to say, could not for the life of them figure out exactly what this quiet, genial but absolutely poker-faced Aussie was getting at.I eventually acquired a cassette tape of his recitations, which had me and my friends in stitches for years to come. Sadly it is now gone forever. Ken's sombre surrealist personality puts me in mind of René Magritte, who always dressed like a businessman, and one day decided to perform a Dada act for no other audience than his victim. According to (Miniatures artiste) George Melly, Magritte was once visited by a smartly dressed salesman, and when the hapless fellow bent down to take a sample out of his suitcase, Magritte gave him a severe kick up the backside. The poor man was so stunned by this unprovoked attack that he could not react, simply continued as if nothing had happened, and went on with his sales patter, while Magritte too retained a calm composure until the vendor left (doubtless with his brains thoroughly scrambled).Melly described Magritte as “a secret agent; his object is to bring into disrepute the whole apparatus of bourgeois reality. Like all saboteurs he avoids detection by dressing and behaving like everybody else.” This description could aptly be applied to Ken and his activities, although I am sure he never displayed the cruelty of which the Belgian master painter was apparently capable.But Ken did delight in gently playing havoc with our notions of normality, and after some time I eventually got to see him in action, on the tube. About ten of us met him at the agreed time on the agreed platform, and handed over our shiny 50p coins - the UK had just gone decimal, so the entire populations minds had already been weakened by having to deal with difficult conversions every time we made a purchase. We were ripe to be victims of Ken's surrealist japes.What followed wasn't what you would call hilarious, at least in the normal guffawing sense of British comedy. Anyway, we who were in the know had to suppress our giggles in order to allow Ken to mess with the minds of our innocent fellow travellers; his bizarre behaviour was in utter contrast to his completely conventional look as a city businessman, complete with black umbrella. He didn't go so far as to wear a bowler, but definitely had the look of one of Magritte's cypher-like bourgeois gentlemen.Before boarding the train, Ken had already started his performance by standing precipitously on the edge of the platform, his feet half over the edge, straining left and right to see if a train was coming. Skilfully, he almost overbalanced several times, and one could hear quick inbreaths from some of the worried commuters. This being Britain, there was a long wait until the next train, so he had plenty of time to milk the gag to the max. On the last wobble, even we were tempted to dash forward and save him, but in the nick of time he lunged forward his rolled umbrella and balanced himself on it - the tip of the umbrella now lodged in the dark abyss next to the nearest rail. Now bent completely double, he stayed there for several endless teetering moments, straightened himself up just as the headlights of the train came out of the tunnel, and resumed his nonchalant businessman stance. Phew!On boarding the train there were just enough empty seats in the carriage for us to sit, slightly scattered but able to see Ken, with a good sprinkling of victims sat closer to him. At first he didn't sit, but executed several skillful moves with the most obvious prop - the handles hanging from the rail that ran along the top of the carriage. Allowing himself to be buffeted and swung around by the turbulent motion of the  ancient London tube train, he variously ended up with one or both arms yanked round the back of his neck, one or both feet off the floor, and of course the umbrella nicely entangled with his gangly body and or one or more of the handles. Three stations went by for this gag.The next obvious prop was a newspaper, which in the course of reading he succeeded in tearing in half, completely rearranging the pages, and eventually transforming it into a large pile of garbage at his feet. All done with his unchanging, Buster Keaton-ish poker face. Four stations' worth of muffled giggles.The grand finale of Tube Theatre involved his tie. After tidying up the pile of ripped newspaper into his old leather briefcase, Ken turned his attention to his tie. It was of course a thin black tie, leading one to assume that he worked in the City or was on his way to a funeral (the latter being more likely considering the sombreness of his unchanging face). He looked down at the tie and started slightly on noticing that the narrow end was longer than the wide end. He then proceeded to execute a series of complex re-ties of the tie, each ending with either the narrow end still longer, the wide end far too long, or both ends over one ear or behind his neck. This was slow-motion clowning prowess on a par with Jacques Tati. After five stations of this, he allowed his face to break into a loud sigh, then smartly reached into his pocket, produced a large pair of scissors, snipped off six inches of the still-overlong narrow end, and sat back with a beatific grin. Tube Theatre was over and we finally allowed ourselves a hearty round of laughter and applause while, Candid Camera style, the surrounding victims smiled as they realised they'd been had.Not long after that, Ken found himself in the vast surroundings of my bedsit studio and we rapidly put together his miniaturisation of the Solzhenitsyn classic, backed by whooshing wind sounds created on my trusty EMS VCS3 "Putney" synthesizer, plus chisel sounds from a table knife and at the end, three beeps recorded from the telephone Speaking Clock (which by the way turned 75 years old last July).Years went by and I lost contact with Ken, sadly. A recent google brought up these listings of his appearances at the Adelaide Festival Fringe in 1984 and 1986:Ken is off my radar, these days. However, last week I spotted a page on Facebook that listed both his name and Tube Theatre, in regard to a social service called "Speak Up", where people having difficulty dealing with a bullying boss or aggressive salesperson can role-play the situation with an actor or actors (possibly including Ken?) playing the part of the 'orrible person(s) concerned. This gives the plaintiff the courage to then go back to the real world and deal with the problem. Nice idea, and very Ken-like in both its compassion and humour. I wrote a message on that page, but so far neither Ken nor anyone else has contacted me. Are you there, oh great Tube Thespian? Are you there, oh great reciter of rock and soul epic poems? Come out, come out, wherever you are, mate!Next up: the gentler of two brilliant musicians who bear the same name...Read/Leave Comment

M1-18 Lol Coxhill

M1-18 An End to the MatterAs I mentioned at the end of the previous blog - this is the original Lol. To think that his name is spelled the same as one of the dumbest acronyms currently in vogue on the internet (one that I never have and never will use - even though I was partial to writing SWALK and NORWICH on the back of envelopes when I was a besotted teenager) is in my mind a travesty. And I am not alone in this - there are several pages on Facebook dedicated to haters of LOL, who number in the thousands.In point of fact I absolutely admire Lol. I can't remember exactly when we first met, but during the late 70's I would sometimes head down to the London Musicians' Collective, a dark cavernous hole somewhere in Camden Town, to watch various avant-garde films and performances. As a musician myself, I naturally expected it would be easy to strike up a conversation with some of the performers, but in general, perhaps due to my timidity in those days, I felt intimidated by the stern ascetic faces of many of the players I saw there. It felt like an intensely know-it-all political collective, so in the dozens of times I visited there I never found it easy to chat to any of the musicians - except for one, a sax wizard.A bloke who seemed very approachable, without carrying around some kind of forbidding philosophy or dogma, an open-faced easy-going cove, whose playing seemed to flow in a liquid fashion more than anyone else's, who was definitely a part of the band but not a part of the group, if you catch my drift. His own man, not limited to any particular creed or attitude; willing to go along with any interesting musical challenge that presented itself. Certainly not averse to melody, harmony, and rhythm, unlike many of the LMC's propagators of so-called "free" music (doesn't free include everything?). In short, a man in touch with the present moment, with a mind and heart unfiltered by any predilections, open to anything and anyone who came along. A bloke who can out-rage the most outrageous players, can navigate the most heinously difficult musical pathways, yet loves a bit of whimsy and humour as well. That was Lol. When Cherry Red Records, following the release of my first Hybrid Kids album, suggested I make my own sub-label under their friendly umbrella, I plumped for starting Pipe Records (and ending, as it happened) with two diametrically opposed recording projects: Miniatures, with its galaxy of 51 musical adventurers, and what was to eventually be called Slow Music, an ambient album based largely on tape loops of Lol's playing. I felt inspired to do this after hearing "Digswell Duets," an album Lol had made a couple of years earlier, on which he played, echoed and looped  over soundscapes created by electroacoustician Simon Emmerson. In true Lol style, the eclectic album also includes versions of jazz standards accompanied by Veryan Weston (pianist of Miniatures band Stinky Winkles).Lol came up with the brilliant idea of playing Handel's Largo as the main source material for the album. Playing a soprano sax held together with a forest of elastic bands ("can't find anyone who can repair it properly") he whipped out a lyrical interpretation of this eternally lovely melody, put onto tape in one take via my trusty Revox. I then slowed it down to half speed, ran it through various tape delays, and Lol played unerringly beautiful harmonies over the top. That one brief session was, as it turned out,  the end of his involvement with Slow Music, for then I rather selfishly took the raw material and ran with it. Well, "walked" might be a better word. No, "sat" would be best. For the next two weeks I was at the desk in my home studio, copying, splicing, looping, Lol's lyrical performance, playing it backwards and at different speeds, running it through my VCS3 synth, dubbing it to cassette to distort the sound, etc., etc., - in other words, I was experimenting to see what sonic sculptures could be created using the very limited tools at my disposal.I still feel a bit guilty for not involving Lol more in the process, but frankly it would, 90% of the time, have involved him sitting around waiting while I tried things that didn't work, so I bummed on regardless and eventually invited a rather surprised Lol ("What, you mean it's finished?") to Pipe Studios to have a listen. I think he liked it, finally. Especially the opening track, which I find, always movingly, gives the impression of a Mexican funeral in slow motion (this excerpt also appears in the very first post of this blog):Que En Paz DescanseOne more tasty bit of raw material that Lol supplied for the album was a recording of him singing "Pretty Little Girl", a charming if slightly naughty love song he'd written and sung on top of an accompaniment he'd played on a church carillon. "You might find a use for it" he said as he handed over the cassette. I loved the piece, and decided it would end the album, preceded by a very slowed-down deconstructed version of it made using a forest of tape loops of single notes which gradually spelled out the melody over its languid 24 minutes.As neither Lol nor I are ambient/minimal specialists like, say, Brian Eno or Gavin Bryars or Terry Riley, we have never been able to maintain the correct profile in order to attract large numbers of record buyers. We both just go on with our lives, rather than our careers, and respond positively to most of the various musical invitations we have received over the decades, regardless of genre. However, I think this album is a minor classic, and it has garnered various admirers over the years (e.g., Haruomi Hosono, one of the leaders of seminal synth rock band Yellow Magic Orchestra) and is still available as downloads via various online sources. This was our one and only joint recording (apart from his brief and brilliant appearance on the Hybrid Kids' "Claws" album); we have never played live on the same stage, and so I treasure it all the more. Which is why I have gone on about it at length so far. I have also received a request from the BFI to use the 25-minute title track of this album as the soundtrack to "Head in Shadow" (1951), the opening film on absurdist hero Bruce Lacey's retrospective double DVD. Here's a review of this release (quote: "a superbly fitting, trance-like ambient score"). And now, in the brief time and space allotted to me, let's return to Lol's life and times...Lowen Coxhill was born in Portsmouth, England on September 19th, 1932, soon to be an amazing 80 years ago. His astonishing biography is to be found nowhere in its complete form, for that is impossible (also 'cos it ain't ended yet - far from it). However, fairly informative accounts may be found here, here and here. He has also appeared in various fine films (including acclaimed works by Derek Jarman and Sally Potter) as listed here.John Lewis at Time Out magazine wrote this fine overview: "Soprano sax maverick Coxhill is a musician who's touched on nearly every area of music over the past half century. In the '60s he jacked in his day job to accompany soul singers like Rufus Thomas. He'd sit in with bluesmen like Alexis Korner and Champion Jack Dupree. He was signed to John Peel's label Dandelion and played bebop with the likes of Bobby Wellins and Stan Tracey, prog rock with Steve Miller and Kevin Ayers, and dabbled in ska and rocksteady with Rico Rodriquez and Jazz Jamaica. In 1977 he even toured with the Damned. In the last decade I've seen him play with assorted avant jazzers, drone rockers and electronic mavericks. I've seen him busking near the Thames, and seen his old LPs selling for $100 in New York record shops. And I've also heard him playing beautiful, straight versions of standards... A true national treasure and a top geezer." I couldn't put it better.Videos that I know of (and there are hundreds online) include him playing with Rufus Thomas (dig the shades), with Kevin Ayers/Mike Oldfield/David Bedford (dig the jacket), with The Flying Padovanis, with a fine Hugh Hopper ensemble, introducing his debut album (from 0:40), for a film of tulips,  playing under water, and leading a bunch of kids through a skilled interpretation of "I Am The Walrus." I also saw him play with an avant-noisy Japanese band in a tiny club in Tokyo. The band was called "Totzuzen Danboru" which, of course, means "suddenly cardboard."A healthy and active performance schedule still is being maintained by our hero, at home and abroad. Go and see him.There is a rare (and now pricey) book about Lol called "The Bald Soprano" (publ. Tak Tak Tak, 1989 - not to be confused with Eugene Ionesco's first play) written by the English poet Jeff Nuttall. I have yet to read it, and know that it also will be markedly incomplete, compared with the inimitable musical and artistic life of this, one of the great mavericks of our time. Lol. Not LOL, you swine. Lol!Next up: Tube theatre, anyone...?Read/Leave Comment

M1-17 Herbert Distel

M1-17 Toscany in Blue (last minute)   The renowned electro-acoustic composer, Luc Ferrari, came up with the musical concept of "Presque Rien." On first seeing these two simple words in the 70's, the idea of music made from "almost nothing" appealed to me tremendously. This was in the time before the internet, so it took me quite a long time after reading about it, to actually get to hear some of this work. I was imagining that Ferrari would use tiny sounds played on spare instruments, but in fact he was mainly working with natural sounds (the first "Presque Rien" consisted of a day-long recording of sounds at a beach, edited down to 21 minutes). I imagined a man of tremendous patience, painstakingly assembling these delicate soundscapes.How much patience, then, must Herbert Distel possess, to have created his Museum of Drawers, with the staggering number of 500 artists and artworks to deal with? This huge collection includes tiny works (largely from the 60's and 70's) by such luminaries as Picasso, Joseph Beuys, John Baldessari, Carl Andre, Chuck Close, Tom Phillips, Nam Jun Paik, Edward Ruscha, Dieter Roth and John Cage (to name 10). It makes Miniatures seem puny by comparison. Herbert worked on it for 7 years and by 1977 it was complete. Two years later I started work on Miniatures and knew that I had to have Herbert on board. I recall that it was through the ICA that I found him, and we exchanged friendly letters, the pioneer encouraging the newbie to go ahead with his lesser project, for which I am grateful.Herbert, like Ferrari, was and is fascinated by natural and man-made sounds, but his miniature piece is more akin to a sonic mosaic, with various short animal, insect and bird calls repeated and layered. Tape loops, I would imagine, as this was before samplers were widely available.On relistening to this track after a gap of some years (and on much better equipment) I must say I am impressed with how Herbert has managed a continuous crescendo over the entire minute. I have tried something like this and I always seem to run out of fader, by getting to the max far too soon. Somehow Herbert has managed to build both the volume and the tension slowly but surely, quite a feat, in my book.Our paths crossed in 1982 when I was travelling in a world far removed from the heady experimentalism of Miniatures. I was playing keyboards on tour with Queen, and as I travelled around Europe as part of this showbiz extravaganza, I made use of the days off to contact various friends and acquaintances in each city. We hit Zurich in April, and Herbert welcomed me into his home with bearded warmth, fine home-cooked food and wine and a cosy family atmosphere - a delightful contrast to the fancy hotels we were staying in. It turned out his daughter was a Queen fan, so she joined me the next day at the show, the roadies and backstage staff treating her like a little princess. The concert she enjoyed (and I played) could hardly be further away on the musical spectrum than her father's minimal textures. If variety is indeed the spice of life, I must be a herb tycoon.Only at the time of writing this blog post did I discover the probably reason for the title of this track, which had long puzzled me. From Herbert's wikipedia entry (which includes many interesting facts about his multi-faceted work, and a nice photo of him too):Distel's first sound art work was the LP "We Have A Problem" (1971) based on NASA recordings of Apollo 13 astronauts that were mixed with a live rendition of George Gershwin's 'Rhapsody In Blue' as played by the pianist Peter Aronsky.Thank you Herbert for inspiring me, and for your hospitality. Long may you continue your creative, head-turning, mind-bending endeavours!Next up: the original LOL...Read/Leave Comment

M1-16 Neil Innes

M1-16 Cum on Feel the NoizeMost people remember where they were when they heard the news about John Lennon's death. I was in bed in London that winter morning, not sleeping too well and listening to the radio. In the early hours the announcement came, and I was frozen with shock. I couldn't listen to the music any more, and switched off the radio and somehow got back to sleep. The next morning I was due to go to Manfred Mann's cosy but well-equipped Workhouse Studio in the Old Kent Road to record some songs with Neil for his "Innes Book of Records" TV series (link shows me punking it with Neil, Ollie Halsall, John Halsey, and Paul Martinez). When I awoke bleary-eyed for breakfast, the news announcements were continuing - sadly it had not been a dream. When I arrived at the studio, not much was said, we knuckled down and got to work. All of us knowing that Neil was probably devastated by his friend's death, even more than we were. To add to it, Neil's voice sounded particularly Beatlish that day, as it often did.Sorry for the sad opening, but it comes from one of the most memorable of many otherwise fun-filled days spent with Neil. Not long before that, I had played on John Otway's album "Where Did I Go Right" which Neil produced, Ollie played on, and Sid James' son Steve engineered. What a recipe for chaos! But also the occasional tender love song (WARNING! link is to a recent live version of the song featuring, OMG, an Otway violin solo. You Have Been Warned).OK that's enough Johns. Neil and I have played together live only twice, if I remember correctly. Once was at The Secret Policeman's Ball in London in 1979, where I tinkled on "Spontaneous" (link is to a different version), his fabulous lounge singer parody. Two things stand out from that event, 32 years on. First, as I entered Her Majesty's Theatre for the rehearsal, I could hear some bloke sounding like a really naff Pete Townshend, trying to make a go of "Pinball Wizard" armed only with an acoustic guitar. As the stage came into view, I saw that, um, it was Pete Townshend (sorry Pete!). What's more, he greeted me warmly by saying, "heard you been playing with Otway" (who's debut record he produced). Hush my mouth...Then there was - ah, another John... Williams this time. Not the film composer, the esteemed classical guitarist, one of Britain's finest, was also at the Ball, and was somehow persuaded to jam with Pete. Well I'm sorry, but he proved the old adage that classical musicians can't jam, as he spent most of the song watching Pete's fingers very very carefully while Pete blasted out "Won't Get Fooled Again", then fired off, a little too late, a prestissimo arpeggio, hopefully fitting the chord he had just "seen." Then back to watching till he spotted another "doable" chord. Hmmm...The second time Neil and I played together was a mere 22 years later in Tokyo. Neil popped over for a short solo tour, and had me come on stage to mess up a couple of numbers during his brilliant set. Just before the gig, Neil suggested that he and I "walk onstage, put our [bald] heads together, bow deeply and make an asshole of ourselves." Which we did, to much Nipponese hilarity. His wonderful wife Yvonne was there too, and we chatted about how she had been working on George Harrison's garden. (Sadly, George passed away just a few months later. Another Beatle pal gone. In 2008 George's wife Olivia, with Yvonne, created a tribute to George's garden and the Queen dropped by to say helleow.)Music for the Head Ballet (we are back to Neil, this time for keeps, I think) stunned me by it's Satie-esque wit and chordal sophistication, and this more surreal side of his Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band's music made me a rabid fan for life. Moving on from the Bonzos (who had appeared in The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour"), Neil hooked up with Monty Python and eventually, with Eric Idle  and on Rutland Weekend Television, The Rutles were born, leading to the hilarious mockumentary, "All You Need is Cash."Neil's placid, easy-going nature was in full evidence when the Bonzo's 40th anniversary reunion gigs happened, and most of the band showed up, in various states of daftness. It took four men (including Steven Fry) to attempt to replace the late, utterly irreplaceable Viv Stanshall. While not able to be in London to watch the pandemonium, I bought the DVD at once and could watch Neil grinning and throwing his hands up in cheerful futility as events on stage got out of hand.Neil continues to tour and have fun and pun all over the place, and earlier this year he also very kindly contributed a thoughtful track to Artists Support Japan. He is one of the creative luminaries I can truly say it is an honour to know and to have worked with, even if he did have flying ducks on the wall of his London living room.Next up: a 3D miniatures...Read/Leave Comment

M1-15 The Work

M1-15 With Wings Pressed BackThe Work, like the name suggests, had a tough, non-nonsense, committed approach to music, spiced with ear-bending timbres and the occasional glimpse of British humour if you looked carefully. I reckon they fall into the same loose bag and era as PIL, The Fall, This Heat, Gang of Four, and so on. As you can see, an abundance of four-letter words. No frills, sometimes an almost dour militaristic beat, yet out there on the bleeding edge in terms of sounds and structures.That idea of using a mixer to distort the sounds, by feeding the output of one instrument's channel into the input of another instrument's channel? Tim Hodgkinson informed me that Anthony Moore was one of the first to do it, on Henry Cow's "In Praise of Learning" album (1975). In those days there were much fewer effects pedals available, and if one was on a low budget, other ways could be found by those with inventive minds. I have not tried it, yet, but it seems to me to be a great hands-on pre-digital version of AM and FM (not as in radio, as in DX7 for example).Of course, here in Japan, one experimentalist, Toshimaru Nakamura has taken the idea a radical step further. Why bother with instruments? Just the mixer on its own will do, as any mixer has hums and crackles which can be fed back to create noise/music. No-input mixer music is also performed by Croatian Marko Ciciliani and can be surprisingly funky at times.I just found out that this track is more miniature than I thought. Only 3/4 of the band were present. Bassist Mick Hobbs was doing another kind of heavy construction work elsewhere. As he wrote a few days ago:"I'm actually the member of The Work who didn't get to play on their fine track on 'Miniatures'. They recorded it one day when I wasn't there (I had to earn a living as a builder's mate back in those days). I remember turning up in the evening to learn that 'With Wings Pressed Back' had been recorded.I've played a lot of music since then, some of it with the aforementioned Work. I also currently play with Frank Bangay And The Topsy Turvy Band, and US band Half Japanese [Ed.: small world - another Miniatures artist!]. My main work is in a psychiatric hospital, though, where I run a music group along progressive occupational therapy lines. i've made 150+ radio shows broadcast on London's Resonance Radio. I also have a tiny record label. [Which is well worth a look/listen]Guitarist Bill Gilonis was the one member of The Work with whom I stayed in touch since 1980 - at least one email every twenty years - and he kindly asked all the band to write something for this blog. So without further ado I will pass the baton of this post to them:BILL:

Since his last gig with the Work in 1994 Bill Gilonis continues to work as a musician, composer, sound engineer and record producer. He has written music for theatre, taken part in multimedia performances and, most recently, released a CD with Canadian composer Chantale Laplante of electro-acoustic compositions. His first book, 'Lost in translation' (with Alex Julyan), was published in 2009 and he is currently looking for a publisher for his second.  Since moving to Zurich, Switzerland, in 1993 Bill Gilonis has also worked as a teacher and translator, indulging a lifelong interest in riddles, ambiguity and language.

Bill also kindly sent two rare photos of the band (click to enlarge):

The Work: original line-up. This photo, taken in Chris Cutler's garden in Brixton, is nothing special but has the distinction of never having been used before. The photographer had a memorable & great name: Mina Panik.

The Work: line-up that went to Japan in 1982: Tim Hodgkinson, Bill Gilonis, Chris Cutler & Jim Whelton.

TIM:

Tim Hodgkinson works as a composer and improviser. Lap steel guitar with Konk Pack, ethnomusic in Siberia, bass clarinet and spectral recordings with Iancu Dumitrescu's Hyperion Ensemble, Huddersfield and London Sinfonietta commissions, Infinity self-remixing CD with K-Space trio, solo clarinet performances. Second CD of compositions on Mode label due out in October. Past epics include keys and reeds in Henry Cow, electric alto with God, Tadeusz Kantor-inspired suite Stop Mortal with Dagmar Krause at QEH. For more information, visit www.timhodgkinson.co.uk

RICK:

I was the drummer with The Work on 'With Wings Pressed Back'. From what I remember about the session, I played my way into the already-recorded guitars and my sketches were deemed just the job. I never got  to colour them in. Possibly the right move (or lack of it). Since that time I've been with the group in its two lives but have largely worked as a musician in education and with young people. Punctuating this, I've studied temple drumming in south India and worked with theatre, film, dance and for radio, usually on original material. Happily,I get to work on a very wide selection of things - from large outdoor environmental art events to my current role as recordist, editor and archivist on a year long project along the border lands of Offa's Dyke. I'm a regular accompanist to two storytellers and have had two original cds with my name on. Somewhere in the middle of all this I got a music degree at SOAS specialising in Indian and African music. Blimey, that's compressed a huge quantity of life into such a small space.  Hope some / all is usable.It certainly is, Rick! Thank you all, gentlemen. Evidently, the work continues apace...Next up: son of a Rutle...Read/Leave Comment

M1-14 Joseph Racaille

M1-14 Week-endClocking in at a full 14 seconds, Joseph Racaille out-miniatured the miniaturists with this lovely haiku of a song. Although before I continue, I feel compelled to draw your attention to fellow miniaturist Lol Coxhill's one-second piece, "Spirit of Maasluis" on his wonderful album "Toverbal Sweet." If memory serves me correctly (sadly I no longer have the LP) it sounded like a tiny snippet of audience noise. Amazing how the merest fragment of audio can give such an accurate and vivid aural impression. Our brains can work fast when they want to.Although my French is quite good, I have no idea what Joseph (for I believe it is his voice, multi-tracked) is singing on this track, except perhaps for the final two words which may possibly be "La Manche" which, as any good British schoolboy knows, is French for "The English Channel" across which Joseph's tape winged (or ferried?) its way to me in 1980. If anyone French or French-savvy (pardon for bastardising savoir) can decipher these lyrics for me, please write in! I have not, despite many efforts, been able to reach Joseph since those days.I met him only once in a classic all-stone, plaster, wood and wrought iron 5th-floor walk-up Paris apartment in 1980, and after a brief bonjour, enchanté he seemed dreamily incommunicable, and we spoke no more. I passed the rest of my visit with the more outgoing, debonair, cosmopolitan half of his two-man band,  ZNR.Yet it was Joseph's hazy, abstract air that first attracted me to ZNR's album "Traité de Mécanique Populaire" which he recorded with his more articulate friend Hector Zazou (who also is on Miniatures - more of that in a later post) and released in 1980. I can still only guess that ZNR may stand for Zazou'N'Racaille, a bit like R'n'R. Peut-être. I am not the only one to note the chalk-and-cheese difference in character between these two musical mavericks: the previous link leads to a review that ends thus: Zazou later went on to become a much sought after producer and composer of more mainstream/ambient music while Racaille is successful in keeping a low profile.This youtube video of "Tout Debout" (audio only) from "Traité" shows that they were already partial to creating very short tracks, with the mood a captivating blend of, well let's say, Satie and Faust. A sad, elegant refinement combined with the occasional slightly raucous rebellious attack, possibly tongue-in-cheek. Very French and very appealing to me at the time. For younger viewers, this spirit may still be detected in, for example, the soundtrack of the film "Amélie." Also comparable to fellow Miniaturists across the Channel, The Penguin Cafe Orchestra (not least because the ukelele is a favoured instrument of both Joseph and the late PCO leader Simon Jeffes).ZNR's first album came to my attention a little later, in 1981. It was called "Barricade 3" - why "3" for a debut album, which furthermore was not made by a trio? To quote from this fine review - "Back in 1977, this album didn't have its match when it came to weirdness. With age it remains an unusual attempt at accessible avant-garde art, French style, and a very entertaining listen for anyone interested in music that is left of center. One could even argue it predated by two decades the naïve pop current represented by Stereolab and Felix Kubin."Joseph is credited on both the ZNR albums for piano, vocals, electric piano, violin. He was always more acoustically-minded, and while "Barricade 3" also featured synths by Hector and another supporting player, their second album was more acoustic, and for his Miniature, Joseph dispensed with instruments all together and made an a cappella track.As for his own releases, these are tricky to to track down. Here's what I found:Two 1983 releases (an album with Miniatures artist Patrick Portella on wind instruments, plus an EP) from Recommended Records - now only available used via eBay, etc.A 1985 track on a Recommended Records Quarterly issue. Via this link I learned that Joseph was part of the Ukulele Club de Paris and played in Primitive Future with cartoonist Robert Crumb.A 2010 compilation album featuring 6 miniatures by Joseph, as well as another Miniatures artist, Etron Fou Leloublan. The title means "Songs Never Heard On The Radio."Amazon in the the UK shows a few more releases, including a series of three albums entitled (1) Racaille à Hawaii, (2) ¡Caraï! and (3) Signé.  A theatre project called Triton merited a Warner release in 1999.Amazon France shows about the same as in the UK, but with more information and numerous listenable excerpts. Possibly the best source of snippets of JR's work. Here we can learn (using Google translate if French is not your forte) that the previously mentioned series of albums form a trilogy called "Les Beaux Albums de Joseph Racaille;" that he sings in French, English, Hawaiian, Tahitian, Javanese and Alamawak (?!) and that all three albums (mini-albums actually) are "une bonne surprise!"(slight digression) Joseph also arranged this song (among others) for the Serge Gainsbourg-influenced French singer Arthur H, who sang a wonderful song at the end of the movie "Vigo - a Passion for Life" directed by Julien Temple.Not so prolific in terms of releases then, but evidently Joseph, a shy yet genial man with a full head of greying hair and Hawaiian shirt (and lets give a nod here to kindred spirit Van Dyke Parks) does keep plugging away modestly, arranging his intimate yet enigmatic chamber music for the odd theatre production, cafe-concert or collaborative recording. I leave you with a youtube search link which today shows 45 videos - but that will change, morph, expand and contract in an ephemeral way - much like Joseph's music does...Next up: the work play...Read/Leave Comment

M1-13 Maggie Nicols

M1-13 Look beneath the SurfaceMaggie Nicols, formerly known as Nichols, born Margaret Nicolson in Edinburgh (not the Margaret Nicholson who assaulted King George III, although I'd wager that Maggie might like said woman's feisty attitude towards royalty). I don't know how or why Maggie made her teenage decisions, but "She's Leaving Home" comes to mind when I read about her early musical life. Her career kicked off at the tender age of 15 as a dancer at the Windmill Theatre. Within a year she was singing in a strip club, and then was soon jamming with be-bop jazzers, hostessing in Greece and Iran, and dancing at Le Moulin Rouge (I am not sure if that included doing the can-can).The lady has guts. And a big, warm heart. We first met (after an exchange of letters) at a new music festival (Festival Musiques Nouvelles / Rock In Opposition, April 18-20, 1980) in a wonderful modern arts centre (Maison de la Culture André Malraux, Reims, France; since 1987 renamed La Comédie de Reims). I don't think Maggie knew what I looked like, but when I spotted her at the end of a long, almost-empty corridor I grinned, and she immediately dropped into a tiger-like pose, and proceeded to approach me (as I did her) almost on all fours, weaving from left to right, sizing me up, all the way down this interminably lengthy corridor. At the final moment she leapt at me and gave me a huge bear hug (sorry to mix metaphors). Such is a greeting from Maggie Nicols!The Festival was a cornucopia of musical riches, featuring many of the most wildly inspiring cutting-edge bands from all over Europe - how amazing to see so much talent gathered together - a rare occurrence then as now - and in such a beautiful, high-tech venue. In the original Miniatures sleeve notes I actually take five opportunities to mention La Maison (which means I saw 5 Miniatures artists perform there), so I doubtless will do the same in this blog. I had booked a small bedroom with kitchen adjoining the Maison, and on the first day of the event I cooked up an enormous brown rice risotto which was eagerly gobbled up over the next three days by Maggie, Lol Coxhill, and other festival participants.The two performance videos linked above show Maggie in her preferred, free music mode, which she has also pursued joyfully in the company of another great lady of English song, Julie Tippetts - not least in Keith Tippett's amazing 50-member project "Centipede" - produced by Miniatures artist Robert Fripp. But Maggie is not averse to singing a "straight" song, as she shows so movingly here with a version of "Stormy Weather", performed live in October 2010, accompanied by another Miniatures artist, Veryan Weston on piano.Around the same time as Miniatures, Maggie sang on my album "Claws - The Hybrid Kids Xmas Album." She brought her advanced vocal techniques to the Yoko Ono song "Listen The Snow is Falling", sliding precipitously down at the end, from almost ultrasonic notes to contrabass groans. She also sang, accapella, her slightly modified womyns' version of a Christmas folk song from 1778, originally titled "Dame Get Up and Bake Your Pies," now more graphically renamed "Dead Ducks."Listen, The Snow Is FallingDead DucksMaggie continues her socially-oriented musical activities with her ongoing "The Gathering," "Hecate's Haven" and other improv events in London and Wales and elsewhere - open to anyone who wishes to join. Digging for the deeper beauty within ordinary life.Look closely at her drawing above - the song title is hidden in there.Next up: you thought one minute was short...?Read/Leave Comment

M1-12 Fred Frith

M1-12 The Entire Works of Henry CowAfter receiving his invitation to Miniatures, Fred sent me this miniaturised, almost devoweled letter (click to enlarge):i dd nt wrt a rply in th sme vn as i dd nt wnt to cpy hs styl, bt i snt hm a pstcrd (ths ws lng bfr th intrnt) syng hw hppy i ws tht he hd agrd to prtcpte in th mntrs albmHe then sent me - if it is truly what the title says - the most maximised track on the album, in terms of thickness and complexity. But I think he's been having us on - I can hear at the most about 6 different layers in this track, and I know Henry Cow made more than 6 songs.The best punning album title is theirs to claim, though. The cover of the 1973 Henry Cow LP "Legend" features a sock (think about it; answer below*). Fred formed Henry Cow in 1968 with Tim Hodgkinson, who appears three tracks later on Miniatures with his band The Work. Later Henry Cow merged for a while with Slapp Happy, a brilliantly eccentric English/US/German trio.The world of Japanese TV ads being what it is, even the most obscure experimental artists can be invited to make music for it, and Slapp Happy's singer Dagmar Krause was invited in 2000 to sing on a TV ad I composed for Dydo Miu mineral water. Slapp Happy were here in Tokyo performing and I went to see their marvellous otherworldly gig and got to know the three genial members of the combo, Dagmar, Anthony Moore, and Peter Blegvad.Peter also put on an exhibition of his marvellous otherworldly art including his new "The Book of Leviathan." His art has been lavishly praised by Matt Groening and continues to expand into deeper and weirder dimensions here.Fred, meanwhile, got into customising his guitar with various objects and playing it on a table with various objects and hitting other various objects at the same time. What we are talking about here is extended technique. So although Fred can play keyboards, violin and drums too, I think one of his main delights is to create marvellous otherworldly sound collages live onstage using samplers and loopers to expand the huge palette of timbres he can wrench from his guitar.In 1990 a brilliant documentary about Fred aptly titled "Step Across The Border" was released, and includes one of the most mouth-watering scenes of a Chinese guy cooking outdoors I have ever seen in a film. Plus of course, due to Fred's non-stop love of collaborating with musicians and artists from almost any genre (which continues apace - see his very informative website) a variety of weird, jaw-dropping, virile, hearty, marvellous otherworldly jam sessions.Naturally his music is ideal for the more artistic type of film, and his imdb.com listing shows a total of almost 30 films (Orlando!) to which he has added his atmospheric, droney, bleak, intellectual, emotional, funny, dark, uplifting music. In other words the man is capable of anything and should be watched closely. Especially now that he has since 1999 been dealing with innocent young minds, forcing them to create marvellous, otherworldly music as Professor of Composition in the Music Department at Mills College in Oakland, California.Well I sincerely hope that this tracks leads you to explore Henry Cow's music one song at a time instead of (supposedly) all at once. The British prog rock scene led to a lot of pompous silliness at times, but this band's music still retains the depth of the Mariana Trench and the cutting edge of a Gillette razor. As does Fred's ongoing music journey which I find marvel... well, you know...OK, if you think I've been repeating the "marvellous otherworldly" phrase too much, you can bugger off. I've been through a bloody great earthquake here in Tokyo just 3 weeks ago; aftershocks are still coming nearly every day (one came while I was writing this) so if I need to go to marvellous other worlds for a while I damn well will. Cheers, Professor Fred!PS: check out this post-quake youtube channel I and two friends have created: ArtistsSupportJapan* answer: Leg EndNext up: meet on the ledge...Read/Leave Comment