Episode 9

Listen Here
1. Slapp Happy — "The Drum" (from Casablanca Moon, 1974)

2. Henry Cow — "Amygdara" (from Leg End, 1973)

3. Fred Frith interview excerpt (from Step Across the Border documentary, 1990)

4. Robert Wyatt — "Memories" (live at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London, 1974-09-08, from Theatre Royal Drury Lane 8 September 1974, 2005)

5. Soft Machine — "Hibou, Anemone and Bear" (from Noisette, recorded live at Fairfield Hall, Croydon, 1970-01-04)

6. Henry Cow (featuring Robert Wyatt) — "We Did it Again" (from 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set, live in Hamburg, 1976-03-26)

7. Henry Cow — "Gloria Gloom" (from Concerts, 1976, session recorded for John Peel, BBC radio, 1975-08-05)

8. Alan Gowen, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Trevor Tomkins — "Before a Word Is Said" (from Before a Word is Said, 1981)

9. Lindsay Cooper — "Woman's Wrongs II" (from Rags, 1980)

10. Gong — "Inner Temple" (from Gong est Mort, Vive Gong, recorded live at the Hippodrome, Paris, 1977-05-28)

11. Caravan — "Love Song Without Flute" (BBC Session, 1971-03-11, from Songs for Oblivion Fishermen, 1998, also the 40th anniversary edition of In the Land of Grey and Pink, 2011)

12. Steve Hillage (featuring Lindsay Cooper) — "The Salmon Song" [excerpt] (from Fish Rising, 1975)

13. News from Babel (featuring Robert Wyatt) — "Moss" (from Letters Home, 1986)

14. Robert Wyatt, Chris Cutler and Lindsay Cooper — In the Dark Year" (from The Last Nightingale EP, 1984)

15. Slapp Happy (featuring Robert Wyatt) — "A Little Something" (BBC session 1974-06-25, from Robert Wyatt's Flotsam Jetsam compilation, 1994)

16. Kevin Ayers — "A View From the Mountain" (from Rainbow Takeaway, 1978)

17. Comicoperando (featuring Dagmar Krause) — "The Sea Song" (live at Teatro Comunale di Modena, Italy, 2010-03-01)

18. Brainville — jam excerpt (live at Gorizia Jazz Festival, Italy, 2008-04-19)

19. John Greaves, Peter Blegvad and Lisa Russell — "Good Evening" (from Kew.Rhone, 1977)

20. Rae — "Eyed Ear" (from Era, 2011)

21. Panzerpappa (featuring Richard Sinclair) — "Vintervake" (from Koralrevens Klagesang, 2006)

22. Caravan — "For Richard" (Live at Grenada TV studios, Nottingham, 1990-07-24, from Live in Nottingham, 2003)

23. Robert Wyatt — "Alifib" (recorded in Paris, March 1975 for French TV broadcast)

24. Wyatt Moss-Wellington — "Alifib" (from Gen Y Irony Stole My Heart, 2011)

25. Henry Cow (featuring Robert Wyatt) — "Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road" (live at the New London Theatre, 1975-05-21, from Concerts, 1976)

26. Arlet — "Summertimes" (live in St. Thomas Hospital Undercroft, Canterbury, 2011-05-28)

27. Charles Mingus — "Goodbye Pork Pie Hat" (from Mingus Ah Um, 1959)

28. Gong — "Gongsong" (from Magick Brother, 1970)

29. Egg — "Long Piece No.3 Part 4" (live recording, date and venue unknown, from The Metronomical Society, released 2007)

30. Hatfield and the North — "Stay Jung and Beautiful" (recorded for John Peel Show, BBC radio session, 1974-11-21 from Hatwise Choice, 2005)

30. Liam Magill and Raven Bush — jam → "Ode to the Summer" [excerpt] (live in Best Lane Gardens, Canterbury, 2011-05-28)

31. Kevin Ayers — "Hat Song" (from Rainbow Takeaway, 1978)

[voiceover ambience: Henry Cow, "Ruins" (from Concerts, 1976)]


errata/clarifications: Henry Cow's first recording seems to be a John Peel session from 1971-05-04, not 1972. Lindsay Cooper's Rags album came out in 1980, not 1985. I really should have said something about the Ottawa Music Company, the (tragically unrecorded) collective which Chris Cutler began with Dave Stewart before CC joined Henry Cow (other members of Egg, plus Steve Hillage, passed through the OMC). Zoo For You's (and Arlet's) trombonist is called Thom Harmsworth. The live Soft Machine piece was definitely from the same concert which Third's version of "Facelift" was taken from. Rae are from Bristol, not Bath (insofar as they're from any one place).

[click on 'YouTube' icon for full screen view, etc.]

---

Peter Blegvad's Leviathan (1992—99)

---

From Robert Wyatt's "My Top Ten", Let It Rock magazine, January 1975:

"1. 'Goodbye Pork Pie Hat' by Charlie Mingus is from an album called Mingus Ah Um on CBS (I think). This isn't offically a song — I don't know of any words for it — but it's very singable like a lot of Mingus tunes. However complicated his tunes are, when you know them, you can sing along with them. Also I can almost play it as well as sing it because, like many of Julie Tippet's songs, it's nearly all on the black notes on the piano. The improvisations on this, which are by Shafi Hadi and Booker Ervin on saxophones, respect the tune — are extensions of the tune. People like Gil Evans and Mingus stand out from other jazz writers and arrangers because they integrate the improvisations of their musicians into their writing.

I should think it's easier for a musician to do that playing with Mingus than with most people, simply because Mingus tunes are so beautiful anyway."