Little Red Record [Import]

1. Starting in the Middle

2. Marchides

3. Man True's Hole

4. Righteous Rumba

5. Brandy as in Benge

6. Gloria Gloom

7. God Song

8. Flora Fidgit

9. Smoke Signal

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
1972 album with Brian Eno on synthesizer and Robert Fripp producing for Robert Wyatt. 9 tracks. Sony.

Little Red Record,Matching Mole,Sony,Pop,Rock/Pop

Little Red Record [Import]

Average customer rating:

A new take on Verse Anthems

Elizabethan Christmas Anthems

Manufacturer: Amon Ra
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music

Lullabies & Berceuse | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Anthems | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Partsongs | Vocal Non-Opera | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Holiday Music | Compilations | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

General Christmas | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music

Opera & Vocal | Holiday Music | Special Features | Music
ASIN: B00000204O
Release Date: 1999-09-15

Customer Reviews:

A new take on Verse Anthems.......2007-06-20

I just listened to this compilation for the first time, expecting to hear another re-hashing of these beloved tunes done by a fine ensemble (and completely devoid of character!). However, this is not the typical domesticated Men and Boys rendetion you might be accustomed to.

Red Byrd utilizes not only pronunciation appropriate to the period, but sings these pieces in a manner more like shaped note American tunes. It is, at first, a bit off-putting. However if one bears with it the pieces spring to life in a new way. In no piece is this more striking than "This is the Record of John". The rendetion heard here of the solo line becomes less pious and righteous, and a bit more tongue in cheek with John's repeated "no" answer to the questions asked of him by the Temple elders.

A must! I know of no other disk quite like this.

Average customer rating:

Canterbury Cream
Little Red Landmark
Elemental
Save Your Money
Wyatt's Triumph Avant gaurd

Little Red Record
Matching Mole
Manufacturer: Sony
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

Pop Rock | Pop | Styles | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
Similar Items:

Matching Mole
The Rotters' Club
March
Hatfield and the North
Egg

ASIN: B00000JAXT
Release Date: 1999-04-13

Tracks:

Starting in the Middle
Marchides
Man True's Hole
Righteous Rumba
Brandy as in Benge
Gloria Gloom
God Song
Flora Fidgit
Smoke Signal

Album Description

1972 album with Brian Eno on synthesizer and Robert Fripp producing for Robert Wyatt. 9 tracks. Sony.

Customer Reviews:

Canterbury Cream.......2006-04-17

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.

Little Red Landmark.......2005-07-20

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.

Elemental.......2004-12-19

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.

Save Your Money.......2003-11-24

Robert Wyatt has his moments, and this band was capable of some great work, but this CD is best used as a coaster for your beer can. After one listein I hurried down to the used CD store to help them rotate their stock with it. Caveat emptor!

Wyatt's Triumph Avant gaurd.......2003-09-03

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!