Various : The Different You

A stand-out in the vast sea of tribute albums, this is an Italian compilation of covers of Robert Wyatt songs. Some old names (Area, Battiato), some new ones (Christina Dona, CPI) and some lesser known ones, covering a good selection of the man's work from all stages, done with care and respect. Some covers got the 'modern' treatment, but it sounds ok. 18 songs in all and a lot of playing here. Featuring Wyatt himself with his own cover of an Italian song.
As far as i know, this was released at the same time as the truly great, not-to-be-missed video documentary on Wyatt titled Little Red Riding Hood.
There is also a good French Wyatt tribute to put up later...

Different

Hans Reichel & Eroc : Return Of Onkel Boskopp

A collaboration between long-time pals Eroc, drummer of German prog monsters Grobschnitt and guitarist, instrument builder and inventor genius Hans Reichel, father of the daxophone. Originally i was pondering on putting up some of Reichel's 'usual' guitar and dax improv albums, but then, this one is for me way stranger than anything he ever did. For it contains some the most straightforward playing you'll ever get from the man. Rhythms with lots of guitar/daxophone and also some violin & accordeon overdubs. At times it sounds like some prog music gone wrong. Or something like that. It was originally released in '86 under the title Kino. Reworked a bit, renamed & two songs added ten years later for this CD reissue. Judging from the look on their faces on the cover pic, they had a great time making it...

Check also Reichel's site, it's one of the funniest & best looking i've ever seen.

Onkel

Hellebore : IL Y A Des Jours

Hellebore's only release, from '84. Sound firmly in the tradition of classic second-wave RIO groups. One of many groups guitarist and keyboardist Denis Tagu played in the 80's (the others were Look De Bouk, Toupidek Lemonade, Szentendre). All instrumentals. Similar to, say, Look De Bouk, the music is deceivingly effortless at the surface, moving from simple to complex and back with ease. Some other references could be Etron Fou, even This Heat. This is one of those albums that mature with time into hidden classics, personal favourites. Also sports one of the best covers of all time, courtesy of the Biota/Mnemonists visual department.

Hellebore

The Momes : Spiralling

Kind of a super-group made of half of The Work (Tim Hodgkinson & Mick Hobbs) and half of Unrest, Work & Play (Andy Wake). Sounds exactly as a combination of these two great groups, with a very live, even punky sound. Urgent, demanding. This, their only release, is from 1989 just before the reunion of The Work for the Rubber Cage album.

Note: Imminent reissue alert! Check below.

Out Now!

Peter Blegvad : Peter Who?

A unique promo CD issued by Silvertone in 1990 to augment Peter Blegvad's beautiful King Strut album. Contains all kinds of wonders: songs, demos, interviews, jingles, jokes, rants even an explanation on the pronounciation of the Blegvad family-name, all mixed in a radio-work kind of way. Full length, 42 mins, assembled with the help of Andy Partridge. Witty and intelligent like everything by Peter.

Peter

Joseph Racaille : 6 Petites Chansons

The silent half of the French duo ZNR with a rare 33 rpm 7" issued by Recommended in '83. Spent a whole afternoon cleaning this one up (hope i haven't ruined it)! Short songs in usual tres charmant style with great arrangements, echoing Satie, show-tunes, etc... Racaille is a remarkable character, good news is that i've located some more of his rare solo releases, will post them all in the future.

Chansons

CW Vrtacek : Now Available

Charles Vrtacek (O'Meara) the erstwhile selfproclaimed 'president of the avantguarde' and more recently guitarist/composer of Forever Einstein made this serious/funny parody of The Residents somewhere in the early 80's (when they were still meaning something), around the time of his 1st two fine home-made solo albums Victory Through Grace and Days And Days. Very brief (10+ mins) cassette only rarity. And curiosity.

Available

RIP Charles O'Meara (1953 - 2018)

Some News

Sorry folks, i was away for a while...
The recent change of politics at Rapidshare caused a small panic in blogland, a lot of posts have been deleted. To avoid further trouble i changed to Megaupload (though in the meantime Rapidshare returned with a new address and even better terms, so it seems this all was a false alarm). It works fine to me, no problems up & downloading, so i'll stick with it for the time being. If you are experiencing any difficulties with this server please let me know and we'll try to sort things out.
Now for the real news...
Ad Hoc announced the reissue of the 1st two Work classics, Slow Crimes and Rubber Cage, both remastered, digipacked, etc... Advance orders can be taken at ReR Mega or Rer USA. Megacorp will also soon reissue Picchio Dal Pozzo's Abbiamo Tutti... album. This means that all these will no more be available at this blog. Strong recommendations to purchase these CD's! Same regarding the Faust book, Stretch Out Time 1970-75 which is out now and available from Amazon, or even better, from the source. Not expensive and you'll need it...
Speaking of Faust, their long awaited studio album of new material is finished and should be out in early 2007. Produced by Mr. Stapleton of NWW. You can can get it direct from the art-errorists...
So, that's about it. Take care & keep your ears open!