MATCHING MOLE

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With his first solo album under his belt, Wyatt returned to Soft Machine, only to find that opposition to his vocal experiments had grown stronger than ever, and he left "this group that was making him so miserable", but this didn't mean that all links were severed. Not only did Robert name his new band after his former group's French translation (Machine Mole >> hence Matching Mole), but the two groups spent much time touring together, the newcoming MM opening for the veteran SM. So Robert called up old Wylde Flower Dave Sinclair, Delivery's Phil Miller (brother of then-Caravan Steve Miller), and found Bill McCormick during a Quiet Sun eclipse and formed his group, which only rehearsed three months before recording their debut album. About halfway through it became apparent that Sinclair wasn't going to stay in MM (partly on touring issues, but I suspect Wyatt's voracity in terms of writing credits as he signs all but one track), so the group added jazzman Dave McRae on electric piano, but supposedly as a guest. Less than a month after the album's release, McRae became an official member, following Sinclair's departure.

Recorded around Christmas 71, MM's debut album is an uneven affair, with the record basically divided in three sections. The first section seems to elevate Wyatt as a superstar with his vocals brought to the fore, while the second movement is a wild fusion of jazz-rock and prog rock, and the third part being quite experimental. MM's debut couldn't have started worse off, with the atrocious O Caroline (based on journalist/activist Caroline XXX. This song is not only terrible (the only thing saving it is the interesting mellotron sprawled all over the song), but it also happens to have been the most covered one in Canterbury circles. But the bad start is immediately mended with the superb Instant Pussy where Wyatt orgasms into the microphone as if he was a woman, the whole thing over a tranquil bass line and a gentle jazz-rock rhythm. Segueing directly into Signed Curtain, Wyatt starts with his no nonsense "first verse and chorus" lyrics over a piano that Floyd's Rick Wright wouldn't disown. After the first three songs celebrating Wyatt's diverse fortunes as a singer, rthe albums veers (first gently with a soft electric piano) but less than a minute into Miller's Part Of The Dance, we are deeply in hard-driving uncompromising jazz-rock, the type that fries your brains when looking out for the sun. This track blazes and smokes all the way throughout its 9-mins+.

The flipside starts on two tracks that could've easily come from the better Caravan albums, and it's a bit surprising to find that Sinclair didn't write these two. Instant Kitten is a slow developing track that pays tribute to its sister Instant Pussy, but once the second part of the track has arrived., it sounds stunningly like a Caravan track looking for home (like G&P album). The next track, Dedicated To Hugh (after a Vol 2 SM track) starts on weird electronic noises "e tutti quanti" before returning to a Caravan sound (this time Waterllo Lily era), before veering completely insane RIO/improv. Beer As Braindeer is a cosmic theme in its middle section, but takes upon the RIO realm for the opening and losing parts. The latter Immediate Curtain is spooky cosmic track that resembles eatly Tangerine Dream.

MM's debut album is a bit of a confusing and uneven affair, but the qualities are so much grater than its flaws, that it cannotba anything else but an essential Canterbury sound, but I certainly wouldn't recommend any MM albums to a novice Canterbury pilgrim.

After Robert Wyatt's antecedent band "SOFT MACHINE" got further and further into jazz there seemed to be no place for the drummer Wyatt any longer. He left "SOFT MACHINE" and set up his own Canterbury project in the end of 1971, called "MATCHING MOLE". His band mates, at least for the first, self titled album, used to be Dave Sinclair (CARAVAN) on Keyboards, Bill MacCormick (801, Brian Eno, Quiet Sun) on bass and Phil Miller (Delivery, National Health, Hafield & the North) on guitars. The cumulative canterbury expertise so to speak.

And everyone knowing Robert Wyatt knows what to expect from his projects: Pure Canterbury. Matching Mole is no exception, free-jazz like parts with expanded, quite complex jams and soloing, Wyatt's fragile and beautiful voice, colloquy like vocals as well as canterbury typical humor.

"O Caroline" is a beautiful lovesong written for Wyatt's girlfriend at that time, Caroline Coon. It always reminds me of "Sea Song" from his amazing solo release "Rock Bottom". One of the best songs to experience Wyatt's beautiful voice, which definitely needs getting used to though. The album consists of different, separated songs but nevertheless there seem to be smooth transitions. "Instand Pussy" features some onomatopoeia by Wyatt over jazzy rythms besides elegiac e piano chords. Seamlessly passing into "Signed Curtain" you can experience the mellow but humorous side of Canterbury. Nonsense lyrics describing the structure of the song e.g. "This is the first verse...and this is the corus or parhaps it's a bridge or just another part of this song that I'm singing..." "Part of the Dance" is a true highlight! Personally I think this one toghether with it's successional "Instant Kitten" is a kind of embodiment of canterbury. It features several complex jams and seems to be completely improvised, quite jazzy at times. The rest of the album turns out to be resembling, instrumental jams with extended solos, sophisticated drumming and "pearling" e piano. The last song "Immediate Courtain" features atmospherical mellotron soundscapes, actually it's a kind of longsome mellotron solo. A worthy punch line of a great album.

"Matching Mole" is a remarkable Canterbury album led by the icon of the scene. His Voice, only featured in the first half of the album, is distinctive, maybe for the whole genre...Besides his solo release "Rock Bottom" and SOFT MACHINE'S "Third" my favorite Wyatt related output. Everyone slightly interested in Canterbury should have listened to this one, highly recommended!

Robert Wyatt fused his energy directly into a new act after his unceremonious sacking from the Soft Machine, the band he was a founding member of. Matching Mole is a curious album that allows Wyatt the freedom to sing his heart out about nothing, which to be fair is his idiosyncratic style and one loved by many. Wyatt teamed up with his fellow Canterbury riend and former Caravan member David Sinclair who provides keyboards, with Phil Miller on guitar and Bill MacCormick on bass. The album itself comes across as a leaderless show where the songs tend to run into semi jazz/avante garde/psyche rambling of chaotic jams and noise, while for the most part Wyatt's gift as writing tend to border between genius and bollocks, "O Caroline" is pure sentimentality and it gets better on the "Instant Pussy" (and its twin "Instant Kitten"), but the album is incredibly inconsistent, another typical Wyatt trait. But to give Matching Mole their dues they produce an original and inimitable set on their debut effort. Let it grow on you for best, if still varied, results.

Actually, 3.5 stars. Just a tad better than good, but compared to National Health, Caravan and Hatfield and the North it doesn't rate as high to me. It boils down to too much Wyatt, not enough band, (I hear that the second album is more band collabrative). Now, down to brass tacks, the album starts out in a traditional English Canterbury way, 'Oh Caroline' has that whimsical sound you just love about this style of music, and Robert Wyatt's voice fits it perfect. It's almost like a lo/fi song you'd hear nowadays. Perfect opening! 'Instant Pussy' and later on 'Beer as in Braindeer' are just middling doodles, there's not really anything that you can latch onto. 'Signed Curtain' has Wyatt singing, or should I say mumble, kinda like a bad Flaming Lips song. From the opening keyboard twinkling, 'Part of the Dance' turns into a classic Canterbury/Jazz blowout. Awesome! 'Instant Kitten' is another great track that reminds me of Caravan's freakouts thanks to David Sinclairs signature organ work. Another classic! 'Dedicated to Hugh...' has it's moments, mainly Wyatt's drumming and Phil Miller's guitar soloing, but doesn't hold a candle to the prevoius two. The album ends with a Melotron solo, (first and only in the canon of Canterbury?) that sounds very nice and mellow. Overall, a very good Canterbury album that just misses the mark for me.

This is a definitely a highlight of the Canterbury sub-genre. Robert Wyatt decided to form a new band after Soft Machine started heading a direction closer to jazz. Wyatt still creates challenging and experimental music that is as enjoyable as Soft Machine releases. The band consists of Wyatt (ex-Soft Machine), Dave Sinclair (ex-Caravan), Phil Miller (future Hatfield and the North, National Health), and Bill MacCormick, who has played with various other musicians. They are all Canterbury super stars in their own right.

The album starts out with "O Caroline," a signature Wyatt tune with great lyrics. It's very emotional and catchy, but still adhering to the Canterbury sound; it's truly a favorite among fans of Wyatt's work. The mellotron sound is evident in this and many of the tracks that follow. The next few pieces are experimental tracks. In "Signend Curtain," Wyatt uses the structure of the piece to create song lyrics (i.e. "This is the chorus..."), an obvious aspect of Canterbury humor. "Part of the Dance" and " Dedicated to Hugh..." are probably to of my favorite tracks on the album. "Dedicated..." is an obvious reference to Wyatt's former band, Soft Machine, moreso Hugh Hopper, the bassist, who was still with Soft Machine when the material for this album was recorded. The last two tracks are more of the same experimentation, but fail to captivate me as the earlier pieces did.

Every Canterbury fan should own or at least look into this album. Fans of experimental music would most likely enjoy this album as well. I find this to be much better than the next release (Little Red Record). Although the second one is good, it just doesn't capture the magic that this album has to offer. Four stars, not quite a masterpiece, but an excellent addition to any Canterbury fan's collection.

This record contains very varied songs. There are Canterburian elements, but also krautrock, psychedelic, avant prog and fusion ones. Fortunately, Robert Wyatt only sings on the first tracks. The typical Canterburian organ, Fender Rhodes and vocals effects are often really good, like on the surprisingly jazzy & very good "Part of the Dance", where Wyatt does not sing! Wyatt's drums are very elaborated and varied. There are unfortunately some lengthy and irritating parts on the record, where nothing seems to unblock from a stagnant, minimalist and lethargic state.

The catchy piano on "O Caroline" is very good, but I don't think Wyatt's vocals have something to make a woman to like this pseudo-romantic song. "Instant Pussy" shows the extravagant side of Robert Wyatt on Canterburian lead vocals. Who can really be sure that on "Signed Curtain", "THIS IS THE FI-I-I-I-I-RST"? The dirty organ on "Instant Kitten" can be mistaken for Frippian guitar notes. The mellotron-flute could perfectly fit on an early Tangerine Dream album. "Dedicated to Hugh, but You Weren't Listening" starts really badly with a krautrock minimal intro; then some Zappa-esque improvisation-like reminds the listener that Wyatt is able to make difficult music: despite the dissonant textures, it sounds coherent and surprisingly elaborated. The krautrock improvisations continue on "Beer as in Braindeer", which may slightly remind "The Waiting Room" on The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway. The impressive dramatic floating mellotron on "Immediate Curtain" sounds a bit like on the Edgar Froese's Epsilon In Malaysian Pale album.

Raing: 3.5 stars

I love early Soft Machine, and most of Robert Wyatt's solo albums, but no Canterbury freak can convince me that Matching Mole's debut album derves a lot of attention. The two best things about this album are the delightful cover picture (count yourself lucky if you have the original LP!) and the opening number, 'O Caroline', which is one of the most charming songs Wyatt ever wrote. The rest of the album, however, sounds like a simple jam session by musicians who are still getting to know each other and who don't really care whether the tape is running or not. The nine-minute 'Part of the Dance', for example, is dominated by ugly noise, and the four-minute 'Beer as in Braindeer' is not much better. Both 'Instant Kitten' and 'Dedicated to Hugh...' sound more purposeful and dramatic, but in spite of the presence of the great Phil Miller on guitar, this music can't hold a candle to the things Caravan and Gong were doing at the same time.

Despite not being a perfect album, I think everyone should own Matching Mole's debut just to be in possession of "O Caroline". If ever a more sincere love song was written I have not heard it. It's a song dominated by keyboards, with piano, mellotron flute, and organ laying the background to Wyatt's fragile voice. This instant classic gives way to "Instant Pussy" and we see the album take a jazzier and more typical Canterbury direction (with the usual traces of Avant present in Wyatt's works). Besides the first three tacks (If you can count "Instant Pussy" as having vocals) the rest of the album is instrumental. This seems like a strange choice to me given the caliber of Wyatt's vocal work. I would have much preferred to hear him more on the album.

I don't know if the post-"Signed Curtain" tracks were composed or not, but they certainly sound like jamming to me. And like most jamming it's pretty much hit or miss. A lot of it is miss to me though. I have no problem with jamming, but I just don't think Matching Mole touches on anything exceptional in their journey though it certainly gets side tracked a few times. Toward the end of the album I start to become somewhat disillusioned before "Immediate Curtain" ends the album on a little bit of a high note.

A good album, but Wyatt has done much better.

With SOFT MACHINE going further into the Jazz realm, and wanting to use less vocals,Robert Wyatt left and formed his own band MATCHING MOLE.This first release is very much Wyatt's baby,as he wrote all but one song,although David Sinlair(CARAVAN) co- wrote the first track with Robert.Their follow up album "Little Red Record" would be a total band effort.In my opinion this self titled record ranks as one of the best Canterbury albums i have ever heard,rivalling the best that CARAVAN put out.The fact that others don't share my enthusiasm about this recording,except for maybe Sean Trane,caused me to put this review off and to listen to it again and again to see if maybe i was mistaken.I'm not.This really caught me by surprise,i wasn't expecting it to be this good or varied.It starts with three mellow songs with Wyatt's wonderful vocals,then switches gears to a more Jazz and even Fusion style of music, with touches of psychedelia.The last two tracks are experimental, and for me the highlights of this album,especially the last song. "O Caroline" is a sentimental ballad with Wyatt's fragile vocals accompanied by piano.There is some mellotron as well in this one.Of note,all the songs blend seamlessly into one another. "Instant Pussy" has those unique vocal melodies from Robert,as drums,bass and piano fill out the sound.These vocal sounds continue into the start of the next track "Signed Curtain".This song is a real highlight for me,and i disagree with those who complain about the humour in it.I mean that is what Cantrerbury is all about,check out CARAVAN or HATFIELD AND THE NORTH's lyrics to see that this genre is all about humour.Wyatt basically describes the song as he's singing,with wonderful piano melodies in tow.This just is so funny. "Part Of The Dance" is a 9 minute Miller composition that borders on Fusion at times.This is the most aggressive song by far.It takes a while to get going as keys and drums open the song.Scorching guitar and some great bass in this terrific tune. "Instant Kitten" opens with a vocal melody as guitar,drums and fuzz organ arrive.This has such an amazing sound to it as they just seem to jam for the most part.Mellotron and organ to end it. "Dedicated To Hugh,But You Weren't Listening" is a little jab at Hugh Hopper from SOFT MACHINE.On SOFT MACHINE's "Volume Two" they had a song called "Dedicated to you,but you weren't listening".There is a Psychedelic vibe to this one before it kicks in after a minute.Some nice guitar work,organ and drums.This is a powerful instrumental. "Beer As In Braindeer" is experimental with odd drum patterns and guitar melodies.Percussion,guitar and organ create a wonderful soundscape.This is great! Phil Miller shines. "Immediate Curtain" makes me understand a little why ANEKDOTEN lists Robert Wyatt as a big influence in their musical careers.Check out ANEKDOTEN's My Space page to see a current picture of Wyatt, as he's one of their friends.This song is absolutely drenched in mellotron! This really recalls ANEKDOTEN's songs that are usually swimming in mellotron.The mellotron waves sweep across the sounscape in this song,especially 3 minutes in.This is haunting,eerie and fantastic! Robert Wyatt's solo work,and his work with SOFT MACHINE and MATCHING MOLE reveal what a musical genius he really is.An absolute must have.

Matching Mole is pretty nice Canterbury scene prog rock. A bit on the mellow side if you ask me, but never the less flawlessly played and sometimes intrigueing.

The interplay between the musicians are the most interesting thing on Matching Mole, because I dont think the songs are that greatly composed. There are even things on the album that I really find weak. Especially the vocals from Robert Wyatt which I find to be a disgrace. And those lyrics ??? What is that for pathetic crap.

Well the bitching aside, this is a pretty good Caterbury scene prog rock album, and fortunately there are not vocals on many of the songs.

The album is not excellent by any means, but it is not bad either ( except for the vocals), so this is a solid 3 stars album.

Bury This Cant

Oh dear....what a sprawling mess of a record this is to be sure. After the lightweight but delightful O Caroline kicks things off, it just degenerates thereafter into a rambling and incoherent noodle fest. Although Robert Wyatt is a musician I have the utmost regard for, his decision to squander part of 1971 with these lazy hippies is at best, dubious. You can rest assured that the majority of track times listed here correlate exactly to how long these songs took to write. This is fusion/freeform improv wank taken to it's inevitable and dreary conclusion. Without any sort of underlying structure or form to hang your ideas onto, you end up spitting into the wind like Matching Mole do here. To be fair, the drummer tries hard to inject some sort of propulsive direction to the proceedings, but very often he abandons this under the unflinching incoherence all around him. Fuzz bass, fuzz organ, fuzz guitar, fuzz Rhodes and fuzz head(s) are the main ingredients in the appalling and badly recorded mix. The Canterbury crowd has thrown up some unequivocal gems like National Health, Hatfield & the North, Kevin Ayers etc but this is just undisciplined and amateur tomfoolery that should never have seen the light of day. It is particularly ironic that charges of self indulgence, long windedness, and lack of respect for your audience are reserved primarily for the prog giants like ELP, Yes, Genesis et al and yet here we have, preserved in atrocious stereo, everything that has rendered the label progressive rock a pejorative one.

Ha-haa, what a light album this is...when I first listened to O Caroline, I thought so...but...

As honestly I say, for the first time of my listening to this album, I felt O caroline, the first track was MISCHOSEN in it. Maybe quite a few listeners have thought as above-mentioned. But believe me, this first track is surely the beginning of Matching Mole's progressive scene. Why? Please listen to the flute sound and Robert's withered and dry voice. How do you feel? I guess you would feel avantgarde, psychedelic, and progressive Canterbury. Yep, we can't think the as-we-hear melodic song as a mischosen one. The beginning! Okay? :P

From Instant Pussy we can be pushed or DIGGED by the Mole. How jazzy, how deeply-sunk, and how violent the sound is! Ouch, this is Mole sound. On the last track we can feel psychedelic and can hear varieties of chord with our angle of ears. Of course, not kidding!

Interestingly, this album is, for me, their curtain raiser. FWIW, this reason might be that my first Matching Mole was MARCH. Namely, Their live performance was very excellent I wanna say. If you listen to this album as the first Matching Mole, please listen to March next. You absolutely can understand me!