Association PC

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Is anybody familiar with this band? I read about them sometime ago and from what I read they could qualify to inclusion in the archives. Albeit I haven't yet heard a single note of their music 'cos I don't know where to get their albums from and if it's really worth it. Here's what I found in New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock about them:

Association PC
[Netherlands/Czechoslovakia/Germany]

Updated 12/25/02

Discography

Earwax (70)

Sun Rotation (71)

Erna Morena (72, Live)

Rock Around the Cock (73)

Mama Kuku (74)

Reviews

Top-drawer European jazz-rock-noise fusion band led
by the phenomenal Dutch drummer Pierre Courbois. The
band also featured Czech guitarist Toto Blanke, German
bassist Siggi Busch, and Courbois' countryman Jasper
Van't Hof on keyboards (replaced by Joachim Kuhn on
Rock... and Mama Kuku), with guests Karl-Heinz
Wiberny (on Erna Morena and Rock...) and Jeremy
Steig (on Mama Kuku) playing various reeds and
flutes. Basically, their sound is similar to early
Mahavishnu or perhaps
post-Wyatt Soft Machine (circa
5 or 6). Blanke's guitar playing is very
McLaughlin-influenced, and
Courbois' playing has some Cobham
elements, but neither keyboardist is a Hammer
clone, and bassist Busch plays a lot of acoustic bass,
as well as electric bass. Of the 3 albums I own, Erna
Morena (a live concert recording and their sole US
release) is the closest to
Mahavishnu/Softs-style
jazz-rock fusion: i.e., lots of furious uptempo
grooves in various odd time signatures with burning
guitar, keyboard and saxophone solos over top. Somehow
none of it sounds hackneyed or trite. Their earlier
LPs (Earwax, Sun Rotation), and the later,
ironically-titled Rock Around the Cock, were never
issued in the US and are quite harder to find as a
result. All three are heavier on the more experimental
and avant-garde side of the spectrum than Erna
Morena. Their final recording, Mama Kuku, is
another live set featuring American flautist Jeremy
Steig, has its moments, but lacks the focus of the
earlier recordings. Toto Blanke recorded some fine
solo records (2 with Van't Hof, saxophonist Charlie
Mariano, and others) for Vertigo and other
forward-looking European labels in the mid- '70s. The
ones on Vertigo (Spider's Dance and Electric
Circus) are worth seeking out, particularly if you
like weird fusion. Van't Hof and Kuhn have recorded a
whole slew of records, some great and some
not-so-great. Courbois and Busch are also still active
on the European jazz scene. At this writing (October
2000) rumor has it that all of the LPs listed here
(plus unreleased material) are going to be reissued on
CD. If you like noisy, intense fusion with a strong
dose of avant-garde improvisation, you will love
Association PC. -- Dave Wayne

This German fusion band was founded by drummer Piere Courbois (P.C.) and keyboarder Jasper
Van't Hof from the Netherlands. The other members of the band were Germans (Toto Blanke
on guitars and Sigi Bush on bass), and they lived and recorded in Germany. Their music
was very difficult and experimental, a mixture of free jazz, rock and contemporary styles.
They developed an extreme tension and density that is still very fascinating. In their
high days they often (also in the liner notes) were compared to
Soft Machine, though
they didn't sound at all like that British band. Nevertheless, the dynamics and power
of both groups (in the beginning of the 7ties) were quite similar. Sun Rotation and
the live recording Erna Morena are probably their best releases. Van't Hof left
after these two, to form Pork Pie, and was replaced by
Joachim Kuehn. Mama Kuku features US flute player Jeremy Steig. -- Achim Breiling

Links

[See Apocalypse (Denmark) |
Pork Pie]

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