CUNEIFORM

Cuneiform Records was founded in 1984. It exists to present what the directors think is the most interesting music in the "avant/new music" categories, with an emphasis on rock bands playing composed, rehearsed and intensive music. This music has its roots in the progressive rock of the 1970's, but what Cuneiform release is a far cry from the re-hashings of 1970's bands. You will find a wide range of music on this label – ranging from ‘Electronic’, to ‘Jazz/Improvised’, to ‘Rock’ and ‘Fusion’ of all various sorts and styles.

First time CD issue of the debut 'solo' album from the legendary Soft Machine sax player, this project featuring Soft Machine memebrs Phil Howard on drums, Roy Babbington on bass and Mike Ratledge on organ and piano, plus Mark Charig on cornet, Nevile Whitehead on electric bass, Nick Evans on trombone, Jeff Green on 6 string electric bass/guitar and Louis Moholo on drums. Needless to say, there are plenty of similarities with 'Four' style Soft Machine, only with more emphasis on the reeds and brass. As a bonus, there are two extra previously unreleased tracks, one a twenty-minute radio session from Bremen Radio and the other recorded live in concert in 1972. The long track is the most fusion-esque track on the album with excellent bass & drums and flowing, choppy keyboard work. The brass and sax take the lead duties, with electric guitars adding textural support. There are some fine electric bass runs coupled with tight drumming, and altogether, it’s a great reason in itself for familiarising yourself with a 70's jazz classic once more.

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Weight: 150.00 g

Out and out jazz for the initiated – That’s all!

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Weight: 150.00 g

First time on CD for this rarity from the Canterbury archives, and this time it's actually something that really is worth having. This short-lived band featured: Phil Miller (Hatfields & National Health), Steve Miller (Caravan), Pip Pyle (Hatfields, National Health & Gong), Roy Babbington (Soft Machine), Lol Coxhill (Caravan guests slots) and Carol Grimes. The album contains previously unreleased bonus recordings, while the booklet features a full plotted history of the band and rare photographs.

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Weight: 150.00 g

With all the praise heaped on Hatfield And The North, Soft Machine, Matching Mole & National Health, you sometimes feel that this band got somewhat overlooked, which is a shame because they were just superb. However, like so many bands of that period, Gilgamesh unwittingly delivered their finest work when let loose ‘live’ in the studio. This CD is taken from such sessions, faithfully restored from the original masters, and sounds just heavenly. The band, with the core trio of Alan Gowen & Phil Lee on guitars and Mike Travis on drums, with appearances from Neil Murray (bass), Peter Lemer (electric piano/synths), Steve Cook (bass) and Jeff Clyne (bass, later-Turning Point), have never sounded better, partly because the playing on the tracks, largely from the first album, but much extended, is just totally spot on. Another reason is the production, which has revealed the qualities of individual musicians to the maximum - The bass work really comes across as vibrant and punchy, and the rest of the band positively shine, with some exquisite keyboards work and magical lead guitar. The compositions themselves are melodic, relaxed and varied so that the mix of quite bits allied to the louder, more direct sections gives the music a dimension that makes it still sound so utterly incredible. The playing is also full of expression and emotion, and as far as Canterbury Fusion music goes, this is one of the finest examples to come from the vaults so far.

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Weight: 150.00 g

An album originally from 1972 and thirty years on, it seems to makes a lot more sense now than it did before. It’s an album of two faces – one featuring two long tracks of looped bass/percussive-led music and five shorter tracks of more Soft Machine-like seventies fusion, only more distilled and frazzled. Overall, as an album, it seems to have grown in stature over the years, and listening to it all in the light of today’s music, shows just how far ahead of its time it really was when it was originally issued on LP. The seventeen-minute ‘Miniplenty’ is not exactly the most accessible of pieces, but for the adventurous listener, or someone who loves the sound of a wickedly played bass, it can become seriously addictive. The presence of a previously unreleased bonus track from the same sessions, allied to a quite superb sounding remastering job, makes this CD into a mix of the avant-garde and fusion sides of the seventies that still impresses to this day.

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Weight: 150.00 g

Another classic reissued from the Canterbury archives and this time with extra tracks not on the original album, making it even more of an essential purchase on CD. Musically, it contains some remarkably expressive playing from the keyboards and bass guitar with a neat line in soundscapes.

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Weight: 150.00 g

This is tremendous! It is about two-thirds instrumental, and it opens with a really smooth seven-minute piece featuring the sultry vocals of singer Elaine Di Falco, a classic lurching rhythm care of the bass and drums of Hugh Hopper & Tucker Martine, plus a wonderful, flowing sinewy sax lead from Elton Dean - As gorgeous a start to an album as they come. There follows an eight-minute version of Soft Machine’s classic Hopper-penned ‘Facelift’, and here there is some magical fuzz bass from Hopper as the piece takes on a whole new dimension, with the feel more akin to tracks on the legendary ‘Hoppertunity Box’ album than anything else, and it’s another gem of a track. It then returns to sultry and languid territory with a song called ‘November’, and here the vocals are underpinned by organ, fuzz bass, delicate drums and some beautifully airy guitar/piano backdrops that seem to hang suspended and an equally gorgeous trumpet solo towards the end – superb stuff. By contrast, track 4 is positively manic, with huge rhythms, a soaring vocal, thunderous bass and a melting pot of fusion instrumentation, and it’s all just amazing. Needless to say, the rest of the album proves to be equally addictive, and it has to be said that if you only get one album by this band, then it has to be this one, because it comes out way ahead of the rest – Magnificent!

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Weight: 150.00 g

Previously unreleased live tracks that sound so good you’d swear they’d been done in the studio – crystal clear or what!! Recorded in Europe, presumably France, judging by the intro, which finds Wyatt trying his pigeon French out on the audience, and after just forty-four seconds, we’re off, on a wild ride through classic Matching Mole country. The band consists of Robert Wyatt on drums (and the odd vocal), Phil Miller on electric guitar, Bill MacCormick on bass and Dave McRae on electric piano. Across such classic tracks as ‘Nan True’s Hole’, ‘Brandy As In Benj’, ‘March Ides’, ‘Instant Pussy’ and more, the band are on top form with every musician playing a vital role, and heard clearly too. The ensemble playing shows how it should be done, summing up the way the real post-Soft Machine bands panned out. No mindless or endless soloing, no overly fast or twiddly playing, this is solid, group-driven instrumental music with feel and atmosphere. The guitar and piano ring out, while the crisp and strong electric bass, and Wyatt’s fluid and intricate drum work keep it all together. This sounds every bit as good as it did thirty years ago (God, is it really that long!!), and is every bit the equal to the two legendary albums that the band released back then. This is totally essential listening for all Canterbury and English fusion music fans.

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Weight: 150.00 g

To this day I do not understand how Miller manages to get his guitar to sound for all the world like a trumpet on the opening track of this album. Anyway, that aside, this is an album from the Hatfield & The North/National Health guitarist that is essentially almost 45 minutes of In Cahoots oriented fusion, only with more of a bite, along with a further three shorter tracks that feature the guitarist on his own and with drums/piano accompaniment. The first three long tracks showcase the quartet of guitars, bass, drums and keyboards, including ex-Gilgamesh member Peter Lemer and ex-Gong/Hatfield man Pip Pyle, plus Fred Baker on bass. The music is a quite sublime example of jazz-rock/fusion with all the Canterbury hallmarks well in place, only, as I said, with more of an edge. As group performances, they sparkle as each musician provides leadership and support as a totally cohesive unit on a great set of instrumental compositions. Overall, this is just a fine example of the genre and musicianship, with plenty of feeling on display among all the technical virtuosity.

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Weight: 150.00 g

Recorded in two concerts in 1979, this features the later line-up of Gowen-Greaves-Pyle-Miller delivering an immaculate sounding set of instrumentals. It’s very much a band effort, as you’d expect from a line-up such as this, both in terms of playing and composing credits. From the testaments that Soft Machine at their best, and Hatfield & The North laid down to set the Canterbury Sound in stone, this only adds to the legacy of immaculately tasty UK fusion mixed with a sense of melody, intricacy of playing and flow of composition that mere jazz-rock could never hope to match - This album truly is an essential addition to that roster.

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Weight: 150.00 g

Thirty years on from its original performance, this is a ridiculously rare and immaculately recorded, played, arranged and delivered performance. It’s not only the legendary quartet that made the awesome ‘Third’ album, notably Wyatt-Hopper-Dean-Ratledge, because they are also joined by short-lived (in the group that is) 5th member Lyn Dobson on sax and flute, giving an extra dimension to an already cooking-on-gas band. Needless to say, this is an album of some of their best tracks, and it also includes two previously unreleased pieces in the bargain. The performance by all members is nothing short of jaw-dropping and this whole album marks a real landmark in the history of British jazz-rock. Not only that but it is an unbeatable performance from the band, and in short - It’s a Soft Machine album that you just have to own.

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Weight: 150.00 g

Previously unreleased studio tracks recorded just after the second album. This is typical Softs music that was used as backing tapes during an event held at the Roundhouse in 1969 and features the classic trio of Wyatt, Ratledge & Hopper, plus a guest appearance from Brian Hopper.

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Weight: 150.00 g