Matching Mole [Bonus CD]

This was a short lived, but essential band in the annals of what's called the Canterbury Sound, created by British progressive ensembles in the late sixties and early seventies. The band was formed when Robert Wyatt was ousted from Soft Machine, which he'd founded in the mid-sixties. (He punningly-titled the outfit using the English pronunciation of the French translation of Soft Machine.) This 1972 debut opens with one of Wyatt's most gorgeous songs, "O Caroline." From there the quartet embarks on a series of tunes which run the gamut from invitingly alluring sonic landscapes and experiments, to free improvisation and more songs that hark back to Wyatt's earliest work. David Sinclair's keyboards add washes of cascading psychedelia over Wyatt's jazz-informed drumming, Bill McCormick's bass and Phil Miller's guitar playing. The band produced only one more album, LITTLE RED RECORD, later the same year. Their small output is an essential chapter in the innovative career of Robert Wyatt.