Little Red Record - MATCHING MOLE**

Starting In The Middle Of The Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away/Marchides/Nan True's Hole/Righteous Rhumba/Brandy As In Benj/Gloria Gloom/God Song/Flora Fidgit/Smoke Signal

Little Red Record was the second and final album from the Canterbury scene progressive band Matching Mole created by Robert Wyatt after leaving Soft Machine. The compositions here are more of a group effort compared with the debut. The title and art work are based on Maoist publicity propaganda.

“Little Red Record is not easy-listening. It's weird, but with a wide range of ideas and sounds, combined with superb musicianship. It's an example of how music was pushing the limits back then. In fact, they were the final days of what could justifiably be called the musical avant-garde.”

“Little Red Record was the second studio effort by this short-lived band and it's not even close to the quality of its predecessor. There are some very nice moments on the first side but side two is clearly the weaker.”

“As a whole the album lacks focus, and sounds more like experiments towards a band identity rather than the group manifesto the album title suggests. Perhaps a third Matching Mole album would have been more cohesive, but that was not to be.”

“This is music straight from heaven, for listeners inclined towards the more sophisticated end of the spectrum, combining complex improvisation and quirky rhythmic patterns, which have no parallel elsewhere. Of course this kind of music should be kept alive at all costs.”

“It is too bad the actual music, sporadically interesting warmed over jazz-rock, can't possibly live up to one of the greatest, most hilarious covers in history. Get their first album for the music, this one for the cover.”

“It's one often undeveloped idea after another, the interestingly gentle layered vocals of track one give way to familiar jazz-rock, followed by a few actual songs, followed by some instrumentals that serve more as textured background for mumblings than they serve as compositions. Also striking to me is a lack of any melody.”

“It is very surprising to me that Robert Wyatt quit Soft Machine and then formed this group who committed the same jazz-noodling atrocities as his former outfit. The only magic on this LP happens when Robert opens his mouth, which is not nearly enough. Overall, the album is basically unlistenable.”