Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: Matching Mole
Label: Beat Goes On
Release: 1972
Length: 40:02
Rating: 4.5/5
Of all the bands that sprang from the beloved prog rock movement popularly known as the Canterbury scene, Matching Mole were without a doubt the top contenders for the band with the funniest name and the cheekiest humor, which is no small feat for a genre that boasted a whole bunch of musical and lyrical jokers of one stripe or another.
Matching Mole were formed in 1971 as a project of original Soft Machine drummer and occasional singer Robert Wyatt, not long after he left Soft Machine and put out his solo debut “The End of an Ear”. Helping him build the new project were Caravan keyboardist Dave Sinclair, plus guitarist Phil Miller and bassist Bill MacCormick, who both came over from Quiet Sun. On a few tracks on the self-titled debut, Dave MacRae also shows up as a guest keyboardist on electric piano, and he later replaced Sinclair on the second Matching Mole album, “Matching Mole’s Little Red Record” (1972). The band’s name is a parody of Machine Molle, the French translation of Soft Machine.
Wyatt, who also played all the Mellotron parts on the album, is a self-professed leftist and usually flags up various social problems in his lyrics beneath a thin veneer of a black, toilet and pub humor cocktail. His unique voice, which is probably easiest to describe as a muffled falsetto, radiates a mix of rascally mischief and almost childlike naivety. It nails the essence of the philosophy of this musician and man, who would happily kick off a social revolution with the help of tin soldiers and Lego bricks. The style of the album is easiest to describe as an exceptionally crafty collage of rock, jazz fusion, symphonic, psychedelia, avant-garde and folk.
The opening love ballad “O Caroline”, dedicated to Wyatt’s breakup with his then-girlfriend Caroline Coon, is the most melodic, breezy and by far best-known track on the album. Interestingly, it’s one of only two tracks on the album that Wyatt didn’t write. All the lyrics on the album are his work, though, and he shines with them almost as much as with his singing and drumming. “Instant Pussy is already a much more experimental affair, with plenty of rhythmic and guitar improvisations and Wyatt’s vocalizations in between, which sound like the cries of someone lost in the thicket (how fitting for the track title).
This witty track spills over unexpectedly and directly into the melancholic “Signed Curtain”, where Wyatt surprises with a “head-cold” falsetto laid over a pleasant piano melody. “Part of the Dance” is the most ambitious piece on the album, with no shortage of witty jazzy improvisations, dramatic Mellotron waves and rhythmic variety that strongly recalls the established Soft Machine playbook, and the same goes for the overall mood of this brilliant composition. The next instrumental, “Instant Kitten”, is a fitting companion to “Instant Pussy”, with plenty of sprawling, fiery guitar solos. Thanks to Sinclair’s organ, the vibe of the piece strongly recalls his days with Caravan.
After a relatively innocent start, the album gets more experimental and harder to digest with every track, but all the more delicious for prog rock and jazz fusion gourmets. The psychedelic jazz fusion “Dedicated to Hugh, but You Weren’t Listening” is a composition dedicated to the recently deceased Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, Wyatt’s former comrade-in-arms. This complex collage of playful improvisations features loads of varied bass guitar weaving, a few seriously ‘chopped-up’ guitar passages and a wealth of masterful drum fills. The deeply experimental “Beer as in Braindeer” is a total avant-garde explosion, with a veritable hailstorm of untamed rhythmic and guitar improvisations and psychedelic embellishments on the keyboards.
The closing “Immediate Curtain” is the peak of avant-garde experimentalism, one that can hold its own against the weirdest and most unpredictable creations of Soft Machine or King Crimson. The latter is especially recalled by the dramatic, spine-chilling use of the Mellotron in the second part of the piece, which will still give plenty of listeners goosebumps all over to this day.
Matching Mole’s debut stands among the Canterbury classics, packing in every trademark of this one-of-a-kind musical movement: a crafty fusion of rock, symphonic and jazz, experimentation with the brakes off, and a tickling sense of humor that makes it easy to picture moles with glasses rubbing their little snouts. It’s a real shame that this excellent but sadly short-lived band put out only two albums, which, regardless, rank among the best Canterbury has to offer, as is true of most projects Robert Wyatt took part in.
In 1973, a third Matching Mole album was actually in the works with an almost completely changed lineup, since Sinclair and Miller had already left by then to help found the more commercially successful Hatfield and the North. Wyatt, with the new Matching Mole, which besides MacCormick included former Curved Air keyboardist Francis Monkman and jazz fusion saxophonist Gary Windo, started planning their third studio venture, when an unexpected tragedy changed everything overnight and buried the band for good. In July 1973, Wyatt fell out of a window at a party and was left paralyzed from the waist down, which spelled the end of his drumming career for good, as well as the end of Matching Mole.
Lineup
Robert Wyatt – drums, vocals, piano, Mellotron
Dave Sinclair – keyboards
Phil Miller – guitar
Bill MacCormick – bass guitar
GUEST MUSICIAN:
Dave McRae – keyboards
Production
Matching Mole
Tracklist
1. O Caroline
2. Instant Pussy
3. Signed Curtain
4. Part Of The Dance
5. Instant Kitten
6. Dedicated To Hugh, But You Weren’t Listening
7. Beer As In Braindeer
8. Immediate Curtain
