MATCHING MOLE

I love early Soft Machine and most of Robert Wyatt's solo albums, but no Canterbury freak can ever convince me that Matching Mole's debut album derves a lot of attention. The two best things about this album are the delightful cover picture (count yourself lucky if you own the original LP!) and the opening number, 'O Caroline', one of the most charming songs Wyatt ever wrote. The remainder, however, sounds like a simple jam session by musicians who urgently need to get to know each other and who don't seem to care whether the tape is running or not. The nine-minute 'Part of the Dance', for example, is dominated by ugly noise, and the four-minute 'Beer as in Braindeer' is not much better. Both 'Instant Kitten' and 'Dedicated to Hugh...' sound somewhat more purposeful and dramatic, but in spite of the presence of the great Phil Miller on guitar, none of this music can hold a candle to the things Caravan and Gong were doing during the same period.