TOOT

MOOM were born in Northhampton, England in 1992, and kept busy playing live gigs including festivals. By the end of 1993 the had saved enough money to go to the local recording studio where they recorded and mixed an album's worth of material in 9 days. They called the cassette "Helicopter Tortoise Collection" and sold it to fans at live shows, but it was very much a local thing. Then they managed to get a spot to play at the London Festival in 1994, which gave them a featured piece in "Progress" magazine. Richard Allen from Delerium Records saw this article and contacted the band asking for a copy of the recording, and after hearing it he promptly signed them to his label using the best tracks from their cassette to release "Toot" in 1995.

The liner notes refer to this music as a fusion of psychedelic, progressive and jazz styles with influences including THE GRATEFUL DEAD, Frank Zappa, SOFT MACHINE and Miles Davis. Really to my ears a perfect blend of the music from the first two SOFT MACHINE albums and THE GRATEFUL DEAD. They loved to jam, and they love humour. I feel this is more jazzy psychedelia than canterbury. The band tapped into that 60's/70's canterbury sound without even knowing of it at the time. Like SYD ARTHUR years later. In the liner notes it says the release date of "Toot" was June 26, 1995. It also refers to their music as some of the sunniest, spaciest songs this side of the Land of Grey and Pink. Golden autumn music for summertime.

I feel like THE GRATEFUL DEAD influence is strongest on "Toot" as they would release one more final album "Bone Idol" in 1999 also on Delerium Records. The cover art of the flying car reminds me of that Australian band BRAINSTORM's "Desert World" record, and that picture on the back cover of them in a flying car. Not a bad album this one, but hit and miss with the final two tracks being my favourites, and that's at least 20 minutes worth of material.