THE ASMOTO RUNNING BAND

PEMT's second album was released some two years after their debut album, but the 14- human project was in its final death throes and wouldn't survive the Asmoto release by long, therefore the album sank without a trace. But let's not anticipate and look at this weirdly-titled second opus, produced by Floyd's Nick Mason (apparently interested in the beautiful Vivienne McAuliffe), and Alexis Korner. Indeed, ARB suffers from a much better production, but apparently Floyd and PEMT also shared their light show on tour. Another Floyd link would be the Hypgnosis artwork, featuring a strange light bulb picture.

The album starts outstandingly enough on a couple of fairly-lengthy McAlpine tracks (both making together roughly 12 minutes), which tends to show the band's enhanced musical capacities, but the effort is cut after Asmoto wins over McAlpine. Indeed the songs get much shorter, but also sometimes much weirder (the cringe-inducing Kettering Song or the Further Celebrations), and the strange Asmato feud with McAlpine is quite incomprehensible, unless being initiated by the Edwardian gods.

While Bourquin's multi-instrumentalist virtues (Kb, flute, violin) were already a strength on the previous Soundtrack release, his violin playing is much more prominent on Asmato (sometimes taking on unwanted fiddle sonorities, like in Glycerol Esther), also reminiscent of Curved Air's Daryl Way. Another difference is the replacement of Edwards' percussions with swallow's drumming, giving the band a generally heavier sound. McAuliffe's vocal presence is also reduced and often embedded in the production. Of the second half of the album, only the gentle Freefall is bringing you back to the band's earlier folk, and thankfully, it's the longer track (by a margin) of the flipside - well I haven't heard the missing Autumn Lady Dancing Song, which ios absent on the 2on1 reissue from the See For Miles label.

The group would then implode soon afterwards (their University sabbatical was over), although three members would go on for a couple years and a third album (on the Deram label) under the reduced Principal Edwards moniker. Only the superb Vivienne McAuliffe would pursue with a long studio session career, even singing with Patrick Moraz. ARB is a fairly different album than the debut, and dare I say it, much less successful, despite an even greater musical madness.