A LIttle Bit Of CC In The Night

Chris Cutler was the drummer in Henry Cow and The Art Bears - 2 of my favourites from the 70s and 80s. But he played a minor role in my love for the music they made. I suppose this is how I feel about all drummers, really, no matter how stupid that is. There's no doubt he's a superb musician and I know that both bands would have been vastly different without his "tin cans down an alleyway" (copyright Annette) style. In fact, they would have been largely unrecognisable as the bands they truely are.

But, hey, he didn't actually "compose" any of this stuff did he? The only music writing credit he has from that time period is on the last ridiculous track of "Desperate Straights"... and the less said about that the better. He "just" hit the drums and percussion after all...

The thing is, he's been part of some of the most interesting music I've ever heard and, no matter how hard I try to ignore those damn drums, he keeps on popping up whenever I start to like something. Here's just a small taste (he's damned prolific, btw):

mp3: Aksak Maboul - A Modern Lesson

Easily the most post-punk of the tracks here with unintelligible lyrics sung by a strangled girl. Marvellous Fred Frith guitar (he's in here a bit too) and, hey, CC plays all simple as can be. All the post-Cow people removed some of their ultra-pretentions of musicianship in the 80s although it was probably never far from the surface. Aksak Maboul were a belgian group linked to the Rock In Opposition "stream" of bands started by the Art Bears and easily one of the weirdest.

mp3: Cassiber - Not Me

A-ha, now you can hear that fabulous snappy snare and the rest of the kit clattering away. Another post-punky thing and another RIO band. It's, slightly ruined by Heiner Goebbels' over-the-top shouty vocals - slightly reminiscent of Tim Hodginson's The Work in that regard - but, apparently, it's mostly based on improvised pieces honed into something more certain.

mp3: Fred Frith - Don't Cry For Me

From FF's 1st (all marvellous) solo 'song' album "Gravity". Once again, the drums are seemingly simple but the rhythm is more complicated than you first think. Similar to "War" from "In Praise Of Learning" where a steady beat chops around the place in some god-damned time signature from hell.

mp3: News From Babel - Heart Of Stone

News From Babel was a project of the heart from CC and Lindsay Cooper (another ex-Cow). This has a typical Cooper arrangement (too finicky by half) but it's topped off by Robert Wyatt's plaintive vocals. More skittering edge of the drum stuff from CC.

mp3: Pere Ubu - Waiting For Mary

Not only does CC do avant, he does avant-pop. During Pere Ubu's most commercial phase (the Fontana years) he sat in on drums and played it straight up and 4 to the floor. Their best song from this phase, easily.

mp3: Tim Hodgkinson - Hold To The Zero Burn, Imagine (excerpt)

And so back to the (sort of) start with a song that Henry Cow played live in their later days but never got around to recording (it was all hooked up with that break up / "Hopes and Fears" phase). So Hodgkinson got a couple of them all together again in the 90s to play on his mostly excreble solo LP - "Each In Our Own Thoughts" (whatever that means). This is nothing more than a re-hash of "Living In The Heart Of The Beast" but not quite as good. Still and all - CC's drums are so complicated they make my ears ache.