CASSIBER – Beauty & The Beast (Rē Records ‎– Re 0110 / LP-1984)

Label: Rē Records ‎– Re 0110

Format: Vinyl, LP, Album / Country: UK / Released: 1984

Style: Experimental, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Trion Sound Studio, Frankfurt am Main, in April 1984.

Mixed By – Bernhard Klein, Büdi Siebert (tracks: A1, A4, B2)

Mixed [other tracks] By – Cassiber

Engineer [Mixed] By – Walter Brüssow

Printed By – Third Step Printworks

Screen printed cover, booklet with lyrics and illustrations

Matrix / Runout (Runout Etching Side A): RE-0110/A

Matrix / Runout (Runout Etching Side B): RE-0110/B

side1:

A1 - Six Rays ............................................................................................................ 4:09

A2 - Robert ................................................................................................................ 5:01

A3 - Last Call ............................................................................................................ 3:02

A4 - Ach, Heile Mich ................................................................................................. 6:35

A5 - Haruspices ........................................................................................................ 1:53

side2:

B1 - Under New Management .................................................................................. 5:29

B2 - Vengeance Is Dancing ...................................................................................... 2:18

B3-B4 - In Eine Minute > Und Ich Werde Nicht Mehr Sehen .................................... 7:37

B5-B6 - Prendre la Lune Avec Les Dents > At Last I Am Free ................................. 8:11

Personnel:

Alfred Harth – saxophone [alto/tenor/bariton], b clarinet, trombone, trumpet, jew's harp

Christoph Anders – vocals, synthesizer, organ, electric guitar, tape

Heiner Goebbels – grand piano, synthesizer, bass, electric guitar, tape, vocals

Chris Cutler – drums, percussion, electronic drums, noises

Cassiber's debut album was originally intended to be a one-off, but shortly after its release they were invited to play at the Frankfurt Jazz Festival and further live work followed. A couple of years after Man or Monkey they recorded Beauty and the Beast, which was created using the same methodology as before - improvised composition - but their experience as a performing band had made a difference to their music; on this occasion there was a greater sense of coherence both within the individual pieces and across the album as a whole.

As on their previous outing the album featured a mixture of instrumental and vocal tracks, although on this occasion Chris Cutler's texts were not used as extensively as before. The use of electronics was also more prominent this time around, with cassette recorded voices woven into the fabric of several tracks. Robert, the second track, features a brief snippet of Captain Beefheart reciting The Dust Blows Forward, while elsewhere the vocals seem to have been recorded from German news broadcasts, and for the most part this technique is very effective; on later albums Cassiber would use samplers and electronics even more prominently. Two cover versions are included: Und Ich Werde Nicht Mehr Sehen is a Hans Eisler piece, while At Last I Am Free is a song by Chic that was also covered by Robert Wyatt on Nothing Can Stop Us. At Last I Am Free is one of the album's highlights and manages to be faithful to the spirit of the original but also has the same uncompromising RIO sound as the rest of the album. The more 'free' improvisations veer into some decidedly abstract territory, but the album is sequenced so that they are contrasted with more accessible pieces and many of the tracks segue into each other, creating a constantly shifting mood. There are also moments of real beauty, particularly from Goebell's piano and Harth's saxophone, although any lyrical passages are brief and there is usually something loud, discordant or disturbing to provide contrast.

Beauty & the Beast is an uncompromising piece of work, but it has stood the test of time rather better than Man or Monkey. It's interesting to compare it with Skeleton Crew's debut album, which was released at around the same time and which also made extensive use of taped vocals. Both are very much products of their time, RIO meeting post punk experimentalism, and both see former members of Henry Cow engaging with new developments in music and remaining progressive in the truest sense of the word. If you like one, you'll probably like the other; Beauty & the Beast can be recommended to anybody who likes 80s avant jazz-rock and indeed to anybody inclined to try something adventurous for a change.             
(Review by Syzygy)

Plus album add-on:
Came as a special bonus item with subscription copies of Cassiber - Beauty & The Beast.
[Not For General Sale]

CASSIBER – Time Running Out (Rē Records ‎– Rē 21 / single-1984)

Label: Rē Records ‎– Rē 21

Format: Vinyl, 7", 45 RPM, Single Sided, Promo, Blue Transparent, Screened B-Side

Country: UK / Released: 1984

Style: Experimental, Free Improvisation

Recorded at Trion Sound Studio, Frankfurt am Main, in April 1984.

Artwork [Disc] – Bill Gilonis

Artwork [Label] – EMT

Design – cc
Matrix / Runout (Side A, Etched): RE-21/A et ORLAKE

side1:

A - Time Running Out ................................................................................................ 5:38

Recording Information: as Cassiber - Beauty & The Beast _ Rē 0110. [Musician credits are taken from that LP. Recorded at Trion Sound, Frankfurt am Main, in April 1984.]

If you find it, buy this album!

CASSIBER – Man Or Monkey (riskant ‎– 6.28624-01-02 / 2LP-1982)

Label: riskant ‎– 6.28624-01, riskant ‎– 6.28624-02

Format: 2 × Vinyl, 12", 45 RPM, Album, Reissue, DMM

Country: Germany / Released: 1982

Style: Art Rock, Free Improvisation, Experimental, Free Jazz

Recorded 5-16 August 1982 at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg.

Artwork [Picture] – Gabriele Hamm

Artwork By [Cover] – B.E.C.K.

Recorded By – Etienne Conod (tracks: A1 to B3, D2)

Mixed By – Etienne Conod (tracks: D1, D3), Robert Vogel (tracks: C)

Producer – Wolfgang Hamm

All songs and instrumental pieces were improvised.

This is the TELDEC pressed DMM cut.

Matrix / Runout (Side A): 6.28624-01-1

Matrix / Runout (Side B): 6.28624-01-2

Matrix / Runout (Side C): 6.28624-02-1

Matrix / Runout (Side D): 6.28624-02-2

side 1:

A1 - Not Me ............................................................................................................... 3:34

A2 - Red Shadow ...................................................................................................... 3:43

A3 - Chor Der Gefangenen (The Prisoner Chorus) ................................................... 4:46

side 2:

B1 - Our Colourful Culture ......................................................................................... 3:04

B2 - O Cure Me ......................................................................................................... 5:53

B3 - This Core ........................................................................................................... 4:20

side 3:

C  -  Man Or Monkey ............................................................................................... 16:38

side 4:

D1 - Django Vergibt ................................................................................................... 3:09

D2 - Die Verunreinigung Des Flusses Ist Gerade Noch Erträglich ............................ 6:38

D3 - Sag Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind (Where Have All Flowers Gone) ........................ 2:41

Personnel:

Alfred Harth – alto / tenor sax, trumpet, trombone, clarinet, bass clarinet, cello [violincello]

Heiner Goebbels – piano, synthesizer, organ, violin [chinese], guitar, acoustic guitar, bass

Christoph Anders – vocals, synthesizer [korg], guitar, tenor sax, tape [prepared cassettes],                                 violin, percussion [metalsheets]

Chris Cutler – drums, whistle, noises, performer [objects], text

Peter Prochir – drums, percussion (tracks: B1)

"Man or Monkey" was Cassiber's first album. It was released in 1982 on the German label Riskant as a set of two 45 rpm LPs -- a format that turned it into a pricy collector's item.

“Man or Monkey” is a plain masterpiece using pre-composed structures as well as free improvisation (with emphasis on the latter).

For this first effort, Christoph Anders, Chris Cutler, Heiner Goebbels, and Alfred 23 Harth entered the studio with only a handful of the drummer's lyrics and a few melodic ideas. They improvised, letting structures and arrangements develop by themselves, so to speak, and singer Anders threw in a text when he felt it appropriate.

Christoph Anders rather barks and shouts than sings his rudimentary lyrics, it sounds as if he was panicking. Alfred Harth is in charge of the free jazz part, while Goebbels adds serious new music piano clusters. The whole thing is driven by Cutler’s energetic punk/art rock explosions. In their best moments Cassiber sounds as if a free jazz band is jamming with German kraut rock legend Can.

Side A presents three short improvised songs. Lyrics are more declamated than sung and the musical flooring is loosely rhythmical but very intense ("Red Shadow" is a highlight). Side B focuses on more prepared songs and Anders' singing. The festive music of "Our Colourful Culture" creates a disgusting contrast with the somber lyrics ("I came from the country/Arriba! Arriba!/They were killing my family/Ha ha ha ha"). "O Cure Me" sets the lyrics from one of Bach's cantatas against with its melodic saxophone line and its mainstream keyboard sounds, which they immediately alienated by disharmonic chords, honks, the strange vocals and an angular violin. Both of these pieces would remain in the group's live sets until the end ten years later.

Side C contains the 16-minute free improvisation "Man or Monkey" and presents a world which is completely apart at the seams, a total chaos illustrated by a collage of horror organ parts, strange speech samples, lost saxophones and trombones, dissonant guitar splinters and junkyard percussion – even from today’s point of view a very ambitious and visionary track... Other songs on D side are based on allusions to the music of Robert Wyatt (“Die Verunreinigung des Flusses ist gerade noch erträglich”) and contains nice percussion work.

To quote Chris Cutler: “Man or Monkey presents Cassiber as a band which improvises with prepared texts and an intention to arrive at coherent structures.”

(Revew By Martin Schray)

If you find it, buy this album!

SOGENANNTES LINKSRADIKALES BLASORCHESTER ‎– Hört, Hört! (1977) / Mit Gelben Birnen (1980) - 2CD-Trikont

Label: Trikont – CD 0258-2

Format: 2 × CD, Compilation; Country: Germany - Released: 1999

Style: Brass Band, Big Band, Political

Mixed By – Heinz Weihe (tracks: 2-1 to 2-16), Ute Schatz (tracks: 2-1 to 2-16)

Recorded By – Clemenz Müller (tracks: 1-1 to 1-14, 2-2 to 2-4, 2-6), Dietram Köster (tracks: 2-7, 2-9, 2-12, 2-13), Franco Fabbri (tracks: 2-10, 2-11), Heinz Weihe (tracks: 2-1, 2-5), Helmut Fritz (2)(tracks: 2-14), Ute Schatz (tracks: 2-1, 2-5)

Recorded By [Vocals] – Rainer Hecht (tracks: 2-3)

SOGENANNTES LINKSRADIKALES BLASORCHESTER was a brass band formed in 1976, in Frankfurt, by HEINER GOEBBELS, ALFRED HARTH, CHRISTOPH ANDERS... in an attempt to reinforce artistically the left student movement demonstrations of that period. The band, designed mostly for live appearances, was consisting of about twenty musicians and played on stage, at the streets and in diverse political activities.

In spite of the circumstances of its birth, The So-Called Left Radical Brass Orchestra never was a preacher of left dogmatism. Their repertoire crossed the music history from baroque & classical period, early twentieth century to free-jazz and avant-garde, including original pieces, traditonal themes, covers of Hans Eisler, Frank Zappa etc.

Their interpretations were imaginative, inventive, uncompromised but not snobbish, eclectic, intellectual and yet very amusing - a channel for direct communication with the people.

SLB discography comprises the albums: "HÖRT HÖRT" (1977) and "MIT GELBEN BIRNEN" (1980)

 ''Hört, Hört!'' – Recorded july 1977. – (Trikont US-36)

1-1,3,5 and 1-14 are live recordings from a concert in 'dem Frankfurter Stadtteilkino 'Harmonie'', 11-07-1977.

1-1 Vorspiel und "Gedanken über die rote Fahne" (by Hanns Eisler)  2:52

1-2 Begleitung (by Rolf Riehm)  2:07

1-3 Tagesschau (by Alfred Harth, Heiner Goebbels, Rolf Riehm)  7:32

1-4 Ich bin halt die Kotze aus Deiner Glotze (''I'm the Slime'' by Frank Zappa)  2:37

1-5 Chickmatch-Blues (by Alfred Harth)   3:12

1-6 Die Fabriken und Stück (by Hanns Eisler, Rolf Riehm)  3:16

1-7 Circa  (by Heiner Goebbels)  5:17

1-8 Rote Sonne  (by Trad. Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)   2:23

1-9 Der Anwalt des Schreckens  (by Rolf Riehm, Lyrics by Peter Paul Zahl)   2:30

1-10 Ya no somos nosotros  (by Karaxu, Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)  1:37

1-11 La resistencia se organisa  (by Karaxu, Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)  4:54

1-12 Homesick-Blues  (by Rolf Riehm, Lyrics by Peter Paul Zahl)  3:28

1-13 Lied von der Gedankenfreiheit  (by Walter Mossmann)   1:50

1-14 Tschüs  (by Walter Kubiczek, Lyrics by Dieter Lietz)  1:33

''Mit Gelben Birnen'' – Recorded Sept. 1979 and August 1980. – (Trikont US-63)

2-1 Trotzalledem  (by Trad. Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)  3:47

2-2 Die Hügel von Ca'n Geroni  (by Rolf Riehm)   2:53

2-3 Hälfte des Lebens  (by Heiner Goebbels, Words by Friedrich Hölderlin)  2:36

2-4 Poema para el despertar de un niño  (by Johannes Eisenberg, Written by Cumbo, Rubio)   3:07

2-5 Ohne dass ich sagen würde, ich bin der neue Führer  (Arr.by Goebbels, Comp. by Hübner) 7:50

2-6 Präludium  (by Johann Sebastian Bach, Arranged by Rolf Riehm)  2:10

2-7 Einzugsmarsch  (''Enlightenment'' by Sun Ra, Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)  2:24

2-8 Zirkus  (by Rolf Riehm)   3:53

2-9 Baderkatalog   3:30

2-10 Großvater Stöffel  (by Hanns Eisler, Lyrics by Bertolt Brecht)   0:37

2-11 Trauermarsch  (by Willem Breuker)   3:11

2-12 O'Guarracino  (by Trad. Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)   4:52

2-13 Maschine   3:42

2-14 Kommet Ihr Hirten  (Composed by Trad.)  1:14

Bonus

2-15 Verstandsaufnahme  (by Heiner Goebbels, Words by Erich Fried)   3:04

2-16 Poltergeist  (by Trad. Arranged by Heiner Goebbels)   2:33

SLB musicians:

Christoph Anders, Alfred Harth, Heiner Goebbels – tenor saxes

Henning Wiese, Rolph Riem, Barbara Muller-Rendtorff – alto saxes

Thomas Jahn, Gudrun Stocker, Cora Stefan – flutes

Volker Haas, Reinhard Bussmann, Herwig Heise, Walter Ybema – clarinets

Klaus Becker, Johannes Eisenberg, Gunther Lohr – trumpets

Michael Hoehler, Peter Lieser – trombones

Uwe Schriefer, Jorn Stuckrath – tubas

Ernst Stotzner – voice

This post has prepared my friend Herr -Otto- and here are some of his interesting notes:

Just in case you wonder about the titles of the original LPs: “Hört, hört!” is not equivalent to the (approving) “hear, hear!” used in US and British English but quite the opposite, more like an expression of outrage, as in: “I can’t believe what I just heard!” or, in John McEnroe’s words: “You can’t be serious, man!”

…and “mit gelben Birnen” is the first line of Hölderlin’s poem “Hälfte des Lebens” which was published in 1805 when Friedrich was 35. Apparently a full life span back then was considered 70 years (with some luck). Hölderlin himself exceeded that by 3 years, although most of his later years (after 1807) he spent in a psychologically unstable state in the town of Tübingen in a tower by the Neckar river. This tower is still now referred to as “der Hölderlinturm”.

Enjoy!

posted by -Otto-

Buy this albums!