Korekyojin - Manda-La 2, Kichijoji 6/16/04
Korekyojin are probably best described as somewhere between jazz fusion and the Japanese new music scene as typified by Il Berlione, bands on God Mountain, etc. For a trio, they’re quite the active and full musical outfit, spinning out rather angular, thorny compositions with the chops to keep it really interesting. As there are two sets here with, I believe, substantial overlap it was maybe a little tougher going all at once, but each one of the sets is strong independently. Like many groups in this general area, the band itself is quite a bit firier live and there were many times the music got my attention. Solid quality too.
This Heat - Knefeld, Germany 1980
This Heat has to be one of my favorites in that junction between the new wave and the old RIO wave, with great songwriting, experimental tangents and a sense of drone I’ve always found appealing and that tends to follow Hayward where he goes. Unfortunately a lot of the more decent sounding This Heat appears in the excellent ReR box set (and some not so decent sounding), so what’s left is rather muddy, except for one earlier performance that is quite listenable and closer to the music you hear on the album and thus akin to the Made Available disc. Unfortunately, live shows such as this lose part of the sonics that make This Heat breathe, so to me the live experience isn’t quite as exhiliarating.
Hugh Hopper with Simon Picard, Steve Franklin and Charles Hayward - Numero d’Vol
As an enthusiast of that musical world we call Canterbury, everything from Soft Machine to National Health, I’ve always had a mild interest in the solo work of most of the musicians, but for the most part the albums fall short of the original music. Albums like this, a full 70++ minute disc of what are obviously not the most prethought out improvisations make me wonder if the musicians are just surviving on their reputations. If I was to come from another angle and actually see something like this live, I would think my enthusiasm would be quite a bit higher, but it’s similar to going out to catch a McCoy Tyner show; I’d be blown away and have a great time but when I’d get home it’s still going to be Sahara I’m going to pop into the player. But really the jazz similarities are the important ones and perhaps if Hopper and maybe Hayward hadn’t made the splash they’d made in the rock world at one point it would be easier to see an album like this as part of the extended British jazz scene. Musically, it’s probably what you’d expect just by looking at the musicians, long jams with lots of space, Hopper switching back and forth from a jazz friendly tone to that monstrous buzzing sound he’s always been so good at and everyone just kind of lightly filling in some of the color as they go. Unfortunately for me, I’d prefer them to get some energy under their wings and let it burn more, but the parts like this only last for moments on the album before the meandering collapses the chemistry. To my ears this is just another of dozens of albums like this, all worksmanlike and very competent, but not saying a whole lot more to get noticed.