10.10.06
Ivor Cutler
Thanks to the rapidly impending doom of Tower Records, I recently obtained three albums by the one-of-a-kind Scottish avant songwriter and humorist philosopher, Ivor Cutler (born January 15 1923; died March 3 2006). I’d seen the name on Fred Frith’s discography (as he contributed some viola to Velvet Donkey), but I first checked him out thanks to a video clip of him performing “Shop Lifters” with harmonium on The Old Grey Whistle Test posted on the WFMU Blog.
Here’s some links about him.
Official site
www.ivorcutler.org
Video
www.youtube.com/results?search_query=ivor+cutler&search=Search
A Discography
www.issue.demon.co.uk/poetry/cutler/record/
Obituary
www.guardian.co.uk/obituaries/story/0,,1725211,00.html
Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivor_Cutler
“I’m Going in a Field” from the album Ludo (1967):
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.
I’ll lie beside the grass,
I’ll lie beside the grass,
I’ll lie beside the green grass,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.
Yellow flower,
In the grass,
Yellow flower,
In the grass.
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.
My lovers eyes are blue,
I’m going in a field,
To lie down.
Green grass,
Yellow flower,
My lovers eyes are blue
I’m going in a field.
Hell's Donut House said,
October 30, 2006 at 12:09 pm
I first heard him via this brilliant LP:
http://decoderblog.blogspot.com/2006/06/miniatures.html
Spencer said,
October 30, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Wow, Hell’s, thank you for that link! The MP3 download was well worth the annoying 90 second captcha wait. I had completely forgotten about that album, and at the time I didn’t even know the title of it. But the moment I played the first MP3, I was instantly teleported back to late ’80s Chicago Lower Links And All That ™, complete with sense memories. That album, and pieces from it, were everywhere — at the bar, on Tom Wells’ legendary mix tapes, on WZRD. And rightly so. It still holds up smashingly.
Hell's Donut House said,
November 1, 2006 at 6:46 pm
Cor blimey yes, that record is fried genius on a plate. It was assembled by ex-Moot The Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher (aka Veetdharm Morgan Fisher), whose other miniature credentials include an extraordinary 40-track 7″ from 1980 entitled “The Pocket Library of Unusual Film Music” (released in an edition of 100 and which, amazingly, I found in a used record store for about a buck. Hm, a reason to buy a turntable again…?), and a second volume of Miniatures, which I’ve never heard. The first volume also inspired a series of copycat compilations including “Sound Cosmodel,” a Japanese comp that came with a beautifully lavish LP-sized book, and “Voices, Notes & Noise,” which was packaged with an insert that could be cut up and made into slides by the various artists within. Both comps included Fisher and are probably impossible to find now (my copies were regrettably sold during some lean times), but cherchez la vinyl anyway. The trend eventually culminated in RRR Records’ “RRR 500″ comp, which featured 500 (!) lock grooves spread over two LPS, the act of which probably resulted in months of therapy for the poor mastering engineer assigned to cut the lacquer.
Morgan Fisher:
http://www.morgan-fisher.com
RRR 500:
http://www.discogs.com/release/94233
Sound Cosmodel:
http://www.brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/apsp018nww.html
Voices, Notes and Noise
http://brainwashed.com/common/htdocs/discog/rm01nww.html
Spencer said,
November 4, 2006 at 1:37 pm
Ah yes, I recall the RRR Records 2-LP of locked grooves. Seemed like everyone in the noise world was on that. I never had it (it was hard to find — everyone on it got most of the copies, I reckon), but I did eventually get the 7 inch of locked grooves that RRR put out somewhere around the same time. I’d use it when DJing sometimes, especially when I had to run and pee and was out of long songs. Also lovely for stereo wars with neighbors.
I do so miss locked grooves. The end of Evol just ain’t the same on CD. It’s like hearing the keyboard hit at the end of “A Day in the Life” with no sustain pedal.