he recorded history of This Heat begins around 1976 and ends around 1981. I was always under the Impression that only 3 records were ever recorded, and a Peel Sessions live/in studio thing.
I was wrong. There's appearantly some live releases, and this (originally) French cassette only release of a collaboration with Ghanian drummer, Mario Diekuuroh.
This Heat were Charles Hayward: voice, drums, tapes, etc., Charles Bullen - guitar, clarinet, voice, tapes, etc, and Gareth Williams keyboards, guitar, voice, tapes, etc.
This particular outing features recordings with Ghanian percussionist/flutist, Mario Diekuuroh who also collaborated later with Hayward, Chris Cutler (Henry Cow, Art Bears, Fred Frith, etc., etc., etc.) and many others in 1997.
Their sound defined (early in the game) what you got when you threw John Cage bubblegum into the early seventies Canterbury (see Soft Machine, Gong, Caravan, etc.) jazz/rock blender. This Heat were the Caterbury scene's not-so-nice, disgruntled cousing--influential and at times, sublime in their abrasive, discordant frenetic punk energy.
As for this recording, it's part live, part studio, mostly instrumental. I expected a lot of improv noodling but none of the performances waste any time--even the more spaced out, improvisational-sounding stay interesting and engaged.
The first two peices with their raw, almost bootleg-ish sound have an early movie soundtrack-like feel with sudden dramatic shifts in theme. If you hated prg-rock and embraced punk, you might still like this. If you liked both, you'll probably love this.
I was afraid this CD would merely be a completist's trophy, but, sound quality aside, there are some for outstanding performances here and the studio tracks, while not very well recorded, more than make up for what they lack in fidelity.
---Brian Cleary
Review by Skip Jansen
This release originally appeared as a cassette-only release in France in 1982, later reissued on CD by Canterbury Dream. The album documents numerous recordings made in 1977-1978 by the British godfathers of post-rock. Charles Hayward on vocals, drums, and tapes; Charles Bullen on guitar, clarinet, voice, and tapes; and Gareth Williams on keyboards, guitar, and vocals teamed up with guest percussionist and flutist Mario Boyer Diekuuroh. This recording captures the essential high energy of their live performances and features some extraordinary variations of their complex post-punk/ progressive rock sound which is certainly on par with their two exceptional official albums. Despite its obscurity, this is a vital chapter in the This Heat experimental avant-garde oeuvre.
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