Alterations -- Voila Enough

[Jonathan Sutton]

Anyone else heard this? I didn't expect it to be particularly good, just because it sounded unpromisingly silly -- toy instruments, football rattles, swapping instruments among members of the group etc. I mainly got it for historical reasons. I recall an interview with John Butcher in which he corrected the interviewer's assertion that he was part of the second generation of British free improvisers, saying that it was these guys who were the second generation. So I wanted to hear the real second generation.

Anyway, that turned out to be exactly the spirit in which to listen to this music, since (as happens so often with music and much less so with many other artforms) it is all the better precisely because it seems like it couldn't possibly be any good -- and yet it is great. I haven't heard Beresford's The Bath of Surprise (has anyone heard that?), but if it is anything like this, I can see why Otomo Yoshihide might regard it as so influential -- this music is a recognizable if distant ancestor of some of what Ground Zero did. There is a lot of humor, a fair amount of fairly simple melody and rhythm (and more complex stuff, too), a lot of unpitched sound--and a lot of noise.

[blawless]

Sounds interesting, Jonathan. I saw this in the UMS catalog and like you was skeptical of the toys and game elements. I'll put it on my to-be-investigated list. Just curious--what Brit free-jazz generation are they in now?

[Sergio Zamora]

"The Bath of Surprises" is great. Beresford at his most original and creative.

I've heard about this, but didn't realize it was so historically signiicant.

I think this group of musicians (which we can rougly place as the second generation) often gets neglected by the more "serious" improv listeners, because they were so involved in many different forms of music and therefore spread themselves a little thin. However, their creative spirit and rule-breaking ethos is very much responsible for all the adventurous cross-pollination that's going on today.

[Jonathan Sutton]

I guess the idea is that Butcher, Rhodri Davies, Mark Wastell and so on are third generation free improv; Derek Bailey, Evan Parker etc. were the first. Each generation differing by age and the very different kind of music that it makes compared to the other two generations. Free jazz musicians like Paul Dunmall aren't in any generation precisely because they play jazz. Not, of course, that it is worth spending much time defining the generations more than vaguely (let alone jazz vs. non-jazz).

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally posted by Jonathan Sutton
I guess the idea is that Butcher, Rhodri Davies, Mark Wastell and so on are third generation free improv; Derek Bailey, Evan Parker etc. were the first. Each generation differing by age and the very different kind of music that it makes compared to the other two generations....

I suppose that makes Nat and his pals 4th generation.

[Jon Abbey]

my two cents: I much prefer Bath of Surprise to this Alterations disc (which I found fairly unlistenable; sorry, Jonathan) or the other UMS reissue from this same general crew, Double Indemnity/Imitation of Life (which I also really disliked).

another disc I love from these guys is General Strike-Danger in Paradise (Piano), which is the trio of Toop, Beresford and David Cunningham (of Flying Lizards "fame"). compared to these other two, the UMS ones seem reallyy subpar to my ears. curious to hear your thoughts if you get ahold of either of these, Jonathan...

that London generation thing seems fairly accurate to me, although Butcher's more of a contemporary of Toop, Beresford and co.