Crucial reissues of the first two Anthony Moore solo albums from 1971/72. Originally issued by German Polydor (part of the same program that gave us the first Faust recordings), these were briefly reissued on CD by Japanese Polydor in 1995, but were instantly deleted. So now they are commonly available for the first time, the only negative being that Blueprint's packaging is quite generic & uninspired, with no credits and only tiny new liner notes from Mr. Moore which detail the compositional intent. Moore is best known as a founder of the progressive rock band Slapp Happy but has also written lyrics for Pink Floyd. These albums are part of a theoretical trilogy written in Germany in the early 1970's (the third part, Reeds, Whistle And Sticks was unissued until a 1998 CD release on Blueprint). Although Anthony is of British origin, these can be viewed as essential Krautrock peripherals and are Historically Significant no matter how you look at it. Pieces features: Anthony Moore (comp/cond), with: Ulf Kenklies (vocals), Glyn Davenport (vocals), Gieske Hof-Helmers (vocals) & Werner 'Zappa' Diermeier (hi-hat). From Alan Licht's "Minimalism: The Next Ten", originally published in Halana #3: "Two great missing links in the incredible history of Uwe Nettlebeck's productions at Wümme, Germany. Slapp Happy founder Moore recorded Pieces From The Cloudland Ballroom a month after Faust cut their debut LP (fall 1971) and Secrets Of The Blue Bag a month before their second (with Slapp Happy's debut Sort Of following in May '72 and Tony Conrad/Faust's Outside The Dream Syndicate in October). Indeed, Faust's Werner 'Zappa' Diermaier and Gunther Wusthoff both contribute to Pieces, which is not a Krautrock or artrock LP but a bona fide minimal classic. Side one is 'Jam Jern Jim Jom Jum,' which has three singers chanting that mantra while Moore plays these odd, luminous repeating chords underneath. The first piece on side 2, 'mu na h-vile ni a shaoileas iad,' sounds uncannily like Richard Youngs' Advent with its quiet piano and piercing bowed sounds, while 'A.B.C.D. Gol'flsh' could almost pass for the trance rock classic that Moondog never got around to recording.