Alan Licht's revelatory lists of rare and obscure minimalism releases.
See all**500 copies** British experimental musician, composer, performer and producer Anthony Moore was a founding member of Slap Happy and has worked with Henry Cow, Kevin Ayers, and Pink Floyd among other great names in the British scene. In 1971 he moved to Hamburg, Germany, and worked in the boiling experimental scene of the city. As a result, two LPs were issued on Polydor Germany in 1971 and 1972, right before forming Slap Happy with old school pal Peter Blegvad and Dagmar Krause.
Secrets of the Blue Bag, Moore's second solo LP, was issued in 1972 but recorded in the Fall of 1971, just a bit before Slap Happy were backed by Faust on the recording sessions of their first album. Anthony Moore was joined by soprano Geeske Hof-Helmers, violinists Toni Sen and Patrick Strub, celloist Rolph Braun and Wolf Schreiber on fagott. The missing link between British "art-rock" and the German "krautrock" scenes!
This reissue is done in collaboration with Anthony Moore himself and comes housed in its original artwork.
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"The follow-up, 'Secrets', is three pieces for strings and voice all based on the same 5 note melody. It’s more “classical” than its predecessor, kind of what I expected Academy in Peril' to sound like. How and why Polydor was convinced to release these is beyond me (anyone know the story?) The Japanese CD reissues are expensive but the original albums are unfindable. 'Pieces' is the superior LP, but both are essential if you have any interest in the genre, period, or principals involved." Alan Licht