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hugh hopper and matt howarth - the stolen hour (cd)
Gloriously atmospheric, jagged and intense, 'The Stolen Hour' is a superb extension of Hugh Hopper's 'Jazzloops' series of explorations written to accompany the distinctive imagery of American comic book artist, Matt Howarth.
Assisted by, amongst others, Robert Wyatt (cornet, voice), John Marshall and Didier Malherbe, Hopper updates the Jazz-tinged Minimalist looping he initially developed in the 1960s, evoking the innovative spirit of early Soft Machine, while simultaneously suggesting new possibilities for the genre.
Matt Howarth's 'The Stolen Hour', the visual inspiration for this landmark in the ongoing development of Hopper's truly idiosyncratic talent, is featured as a pdf file on the enhanced CD.
Tracks
1. Craig’s Distended Train Ride
2. Complications at Work
3. An Inescapable Encounter with Mrs. Pry
4. Yearning for the Stolen Hour
5. The Long Drive
6. An Unregulated Sunset
7. A Sideways Peek at Dreamtime
8. Snide Wisdom involving the Immateriality of Time
9. The Stuff He Sees
10. Mia’s Timely Emergence from the East
11. Compatibility
12. Sharing the Stolen Hour
Credits
Guitar, bass guitar and rhythm loops by Hugh Hopper.
with Pierre-Olivier Govin, John Marshall, Simon Picard,
Jan Ponsford, Frank van der Kooy, and Robert Wyatt.
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Comments
About two years ago, the newly released album by Hugh Hopper, Jazzloops, had surprised me quite a bit. First, because of its "on demand" formula: you asked for it (and paid for it, obviously...), they mastered it for you. Then, for the technical aspects: lotsa loops, some flesh-and-blood players putting the icing on the cake, computers galore. As I wrote in my review, it was only a case of getting used to the album, and then finding its merits was quite easy. It goes without saying that Jazzloops was not the first album that I would suggest to somebody who has never heard Hopper's music. And it's quite obvious that listening to that album while having in mind most of Hopper's recorded output makes for a different listening experience from those coming in cold. Anyway, it was nice to see that he had used those means wisely and in a musical way. Titled The Stolen Hour, the new chapter is one for whose music Hopper is the sole author, in so differently from In A Dubious Manner, a CD whose music authorship he had shared with Julian Whitfield. Matt Howarth, in fact, is the creator of a comic strip that is part of this CD as a PDF file that's accessible via Acrobat Reader. The work sounds just as fresh as Jazzloops, with some of the players who had enriched that album showing up again here - for in., the very good and versatile Pierre-Olivier Govin on saxophones and Robert Wyatt on cornet and vocal loops. The album is very varied, with some nice fuzz bass and a closing track that superficially resembles Sex And Drugs And Rock'n'Roll but that's more likely to be related to Charlie Haden's bass solo on Ornette Coleman's Ramblin'. I really don't know who will buy this album. But I'd bet that in a blind listening test many reviewers would find those qualities that are customarily overlooked as soon as it's known that this album was made by a "historic name". Beppe Colli
beppe colli
Former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper's collaboration with Australian cartoonist Matt Howarth has produced a work that brings together the art of improvisation and the art of the comic strip. A slight return to the exciting period during the 70s when fine artists and musicians (Mal Dean and his Amazing Band being one example that springs to mind) freely communicated and bounced ideas off each other. Based on an actual event that happened during the Summer Olympics in 2000 - when the Australian government decided to move Daylight Saving Time forward so that Australia and the rest of the world were better synchronised - Howarth's graphic tale of frustration, apathy and eventual outback hallucination is enhanced musically by Hopper and his band. Those involved include old Softs comrades Robert Wyatt and drummer John Marshall who, together with the rest of Hopper's assembled orchestra, provide a suitably dreamy soundtrack that flows and erratically changes direction as Howarth's tale unfolds. Especially notable is Hopper's use of rhythm loops which adds an extra surreal sensation to the music - an effect that underlines the meaning of the album's title by creating a real feeling of desplacement and loss.
Edwin Pouncey, Jazzwise magazine
The follow-up to "Jazzloops" has just been released by Hugh Hopper, 'The Stolen Hour' (available thru' the web from Burning Shed Records, who increasingly seem to be the home of groundbreaking British prog and new musics). This recording continues in the vein of the experimental music album 'Jazzloops'. Loops sampling various sounds, rhythms, instruments (drum, bass, reeds, voice, etc.), are used as the backing, with some great jazz-blowing solos over the top on most tracks. A few pieces might be called off-the-wall dance tracks. In many respects the majority of this is a mix of nu jazz with RIO overtones - but not on all tracks. Guests include Robert Wyatt on voice & cornet (sounding between Miles and Don Cherry - but I won't claim to know my jazz trumpeteers that well), Didier Malherbe, and various members of Hugh's own band. Now about 40 years into the business and Hugh is still generating new ideas for new music - and making it sound very good - even though his first loop experiments date back to the late 60's, influenced then by Daevid Allen and Terry Riley. Sound better than "Jazzloops", this album is recommended to those who like RIO and innovative European jazz fusion - and most things the Soft Machine did.
dick heath