The Muffins - 1992 - Secret Signals 2

(60:06; New House Music [2018 Edition] )




















Between 1989 and 1996 three cassettes were released of live recordings from between 1974 and 1981, with the second of these then being reissued on CD in 2018 as a limited edition, with the other two currently still unavailable. Actually, I can’t find this for sale anywhere either, so it is possible this is no longer available either so if you spot any of them then grab them! This particular CD features track from 1974 to 1975, which means we get the original core line-up of Dave Newhouse (keyboards, woodwind, trumpet),  Billy Swann (electric bass), Tom Scott (woodwind, bell tree, yelling) and Michael Zentner (guitars, violin, piano) along with drummer Michael Bass and Scott Rafael who plays on four tracks with alto sax and violin. Their debut album would not be released until 1978, by which time only Dave, Billy and Tom would remain, so this is a great opportunity to hear what the band sounded like in the early days.

I think a good word would be “anarchic”, and do not think any of these songs were later recorded in the studio, at least not under these names with these arrangements. Here we had great musicians working under the basis that they had no-one to please but themselves and that they could do whatever they wanted. With multi-instrumentalists in tow they could change instruments between songs to give them a different approach, or even change them during, meaning the audience (and other band members) did not know what was coming next, providing an excitement and vitality to the performance. My album of 2023 was the incredible ‘The Baker’s Dozen’ boxed set of rare live recordings, and I don’t think any of these appear on there, so perhaps those nice people at Cuneiform might consider releasing the three tapes as a new set? Please? Here we have a band pushing the limits, not even seeing the boundaries as they take Canterbury to new heights. Superb.    

Kev Rowland, May 2024

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