The Can Opener

I love it when an album turns up by an artist I like that I never knew existed or never thought would see the light of day, other than maybe in tape tradding/torrent circles. Such is the case of the recent release of the soundtrack to the movie Agilok & Blubbo, an obscure political satire film from 1969. The music for the film was done by a group called The Inner Space, which was an essentially an early version of Can (Inner Space would actually become the name of one of Can's late 70's albums). The group was made up of Irmin Schmidt on vocals and guitar, Holger Czukay on bass, and Jacki Liebezeit on drums.

Back in 1969 a 7" with two songs from the film was the only thing officially released. And that 7" now fetches around $400. So, getting to hear the full work for quite a bit less cash is quite a treat. The album was released on CD and LP by Wah Wah Records out of Spain. But, you can find copies at Dusty Groove Records in Chicago.

Now, if I could only get a hold of recordings from the short lived Winwood-less version of Traffic that existed in 1969, when Steve left to join Blind Faith, called Mason, Capaldi, Wood & Frog.

Out Standing in Their Cricket Field

It's all balls and bats these days. Last year saw the release of the Baseball Project; an album done by Steve Wynn (Dream Syndicate), Peter Buck (R.E.M.), Scott McCaughey (Minus 5, Young Fresh Fellows), and Linda Pitmon (Steve Wynn & the Miracle 3) which was all about baseball.

This year, it's an album all about cricket. The band is The Duckworth Lewis Method, a collaboration between Thomas Walsh of Pugwash and Neil Hannon of the Divine Comedy. The Duckworth-Lewis Method in cricket is a set of formulas (developed by some gents named Duckworth and Lewis, of course) to address the problem of delayed, one-day cricket matches. And yes, I had to look that one up as I'm not up on my cricket.

Not surprisingly all the songs on the album are on different aspects of the game of cricket. And the music is some very fine pop songs penned by Walsh and Hannon. Walsh, who hails from Dublin, has quietly put out some great pop records in the last few years that have melodies in the XTC/Beatles/Brian Wilson/ELO vein. And Hannon, who comes from Northern Ireland, has been at the pop thing quite a bit longer and his brand of chamber pop has also had hints of ELO in it among other things. More information can be found on the band's website.