Penguin Cafe Orchestra - Prelude & Yodel
In case you were wondering where I was, I'm right here! Let's kickstart December with an anniversary.
For 'twas a mere 38 years ago this evening when one of my personal favorite groups made their US debut.
They had been a thing for the better part of the preceding decade, having had their first record on Brian Eno's incredible Obscure label in the mid-1970s.
Something like a traditional Chamber orchestra of eons past, but with an eccentric taste in instruments and a very pronounced sort of Rock energy throughout the repertoire.
They were at first the brainchild of a delightfully strange multi-instrumentalist named Simon Jeffes, but he passed away 25 years ago this week. The remaining folks, plus new ones, still reunite and tour from time to time.
This concert -- as good an introduction to them as any I could think of -- was performed at the Brooklyn Academy of Music and broadcast over the great WNYC-FM in New York City.
I edited out some of the dead air and tuning, and remastered it a little bit to optimize its eyes and size.
So, without any further ado, here is the first American concert of the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
Next Wave Festival
Brooklyn Academy of Music
New York City, NY USA
12.8.1984
01 tuning
02 Air à Danser
03 Music for a Found Harmonium
04 Yodel 1
05 Cutting Branches for a Temporary Shelter
06 Isle of View (Music for Helicopter Pilots)
07 From the Colonies
08 White Mischief
09 Salty Bean Fumble
10 Paul's Dance
11 Numbers 1-4
12 Prelude & Yodel
13 Chartered Flight
14 The Ecstasy of Dancing Fleas
15 band introductions by Simon Jeffes
16 Giles Farnaby's Dream
17 The Toy
Total time: 1:15:00
Simon Jeffes - harmonium, guitars, percussion, bass, violin, ukelele, keyboards, whistle & toy autoharp
Steve Nye - piano
Helen Liebmann - cello
Geoffrey Richardson - viola, bass & percussion
Marcus Beale - violin & percussion
Neal Rennie - ukelele, cuatro & percussion
Gillian McGregor - dancer
master off-air reel of the original WNYC-FM broadcast of the complete USA debut concert of the PCO
remastered, denoised and retracked -- with 4 minutes of tuning & dead air eliminated -- by EN, December 2022
445 MB FLAC/direct link
445 MB FLAC/direct link
This is a beautifully captured show all around and, as I said, a perfect introduction to this most unusual little combo.
I've got a trippy holiday season planned for here, with a bunch of posts backloaded in the last two weeks of the year, but don't blow it on the PCO show!--J.
Rest In Penguin
Simon Jeffes
2.19.1949 - 12.11.1997