Anthony Moore

The collaboration between Anthony Moore and filmmaker David Larcher began in the late 60s, at the start of both their respective careers and lasted many years. Following on from last years release of the soundtrack to Mare’s Tail (the first collaboration with Larcher), this year sees the release of the soundtrack to his 2nd film, Monkey’s Birthday. This LP is a condensation of the essence of this 6 hour film. The sound is partly taken directly from the existing soundtrack and partly from stereo masters that have survived through the decades. Shot and edited between 1973 and 1975 this epic film moves through a variety of landscapes, both physical and abstract. It was filmed in various locations, starting in Germany and moving through Hungary, Romania and most substantially in rural Turkey.

In large part this is a road movie that takes the filmed events and locations and uses them as sources for further experimentation. In much the same way, the location recordings made by Anthony Moore are used as raw material for creating much of the soundtrack, working from a battery powered studio in the back of his truck in this east bound convoy. The previously released excerpt, Plains Of Hungary (ReR Quarterly Vol.2 No.1) is included on this album in its rightful place among the collages of Islamic chant, field recordings, tape loops, jam sessions etc., alongside quotes from esoteric texts read by Heathcote Williams. We also hear, alongside various voices from the crew and general public, a repeated theme using the looped cut up voice recordings from the 2 other members of Slapp Happy (Dagmar Krause and Peter Blegvad), who also took to the road for part of this gruelling journey.