In the history of modern music style groups are really hard to describe, whose compositions are closed beyond gender classification. This happens to the great English band Penguin Cafe Orchestra, whose debut album, Music from the Penguin Cafe , published in 1976 and sponsored by Brian Eno's label, is a marvel of composition. Let
before some of the group, whose core was formed by composer and arranger Simon Jeffes and cellist Helen Liebmann. The other musicians were chosen as may be requested composite parts by Jeffes, whose death in 1997 ended the band after 24 years of experience. Apparently the name has its origin in febrile delirium Jeffes suffered in 1972 after eating fish in poor condition (more information at Wikipedia ).
Their music combines influences of folk music, classical music (especially baroque chamber music) and jazz. Jeffes very disparate styles fused with real expertise, resulting in a mostly instrumental compositions where experimentation is the main feature. The covers of his albums, with a great surreal, typically include a penguin-headed men in various activities.
As Music from the Penguin Cafe , I must say that a disc is difficult to analyze in a first hearing. The album opens with Penguin Cafe Single , which has a melody that seems to evoke a quiet summer afternoon and the title ironic about the lack of commercial screening of the band. This is followed Zopf, consisting of seven separate movements and different styles, and in which we find the only vocal on the disc. Perhaps the most successful is the wonderful The sound of someone you love who's going away and it Does not Matter , whose 11 minutes perfectly reflect the feelings involved in the long title (something like "the sound of someone dear to be and no matter"), from the melancholy tone that seems to dominate the beginning and end of the piece sounds more violent until appearing in the second half.
In short, this is a superb album recorded with exquisite taste, to listen quietly in the shade of a garden. An album was recorded entirely outside the commercial scene then and which still retains its freshness and originality intact.