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The Tape-beatles
 The Tape-beatles on UbuWeb
A subtle buoyancy of pulse (1988)
01 Remain quiet and passive
02 The Charlie Murdock show
03 Number one cheese spread
04 The ads become the news
05 Listen to the radio
06 Deeper
07 These are our radio voices
08 Talking about the Tape beatles
09 Sing sing sing (Sing sing)
10 Concern about
11 I'm Lonely
12 Guitar filler
13 A hard hand to hold
14 Love song
15 Wow feel the amazing power
16 Recognize resist
17 These are the real things
18 Scream scream scream
19 Stove top
20 Play by their rules
21 Right for the job
22 You people are in great danger
23 You make the choice
24 Urgent rushing around
25 What kind of problems
26 Microphone burning in flames
27 I think I'm in heaven
28 The law of repetition
29 The law of always being nice
30 Piano filler
31 Individual choice
32 Really fine yoke of bondage
33 Big show
34 The salt
35 Opera lady
36 Take my hand
37 On with it I suppose
38 Radio plays
39 Right for the job
40 That means a lot
41 It's been done
42 Exciting Exiting
43 Logo
44 Rhythm filler
45 Short history of the Tape beatles
46 Catbird
47 Silent filler
The recordings in this collection is the debut release a new group trying to find its
own means of expression in a rather narrowly self-defined project: that of making a
kind of "pop" music entirely without the use of musical instruments. Taking their cue
mainly from musique concréte and cut-up technique, The Tape-beatles made analog tape
recording and basic home stereo equipment, connected in unorthodox configurations,
their only instruments.
Originally a cassette-only release, this recording created something of a stir in the
home-taper community and cassette underground when it first came out on the
Plagiarism label in 1988. (Parts of the work were originally conceived for radio.) In
1998, it was painstakingly remastered and re-sequenced for its first release on CD.
Lang Thompson, writing for Option, October 1988, said:
"""The Tape-beatles don't just go after easy targets or use a shotgun approach hoping
something will work. Their focus and sense of purpose make it worth the attention paid
to their dense, associative mix. Like early Firesign Theater, you can't catch
everything in just one listening. Especially insightful are the pieces dealing with
politically-oriented artists and trendy esthetic theories, because the Tape-beatles are
too smart to just ridicule them. The Tape-beatles also want to create new, politically
responsive art, but they're working on more effective ways of creating it."
Composed by:
Lloyd Dunn
John Heck
Ralph Johnson
Paul Neff
Cassette release (1988): Plagiarism Cassettes, Iowa City, Iowa
Expanded CD release (1998): Staalplaat, Amsterdam, Netherlands; and Berlin, Germany
Additional material at: http://pwp.detritus.net/works/recordings
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