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Arkham — Arkham
(Cuneiform Rune 160, 1972/2002, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2002-04-01

Arkham Cover art

Arkham was an early 70s Belgian trio featuring keyboardist Jean-Luc Manderlier (later of Magma) and drummer Daniel Denis (later of Univers Zero and more recently Art Zoyd), and (through ’71) bassist Patrick Cogneaux. Having never recorded an album, this release collects various concert and rehearsal tapes from throughout their brief existence. While the sound quality here is what might be expected for 30-year-old audience tapes (although extensive cleanup has been done), the listener should be thankful that any recorded evidence of this fine band even exists. It doesn’t take more than about 30 seconds to figure out that Arkham’s primary influence was Third era Soft Machine; while Arkham hasn’t ripped any riffs overtly, their style is essentially the same: fluid instrumental jazz rock driven by Hammond organ and electric piano. Only thing missing are the saxes (although they did add flugelhorn to the lineup in their final days), but Manderlier, who penned all of the material here, capably handles all the melody parts on organ. Tracks like “Bleriot: Visibility Poor” recall the free rock experimentalism of the opening minutes of “Facelift,” while “Riff” parallels the cyclical moves of “Out Bloody Rageous.” But it’s on tunes like “Eve’s Eventful Day,” “Tight Trousers,” and “Monolithic Progression with Anticipated Rupture” where the band finds their own voice a bit more, in some cases hinting of the contributions Denis and Manderlier would make to the bands they would later join. This is one archival release definitely worth checking out.

Filed under: Archives, Issue 24, 2002 releases, 1972 recordings

Related artist(s): Daniel Denis, Arkham

 

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