Recommended Sampler 1982: 25th Anniversary Edition CD

Typically, record label samplers are promotional tools created for crassly commercial purposes. So the promotion of a sampler as a collector's item would seem to be something of a stretch. However, this sampler was a notable exception when it was first released in a double-LP format in 1982, and it is equally welcome 26 years later as a two-disc CD set. Recommended Records was founded in 1978 by Chris Cutler, a percussionist, composer, and founding member of avant-garde British bands Henry Cow and Art Bears. Cutler's label was a natural outgrowth of the Rock in Opposition movement, which sponsored a number of festivals in the late '70s. Not coincidentally, the majority of festival participants were European musicians overlooked by the mainstream American and British music press, and with his label, Cutler deliberately set out to document this music -- along with British and American music that was equally on the margins. The music was to an extent a reflection of Cutler's tastes, but beyond that it was an aesthetic model designed to feature a wide variety of legitimate alternative music, some of which sounds nothing at all like the music of Cutler's own groups. This sampler, compiled from contributions submitted by artists affiliated with the label during its first four years of existence, was also unique in that Cutler did not simply lift music from existing recordings but instead asked the artists to contribute new material.

The bands and individual musicians who contribute to the 27 selections on this sampler are variously inspired by cabaret, opera, and early 20th century classical, as well as jazz, punk, sound collage, and musique concrčte. Commercial considerations are clearly secondary, but while the music can be challenging, it can also rock out. The Belgian neo-classical goth bands Art Zoyd and Univers Zero are both highlights of the sampler, with pieces that sound as lethal and startling now as they did in 1982. In fact, the listening audience was not necessarily ready for Univers Zero and Art Zoyd in 1982, when their serious and thoughtful synthesis of dark, dissonant early 20th century chamber music and visceral rock percussion was considered by some critics to be pretentious. One is reminded that even in 1982, so-called progressive rock had long since drawn its boundaries, with plenty of prog critics happy to denounce anything that strayed too far from the true path. Hence, the impetus for the RIO movement. The British are nicely represented on this sampler not only by Cutler's Henry Cow and Art Bears, but also by the little-known and short-lived the Work (whose brainy, angular music changes speeds and moods at will) and by This Heat, another short-lived but legendary experimental band that contributes a hypnotically rhythmic, minimalist piece that could qualify as proto-techno. Italian band Picchio dal Pozzo offers a looser, more whimsical musical perspective, and Germany's redoubtable Faust goes beyond loose and into the crazed communal anarchy upon which they built their considerable reputation. Heiner Goebbels provides perhaps the single most unusual selection, capturing the noise and dialogue of a street riot and somehow giving it a satisfying aesthetic framework while still retaining the impact of the event. The Aksak Maboul/Honeymoon Killers track is a fine example of European chamber rock -- very Zappa-like in its use of shifting melodic patterns, crunchy guitar riffs, and verbal play. And an early track by the Residents, "Walter Westinghouse," provides a nice illustration of their unhinged, down-home American charm.

Not all tracks on the sampler have equal impact, and a few are not much more than historical curiosities. Idiosyncratic, lo-fi artists such as R. Stevie Moore are not necessarily best served by a single track on a sampler, and the early Hector Zazou piece is refined almost to the point of invisibility, although it certainly hints at the marvelous work he would later produce on the Crammed DiRecord Collector (magazine) (p.105) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "Though Recommended went on to explore new musical oceans, this offering hasn't dated at all. It still challenges and compels like all good samplers should do."