COVER IMAGE
LP released: Nov 20, 2020

Tracklisting:
1. Stitch In Time
2. A Thousand
3. Ships
4. The River
5. Please Go
6. You Tickle
7. Lover Of Mine
8. Johnny's Dead
9. Dreams Of
10. His Laughter
11. Catch A
12. Falling Star
13. Wrong Again
14. Driving Blind
15. The Pilgrim
ANTHONY MOORE
OUT (VINYL)
Label: DRAG CITY
Cat No: DC792LP
Barcode: 0781484079217
Packaging: LP (100g)

"Rock and roll was a relief after the
rigor of Henry Cow."
That was one of the thoughts in Anthony
Moore's brain in the late summer of 1975. Of
course, leaving Henry Cow had meant the dissolution of the band he'd founded, Slapp Happy,
as the two groups had essentially merged over
the previous year. Still, there was plenty yet to
do with music, and based on Anthony's propensity for odd left turns, a solo career in the
pop world seemed like a fine way to follow up
his prior excursions in tape-based modern composition, writing soundtracks for experimental
films, avant-pop and experimental rock. Managed and published by Blackhill Enterprises, Anthony signed a solo deal with Virgin-and while
the music he recorded for OUT didn't see release
upon completion in 1976 (and wasn't released at
all until a CD issue of the late 1990s), we're finally getting those historic recordings for OUT on
vinyl after all these years, with the long-lost original artwork restored. It is worth the wait-an
absolute lost chapter from mid-70s, proto-new
wave Britain, bringing to mind the bright and
subversive sounds of Eno, Wyatt, Ayers, Cale
and so many other trail-blazers from that time. A
fantastic joy to the ears!
The original quality of OUT according to Anthony: folk-rock with weird time signatures. It
made sense-odd bar numbers drifting in and
out of sync were a driving aspect of the minimalist records he made for Polydor in '71 and '72, and
now, played on piano, they sounded like the beginning of potentially radio-worthy songs. Music was still growing within him-it had first exploded in a weird, psychic shock that hit around
the age of 18, comprised of equal parts youthful
heartbreak, drugs and a recognition of the late
60s' decaying zeitgeist. This was the start of a
career-long pendulum-swing between opposite
poles: experimental and popular music. Never
happier than when working with machines and
processes, Anthony hadn't really allowed his
pure musician self free reign until OUT. For "the
troubadour with Revoxes," this venture into playing guitar and singing in a professional context
was a new thing. But it developed quickly and
with the help of a bunch of like-minded studio
folk and a hive of artists, writers and friends who
revolved around an apartment in West London,
the work progressed steadily. From the summer
of '75 to spring '76, Anthony was in and out of
the studios, along with producer Peter Jenner
from Blackhill, working with a cross-section of
Britain's finest musicians and engineers at legendary facilities like Abbey Road, Air, and Richard Branson's Oxfordshire getaway, The Manor,
to produce the eleven tracks that make up OUT.
In early 1976, Virgin released "Johnny's Dead"
as a single, and OUT went into production: test
tapes were made, artwork commissioned from
Hipgnosis was delivered. Then fate took a turn
in the form of a sudden changing of the guard in
the Virgin front office. This brought a new team
in with predictably different priorities. Despite
the high quality of the effervescent, deftly-arranged pop songs that Anthony had delivered,
the project was summarily written off.
Meanwhile, fate was taking another turn: a
package containing the complete artwork for the
cover of OUT, previously sent to CBS-Japan as
part of a licensing agreement, went missing in
Tokyo. It was rescued by the music lover, publisher, critic and producer Agi Yuzuru, who decades later bequeathed it to Anthony's close
friend Satoru Higashiseto: an edition of one, the
only extant version of the original, cancelled Virgin release!
Anthony has continued making music on
both sides of his internal divide-experimental
and pop. The '79 release, Flying Doesn't Help,
presented the singer-songwriter with a spiky artpunk production 'do, creating another cult masterpiece. Since then, with a variety of different
labels, including his own, Anthony continues to
make records and play live performances.
44 years later, this issue finally restores the
original vision of OUT.

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