Music From The Penguin Cafe
	Produced by Simon Jeffes and Steve Nye
	Released on 1976
	no chart information
	Find it at GEMM
EGED 27 cover [high resolution photo]

W hich of these instruments is out of place: violin, cello, harmonium or ukelele? If you said “ukelele,” you’re wrong. It’s right at home in the music of Penguin Café Orchestra, the brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Simon Jeffes. How they found a home on Editions EG is a mystery to me, though the Eno connection obviously had something to do with it. Their music is childlike, playful, not at all the studied minimalism of Harold Budd or brain-crunching music of Lounge Lizards. Songs like “Penguin Café Single” and “In A Sydney Motel” are disarming in the extreme, and most of the Editions EG artists came heavily armed with their own erudite ambitions. Not that Music From The Penguin Café doesn’t succumb to its own artiness sometimes: “Milk,” “Pigtail,” the middle section of “The Sound of Someone You Love Who’s Going Away and It Doesn’t Matter.” Blame it on the “orchestra” in their name. They’re really not an orchestra but rather a quartet of cello, violin, Steve Nye doing a modest Eno impersonation and Jeffes. Their music could be described as Anthony Phillips’ Private Party and Classical Pieces, as it presumes acoustic music is just as mesmerizing as electronica. Honestly, their second album is the one to own; it’s way more fun. But their debut is an interesting stake in the ground, one they would fly a flag from with songs like “The Ecstasy of Dancing Fleas” and “Pythagora’s Trousers.” Unfortunately, Penguin Café Orchestra didn’t prove to be a prolific outfit. They’ve contributed some unique moments to the canon, like “Penguin Café Single” and “Telephone and Rubber Band,” which are worth hearing at some point in your life. Preludes, Airs And Yodels contains both, so you may want to start there. There’s also a review of this on All Music Guide, if you’re so inclined.

EGED 27 back cover

TRACK LISTING

1. PENGUIN CAFE SINGLE    (Simon Jeffes/Steve Nye/Gavyn Wright/Helen Leibmann)
2. ZOPF    (Simon Jeffes)
   From The Colonies (for N.R.)
   In A Sydney Motel
   Surface Tension (where the trees meet the sky)
   Milk
   Coronation
   Giles Farnaby's Dream
   Pigtail
   
3. THE SOUND OF SOMEONE YOU LOVE WHO'S GOING AWAY AND IT DOESN'T MATTER    (Simon Jeffes/Steve Nye/Gavyn Wright/Helen Leibmann)
4. HUGEBABY    (Simon Jeffes/Steve Nye/Gavyn Wright/Helen Leibmann)
5. CHARTERED FLIGHT    (Simon Jeffes/Steve Nye/Gavyn Wright/Helen Leibmann)
   
   Words by Neil Rennie except "Milk"

CREDITS

SIMON JEFFES -- electric guitar, guitar, bass, ukelele, quatro, spinet, electric piano, mouth percussion, vocals, cello, cheng, ring modulator
HELEN LEIBMANN -- cello
STEVE NYE -- electric piano, engineer, mixing
NEIL RENNIE -- lyrics, ukelele (2)
GAVYN WRIGHT -- violin, viola
EMILY YOUNG -- vocals, painting
Brian Eno -- executive production

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