Music from the Penguin Cafe

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Customer reviews

review by: date: 2007-09-07 rating:
A tasty takeout from the Cafe
The PCO's debut album is a fascinating record of mostly instrumental music that combines elements of classical, folk, jazz, and minimalism. Many of the tunes, like the opening "Penguin Café Single", sound familiar like you've heard them before (and often you have in a film or commercial) but they are littered with unexpected twists and turns that lend an edge to the music.

Whereas some instrumental music spawns somewhat random titles the marvellously titled "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter" describes the album's brooding 12-minute masterpiece perfectly. A heartrending melody is lightly plucked on guitar before being gradually joined by strings and jazz lounge electric piano. Following a trademark interlude of sawing violins and other avant-garde noises, bliss is restored with the return of the haunting theme. My favourite PCO track in their whole repertoire and worth the admission price alone.

The other substantial composition is the seven piece "Zopf" suite. The collection includes "In a Sydney Motel" which could have come from one of executive producer Brian Eno's own mid-70s pop albums. The beautiful "Surface Tension" is PCO at their economical best. "Milk" with its looped samples and insistent bass is reminiscent of krautrock band Can and the ambient "Pigtail" is similarly unusual. "From the Colonies" and "Giles Farnaby's Dream" are typical pieces of playful Penguin whimsy, and "Coronation" is noteworthy for vocals by Emily Young, the eminent sculptor responsible for the surreal penguin headed figures that frequent the Penguin Café.


review by: date: 2000-03-28 rating:
Something rich and strange
A unique and strange record, even by the standards of the pan-musical Penguin Café Orchesta, 'Music from the Penguin Café' was originally released on Brian Eno's 'Obscure' record label in the mid-seventies, by mail order only.

'MFTPC' is hard to describe, and very few retrospectives of the group's career (sadly, leader Simon Jeffes died in 1997) give this more than a passing mention, as it's almost beyond criticism - a totally self-contained universe of music, mixing primitive electronics, Brian Eno-style ambient, classical and folk to form a side-step into a timeless, alien environment. Surreal and dreamlike, it has a very distinctive 'live' sound, with birdsong faintly audible in the background of some of the tracks. Imagine Michael Nyman's wiggiest moments, as produced by Brian Eno's second assistant tape operator, and you're half-way there.

After this (and the similar follow-up, 'Penguin Café Orchestra') the PCO settled down and become much more conservative - their later work is tuneful, folky, and much less experimental.

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