HARRY WILLIAMSON + ANTHONY PHILLIPS
and THE LONDON PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA


"Tarka Music"

 

OTTERSONGS
OT3
1981

Cassette release
Total time: 43:28

Side 1:

1) Acoustic and Electric pieces by Harry + Anthony (18:59)

Side 2:

1) Harry and Anthony with London Philharmonic (24:29)


Credits on cassette:

TARKA MUSIC
Harry Williamson and Anthony Phillips + London Philharmonic Orchestra

Dolby In

a real time recording from OTTER SONGS

© All rights of the manufacturer and of the owner of the recorded work reserved.
Unauthorised public performance, broadcasting and copying of this tape prohibited.


Notes & details:

The original 1975-1976 demos for "Tarka" can be found on Gypsy Suite (Blueprint 1995).
A couple of demos were included in this tape (see below), the rest differs from both
Gipsy Suite and the 1988 Tarka (PRT).

This cassette doesn't list movements and section titles: below is how they appear on the 1988 PRT version.

- Side 1: Acoustic and Electric pieces by Harry + Anthony includes:
Movement I - The First Year: Owlery Holt / Weare Water / Golden Pool / Corncrake Meadow / Root Walk
Movement II - River And Estuary: Moonfield / Waymoor / The Estuary / Salmon Hunting
- Side 2: Harry and Anthony with London Philharmonic includes:
Movement II - River And Estuary: The Burrows / Bag Leap
Movement III - The Hunt: The Forboding / Dark Hams Wood / Pool Of The Six Herons / Escape The Estuary /

Beam Weir / Deadlock / The Kelp Pool / Island Run / Ebb Tide

Movement IV - The Anthem is not present on this cassette edition.

- Movement I: "Corncrake Meadow" and "Root Walk" appear on Gypsy Suite as part of "Tarka Movement 1".
   They also appear on Mother Gong 1980 GAS tape as "Charleston For Otters" (demo 1976)
- Movement II: "Moonfield" with Daevid's added gliss is on Histories & Mysteries Of Planet Gong
(Voiceprint).
   An excerpt from the same glissando performance (about 1 min.) also appeared on The 1988 GAS Tape.
- "Waymoor"/"The Estuary" can be found on Gypsy Suite as part of "Tarka Movement 2a" (track 6).
   They also appear on 1980 Mother Gong GAS tape as "Estuary And River" (demo 1976).
- "Salmon Hunting", ending side 1, was also recorded by Nik Turner Sphynx as part of a Nov '78 unreleased demo.
- Starting side 2, there is a short theme (about 2 min.) which doesn't appear on the cd version of Tarka.
- Movement III: this was used live by Mother Gong, a tape was played as part of "Clone Woman" 1981 US show.
- part of "Ebb Tide" (Tarka's final theme) also appeared on The 1988 GAS Tape mixed with Daevid Allen speaking.

Gilli Smyth & Lol Coxhill's track on Odd Acts Event GAS tape used the end of Movement II and the start of Movement III of "Tarka" as background (the first 12 minutes of side 2).

Remember The Forgotten tape (2032 label) used parts from Movements II & III as background with voiceover.

The cassette has no info about the recording dates; according to Anthony Phillips Songbook, Movement I (demo) was recorded in May 1975, Movement II (demo) in April 1976 and Movements I, II & III (orchestral version) in Summer 1977.

"Tarka Music" appeared for sale from Ottersongs - GAS on Gong Moving On 1981 magazine.
My copy has yellow inlay card, white Ottersongs labels (scan of my copy above) and shows no release date.

Described on Whats Going On Gas 82 mag as: "Side 1 acoustic + electric, side 2 with London Philharmonic Orchestra".

The music was re-recorded and finally released as Tarka on PRT Records in 1988.
That first lp and cd edition is now deleted.

Blueprint released a new edition of this album in 2003.
You can buy Tarka on line from Planet Gong official website and support the artists.

References to Tarka can be found here and here.


Cassette labels


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