D > A little while back you posted something in the echo re the  
 D > aforementioned Sugarcane Harris.  
  
        Correct, I am one great big Sugarcane fan.  
  
 D > mentioned _Sugarcane's Got the Blues_ a while back and asked for your  
 D > opinion as to whether its worth getting and your knowledge as to  
 D > availability (vinyl, CD import or what?).  
  
        THis is a superb album, one I'd rate at 5 stars out of 5.  
        It has Robert Wyatt on drums, Volkker Kriegel and Terje  
        Rypdal on guitars, Neville Whitehead on bass, and  
        Wolfgang Dauner on keyboards, all of whom are amazing  
        musicians. Having them play together is even more  
        incredible. It was a pick-up band at a jazz festival, and  
        they really clicked; you can feel the magic from the  
        first few notes and they sustain it for the whole album.  
  
        I spent years trying to find a copy before I found a  
        cassette release of it in the window of a shoe repair  
        shop in Paris, so I went in and talked the owner into  
        selling it to me (I also got his cassette of Magma  
        _Hhai_). Just a year ago I found an LP copy in good shape 
        for a quarter (and it was a Canadaian release, I had  
        thought the record was only released in Germany). I have  
        another Sugarcane album on CD from the same label so I'm  
        assuming they would have released _SGtB_ on CD at the  
        same time in Germany, but I don't know this for a fact.  
        Basically, if you can find the album in any form,  
        consider yourself lucky.  
  
 D > Did my message you get lost,  
 D > your reply get lost, are we all victims of a conspiracy or what? :-)  
  
        No, I simply have a hellish shrew of a wife who spits  
        fire at me whenever she sees me "wasting my life away on  
        email" instead of doing any number of those wonderful  
        things wives always think their husbands should be doing  
        instead. Just kidding. Sort of. ;-)  
  
 D > Your help and opinion as always will be helpful  
  
        My opinion says: go for it, if you can find it. FWIW,  
        repeated listening of Zappa's _Lost Episodes_ have  
        convinced me that the real highlight is 17 minutes (a 
        whole album side's worth in vinyl reckoning) of Zappa 
        playing with Sugarcane, including incredible solos from
        both on the excellent version of "Sharleena" which is 
        probably wrth the price of the whole CD by itself. THe 
        Beefheart and Ponty are gravy, the real meat is Frank and 
        Sugarcane. However someone should be shot for sandwiching 
        "I Don't Wanna Get Drafted" in between the two Sugarcane 
        cuts. 
  
        Of course, I did say I was a Sugarcane fan, didn't I? :-)  
  
 D > PS - how's the new youngster doing - gotten him/her started on some  
 D > good prog yet?  
  
        My newest, rapidly approaching 6 months, seems to love  
        all music equally, but seems to smile especially for the  
        Ozrics, whereas my oldest, rapidly approaching 2 years,  
        seems to hate all music equally, except for 70's funk  
        music ala Funkadelic or the Finnish vocal group  
        Vaartinna.  
  
 D > Our daughter (3) LOVES dancing to Area's _Crac_.  
  
        !? Even that Bulgarian bunny hop tune that goes  
  
        1-2 1-2 1-2-3  
        1-2 1-2 1-2-3  
        1-2 1-2 1-2-3  
        1-2 1-2 1  
  
        making it in 26/8 (ok, it's really a souped up 7 with a 
        twist, which is pretty commonplace in Balkan music). I 
        especially love the way they play with the tempo on that 
        one and change keys and generally, but I think maybe the 
        live version is even better. 
 
                                Cheers, 
                                Kenneth 
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