Hopper Tunity Box
| Hopper Tunity Box | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1977 | |||
| Recorded | May–July 1976 | |||
| Studio | Mobile Mobile Studios, London | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion,[1] Avant-prog[1] | |||
| Length | 41:05 | |||
| Label | Compendium Records, Cuneiform Records (USA re-issue) | |||
| Producer | Mike Dunne, Hugh Hopper | |||
| Hugh Hopper chronology | ||||
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| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [2] |
Hopper Tunity Box is a 1977 album by jazz/rock musician Hugh Hopper. Ex-Soft Machine bassist augments his rather infamous fuzz-bass attack by performing on guitar, recorders, soprano sax, and percussion. The album recorded in 1976 and re-released on CD by Culture Press in 1996 and Cuneiform Records[3] in 2007, this outing features the bassist's fellow Soft Machine bandmate, saxophonist Elton Dean, along with others of note.[1]
History
Around 1975 Hugh Hopper begun to gather together musical ideas that he had been working on since leaving Soft Machine in 1973 - snatches of tunes that for the most part had not previously seen the light of day. A friend of him was recording engineer Mike Dunne, who had been assistant engineer on his first solo record, 1984 (CBS, 1973), and who was now in charge of the mobile studio of Jon Anderson of Yes. Mike suggested him to co-produce a record together; he would provide the studio and Hopper would provide the music and musicians.
By the time Hugh Hopper had arranged the music into some sort of coherent order and invited along the various guest musicians, Mike's studio was set up in one of London's big film sound studios, where Yes rehearsed for tours. Jon Anderson occasionally popped his head around the door when they were beavering away at some tricky tape-looping or double-speeded bass, and
Hugh Hopper think they took about two weeks to get most of the music down. For all but one of the tracks, he started by laying down bass with an old-fashioned, wind-up metronome click-track. Then
Critical reception
After the record came out on the Norwegian Compendium Records label, it had mostly good reviews... except one in an ultraconservative British jazz magazine, where the reviewer said: "it had all the subtlety of a stone (14 pounds) of King Edwards (potatoes) tumbling downstairs and all the melodic and harmonic interest of a trapped wasp... not a jazz record..."
Track listing
All pieces were written by Hugh Hopper, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Hopper Tunity Box" | 3:35 |
| 2. | "Miniluv" | 3:34 |
| 3. | "Gnat Prong" | 7:58 |
| 4. | "The Lonely Sea and the Sky" | 6:39 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Crumble" | 3:54 | |
| 2. | "Lonely Woman" | Ornette Coleman | 3:22 |
| 3. | "Mobile Mobile" | 5:03 | |
| 4. | "Spanish Knee" | 3:50 | |
| 5. | "Oyster Perpetual" | 3:10 |
Hopper Tunity Box (1974)
The theme is played by multitracked descant and tenor recorders (about 12 descant and two tenor tracks) over a riff of electric organ, electric piano and double-tracked bass. Double-speed fuzz bass then plays Hopper Tunes and quotes until an alien tune brings in Dave Stewart's weird tone-generators.
Personnel
- Hugh Hopper - bass, guitar, recorders, soprano sax, percussion
- Richard Brunton - guitar (A2, B1)
- Marc Charig- cornet, tenor horn (A4, B2, B4)
- Elton Dean - alto sax, saxello (A4, B2, B4)
- Nigel Morris - drums (B3)
- Frank Roberts - electric piano (A4, B1, B4)
- Dave Stewart- organ, pianet, oscillators (A1, B3)
- Mike Travis - drums (A1, A2, A3, A4, B1, B4)
- Gary Windo - bass clarinet, saxes (A1, A2, B1, B2)
References
- ^ a b c Hopper Tunity Box - Hugh Hopper | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic
- ^ Astarita, Glenn. "Hopper Tunity Box - Hugh Hopper | AllMusic". allmusic.com.
- ^ Hopper Tunity Box | Cuneiform Records