God bless the London Musicians' Collective, now approaching the 30th anniversary of their foundation. I first came across them in the early 90s, I think, as the metropolitan equivalent of Sheffield's improvising scene. I went to one or two of their gigs at the Conway Hall in 1994, when Thurston Moore was playing in a duo with someone (Yamatsuka Eye?) and possibly AMM were on the bill, too. I joined the collective when I moved to London (and back then I was still picking up my guitar most days), but left by default — they didn't operate any kind of direct debit or standing order system, and if they sent me a renewal reminder, I didn't see it.
Maths dictates that it must have been a little less than five years ago that I got this double-CD, which came with a copy of the Resonance magazine that I can't put my hands on just now. It seemed like a memento of a great institution, but, to be honest, I haven't played it very much. Improvised music is better enjoyed live, when you can feel performers and audience sharing the same space and feeding off each other's attention. Conversely, there aren't many times when I sit down with a cup of late-night rooibos tea and think, "Oh, I fancy a bit of free improv."
The improvisers on the first CD are mainly of that generation that founded the collective (or were there in the early days): people like Clive Bell, Sylvia Hallett, Paul Burwell, Steve Beresford, Peter Cusack and David Toop. It would be wrong to say that no new generation has emerged to take their place. But it seems to me (from an admittedly considerable distance) that the members of the new generation(s) haven't shown the same stickability: they tend to embrace (or be embraced by) the LMC for a bit, but then move on elsewhere.
Greater than these anniversary recordings, the LMC's finest legacy is of course the Resonance FM radio station.
Entry for this album on Peter Stubley's European Free Improvisation site
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