4 out of 5 Stars!

Oh, man, those weird and wacky Canterbury Scene bands were always concocting rather exciting and (yes, on occasion) some goofy music in the Jazzy Prog-Rock style, huh? Gotta love them, right?

I sure did, and this album is no exception to the “weird and wacky” rule. On tunes such as “Marchides,” “Smoke Signal,” “Gloria Gloom,” “Nan True’s Hole,” “Flora Fidgit,” and “Brandy As In Benj,” Matching Mole shows itself as being one of the wilder and more experimental groups from the early ’70s, and not just when it came to selecting song titles. The stellar and swirling keyboard and guitar interplay make for a lively experience, while the ever-shifting time patterns also keep things hopping at breakneck speed, although I must admit that the vocals were not quite as enjoyable as, for instance, those provided by groups such as Caravan or Hatfield And The North. Nevertheless, the singing proved passable enough and did not detract from the group’s eclectic brilliance, but certainly added to the overall zaniness factor.

Nevertheless, the band delivered two impressive studio albums in 1972 before calling it a day, with each platter including enough off-the-wall strangeness to keep things really interesting. Well, this act was terrific fun while it lasted, and how I wished Matching Mole had stayed around much longer than only a single year.

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