Malcolm Mooney (Can) with Tenth Planet and Daevid Allen (Gong) with The University of Errors Bottom of the Hill, San Francisco - March 17, 1999
From Aural Innovations #6 (April 1999)
This show was a real treat for a club full of fortunate San Franciscans; a first opportunity to see these two performers, both once frontmen of seminal late 60s/early 70s bands, together on the same bill. Both had played similar shows in the Bay Area previously, but never under the same roof on the same night. I'd seen Malcolm backed by a similar group of people on a couple occasions a few years back, and always been highly satisfied with the mix of Mooney's high-energy poetic delivery, excellent improv music, and fine reinterpretations of early Can songs. This time, the six-piece lineup consisted of two drummers (one of each gender, with each kit panned hard left/right in the PA for an interesting sound), bass, lead guitar (kudos to the guitarist, who nailed like Michael Karoli's sustained fuzz tone in spots - amazing!), rhythm guitar/keyboard, and sampler/synth/sax/theremin. The newer songs, available on a Mooney & Tenth Planet CD, sounded very together (more so than I had seen on previous occasions, when they sometimes sounded more like poetic recitation over noodling), and the versions of "Mary Mary", "Outside My Door" and "Father Cannot Yell" were outstanding. The musicians played off each other really well, and the band overall had an excellent sense of dynamics that allowed for loud improvisations without obliterating Mooney's moments in the spotlight. Mooney has an amazingly unique delivery style (somewhat reminiscent of Robert Calvert), and can really spit it out; he was quite mesmerising, whether subdued to whisper level or ranting aggressively.
The University of Errors obviously hadn't been doing this for as long as Tenth Planet (as previously mentioned, members of that band have backed Malcolm Mooney on numerous occasions over the last 5 years, wheras I believe this was the University's first public performance), but were still a great band for Daevid. A guitarist and drummer (Josh Pollock and Patrick O'Hearn of Mushroom) and bassist (Michael Clare) played through the entire show, and were joined for most by Jay Radford on guitar, guitar-synth & "keyboard textures", and part of the time by a sax/guitar player (Erik Pearson, also of Mushroom and no relation!). The show started with the aforementioned instrumental trio jamming on some heavy riffs, before Daevid came out (glissando guitar and speculum in hand, of course) and launched into the near-angry rant of "Money Doesn't Make It"! Several unfamiliar numbers (University of Errors originals) followed, all quite memorable. "False Teacher," a near-acoustic song featuring Pearson on banjo, was a particularly excellent example of Daevid's edgy folkish material. And on the more electrified songs, the contrast between the Pollock's lead guitar (Gibson SG through Mesa/Boogie amp - loud and raunchy!) and Radford's textures was quite notable and appropriate. We even got a rendition of "So What" to round out the jazz quotient for the eveningàone should expect no less from a co-founder of the Soft Machine. The only Gong oldies in this show came out at the end, and the energetic version of "Fohat Digs Holes In Space" was a definite crowd-pleaser. Daevid's different bands/projects have always covered a broad spectrum of music, and it was great to see him perform in a context of (mostly) high-energy rock with some nice jazz/prog/space/folk/etc. influences thrown in.
Overall, a fantastic show by two dynamic (even still musically relavent, after all these years) and unique frontmen.
Reviewed by Doug Pearson