Miniatures 2020 will go into production within the next week or so, thanks to the incredible efforts of more than 100 contributing artists, the hard work of the project team, the support of Chris Cutler, some wise input from Morgan Fisher himself and various others who have added something to the momentum of this wonderful project.
The instigator of it all is Alan Davies. Alan, like myself and William comes from a background of cassette culture, except he was part of what could be described as the second or even third wave towards the end of the 80's but like us he was inspired very much by the music, the heartbeat and the diy ethic of the original album.
Earlier in the year as the project was just beginning to gain traction I asked him to write a short article about his relationship with the original album and the instigation of this project. Here's what he wrote.
I heard Morgan Fisher one Saturday afternoon talking about his miniatures album on Radio 1, I then bought the album as it featured a few artists I’d heard of among many I only knew the names of and many I had no idea about. I was excited totally by the concept of an album where the tracks lasted no longer than a minute, for my attention span it was perfect.
I think I was surprised and possibly confused by some of the stranger tracks on first listen but listening to it again now I love it all as a whole. Like the Beatles White Album I enjoyed the diversity and It is all familiar to me now and makes sense as a complete album which is an enormous task (as William must know after compiling our tribute with at least double the tracks of the original). I wrote fan letters to Morgan Fisher and Ivor Cutler in the early 80s, both of whom sent friendly replies and Ivor sent me some of his famous stickers along with the address of the noise abatement society and his discography typed on the back of his letter.
Unlike Barry and William I took a bit longer before I released a cassette (I eventually did in 1988) after buying a four track in 1981 and making cassettes for my friends and relatives for several years. Reading the sleeve notes on the poster alerted me to the fact that Morgan used a 4 track, I’d only seen one once before on Blue Peter where a chap made various Orchestral noises to make his tracks. I saw that studios were appearing for £600 and bought one on the never never. Compared to a visit to a recording studio this was cheap at the time. Also I had friends in a punk band that found the local engineers always wanted to change the style of the band into a more disco orientated style. This album definitely Inspired me to make music of all types and opened my head to all sorts of possibilities. I have probably released more traditional music myself but my recordings in the nooks and crannies of my archives show the influence of Miniatures within.
This year has been amazing, I have had days where I am emailing various folks from my record collection because of our tribute. Barry and William have then been mailing over tracks and promises of interest from many fabulous artists.
Last year I was planning on making a recording of about 20 tracks in various styles to send to my pal Mitch Friedman in New York, I think this idea then mutated into a request on my Facebook page for people to send me tracks to make a Miniatures tribute, The response has exceeded all expectations thanks to Barry and William and everyone that has taken part.
The instigator of it all is Alan Davies. Alan, like myself and William comes from a background of cassette culture, except he was part of what could be described as the second or even third wave towards the end of the 80's but like us he was inspired very much by the music, the heartbeat and the diy ethic of the original album.
Earlier in the year as the project was just beginning to gain traction I asked him to write a short article about his relationship with the original album and the instigation of this project. Here's what he wrote.
I heard Morgan Fisher one Saturday afternoon talking about his miniatures album on Radio 1, I then bought the album as it featured a few artists I’d heard of among many I only knew the names of and many I had no idea about. I was excited totally by the concept of an album where the tracks lasted no longer than a minute, for my attention span it was perfect.
I think I was surprised and possibly confused by some of the stranger tracks on first listen but listening to it again now I love it all as a whole. Like the Beatles White Album I enjoyed the diversity and It is all familiar to me now and makes sense as a complete album which is an enormous task (as William must know after compiling our tribute with at least double the tracks of the original). I wrote fan letters to Morgan Fisher and Ivor Cutler in the early 80s, both of whom sent friendly replies and Ivor sent me some of his famous stickers along with the address of the noise abatement society and his discography typed on the back of his letter.
Unlike Barry and William I took a bit longer before I released a cassette (I eventually did in 1988) after buying a four track in 1981 and making cassettes for my friends and relatives for several years. Reading the sleeve notes on the poster alerted me to the fact that Morgan used a 4 track, I’d only seen one once before on Blue Peter where a chap made various Orchestral noises to make his tracks. I saw that studios were appearing for £600 and bought one on the never never. Compared to a visit to a recording studio this was cheap at the time. Also I had friends in a punk band that found the local engineers always wanted to change the style of the band into a more disco orientated style. This album definitely Inspired me to make music of all types and opened my head to all sorts of possibilities. I have probably released more traditional music myself but my recordings in the nooks and crannies of my archives show the influence of Miniatures within.
This year has been amazing, I have had days where I am emailing various folks from my record collection because of our tribute. Barry and William have then been mailing over tracks and promises of interest from many fabulous artists.
Last year I was planning on making a recording of about 20 tracks in various styles to send to my pal Mitch Friedman in New York, I think this idea then mutated into a request on my Facebook page for people to send me tracks to make a Miniatures tribute, The response has exceeded all expectations thanks to Barry and William and everyone that has taken part.
More information about the original Miniatures album can be found here:
http://www.morgan-fisher.com/miniatures/about/
http://www.morgan-fisher.com/miniatures/about/
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