So, what does everyone think of this rare Prog LP reissued by Shadoks a few years back?

Havent heard the Shadocks but imagine one's appreciation for this would be greatly augmented by a proper clean-up of the sound.

(Recorded live in St Albans).

Some Canterbury moves.
Would have been more interesting had there been organ in addition to the electric piano.

"To George" is the standout track.
So, whose George then? Some sax man?

I have the Motiffe album very nice flutes..

The original came in a plain sleeve . Yep , an addition of organ would have thickened the sound a little bit , but very good tracks are contained in it nonetheless . If I remember well one of those must be "Grotesque Piece" They were influenced by the likes of K.C. and Pink Floyd .

Many an instance "influenced" does not mean that in the end they actually sound like their idols.

True there is a touch of early Floyd heaviness on the guitar and maybe by Crimson you mean gentle pastoral Macdonald-flute (but Im hearing more of Tull-puffing in places).

There is more jazz here than in most KC, and, like I say, Canterbury.


....
This is the one where only one lp existed, right?

I think it was a Deroy issue and only one known copy exists. Either that or an acetate, but I think the former.
You may not have the Shadoks, Wallace, but if you have a CDR of it, the Shadoks is almost certainly the source.

Hi
George was an old inhabitant of Sennen cove Cornwall where John used to holiday (there were loads of there called George)

Was not Deroy's minimum press 10?

We had 100 pressed (from memory it was nearly 40 years ago!)
The copy shown as the sleeve was my own, we all had a go at preparing one, the gryphon and doodlings on the back were by the drummer, Mark Pasterfield

Super! We got the actual bass-player here!

Any stories to tell?
Influences on band members?

Are you still into this style of music?

Thanks for the interest!
The band started at school in St Albans with John writing most of the material (yes we did write it down odd time signatures & all!) As you can tell we were all heavilly influenced by Zappa, Bryan Auger, If, Yes, Tull, Gentle Giant as well as Bartok, Mahavishnu et al.
It was all one take,not bad for a bunch of schoolboys even though i do say so myself!
Just to update you (as far as I know) Mark the drummer became a successful commercial artist, he also worked with John again for a while on percussion with cheap flights. Quentin carried on playing for a while & studied Jazz, Mike became a professional classical pianist in Germany for many years. Ian went into band management for some time (one of his prodigees were the Alarm)
I continued with John on a new band, Flux for a couple of years with others including Dave Puncheon from Babe Ruth, Zoe Kronberger from Isotope amongst others. We were on the edge of signing to EMI & then it folded. John signed for Argent & stayed with them until they folded & was then touring with Captain sussex, Casual Atheletes & Cheap Flights. He developed rapid onset MS and unfortunately died in 1883. I still miss him - we had met at the age of five!
I reverted to function bands & sessions/depping for a while then got a normal job. Before I left the UK I had a pub band Deaf Shepherd for over 12 years, not much prog (the odd wishbone ash cover excepted)
I emigrated to South Africa in 2006 & am getting a pub band together now.

Thanks for the info! It's really great to hear from you. This album has been shrouded in mystery, and the Shadoks reissue has only led to more questions.

Did Motiffe ever play out, or did it fall apart before the gigging stage? Any other recordings which have yet to be issued? Really anything all at...I'm all ears! (Or in this case, eyes.)

So then, Dave, am I way off when I say Im hearing some Canterbury in Motiffe?
Was there any influence from Soft Machine or Caravan (maybe not likely Hatfield because that would come later on)or from Euros (like Supersister, Gong...) moving in the Canterbury orbit?
Or is Motiffe totally unconnected with the sound.


We are told Deroy did not promote. It was left to the band to disseminate the product. So question is, did you put much effort into this aspect? Where did the bulk of those 99 releases go? Any idea?

In answer
It was a private pressing with deroy, they did not promote & we sold the rest at gigs & locally. I am as puzzled as you are by the reissue, it was nothing to do with us, I think someone bought an old copy, probably mine as the original cover is shown. Unfortunately my copy was sold when I went bankrupt in the late 80's, along with any memorabilia & tapes - (all fine since then I hasten to add!) We did about 20 gigs in Herts & North London in 71/72.
Yes the Canturbury sound was a huge influence, especially Egg & Caravan.
I have no other recordings but do have some live stuff from flux, who gigged more including universities & London (100 club Marquee Tramshed etc)I will try to remember to post it on youtube, (when converted to a modern format!)

Let me know when you post to youtube.

How do you describe Flux?
More towards fusion??

I dont suppose you have memories (or even met?) Derrick Marsh, owner of Deroy Sound?

Was there no other choice for the band other than this private press? (Not sure where Acorn was situated. Holyground was Wakefield.)

I will let you know when I post.
Flux was more Jazz/rock but with a big chunck of prog!
I never met Derrick the whole recording & pressing was arranged by a local guy called Ken Kemsey Bourne, he had recorded the school orchestra in a similar fasion.
We were 17/18 & didnt know of any other pressers, apart from the small ads in Melody Maker!

I am virtually certain no other recordings were made, certainly not instigated by us, it may be some early Flux stuff, we made a trial recording for EMI Harvest at Manchester Square and put some tracks down at other studios.

OK, thanks. I thought that when you said "memorabilia & tapes," you may have meant tapes of other recordings by Motiffe. Thanks for all the insight, again.

Hi there,
Hope this thread is still being monitored.

We used to manage Cheap Flights. We have recently started an online archive of Johns music, wich can be found here:
www.soundcloud.com/woodygsd
This includes tracks with Mark Pasterfield, who played with John for a shirt period in 1977, before sadly dying of a thrombosis. We currently have about 60 tracks ( all free to listen/download), and would seriously appreciate any copies of Motiffe or others that may be missing.
Similarly any photos/artwork that exists would be great. We just wanted to make sure his talent remained for others to enjoy.

Thanks

Quick correction . Been in contact with Dave Shackley toda, who informed me Mark Pasterfield was very much alive last he spoke, 10 years ago.
So aplogies to Mark and Family....for 35 years I've been under the wrong impression. Someone started a scurrilous rumour!

Thought you may be interested to know that we have discovered the LP with the hand made sleeve drawn by John Grimaldi. We have put it up for sale on ebay https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/312773142329 the auction ends on 28 September 2019. You can also find pics and information on it https://www.vinylrevelations.com/news-3-w.asp

Peter C. Hi, I picked up on this old thread about Motiffe today. I have an original copy of the album with a lino print featuring their gryphon stuck on the plain white sleeve - I seem to remember Mark Pasterfield printing them in the art room at school but it might have been John. I can send you a scan if you are interested