Matching Mole

After Soft Machine

Robert Wyatt formed Matching Mole in October 1971, after leaving Soft Machine and releasing his solo album The End of an Ear (December 4, 1970). The name is a pun on Machine Molle, French for Soft Machine. The line-up was Wyatt on drums, vocals and Mellotron, Dave Sinclair of Caravan on organ and piano, Phil Miller of Delivery on guitar and Bill MacCormick of Quiet Sun on bass. Dave MacRae was a guest on the first album and replaced Sinclair for the second.

The debut, Matching Mole (CBS, April 1972), was recorded between December 1971 and February 1972 at CBS Studios in London. Little Red Record, produced by Robert Fripp and recorded in July and August 1972, took its title from Mao's Little Red Book and featured Brian Eno on synthesizer on "Gloria Gloom". They recorded for Peel in January and April 1972 and played BBC Radio One's In Concert at the Paris Theatre on July 27, 1972. Toppermost says the name may have confused French audiences on a European tour supporting Soft Machine, and the band broke up in late September 1972 straight after it. Sinclair and Miller went on to Hatfield and the North. A 1973 line-up with Francis Monkman and Gary Windo was never recorded. Wyatt's Rock Bottom followed in 1974. The Esoteric Recordings expanded edition of the debut came out in 2012.