SUPERSISTER — Pudding en Gisteren (review)

SUPERSISTER — Pudding en Gisteren album cover Album · 1972 · Jazz Related Rock Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Sean Trane
Supersister's third album is many fan's favourite and rightly so. If Present From nancy and Highest bidder were good (even better than good) , with this album, they reached excellence, even if the album remains a bit disjointed r patchy. But their music is still so inspired of Soft Machine's first two album, Zappa, Caravan and Matching Mole or forecasting Hatfield And The North (two years after this album), it is clear that Supersister were more than followers: they were setting new grounds. Actually, Supersister might have been more Canterbury-styled than most of the local Canterbury bands, extended the goofiness of some of their tracks to levels most of their cross-channels counterparts did not dare go into. I mean in some case, Supersister comes very close to absolute (intended) silliness, but I find it rather awkward and it always stopped me from enjoying fully their music. Radio is a song that has all of the quirkiness you'd expects in mid-70's Caravan (the vocals closely resemble Hasting's delivery), but also its rather bizarre twists and bends. The well-named Psychopath starts out as a barroom song on piano and harpsichord. Clearly, serious business starts with the 12-min+ Judy On Holiday, where the full dimension off the fuzzed out bass and organs spell out their magic prints in your spaced out mind in its first part. If this were jazzier, you'd swear this was Wyatt, Ratledge and Co. However this will change rather quickly:a rather disjointed and patchy affair, the track is quite enthralling at times, but the quiet (almost dead) middle section is a real downer while the endless do-wop finale is idiotic. I mean humour in music has its limit and clearly even Zappa did not get that ridiculous.

The second side of the slice of wax is taken-up by another epic, the 21-min title track is a much more successful (and much less goofy) track which does make most fans say that this album is their finest hour. I would certainly say that the title track is definitely their best moment. The instrumental epic is taking you through dozens of climates, ambiances, feelings, thrills and shivers, never giving you a rest. Grandiose in certain way, I will agree, but I am not really that much a fan of Supersister. I never really understood why, because I usually love Canterbury music, but maybe Amsterbury music does not sit so well with me.

This album is now usually available on a cheap 2 for 1 coupled with a strange release called Superstarshine, which was a compilation of singles, live tracks and odd bits. You guessed it; this sort of cheap release is at the expense of the original artwork and very minimal (and erroneous) information. Whatever my mixed feelings about this group, PeG is definitely worth checking out.
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