Matching Mole's Little Red Record (1972) is the second album of the English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Canterbury Scene

Canterbury Scene

The Canterbury scene is a term used to loosely describe the group of progressive rock, avant-garde and jazz musicians, many of whom were based around the city of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s...

 band Matching Mole

Matching Mole

Matching Mole was a short-lived UK progressive rock band from the Canterbury scene best known for the song "O Caroline". Robert Wyatt formed the band in October 1971 after he left Soft Machine and recorded his first solo album The End of an Ear...

. The band was formed in 1971 by Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

 after he left Soft Machine

Soft Machine

Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...

. Compared to their first album, Little Red Record was more of a team effort, with Wyatt taking a less involved role. It was produced by Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp

Robert Fripp is an English guitarist, composer and record producer. He was ranked 42nd on Rolling Stone magazine's 2003 list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and #47 on Gibson.com’s "Top 50 Guitarists of All Time". Among rock guitarists, Fripp is a master of crosspicking, a technique...

 of King Crimson

King Crimson

King Crimson are a rock band founded in London, England in 1969. Often categorised as a foundational progressive rock group, the band have incorporated diverse influences and instrumentation during their history...

, and features Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

 as a guest musician.

The album title refers to Chairman Mao

Mao Zedong

Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...

's Little Red Book

Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung , is a book of selected statements from speeches and writings by Mao Zedong, the former leader of Chinese Communist Party, published from 1964 to about 1976 and widely distributed during the Cultural Revolution...

. This reference is also carried over to the faux

Fake

Fake means not real.Fake may also refer to:In music:* Fake , a Swedish synthpop band active in the 1980s*Fake?, a Japanese rock band* Fake , 2010 song by Ai featuring Namie Amuro...

-Chinese style of the album cover, which is reminiscent of posters created during the Chinese Cultural Revolution

Cultural Revolution

The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...

.

Track listing

1. "Starting In The Middle Of The Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away" (MacRae/Wyatt) – 2:31
2. "Marchides" (MacRae) – 8:25
3. "Nan True's Hole" (Miller) – 3:37
4. "Righteous Rhumba" (aka "Lything And Gracing") (Miller) – 2:50
5. "Brandy As In Benji" (MacRae) – 4:24
6. "Gloria Gloom" (MacCormick/Wyatt) – 8:05
7. "God Song" (Miller/Wyatt) – 2:59
8. "Flora Fidgit" (MacCormick) – 3:27
9. "Smoke Signal" (MacRae) – 6:38

For the BGO (Beat Goes On Records) CD edition Robert Wyatt asked that the album be rearranged so that Side 2 (of the vinyl album) came first as he thought in retrospect that this created a better flow to the album so it became:

1. "Gloria Gloom" (MacCormick/Wyatt) – 8:05
2. "God Song" (Miller/Wyatt) – 2:59
3. "Flora Fidgit" (MacCormick) – 3:27
4. "Smoke Signal" (MacRae) – 6:38
5. "Starting In The Middle Of The Day We Can Drink Our Politics Away" (MacRae/Wyatt) – 2:31
6. "Marchides" (MacRae) – 8:25
7. "Nan True's Hole" (Miller) – 3:37
8. "Righteous Rhumba" (aka "Lything And Gracing") (Miller) – 2:50
9. "Brandy As In Benji" (MacRae) - 6:38)

Personnel

• Robert Wyatt
  Robert Wyatt
  Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
  
   - drums, vocals
• Bill MacCormick
  Bill MacCormick
  Bill MacCormick is an English bassist and vocalist. He was a member of the bands Quiet Sun with Phil Manzanera, brother Ian MacCormick and others; Matching Mole with Robert Wyatt and others; 801 with Manzanera, Brian Eno and others; and Random Hold...
  
   - bass
• Dave MacRae
  Dave MacRae
  David Scott MacRae is a keyboardist from New Zealand, noted for his contributions in jazz and the Canterbury scene....
  
   - Fender Rhodes
  Rhodes piano
  The Rhodes piano is an electro-mechanical piano, invented by Harold Rhodes during the fifties and later manufactured in a number of models, first in collaboration with Fender and after 1965 by CBS....
  
   electric piano, piano, organ, synthesizer
• Phil Miller
  Phil Miller
  Phil Miller is an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist who was part of the Canterbury scene.He was a member of the bands Delivery, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North, National Health, Short Wave and has since worked in solo projects and in his band In Cahoots, which he founded in 1982...
  
   - guitars

Guest:

• Brian Eno
  Brian Eno
  Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...
  
  - synthesizer (on "Gloria Gloom")