Missing Pieces "This album consists of a number of compositions which, through no lack of musical merit but more as a result of unfortunate timing, failed to make it onto either of National Health's albums - hence missing pieces. All were played live in front of the bearded and great-coated audiences of the day (and that was just the women), but hitherto none have been officially released. The exceptions are trach 9 [Phlakaton], a popular miniaturist vocal masterpiece by Pip Pyle which first appeared on the 'Of Queues and Cures' LP, and track 12 [Walking the Dog], included for hysterical, if not historical reasons. Six of the tunes are the work of bassist/composer Dirk (aka 'Mont') Campbell, who quit the band before we got the chance to record them, and the remaining four, written by Alan Gowen and myself [Dave Stewart], received a good thrashing live, but had been superseded by new material by the time we recorded our much-delayed debut album in 1977." From the sleeve-notes of 'Missing Pieces' Mont Campbell (French Horns) Bouree: "A deliberately stupid piece which sets out to ridicule the rules of classical harmony, the performers and the audience. The 'mistakes' and eventual musical collapse . . . are all written, along with some stage directions about looking first confused, then accusingly at the other player." Paracelsus: "The front of Paracelsus is a metric obstacle course which we used, sadistically, as an audition piece for drummers. A great number of the poor buggers failed to get beyond the first three bars." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) First gigging line-up. From radio sessions, Feb - Sept, 1976 "Inspired by a title and lyrical imagery about weather clocks suggested by Amanda, I managed to produce a 'proper' song in the Canterbury style." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) From the northern shores Grey skies, magnetised Now then, sun From the northern shores First gigging line-up. From radio sessions, Feb - Sept, 1976 "Beautifully composed, with great understated power." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) First gigging line-up. From radio sessions, Feb - Sept, 1976 "The Lethargy Shuffle is a 'dance' Pip Pyle and I invented one evening after a weird Hatfield & the North gig in a Belgian disco. The Mind-Your-Backs Tango is a much more sedate (though still srenuous affair, invented by myself [Dave Stewart], Mont Campbell, Clive Brooks and Alf Gascoine (Egg's drummer and roadie, respectively) as a desperate avoiding tactic when attempting to carry a Hammond organ, post-gig, out of countless halls packed with swaying crowds of inebriated students." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) Demo, recorded at Pathway Studios, Oct, 1975 "I think by this stage we were competing to see who could write the most complicate stuff. With 'Zabaglione', Mont won hands down." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) Demo, recorded at Pathway Studios, Oct, 1975 "As Part 1, with more of a 'Tom & Jerry feel." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) Demo, recorded at Pathway Studios, Oct, 1975 "Mont's first composition for the group, and our first ever recording." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) Demo, recorded autumn, 1975 (Experimental line-up for this demo only) "Here performed by a jovial contingent of Canadian clubgoers who had obviously been doing some serious rehearsing." Members of the audience at Toronto's 'The Edge' club Recorded live, winter, 1979 "Not really written as a separate tune, but the concluding section of a long, improvisational piece we referred to as 'Alan's Boogie' and played at early gigs." Dave Stewart (Keyboards) Demo, recorded at Pathway Studios, Oct, 1975 "One of Mont's artier pieces, rarely performed and hitherto recorded only once, at a French outdoor gig with audience chat five times louder on tape than the group. Rather than inflict this on our already long-suffering listeners, Barbara and I made a new recording so you could at least hear the piece clearly." Dave Stewart & Barbara Gaskin (Keyboards and Vocals ) Recorded Sept, 1995 "John Greaves, aided by Peter Blegvad, flings his tonsils to the wind in this encore, recorded at trouser-flapping volume one steamy night at New York's Squat Theater." Alan Gowen (Keyboards) Guest R & B Howling by Peter Blegvad Recorded Live, winter, 1979 Go to [Top of this Page] | [The History of National Health] | [Of Queues and Cures] | [D.S. al Coda] | [The Canterbury Page] Go to [The Canterbury Page] or[The Zappa and Other Music Page] National Health
1. Bouree (Campbell)
2. Bouree (Reprise) / Paracelsus (Campbell)
3. Clocks & Clouds (Stewart)
And flying on through polar nights
The pressure's growing overhead
In a month of Sundays
You won't find a sunbeam,
Clocks and Clouds say
Rainy times ahead
And down the starlit corridors
The clouds are gathering again
I can feel the weather-clocks
Humming in their cases
Soon we'll have to shelter from the rain
My, how time flies!
Seeing stars ionised
My, how time slips away
What's your problem?
Rise and shine,
There are butterflies to chase,
On a day like this
There's no point in starting late,
You've got atmospheres to warm,
Equators to equate.
Come on, then, hurry up,
You're obviously bright enough to know
You're only wasting time
And down the starlit corridors
The clouds are gathering again
So in stormy times
I'll open my umbrella,
Clocks and Clouds
Make raining times again4. Agrippa (Campbell)
5. The Lethargy Shuffle and The Mind-Your-Backs Tango (Stewart)
6. Zabaglione (Campbell)
7. Lethargy Shuffle, Part 2 (Stewart)
8. Croquette for Electronic Beating Group (Campbell)
9. Phlakaton (Pyle)
10. The Towplane and the Glider (Gowen)
11. Starlight on Seaweed (Campbell)
12. Walking the Dog (extract) (Thomas)
Transcription and HTML by Andy Murkin