scores

**London Electric Guitar Orchestra**
ALBUMS: 1997 Kneel Down Like a Saint Gorilla and Stop 1998 thirteen lumps of chease 1998 The Ice Queen and the Sun King - Radio Plays 1999 7 Wholls 2005 sticks and stones
BACKGROUND: The London Electric Guitar Orchestra was formed in 1995. For two years it was a loose collective with a floating membership of twenty, dropping in to weekly sessions at Community Music House, Farringdon. In 1997 Community Music closed down, L.E.G.O. made an album ('Kneel Down like a Saint Gorilla and Stop') and the players who appeared on this recording became a fixed septet. The seven (John Bisset, Ivor Kallin, Viv Corringham, Nigel Teers, Steve Mallaghan, Rick Nogalski & Jörg Graumann) by some luck acquired a large free studio space in Brick Lane, East London and had a very productive couple of years, producing two albums of music ('13 lumps of chease' and '7 Wholls') and a cd of radio plays for children, ('The Sun King and the Ice Queen') highlights from their award winning Resonance FM radio show 'Go! For children of all ages' In 2000 the group lost the studio space, and a couple of members left. From 2001-2003 the group was re-opened to the public, and became a loose collective with a floating membership meeting about once a month. The album 'sticks and stones' is the outcome of this period.

SCORES: Following the collective spirit of the group the scores here are for general use - click on image to get full size printable version
Kneel Down Like a Saint Gorilla and Stop The product of three years with many people drifting in and out of the group. Jörg's anarchic spirit pervading all. Recorded live to tape in the Assembly Hall of an Infant's School, after a tour with Billy Jenkins, who played seven solos each night, using each of LEGO's instruments.

7 Wholls is a realisation of the graphic score ‘Dry Stone II’ by Fred Frith, one movement of which was performed on Saint Gorilla. It is in 7 movements, building walls of sound from loops and solos. Each section is launched with a solo by one of the seven guitarists, which goes into a loop, over which the next plays – to loop – and so on…
The graphic score was played pretty much as Fred Frith intended, with a soloist playing until another soloist comes in, at which point the soloist’s last phrase becomes a loop. So there is only one person solo (or ‘free’) at a time. The difference is that the loops were generated using mini-discs, overdubbed onto tape. This meant that the selection of loop was not as random as in the live version, and the subsequent soloist could play over it for a while before making his/her live take in the studio. We kept this ‘rehearsing’ to a minimum, and the final take was a live improvisation.

The names under the track titles are those of the guitarist whose solo began that track (even though in some cases their solo has been removed and the second player is the first heard, and in one case the second soloist began playing before the one already on tape began!)

thirteen lumps of chease 16 song-structures, some with singing.

sticks and stones one piece in three 'movements' the outcome of an extended period of scored pieces and conducted improvisations, with an enlarged band of 11 guitarists.