Young Marble Giants
1970年代末期、イギリスで生み出された彼らの音楽は１つの作品として完成形をなし、後世に引き継がれるべき人類にとって貴重な芸術品。イングランド南部に位置するウェールズの首都カーディフで1978年に活動をはじめたYoung Marble Giants。Philip Moxham,Stuart Moxham兄弟と女性ボーカルのAlison Stattonの3人からなる。のちにAlison StattonはWeekendを結成、またMoxham兄弟はThe Gist結成する。Weekend以降のAlison StattonはDevine & Stattonとして活動し2枚のアルバム「The Prince Of Wales」「Cardiffians」を発表する。いかにもウェールズの首都カーディフ出身の彼女ならではの作品。
Young Marble Giants are a post-punk band formed in Cardiff, Wales in 1978. Their music is based around the vocals of Alison Statton along with the minimalist instrumentation of brothers Philip and Stuart Moxham. Their early sound was a sharp contrast with the more aggressive punk rock that dominated the underground at the time. Young Marble Giants have only released one full-length studio album, Colossal Youth in 1980.
Young Marble Giants were formed from the ashes of ‘True Wheel’ which also included friends Matthew Davis and Louise Porter (later signed to EMI) Stuart Moxham wrote the majority of the band’s songs. Their sound was characterised by Phil’s prominent bass lines, Stuart’s rhythm guitar (a Rickenbacker 425) and Galanti electric organ lines and Statton’s vocals. Stuart Moxham’s girlfriend, Wendy Smith, lent Stuart the money to buy the Rickenbacker. Smith, an art student in Cardiff at the time the YMG’s were forming, photographed the band’s US tour and also designed cover art for several singles and albums by Weekend.
Very early in their existence, there was a fourth member of the band, Peter Joyce, who was a cousin of the Moxham brothers. Joyce was a telephone engineer and skilled at electronics, who had made his own synthesiser from a kit. It made sounds similar to Eno’s synths in the early Roxy Music and Kraftwerk, who employed similar ‘low-tech/high-tech’ electronics. The YMGs used tape recordings of Joyce’s home-made drum machine since they did not wish to have a drummer. They were also interested in (by today’s standards primitive) state of the art effects devices such as ring modulators and reverb units, with the emphasis always on simplicity.
Their first vinyl release was on the compilation LP Is The War Over? on Cardiff DIY label, Z Block Records, in October 1979. While signed to UK independent record label, Rough Trade Records the YMGs released two EPs, Final Day and Testcard, and an album, Colossal Youth (a reference to the Early Greek ‘Kouroi’ marble statues, from which the YMGs took the inspiration for their name.) The artwork of the album was inspired by the Beatles album With the Beatles.
The band toured Europe and North America, and played in Berlin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Vancouver and New York. Touring companions included the band Cabaret Voltaire.
Musical influences included Eno, Kraftwerk, Neil Young, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Can and others. The band were acquainted with Scritti Politti, the band of Cardiff native Green Gartside, and signed to the same label, Rough Trade Records. It was revealed in the 2003 book Journals that the band were, along with The Vaselines, Kurt Cobain’s favourite band. Courtney Love’s band Hole covered the Young Marble Giants track “Credit In The Straight World”; a cover version of their song “The Man Amplifier” was included on The Magnetic Fields single “Why I Cry” as a b-side. Stuart Moxham was a fan of Manchester guitarist Vini Reilly’s early work, and was also very interested in Dub Reggae. Their single “Final Day” was covered by both Belle and Sebastian and Galaxie 500, and was included in The Pitchfork 500.