Audiopile Review: Here’s something that’s almost always worth discovering: a musical act that was genuinely popular and influential in its heyday, but which never quite entered the canon. Sometimes, the lack of regard is understandable: the godlike Peter Hammill may have effectively invented post-punk, but he’s always been too idiosyncratic to stay in lockstep with fashion. In other cases, it’s baffling, as with English guitarist Simon Jeffes and his Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It’s simply unjust that PCO’s consummate blend of minimalism, chamber music, sophistipop, acoustic folk-dance instrumentals, global grooves, and experimental ambiance isn’t named as a major influence by the current crop of leftfield electronic producers and indie bands. Heck, Jeffes’ 1976 debut, ‘Music from the Penguin Café’ was released on Brian Eno’s Obscure label and executive produced by the great man himself. You’d think that would be enough! Perhaps it’s that this music is genuinely hard to pigeonhole and therefore cannot be easily marketed. Or maybe the music is too breezily major key to fit into today’s ‘sad music to study by’ streaming playlists. But it’s this sunniness that will make PCO’s music so appealing to fans of, say, Arthur Russell or Virginia Astley. In any case, this batch of very tasty, coloured vinyl reissues should help redress the great injustice that has been done to Simon Jeffes and pals. Old fans and new converts will want the lot, but where to start for newbs? For those interested in PCO’s relevance to nowadays electronic music, “Music from…” is essential. And the 1981 self-titled album features the ingenious and somehow equally essential ‘Telephone and Rubber Band’. For those chasing a folkier, more acoustically bucolic vibe, ‘Signs of Life’ should not be overlooked. Oh, and if you doubt the Penguin Cafe was ever that popular a destination, note that this batch of reissues includes 1987 live album ‘When in Rome’, recorded at London’s Royal Festival Hall. Hardly a pub back room. So, yeah: well, well worth discovering.

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Music from the Penguin Cafe is the first studio album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. It was recorded between 1974 and 1976, and released in 1976. The executive producer for the album was Brian Eno, who released this album on his experimental Obscure label, with catalogue number “Obscure 7”. The original cover was by John Bonis. The reissue cover painting was by Emily Young. The album was included in Robert Dimery’s 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. This is the first re-press since 1987 and uses the 2008 remaster, pressed on blue vinyl.