10. Silver Apples – Silver Apples
Adrian Utley: I remember buying the first Silver Apples record as a re-release when I was in New York in the mid nineties and couldn’t believe that it had been made in the late 60s… I thought it had been done recently and there was some mad story attached to it or that it was a scam. Its incredible and really innovative. Especially if you think what was going on in music at that time. It was as avant as Hendrix… who I believe they knew and supposedly influenced. I don’t know of anything or anyone who sounded like this, with really hip grooves played on many tuned drums with a collection of oscillators operated with telephone switches. All of this gave it a crazy off-centre feeling. I loved it then and still do. Oscillations…awesome…
Geoff Barrow: Ade played me Silver Apples and from then on they’ve had a massive influence on my musical life. The incredibly inventive drumming of Danny Taylor and the totally nuts and brilliant explorations of Simeon. I’ve been lucky to meet and chat with Simeon once or twice and he’s an amazing guy, I would have loved to have seen them play together but Danny sadly died in an accident some years ago. Simeon has been working on a film about the band so I can’t wait to see it.
