No Holds Barred (original) (raw)

Phil wrote No Holds Barred in 1990. Most of the year, though, was spent working on Digging In (1991), which made extensive use of MIDI. Drum parts were programmed by Pip Pyle, while Pete Lemer and Fred Baker added keyboards and bass parts. Digging In was conceived, computed and recorded in his studio at Colvestone Crescent. The other titles were Digging In, The new bass feature for Fred Baker: Bass Motives, Down To Earth, Speaking to Lydia, Bird’s Eye View and Louder Than Words.
To quote from the excellent interview Phil Howitt published in issue 15 of Facelift Phil said:
“I had written some rather awkward material, unsuitable for the band that I decided to do with Dave Stewart, having had the first glimpses of what machines could do to facilitate playing certain sorts of music. I had written some pieces that I could only just about play on guitar, if I practiced very hard, because of their sheer statistical density (to borrow a quote from Zappa). That’s why the Figures of Speech track I did with Dave on Cutting Both Ways was something you could only do properly with a machine. Not that I wrote it for a machine, it just happened that I had all these chiming polyrhythmic things going on that needed a dead steady beat. The titles Cutting Both Ways and Split Second acknowledge this dual approach although I often think that, with these two albums, it would have been better to have done a whole album without a band and then a whole album with a band.” The CD Digging In is an example of “doing it without a band”
In December that year Phil took In Cahoots to Japan, resulting in the Live In Japan CD with No Holds Barred featuring on track 1. See below for many other performances of this great composition.

SCORES PDFs

VIDEOS 1991 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass guitar, Elton Dean sax, Jim Dvorak trumpet,
Pip Pyle drums.
El Banal, Padova, Italy. 27th May 1991

1990 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean sax, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums
Spaziomusica, Pavia, Italy. 26th May 1990

1994 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, guitar-synth. Fred Baker bass guitar Elton Dean alto sax, saxello. Jim Dvorak trumpet. Pip Pyle drums.
Jazz Cafe London 31 October 1994

AUDIO FILES

1991 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass guitar, Elton Dean sax, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Pip Pyle drums.
El Banal, Padova, Italy. 27 May 1991

1. 01 No Holds Barred banal

1990 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar. Fred Baker bass guitar. Elton Deam ax. Pip Pyle drums.
Spaziomusica, Pavia, Italy May 1990.

2. 02 No Holds Barred

1991 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean saxes, Jim Dvoeak trumpet, Fred Baker bass, Peter Lemer keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Club Quatre, Tokyo, Japan. 20 December 1991

3. No Holds Barred (Miller) 14:06

1991 Phil Miller guitar, midi guitar. Fred Baker bass guitar. Peter Lemer keyboards. Pip Pyle drum programs.
Crescent Studios London. 1991

4. No Holds Barred (Miller) 10:35

1993 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar and synth guitar, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Elton Dean saxello and alto sax, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums.
New Morning, Paris. 19 March 1993

5. No Holds Barred (13:43)

1995 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar and synth guitar, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Elton Dean saxello and alto sax, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums.
Penny Theatre, Canterbury. second set 4 December 1995.

6. No Holds Barred

1995 Miller/Lemer Duo: Phil Miller guitar, Peter Lemer keyboards.
De Nieuwe Pul, Uden, Netherlands. 26 May 1995

7. No Holds Barred (09:43)

1991 Hugh Hopper & Special Friends: Hugh Hopper bass, Phil Miller guitar, Didier Malherbe sax, Pip Pyle drums.
Le Mans, Europa Jazz Festival. 12 May 1991

8. No Holds Barred (08:42)

1998 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass, Peter Lemer keyboards, Pip Pyle drums.
Les Naïades, St Jean-aux-Bois, France. 7 March 1998.

9. No Holds Barred

1991 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar and synth guitar, Elton Dean alto sax and saxello, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums.
Flog, Florence, Italy. 30 May 1991

10. No Holds Barred

1994 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar and synth guitar, Elton Dean alto sax andsaxello, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums.
Jazz Café, London. 31 October 1994

11. No Holds Barred

1991 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar and synth guitar, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Elton Dean saxello and alto sax, Fred Baker bass guitar, Pip Pyle drums.
Senhor de Bonfim, Genova, Italy. 31 May 1991

12. No Holds Barred

1996 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass, Elton Dean alto sax and saxello, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Peter Lemer keyboards, Pp Pyle drums.
St Mary’s Art Centre, Colchester. 29 May 1996

13. No Holds Barred

1998 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean saxello and alto sax, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Pete Lemer keyboards, Fred Baker bass, Pip Pyle drums.
La Cave Dimiere, Argenteuil, France. 16th October 1998

14. No Holds Barred

1998 In Cahoots quartet: Phil Miller guitar, Fred Baker bass guitar, Peter lemer keyboadrs, Pip Pyle drums.
Travers Club, Bruxelles, Belgium. 19th October 1998

15. No Holds Barred

1998 In Cahoots: Phil Miller guitar, Elton Dean alto sax & saxello, Jim Dvorak trumpet, Peter Lemer keyboards, Fred Baker bass, Pp Pyle drums.
Villebon-sur-Yvette, MJC Boby-Lapointe, 17th October 1998

16. No Holds Barred