Joe Jones in Performance (1977)

Ti­tle of the album: Joe Jones in Performance
Ti­tle: - (Seite 01)
Publisher: Harlekin Art Records, Wiesbaden
Da­te: 1977
Me­di­um: re­cord 30 cm
Edition: 500
Cover: Joe Jones

The original release of Joe Jones in Performance was released by the Wiesbaden-based label Harlekin Art Records. Reissues appeared in the Czech Republic in 2002 and in the USA in 2017. The original 1977 edition of 500 copies did not circulate in this number, as some copies had been damaged by water even before they were shipped and disposed of.

Joe Jones' musical work with the Music Machines (more on this in the artist's biography) is stylistically related to the activities of the Fluxus movement through its improvised character with a high degree of randomness and dissonance, characterised by the opposition of repetition and chaos. Jones' performances and recording situations took on an extraordinary performative character through the use of object-like, mechanical machines, which were activated and functioned automatically or controlled from a distance. The activity of the machines moved between awkward imitation of human music-making and machine rhythm but constructively conditioned in a re-precision determined by chance. The results are sound experiences that carry an inescapability, especially due to their mechanical creation and, thus, long-lasting persistence.