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Matching Mole, in all their live improvisational glory. It is my opinion that if you really are interested in getting into this very talented band, Smoke Signals and Cunieform's other live document, March, are really the way to go. Smoke Signals is a compilation of live performances recorded on various dates in the spring of 1972. Most of the album consists of material that also appears on the band's final studio recording, Little Red Record. I don't know what was recorded first, but I think the performances are better here; even "Nan's True Hole," which I thought was burdened by dialogue and general aimlessness on Little Red Record, is unveiled on Smoke Signals as a fairly menacing instrumental. Based on an admission in the liner notes that the band's onstage tendencies towards looseness sometimes resulted in excessive self-indulgence, it is a testament to the compilers of this set that it is well sequenced and that the tracks selected are generally top-notch. The only piece that doesn't quite measure up for me is the 12-minute "Lything and Gracing," though my only real complaint is that it meanders. review by Matt P. — 6-14-05 —