Review in WIRE magazine March 2002

Suntreader - The Voyage
North by North West NNW002 CD
Morris Pert - The Music of Stars
North by North West NNW 003 CD

By Julian Cowley

During the mid-1970s, drummer Morris Pert and keyboard player Peter Robinson, who had been members of flamboyant Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamash'ta's Red Buddha Theatre troupe, formed Suntreader with Soft Machine affiliate Neville Whitehead on bass.
The trio's name presumably aludes to a piece by American composer Carl Ruggles, itself named from an epithet applied by Robert Browning to visionary poet: Percy Shelly. For all the sublime connotations of their name, however the previously unissued Suntreader material on The Voyage flows attractively with solid grooves.

Pert's sleevenote description of rythmic patterns going in and out of phase, tonal centres blurring then coalescing within broadly free forms to produce a "fluid and organic" sound is perfectly accurate.

His earlier group Come to the Edge, which recorded an impressive session for John Peel, made a fine album with Yamash'ta and then disbanded, offered a tantalising glimpse of rare, fully-fledged amalgam of classical, rock and jazz musicianship. Suntreader's funkier fusion was more immediatly appealing and a good feeling still radiates through the quality playing and durable ideas of this album. Pert raised his profile with the worthwhile, if more predictable fusion of Brand X, (a bolthole from Genesis for Phil Collins).
Subsequently he has cropped up as a versatile session musician in all sorts of contexts, some pretty unappetising.
At the same time Pert, a graduate of London's Royal Academy of Music, has composed choral, instrumental and electronic pieces. An example of the latter, The Music of Stars is a suite representing the nine stars of the constellation Virgo, composed over a number of years. Clangs punctuate a spacious cosmic sweep of sizzles, drones and whispers, generated from electronic sound sources and instrumental samples. Such soundscapes run the risk of cliche, but Pert steers The Music of Stars clear with careful pacing and sound placement.

Translation of a review from the Japanese EURO-ROCK PRESS magazine June 2002

Suntreader: the appearance of an enigmatic sound source!
One cannot help being astonished by the discovery of an extraordinary sound source.
Suntreader that few may know about, had made a reputable contribution to jazz-rock and
modern music during the early 1970s lead by Morris Pert.
Morris Pert played a key role in Brand X as a percussionist.  
The Voyage (The Mysterious Voyage in Japanese) is their second album that has never been released before.
It further develops the jazz-rock explored ever since the previous work.
Collaborations grounded on the improvisation are played.
One can appreciate fully the keyboard of Peter Robinson and the bass by Neville Whitehead.
May you feel been salvaged! (Sakamoto)

Jazz/rock ratio: 6/10
Solo/ensemble ratio: 7/10
Originality: 9
Total rating: 9

The Music of Stars: Rejoice!  The new album of Morris Pert.
How much I have longed for this day. I had been desperately searching for the information about
Morris Pert on the Internet. I only found that he was not on the net.
I then concluded that he was a person of the past. I cannot explain how delighted I was when I
discovered that he is well and active! After leaving London for Scotland, he has been working on his music at his
home surrounded with nature. His solo albums, of which this is one, have always been in the genre of modern
music and focusing more on his activities as a composer than as a percussionist.
This is a beautiful sound work composed of nine pieces with a cosmic theme. (Sakamoto)

Light/heavy ratio: 5/10
Change in rhythm: na
Revelation: 6
Total rating: 7