Initiated in 1971 by Bob Cobbing, Concrete Canticle was Paula Claire, Michael Chant and Cobbing. They formed the group in order to produce a record, titled ‘Experiments in Disintegrating Language / Concrete Canticle’, on the occasion of ‘Concrete Poetry’, an Arts Council touring exhibition. The record included their own recorded performances, alongside works by Charles Verey, Neil and Elaine Mills and Thomas A. Clark.

As a group, Concrete Canticle emerged from the experimental poetry workshops that Cobbing ran at the Poetry Society between 1969 and 1977. During these workshops, and at meetings in Cobbing’s flat in Randolph Avenue, London, the trio responded in vocal form to word patterns, degraded type, and found material pushed again and again through a duplicator — writing, vocalisation and image pressured to breaking point. — Extract from ‘Boooook. The Life and Work of Bob Cobbing’, p.174, edited by William Cobbing and Rosie Cooper, and published by Occasional Papers in 2015.

Side A
Experiments in Disintegrating Language: Charles Verey, Neil Mills, Thomas A. Clark.

Side B
Konkrete Canticle: Paula Claire, Bob Cobbing, Michael Chant.