Music From The Penguin Cafe was the first album by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

The Penguin Cafe Orchestra was a collective of performing musicians created by classically trained British guitarist, composer and arranger Simon Jeffes...

, and was recorded between 1974 and 1976, and released in 1976. The line-up for much of the album consisted of the original Penguin Cafe Quartet: Simon Jeffes

Simon Jeffes

Simon Jeffes was an English classically trained guitarist, composer and arranger. He formed, and was the core performer of, the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. He composed the ballet Still Life at the Penguin Cafe...

 (electric guitar), Helen Leibmann (Cello), Steve Nye

Steve Nye

Steve Nye is a music producer for several artists. Some of his better known artists include Bryan Ferry , Penguin Cafe Orchestra, XTC , Japan , David Sylvian , Clannad, TM Network, Scary Thieves , as...

 (electric piano), and Gavyn Wright

Gavyn Wright

Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London Session Orchestra and Penguin Cafe Orchestra, best known for his orchestral arrangements on pop productions as well as numerous TV and movie soundtracks Gavyn Wright is a British violinist and orchestra leader with the London...

 (violin). Tracks 2-8 were performed by the ensemble "Zopf", which included the members of the quartet as well as Neil Rennie (ukelele), and Emily Young

Emily Young

Emily Young is a British sculptor. She is considered one of the foremost sculptors working in Britain today. She was born in London into a family of artists and writers...

 (vocals). Later reissues have mistakenly listed those pieces as though they were movements of a suite entitled "Zopf", instead of being performed by them.

The executive producer for the album was Brian Eno

Brian Eno

Brian Peter George St. John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno , commonly known as Brian Eno or simply as Eno , is an English musician, composer, record producer, singer and visual artist, known as one of the principal innovators of ambient music.Eno studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex,...

, who released this album on his experimental Obscure label, with catalogue number "Obscure 7". The original cover was by John Bonis. The reissue cover painting was by Emily Young. The album was later released on CD by E.G. Records

E.G. Records

E.G. Records was a UK-based artist management company and independent record label, mostly active during the 1970s and 1980s. The initials stand for its founders, David Enthoven and John Gaydon. The pair signed on as managers of King Crimson in early 1969, during the formative stage of the band and...

in 1991 and later in remastered form in 2006 - both using the reissue cover instead of the original.

Track listing

1. "Penguin Cafe Single" - 6:16
2. "From the Colonies" (for N.R.) - 1:38
3. "In a Sydney Motel" - 2:28
4. "Surface Tension (Where the Trees Meet the Sky)" - 2:22
5. "Milk" - 2:22
6. "Coronation" - 1:33
7. "Giles Farnaby's Dream" - 2:19
8. "Pigtail" - 2:44
9. "The sound of someone you love who's going away and it doesn't matter" - 11:46
10. "Hugebaby" - 4:48
11. "Chartered Flight" - 6:41

Tracks 1, 9-11 performed by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra.

Tracks 2-8 performed by Zopf.