The METRONOME QUINTET at the ZOO

This is the year 1969. The Beatles' last public performance, on the roof of Apple Records. The impromptu concert was broken up by the police. John and Yoko married in Gibraltar and started their bed-ins for peace. Hard rock band Led Zeppelin released their eponymous first album. Jimi Hendrix plays the unofficial last day of Woodstock. Richard Nixon tried to win the Vietnam War. My Lai Massacre. And Pink Floyd produced their musical sound patterns.
And: This is clearly one of the most impressive records: The Metronome Quintet released At the ZOO - with 56 friends.

The record appears as a sweet cat that's kind of cut out. Then you realize that it has something to do with animals. Lastly you read on the board: with 56 friends. Then one remembers that in 1969, records were often the project of a group. We know Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, In the Court of King Crimson and related records.
If we open the cover, the wild animals rise as cut out!

Now we discover the quintet! Appear in black and white Bruno Spoerri (sax), Ueli Staub (vib), Martin Hugelshofer (p), Felix Rogner (b), Rolf Bänniger (dr). And who are all those friends?

• Mitglieder des Unterhaltungs-Orchesters Beromünster
• Tonhalle Quartett Zürich
• Guggemusik Laslafaria, Baar

The tracks on side 1 are:  Going to the Zoo, Two Marmots,  Woodpeckers Waltz,  Ducky Wucky,  What's new Pussy-cat?  Purple Gazelle

Side 2: Lyne for Lions,  Hippie Dance,  Meet a Cheetah,  Ez iz geflogen di gilderne Pave,  Night Owl,  La Paloma,  Tiger Rag,  Flight of the Bumble Bee,  At the Zoo

As you see, this record is great fun. You can hear the Jazz classic TIGER RAG played by a carnival group (Guggemusik Laslafaria), The Flight of a Bumble Bee appears as the sounds of some disgusting insects produced by the undetermined string instruments of the Tonhalle Quartet.

All pieces of the record are a composition of various musical forms, sounds, noises, real animal sounds that give the impression that the Metronome Quintet is At the Zoo!