Serious music fans are rarely very keen on compilation discs, especially those often questionable 'best of' sides of a given artist, style or era. But there are exceptions to this rule, such as when older materials, or even more current oddities, are released for the first time.

On Total Music Meeting 2002 - Audiology II: 11 Groups Live in Berlin, the common denominator of free improv is both sufficiently delineated to give it a kind of unified identity yet open enough to embrace a wide range of approaches within it. As per its title, this disc features cuts from 11 of the 12 performances that took place during Berlin's Total Music Meeting festival of two years ago.

It's worth noting that one of this event's long standing heroes, bassist Peter Kowald, had died six weeks previous, which brought the event's organizer, Helma Schlief, to dedicate it to the departed. This is the second such compilation from the 2002 festival, the first one being the initial release on this outgrowth label from FMP Records. Like its predecessor, the 11 cuts included are performed by a few of the leading exponents of the genre, a couple of up-and-comers and a few relative unknowns to this circle. Topping off the list of notables is Evan Parker who is heard with his own trio, with Alexander von Schlippenbach's and in a combination of the two, the latter of which opens this side but regrettably fades out in the midst of a steely piano solo. Of the other veterans, the double guitar and trombone unit Doppelmoppel is another long standing Euro combo, one that really sounds quite melodic and rhythmical rather than the "anarchistic" stated in the liner notes. But kudos should go to Johannes Bauer who provides the needed iconoclastic edge in the proceedings. That same edge surfaces in many of the other cuts, most notably in Ossatura's electronic explorations and the trio Mal d'Archive, a meeting of trombonist (and cellist) G�nther Christmann with a pair of knob-tweakers, Boris Baltschun and Serge Baghdassanians. Elsewhere, the ubiquitous analog synthesist Thomas Lehn provides some sparse sonic interferences in company of Italian violonist Tiziana Bertoncini while Wolfgang Fuchs splutters and burbles on his clarinets and sopranino sax in two different settings, the first in a trio called 'New Flags' with Roger Turner and Xu Fengxia (voice and guzheng), the second with Three October Meetings, a unit comprised of Chicago bassist Damon Smith and drummer Jerome Bryerton. Fengxia is heard again in a duo with compatriot Wu Wei (on sheng, erhu, bawu and xun � but don't ask me what all of these are), a piece that is certainly the most rhythmically propulsive one of this entire set. Finally, Portuguese flutist Carlos Bechegas, a relative newcomer to the circuit, performs the lone solo number, an exploration of extended techniques, including quick alternations between sung pitches and timbral effects eked out of his instrument. While track by track descriptions are not always necessary to give the listener the overall sense of a record, this one obviously needs a more detailed outline. The notes do not specify if the tracks are sequenced according to the chronology of the concerts, but either way they offer a finely varied program that entices the listener to keep moving through the almost 70 minute playing time. And for those who may want to know, the elusive 12th concert was that of Cecil Taylor and Tony Oxley, the reason for its omission explained in the notes by the fact the Maestro "resented the idea of being presented in a sampler."