Fred Frith, Henry Cow and other Canterbury sorta bands

[A Lark Ascending]

There's a marvellous account of Henry Cow by Chris Cutler here:

http://www.ccutler.com/ccutler/

[A Lark Ascending]

And do not forget John Greaves...

Some excellent song-based records with a Gallic feel.

These are especially good:

Interesting Wikipedia article on Georgie Born's later career:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgie_Born

Cousin of Olivia Newton John! Wonder what a joint album there would sound like!

[Parkertown]

Because of this thread I tried the first two sock albums, as available on emusic. I totally dug Leg End. I haven't heard the second one yet. But the samples I heard of that third sock album "Learning" scared me. That crazy singing by Ms. Krause was ...mmmm...not to my liking...

I'm trying though...

[7/4]

I can totally understand a reaction like that to her singing. I got used to it real quick. Be sure to check the lyrics out!

.

[A Lark Ascending]

Because of this thread I tried the first two sock albums, as available on emusic. I totally dug Leg End. I haven't heard the second one yet. But the samples I heard of that third sock album "Learning" scared me. That crazy singing by Ms. Krause was ...mmmm...not to my liking...

I'm trying though...

Dagmar is out of the Lotte Lenya school of singing. She did two albums of Weill/Eisler songs in the 80s/90s. It's not a jazz voice (or even a rock voice) but owes more to German theatre music. The vocal sounds and lyrics of 'In Praise of Learning' sound dated now but evoke the era of 70s student protest, Baader-Meinhof etc when building a song around a Mao text seemed quite normal! 'Pierrot Lunaire' might be a better reference point than jazz or rock singing.

'Unrest' was recorded before she joined. There are actually long stretches without vocals on 'In Praise of Learning'.

Steer clear of the 'Art Bears', however, if her voice bothers you!

Edited October 11, 2008 by Bev Stapleton

[Parkertown]

Thanks for the context, Bev.

[7/4]

The Canterbury scene.

.

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks for the context, Bev.

I'm always looking for an excuse to throw in some historical background!

[clifford_thornton]

I like this resource, though it's pretty far flung:

The Canterbury Discography

[david weiss]

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4?

I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box).

I don't care for the more 'noise' related things.

Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

I always liked Massacre....

For what I remember Ralph records recorded a trio of records with Frith each featuring a variety of already existing bands like The Muffins, Massacre, Etron Fou Le Loublan and some Swedish bands whose names I can't recall exactly and certainly wouldn't spell correctly. I think they were Gravity, Cheap at Half the Price and Speechless. I still have Speechless and think it was quite good. Never warmed to Gravity or Cheap at Half the Price though.

I checked out the thing he did with the Rova Sax Quartet a few years back (during his serious composer phase) and I thought it was nice.

I played with Frith and Cutler once when I was in college. It was an interesting experience, I was way to young but they were nice about it.

When I was in high school, Frith was living in New York and I would see him playing around town in various configurations quite often. If I remember correctly his girlfriend was a bass player in an all girl rock band (they were pretty good too)

[7/4]

I always liked Massacre....

I was going to mention Massacre, I love that album. That's the band with Bill Laswell on 1/2 of Speechless. The Fred Records/ReR Megacorp (UK), ReR/FRO 10 version is the one to get, with extra cuts and some of the original ones re-mastered.

I checked out the thing he did with the Rova Sax Quartet a few years back (during his serious composer phase) and I thought it was nice.

A great album - I was looking for my copy, but I can't find it. I know it's here somewhere, I'd really like to hear it again!

Extensive Frith discography -> here.

Thanks fer upping this thread!

Edited October 22, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

found it, tossed into the listening pile.

[7/4]

And it was very nice too. It's been a long time since I've heard that one.

I picked up this and the new Cow yesterday:

Fred Frith - Clearing

A very musical take on non-idiomatic free improvisation. After all, Frith teaches composition at Mills. He just gets better and better at this sort of thing.

Edited November 6, 2008 by 7/4

[samnat]

I have been looking to expand my Lindsay Cooper collection for awhile. I saw a number of releases on the Canterbury discography linked above. Any recommendations for specific albums?

Thanks.

[Parkertown]

Saw a copy of that first Henry Cow album yesterday at the used Lp store. $18...

I'll need to re-listen to my MP3 copy again to see if it's a must buy or not...

[david weiss]

found it, tossed into the listening pile.

I was thinking it was on Tzadik and under Frith's name.....

Is that possible or is my memory foggy and I'm think of another project altogether....

[david weiss]

I have been looking to expand my Lindsay Cooper collection for awhile. I saw a number of releases on the Canterbury discography linked above. Any recommendations for specific albums?

Thanks.

I seem to recall going through a lot of Cooper's album at one time. The only ones that are still around the house are Rags and Music for Other Occasions so I going to say that those are the two I found to be the best. While on the subject of group members solo projects, I also have a Tim Hodgkinson CD called Each in Our Own Thoughts that is nice.

Edited February 9, 2009 by david weiss

[7/4]

found it, tossed into the listening pile.

I was thinking it was on Tzadik and under Frith's name.....

Is that possible or is my memory foggy and I'm think of another project altogether....

another project: all Frith:

Fred Frith - Freedom in Fragments

[A Lark Ascending]

With this now released it might be time to bumb up this thread:

Just to repeat from the 'listening thread': "Disc 1! I actually think listening to music that you didn't have years ago can be more nostalgic than listening to records you've heard again and again for years. Much of the material here turned up on the first HC album. But there's a piece at the end I half recall - I think I recorded a version of it done on a BBC programme (probably Peel) from the radio, before the Legend release. On a long lost cassette. Two songs at the start sound like Caravan!!!! A marvellous Sunday afternoon wallow."

Nothing profound but I thought it made sense to keep any discussion of HC here - probably of little interest to the board at large.

[7/4]

I may be able to afford that box now...

dB

[rostasi]

With this now released it might be time to bumb up this thread:

So you finally got it! Good! That run of it (plus the originals) that you noticed last week

was a great wash of wonderful sound and, like I said, something that I thought you'd really enjoy.

The booklets are real eye-openers.

®

[bigtiny]

I have been looking to expand my Lindsay Cooper collection for awhile. I saw a number of releases on the Canterbury discography linked above. Any recommendations for specific albums?

Thanks.

I don't know if there are many around, but her piece 'Oh Moscow', which I'm pretty sure was out on record, is pretty good. I saw the show live and it cooked. I haven't heard anything about Lindsey for a few years. Last word was that she had MS. Anybody have any recent status?

bigtiny

[bertrand]

It seems she can no longer play or compose, which is really a shame.

Bertrand.

[David Ayers]

I see there are more box sets on the way. I don't know how far these overlap with the one already mentioned.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/qid=1242627455/r...rt=-releasedate

[rostasi]

They're identical to the boxset - just split up into smaller sets.