01	The Boy Beats The Rams						04:54
	02	Spring Any Day Now						03:05
	03	Don't Cry For Me						03:28
	04	Hands Of The Jugg						05:31
	05	Norrgarden Nyvla						02:54
	06	Year Of The Monkey						04:11
	07	What A Dilemma						03:11
	08	Crack In The Concrete						01:24
	09	Come Across						02:47
	10	Dancing In The Street / My Enemy Is A Bad Man						04:42
	11	Slap Dance						02:32
	12	A Career In Real Esate						04:42
	13	Dancing In Rockville, Maryland						03:04
	14	Waking Against Sleep						02:08
	15	Terrain						03:50
	16	Moeris Dancing						05:03
	17	Geistige Nacht						05:19
	18	Life At The Top						01:40
	19	Oh Wie Schon Ist Panama!						05:00

Fred Frith
GRAVITY

Tracklist
No. Title Author Lenght Listen
1 The Boy Beats The Rams (Kluk Tluce Berany) 4:54
2 Spring Any Day Now 3:04
3 Don't cry For Me 3:28
4 The Hands Of The Juggler 5:31
5 Waking Against Sleep 2:54
6 Year Of The Monkey 4:11
7 What A Dilemma 3:11
8 Crack In The Concrete 1:24
9 Come Across 2:47
10 Dancing In The Street/My Enemy Is A Bad Man 4:42
11 Slap Dance 2:32
12 A Career In Real Estate 4:42
13 Dancing In Rockville Maryland 3:04
14 Waking Against Sleep 2:08
15 Terrain 3:50
16 Moeris Dancing 5:03
17 Geistige nacht 5:18
18 Life at The Top 1:40
19 Oh Wie Schon ist Panama! 5:02

Recording Details
(1-6) recorded at Norrgarden Nyvla, Uppsala (Sweden) and at Sunrise Studios, Switzerland in August 1979 (7-13) recorded at Catch-a-Buzz Studio, Rockville (Maryland) in November 1979 and at Sunrise Studios, Switzerland in January 1980 (14) recorded at Sunrise Studios (?) in July-August 1978 (15) recorded at Kaleidophon, London in March 1978 (16) recorded at Sunrise Studios in January 1978 (17) recorded at Sunrise Studios in February and August 1979 (18) recorded at Sunrise Studios in December 1983-January 1984 (19) no recording information Produced by Fred Frith and Etienne Conod

Personnel
Fred Frith: bass, guitar, violin, keyboards, drums, extra percussion; Hans Bruniusson (1-6,10): drums; Eino Haapala (1-6): guitar, mandolin; Lars Hollmer (1-6): piano, organ, accordion; Marc Hollander (1-13,17): alto, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano; Olivia Bruynhooge (1-6): tap dancing, clapping; Chris Cutler (1-6,14-17): snare drum, maraccas, clapping, drums; Tina Curran (1-7): whirling, clapping, subliminal bass; Frank Wuyts (1-6,9, 17): whirling, clapping, recorders, drums, piano, synthesiser; Michel Berckmans (1-6,17): clapping, oboe, bassoon; Etienne Conod (1-6): clapping; Denis Van Hecke (1-6,17): clapping, cello; Veronique Vincent (1-6): clap- ping; Asha Swanson (?): final comments; Dave Newhouse (7-13): alto, organ; Tom Scott (11): soprano; Paul Sears (7,8,10,11,13): drums; Billy Swann (8, 10,11,13): bass; Lindsay Cooper (14,15): bassoon, oboe; Tim Hodgkinson (14): alto; Anne Marie Roelofs (14): trombone; Dagmar Krause (16): voice; Tom Cora (18): bass, percussion, etc.

NB!
Note: (14-19) are not availalble on the LP pressings. See HOPES AND FEARS (1978) for further references on (15,16). See UN PEU DE L'AME DES BANDITS (1979) for further references on (17). See LEARN TO TALK (1984) for further references on (18).

Release/s
Year Label Cat # Format Status
1980 Ralph Records (USA) FF-8057-L Vinyl LP Original
1990 T.E.C. Tones (USA) FF-8057 Vinyl LP ReRelease
1991 RecRec Music (Switzerland) ReCDec 901 CD CD ReRelease
1991 RecRec Music (Switzerland) RecRec Music CT CT ReRelease
1991 East Side Digital (USA) East Side Digital (USA) CD CD ReRelease


Gravity [Expanded]
Date of Release 1980

This one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist and founding Henry Cow member Fred Frith. Gravity is the most lighthearted of Frith's solo output, actually. It is Frith's celebration of dance from all cultures. Perhaps it is the streak of dance-music appreciation that caused him to collaborate on the musical score to Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson. Percussion is light and largely marked with handclaps. The guitars sound twangy and bring folk-instrumentation to mind. Violins and horns add a jubilant feel to the music. Many musicians help vary the sound of each tracks and some of these guests are from Samla Mammas, Manna, The Muffins and Henry Cow. Gravity is an entertaining and multi-cultural pocket folk festival. - Thomas Schulte




Fred Frith - Gravity

Released: 1980/2002
Label: ReR Recommended
Cat. No.: FRO1
Total Time: 47:10


Reviewed by: Marcelo Silveyra, July 2002
By this turn of the century, dance has largely been forgotten for what it really is and instead been grafted to the conception of sweaty discotheque dance floors or spastic rave-attending youths with an overloaded hormone count and a not-too-rare accompanying substance backup. If Fred Frith's Gravity were to be processed through that definition, one would probably be able to pluck out just enough hyperactivity and tension by means of a careful and precise track selection in order not to appear so exaggeratingly conspicuous, but even the most selective of wariness would not be able to hold the effects of the whole album for long, and the entire place would soon be flooded with Eastern European gypsies, wild African tribes, Arab chanters, and several species of couther and more "civilized" Westerners. Dance in revolution.

Revolution, evolution, and devolution. Passing through the barriers of dance music as if they were some sort of porous membrane; taking the visceral, tribal, and civilized all to the next illogical step; and largely returning the attention to the music that once upon a time held reign over each of its own ethnic representations and realizations (a.k.a. "world music"). And while the result is far from the threatening avant-gardism of Frith's previous outfit, Henry Cow, due to its being much more accessible and instantaneous, the music remains elusive and mercurial as tracks pass by and demonstrate the quirkiest of mood swings and harmonic structures. It may not be the possessed Frith of yesteryear going for the driving extreme at every turn, but the daring exploration of electric guitar continues, and so does the penchant for complexity well above radio fare, deviously hidden under a veil of simplicity that in truth is nothing more than the fact that each track has a unique and relatively stable essence going on at all times.

Yet for all its internationalism and evident lack of musical bigotry, Frith's record can't help but be a unified statement in its diversity and span. The album does not only ignore borders; it makes them irrelevant and childish while the four corners of the world unite their peculiar visions into one indivisible statement under one name: Gravity. The result is an album overflowing with life and genuine excitement; an organic experience of tension and release, exotic landscapes and small suburban towns, ecstatic tribal dances and happy-go-lucky frolicking. Gravity is more than just an avant-garde "dance" record; it is universalism in its very essence. But for those wondering, yes, it can all be danced to, provided the listener has a fine understanding of foreign time signatures and one hell of a dancing capability. The music has such an ability to crawl under the listener's skin, however, that knowledge of dancing might not be necessary in the end. It might just come by itself.

Rating: 4.5/5

Similar artists: Samla Mammas Mana, Escapade

More about Gravity:

Track Listing: The Boy Beats the Rams (Kluk Tlu?e Berany) (4:53) / Spring Any Day Now (3:05) / Don't Cry For Me (3:28) / Hands Of The Juggler (5:32) / Norrgarden Nyvla (2:54) / Year Of The Monkey (4:06) / What A Dilemma (3:10) / Crack In The Concrete (1:24) / Come Across (2:48) / Dancing In The Street/My Enemy Is A Bad Man (4:39) / Slap Dance (2:30) / A Career In Real Estate (4:41) / Dancing in Rockville, Maryland (2:51)

Musicians:
Fred Frith - Bass, guitar, violin, percussion, drums, piano
Lars Hollmer - Piano, organ, accordion
Eino Haapala - Guitar, mandolin
Marc Hollander - Alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Dave Newhouse - Alto saxophone, organ
Paul Sears - Drums
Billy Swann - Bass
Hans Bruniusson - Drums

Contact:

Website: www.fredfrith.com
Note: will open new browser window

(for a selected discography:
www.fredfrith.com/discography/discoselected.html
or a complete discography:
www.nwu.edu/WNUR/jazz/artists/frith.fred/discog.html





1990, East Side Digital, ESD 80452

Frith, Fred [UK]
Updated 5/17/02

Discography
Guitar Solos (74)
Strings and Springs (78, w/ Hugh Davies)
With Friends Like These (79, w/ Henry Kaiser)
Gravity (80)
Speechless (81)
Live in Japan (82)
Cheap at Half the Price (83)
Live in Prague and Washington (83, w/ Chris Cutler)
French Gigs (83, w/ Lol Coxhill)
Who Needs Enemies? (83, w/ Henry Kaiser)
Nous Autres (87, w/ Rene Lussier)
With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends? (87, w/ Henry Kaiser, Compilation)
The Technology of Tears (88)
The Top of His Head (89, Soundtrack)
Live in Moscow, Prague and Washington (90, w/ Chris Cutler)
20000V Live (90, w/ Kazuyuki K. Null)
Step Across the Border (91)
Dropera (91, w/ Ferdinand Richard as Fred and Ferd)
Guitar Solos II (91)
Live Improvisations (92, w/ Tim Hodgkinson)
Helter Skelter (93, w/ Francois-Michel Pesenti)
Subsonic 1: Sounds of a Distant Episode (94, w/ Marc Ribot)
Quartets (94)
Middle of the Moment (95)
Allies (96)
Eye to Ear (97)
Ayaya Moses (97, as Fred Frith Guitar Quartet)
Improvisations (97, w/ Jean-Pierre Drouet)
Reel (97, w/ Noel Akchote)
The Previous Evening (97)
Etymology (97, w/ Tom Cora)
Pazifica (98, compositions by Frith, he does not play on this recording)
Upbeat (99, as Fred Frith Guitar Quartet)
Friends and Enemies (99, w/ Henry Kaiser, Compilation)
Stone, Brick, Glass, Wood, Wire (99)


Reviews
Fred Frith

British multi-instrumentalist (guitars, violin, bass, keyboards, tapes, drums, samplers, etc.), and one of those rare musicians who is an adept songwriter and lyricist, and a stunningly original improvisor. Frith is at home playing the twisted pop of Cheap at Half the Price as he is in the avant-garde improvisational arena with cohorts such as Henry Kaiser (With Friends Like These, and Who Needs Enemies), Chris Cutler (Live in Prague...), and Rene Lussier (Nous Autres). He has also composed film scores (The Top of His Head) and music for modern dance (The Technology of Tears). In short, Fred Frith's recorded output is so varied and so unique that I cannot do it justice in a few paragraphs, but here goes nothing ...

Fred Frith was first known for his work with British RIO band Henry Cow. After the demise of this excellent group, he formed Art Bears with Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler and vocalist Dagmar Krause. Musically, Frith's solo records have a tangential relationship to either of these well-known bands. Avant-garde free improvisation dominates several of Frith's solo records (e.g., Live in Prague and Washington and With Friends Like These), while others are odd, twangy, ethnic-sounding pop music (e.g., Cheap at Half the Price). I find both approaches very rewarding. To my ears, Gravity and Speechless are the most similar to Frith's earlier work with Henry Cow. On Side 1 of Gravity, Frith is backed by his "favorite dance band," Zamla Mammas Manna and on Side 2, the Muffins do the honors. Anyone who likes any of these bands will enjoy Gravity, even the screwy instrumental cover version of the old pop chestnut "Dancing in the Street." Speechless has Etron Fou Leloublan on Side 1, and Massacre (Frith's excellent avant-noise power trio with Bill Laswell and Fred Maher) on side 2, and seems a bit darker and noisier than Gravity. Again, if you enjoy either Etron Fou or Massacre, Speechless will deliver the goods. Unlike Gravity and Speechless, Cheap at Half the Price (Frith's final recording for the Ralph label) is essentially a pop record. Frith plays all instruments, and sings every track. The lyrics are very politically oriented, and in its own way, Cheap... is as uncompromising as everything else Frith recorded.

With Friends Like These and Who Needs Enemies are duet recordings with Henry Kaiser. The earlier With Friends... is quite a wild and wooly avant-garde improv affair, with both Frith and Kaiser playing mostly electric guitars. Although no less adventurous, Who Needs Enemies is a very lovely and melodic record, with Frith and Kaiser doubling on guitars, bass and drum machines. Frith also contributes some violin, and there are even two acoustic blues tracks. Nous Autres, a live duet recording with Quebecios guitarist Rene Lussier with guest shots by Chris Cutler and several vocalists, is very varied with some moments that recall Frith's earlier work (both Gravity and Speechless), some guitar noise sections, a track ("J'aime la Musique") that sounds like very warped disco with shouted lyrics, and some quiet pastoral sections. Technology of Tears is very rhythmic, with lots of samples, wordless vocals, horns, and odd percussion. Some of it reminds me of Gravity, but it's a pretty unusual record. The Top of His Head, a movie soundtrack, has a dark, but delicate, almost ethereal sound. Some of it sounds almost like chamber music, with prominent cello, guitar and violin, but there are some tracks with vocalist Jane Siberry that sound strangely poppish and conventional. All of Frith's recordings are great, but if I had to choose, I'd say that Who Needs Enemies, Speechless, and Gravity are my favorites. Fred Frith has recorded with several fine groups, including Massacre, Skeleton Crew (with cellist Tom Cora), Curlew, and John Zorn's Naked City. -- Dave Wayne

Fred Frith, formerly of Henry Cow and the Art Bears, certainly rates as a cult figure. Best known as a guitarist, he also excels on bass, violin, and keyboards. His records range from tune-packed group excursions to fairly arid free improvisation. Gravity, recorded with members of the Muffins and Zamla Mammaz Manna, and Speechless, with members of Etron Fou Leloublan and Frith's power-noise trio Massacre, are both full of tunes, creative and odd but fairly accessible. (Commercial? Certainly less abrasive than Naked City, but I think the typical pop or rock fan would consider them pretty strange.) Cheap at Half the Price has Frith's response to punk - a low-tech, straightforward approach to writing and singing songs. Unfortunately, Frith's singing and lyric-writing are not terribly impressive. (The two records by his group Skeleton Crew are from this same period and have a similar approach.) Guitar Solos and Live in Prague and Washington are examples of his free improvisation - very good, but be warned - there are no tunes on these records. Step Across the Border is a good introduction to Frith - it's the soundtrack to a film about him and includes examples of a variety of his approaches, from solo improvisations to compositions played with different groups. -- Dan Kurdilla

Frith started as guitar and violin player in the British RIO band Henry Cow. After their split in 78 he played with Chris Cutler and Dagmar Krause in The Art Bears, another classic of the British experimental rock scene. In the early eighties, after playing with the Belgian Aqsak Maboul, he recorded 3 solo LPs (Gravity, Speechless and Cheap at Half the Price), on which he is accompanied by former Henry Cow and Aqsak Maboul members, the Swedish band Zamla, Etron Fou Leloublan and the Muffins. The music on these three is similar to Henry Cow or Art Bears stuff, more or less complicated RIO-rock with some experimental moments (tapes and samples, prepared guitar) and mainly dominated by Friths guitar playing. While staying in the USA he not only played with the aforementioned Muffins, but also with Bill Laswell in the band Massacre and he met the cello player Tom Cora. With him he founded in 1984 Skeleton Crew and recorded two LPs. Technology of Tears is quite complicated stuff, Frith playing all instruments except J. Zorn on sax and a weird Japanese vocalist. A good introduction to Frith is Step Across the Border, a film soundtrack with recordings from 80-90, thus a compilation of his work in the 8ties. Dropera features Ferdinand Richard from Etron Fou, and is similar to Richards solo works. Helter Skelter is an opera, with many instrumentalists and singers, very experimental and very hard to listen to. With Quartets Frith entered modern classical music. Here you find two quartets, one for strings and one for electric guitars (here he is joined by Nick Didkovsky from Doctor Nerve, Rene Lussier and Mark Howell). Allies is very quiet Chamber rock, with John Cartwright from Curlew, Tom Cora and Joe Byron (from Bill Frisells band), very nice but strange, a bit like his early 8ties stuff. The Top of his Head and Eye to Ear feature various pieces written as soundtracks. Pazifica is a huge ensemble work. With this one Frith definitely entered the contemporary classical music world. Gravity, Speechless and Cheap at Half the Price are definitely classics of RIO and can safely be recommended! -- Achim Breiling





Автор :
Frith, Fred (Violin)

Наименование CD :

"Gravity"

Год издания :

Компания звукозаписи : East Side Digital

Музыкальный стиль : Avant-Garde, Prog-Rock/Art Rock, Experimental

Время звучания : 01:09:32

К-во CD : 1



Комментарий (рецензия) :

This one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist and founding Henry Cow member Fred Frith. Gravity is the most lighthearted of Frith's solo output, actually. It is Frith's celebration of dance from all cultures. Perhaps it is the streak of dance-music appreciation that caused him to collaborate on the musical score to Sally Potter's The Tango Lesson. Percussion is light and largely marked with handclaps. The guitars sound twangy and bring folk-instrumentation to mind. Violins and horns add a jubilant feel to the music. Many musicians help vary the sound of each tracks and some of these guests are from Samla Mammas, Manna, The Muffins and Henry Cow. Gravity is an entertaining and multi-cultural pocket folk festival.

- Thomas Schulte





Список соисполнителей :
Lars Hollmer (Organ, Piano, Accordion, Keyboards)
Tom Scott (Soprano Saxophone)
Michel Berkmans (Percussion)
Hans Bruniusson (Drums)
Olivia Bruynhooghe (Percussion)
Etienne Conod (Percussion)
Tina Curran (Bass)
Marc Hollander (Clarinet, Alt Saxophone)
Eino Haapala (Guitar, Mandolin)
Frank Wuyts (Percussion, Drums, Keyboards)
Catherine Jauniaux (Percussion)
Dave Newhouse (Organ, Alt Saxophone)
Paul Sears (Bass, Drums)
Billy Swan (Bass)
Asha Swanson (Vocals)
Denis VanHecke (Percussion)
Veronique Vincent (Percussion)
Chris Cutler (Percussion, Marimba, Drums)











**** Fred Frith
GRAVITY
(Fred Records/ReR Megacorp)
If it's possible for an experimental guitarist/percussionist/violinist/vocalist to have a hit album, this is Fred Frith's. The just-reissued 1979 session has some of Frith's most accessible material, thanks largely to its fascination with danceable beats and to the outstanding melodies that run through its 13 entries. There's even an instrumental cover of "Dancing in the Street" (cut with what seems like the sounds of a Nazi march) that delivers the song's familiar tune in a silly, warbling guitar voice - kind of a peppery sonic cartoon that's as smile-inducing as watching Bugs and Daffy match wits.

Although Frith's guitar and his drumming are mostly at the fore, his violin is no less sweet and warm when leading the five-piece band through the darkness and light of "A Career in Real Estate" or the slightly twitchy "Hand of the Juggler." Really, what makes these 13 numbers so charming is their consistent warmth and the light, simple, generous spirit of Frith's melodies throughout. As anybody who's heard his work with Henry Cow, the Art Bears, Naked City, or his more improvised solo recordings knows, Frith is capable of tossing plenty of thorns into his work. But with Gravity, he's just offering roses.


- Ted Drozdowski






Fred Frith - Gravity

Released: 1980/2002
Label: ReR Recommended
Cat. No.: FRO1
Total Time: 47:10


Reviewed by: Marcelo Silveyra, July 2002
By this turn of the century, dance has largely been forgotten for what it really is and instead been grafted to the conception of sweaty discotheque dance floors or spastic rave-attending youths with an overloaded hormone count and a not-too-rare accompanying substance backup. If Fred Frith's Gravity were to be processed through that definition, one would probably be able to pluck out just enough hyperactivity and tension by means of a careful and precise track selection in order not to appear so exaggeratingly conspicuous, but even the most selective of wariness would not be able to hold the effects of the whole album for long, and the entire place would soon be flooded with Eastern European gypsies, wild African tribes, Arab chanters, and several species of couther and more "civilized" Westerners. Dance in revolution.

Revolution, evolution, and devolution. Passing through the barriers of dance music as if they were some sort of porous membrane; taking the visceral, tribal, and civilized all to the next illogical step; and largely returning the attention to the music that once upon a time held reign over each of its own ethnic representations and realizations (a.k.a. "world music"). And while the result is far from the threatening avant-gardism of Frith's previous outfit, Henry Cow, due to its being much more accessible and instantaneous, the music remains elusive and mercurial as tracks pass by and demonstrate the quirkiest of mood swings and harmonic structures. It may not be the possessed Frith of yesteryear going for the driving extreme at every turn, but the daring exploration of electric guitar continues, and so does the penchant for complexity well above radio fare, deviously hidden under a veil of simplicity that in truth is nothing more than the fact that each track has a unique and relatively stable essence going on at all times.

Yet for all its internationalism and evident lack of musical bigotry, Frith's record can't help but be a unified statement in its diversity and span. The album does not only ignore borders; it makes them irrelevant and childish while the four corners of the world unite their peculiar visions into one indivisible statement under one name: Gravity. The result is an album overflowing with life and genuine excitement; an organic experience of tension and release, exotic landscapes and small suburban towns, ecstatic tribal dances and happy-go-lucky frolicking. Gravity is more than just an avant-garde "dance" record; it is universalism in its very essence. But for those wondering, yes, it can all be danced to, provided the listener has a fine understanding of foreign time signatures and one hell of a dancing capability. The music has such an ability to crawl under the listener's skin, however, that knowledge of dancing might not be necessary in the end. It might just come by itself.

Rating: 4.5/5

Similar artists: Samla Mammas Mana, Escapade

More about Gravity:

Track Listing: The Boy Beats the Rams (Kluk Tlu?e Berany) (4:53) / Spring Any Day Now (3:05) / Don't Cry For Me (3:28) / Hands Of The Juggler (5:32) / Norrgarden Nyvla (2:54) / Year Of The Monkey (4:06) / What A Dilemma (3:10) / Crack In The Concrete (1:24) / Come Across (2:48) / Dancing In The Street/My Enemy Is A Bad Man (4:39) / Slap Dance (2:30) / A Career In Real Estate (4:41) / Dancing in Rockville, Maryland (2:51)

Musicians:
Fred Frith - Bass, guitar, violin, percussion, drums, piano
Lars Hollmer - Piano, organ, accordion
Eino Haapala - Guitar, mandolin
Marc Hollander - Alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Dave Newhouse - Alto saxophone, organ
Paul Sears - Drums
Billy Swann - Bass
Hans Bruniusson - Drums

Contact:

Website: www.fredfrith.com
Note: will open new browser window

Discography

Gravity (1980/2002)
Accidental (2002)

(for a selected discography:
www.fredfrith.com/discography/discoselected.html
or a complete discography:
www.nwu.edu/WNUR/jazz/artists/frith.fred/discog.html






Dusted Reviews


Artist: Fred Frith

Album: Gravity

Label: ReR Megacorp


Cartoon-like Musical Hybrids


Originally released in 1980 as a move away from the excessive structure of his group Henry Cow, in some ways this album's thirteen songs take on the feel of a cartoon come to life. The mood ranges from playful to suspenseful, but overall this is the fun sound of musical freedom-party music, if you will.


Guitar, bass, and drums are augmented by violin, accordion, piano, mandolin, sax and clarinet, as well as field recordings, clappings, and "whirling." The album is somewhat divided into two halves, with slightly different personnel aiding and abetting Frith. The players include Hans Bruniusson and Paul Sears on drums; Billy Swann on bass; Dave Newhouse and Marc Hollander on sax; Lars Hollmer on piano, organ, and accordion; and Eino Haapala assisting with guitars. Frith himself plays a wide variety of instruments on these songs.


The breadth of sounds and styles on Gravity makes this album fairly hard to summarize in review format. From the summertime jazziness of "spring any day now" to the rather Residents-esque "dancing in the street/my enemy is a bad man", it's all in good fun. But not surprisingly, there's some serious musicianship on display as well. Odd time signatures and general polyrhythmic sensibilities abound, but the important thing is that the group doesn't generally let technical ability get in the way of a good song.


Along the way, the listener is treated to musical hybridization that rewards the eclectic ear. Latin percussion, calypso festivity, eastern-tinged percussion, Klezmer-like celebration, Gypsy fiddling, and more - it's all here. But I wouldn't want to give the impression that it feels like the group is simply borrowing; far from it. The use of these disparate elements seems carefully chosen, and it all adds up to real songs that have something to say. Changes in feel and style happen at the drop of a hat, but when they do it's for a reason.


I must admit that I came to this album expecting it to be more self-consciously improvisational and technically challenging; instead I found a collection of intriguing songs reflecting a wide range of influences and inspiration, and communicating a clear feeling of enjoyment that effortlessly transfers to the listener, just as it should.



By Mason Jones



Fred Frith
GRAVITY




Tracklist
No. Title Author Lenght Listen
1 The Boy Beats The Rams (Kluk Tluce Berany) 4:54
2 Spring Any Day Now 3:04
3 Don't cry For Me 3:28
4 The Hands Of The Juggler 5:31
5 Waking Against Sleep 2:54
6 Year Of The Monkey 4:11
7 What A Dilemma 3:11
8 Crack In The Concrete 1:24
9 Come Across 2:47
10 Dancing In The Street/My Enemy Is A Bad Man 4:42
11 Slap Dance 2:32
12 A Career In Real Estate 4:42
13 Dancing In Rockville Maryland 3:04
14 Waking Against Sleep 2:08
15 Terrain 3:50
16 Moeris Dancing 5:03
17 Geistige nacht 5:18
18 Life at The Top 1:40
19 Oh Wie Schon ist Panama! 5:02

Recording Details
(1-6) recorded at Norrgarden Nyvla, Uppsala (Sweden) and at Sunrise Studios, Switzerland in August 1979 (7-13) recorded at Catch-a-Buzz Studio, Rockville (Maryland) in November 1979 and at Sunrise Studios, Switzerland in January 1980 (14) recorded at Sunrise Studios (?) in July-August 1978 (15) recorded at Kaleidophon, London in March 1978 (16) recorded at Sunrise Studios in January 1978 (17) recorded at Sunrise Studios in February and August 1979 (18) recorded at Sunrise Studios in December 1983-January 1984 (19) no recording information Produced by Fred Frith and Etienne Conod

Personnel
Fred Frith: bass, guitar, violin, keyboards, drums, extra percussion; Hans Bruniusson (1-6,10): drums; Eino Haapala (1-6): guitar, mandolin; Lars Hollmer (1-6): piano, organ, accordion; Marc Hollander (1-13,17): alto, clarinet, bass clarinet, soprano; Olivia Bruynhooge (1-6): tap dancing, clapping; Chris Cutler (1-6,14-17): snare drum, maraccas, clapping, drums; Tina Curran (1-7): whirling, clapping, subliminal bass; Frank Wuyts (1-6,9, 17): whirling, clapping, recorders, drums, piano, synthesiser; Michel Berckmans (1-6,17): clapping, oboe, bassoon; Etienne Conod (1-6): clapping; Denis Van Hecke (1-6,17): clapping, cello; Veronique Vincent (1-6): clap- ping; Asha Swanson (?): final comments; Dave Newhouse (7-13): alto, organ; Tom Scott (11): soprano; Paul Sears (7,8,10,11,13): drums; Billy Swann (8, 10,11,13): bass; Lindsay Cooper (14,15): bassoon, oboe; Tim Hodgkinson (14): alto; Anne Marie Roelofs (14): trombone; Dagmar Krause (16): voice; Tom Cora (18): bass, percussion, etc.

NB!
Note: (14-19) are not availalble on the LP pressings. See HOPES AND FEARS (1978) for further references on (15,16). See UN PEU DE L'AME DES BANDITS (1979) for further references on (17). See LEARN TO TALK (1984) for further references on (18).

Release/s
Year Label Cat # Format Status
1980 Ralph Records (USA) FF-8057-L Vinyl LP Original
1990 T.E.C. Tones (USA) FF-8057 Vinyl LP ReRelease
1991 RecRec Music (Switzerland) ReCDec 901 CD CD ReRelease
1991 RecRec Music (Switzerland) RecRec Music CT CT ReRelease
1991 East Side Digital (USA) East Side Digital (USA) CD CD ReRelease

May be available at...




Fred Frith
Gravity
(Fred Records/ReR)

Recorded in 1979, Fred Frith's first solo album proper after the demise of Henry Cow probably came as a bit of a shock to die hard fans. With the Cow, Frith's angular, sour melodics had mapped an alternative route for progrock guitar heroics, while his solo guitar recordings suggested our Fred as the missing link between John Cage and Jimi Hendrix.

Gravity however, was Fred's dance record; not the fashionable mutant disco of the early downtown New York scene (where Frith was in the process of setting up stall) but a celebration of rhythm that borrows from folk music, rock and God knows what else. Not that I could imagine dancing to it, but theres no denying the infectious beauty that Fred and his co-conspirators (drawn from Swedish avant folkies Zamla, Aqsak Maboul and U.S. progsters the Muffins) create.

Kicking off with a burst of manic laughter, a spot of tap dancing and random percussion overlaid with Frith's distinctive keening violin, Gravity manages to be wildly eclectic yet avoids incoherence. A few years before World Music became the accepted method for revitalising washed up rock stars careers, Frith had created an album that seems to be from everywhere at once yet from nowhere in particular. While the tricky metrics of "Hands of the Juggler" and the slurred fiddle gymnastics of "A Career in Real Estate" hint at some half remembered Slavic folk tradition (as did some of Frith's writing for Brechtian industrial doomfolk trio The Art Bears), the supple immediacy of tunes like "Spring Any Day Now" or "Norrgarden Nyvla" sound at once familiar yet like nothing youve heard before or since.

"Crack in the Concrete" prefigures Frith's avant power trio Massacre, with coruscating e-bowed guitar soaring over edgy, dissonant chords and a massed kazoo choir of horns in the distance, though its bumptious rhythms come with a lopsided grin as opposed to furrowed brow intensity. Likewise Fred's gleeful de/reconstruction of Martha and the Vandellas "Dancing in the Street"; a bizzarely harmonised guitar negotiates the melody over a boiling mass of feedback and tape manipulation (including a recording of Iranian demonstrators celebrating the capture of American hostages), eventually settling into a spare, gorgeous guitar solo over the closing chords.

Even at its most intense, Gravity is a joyful noise. If you can manage dancing in the time signatures Fred and his mates cook up, you'd better start moving the furniture in anticipation. A brief snatch of the 13st Puerto Rico Summertime Band closes Year of the Monkey; "ten seconds of the real thing" said Fred in the sleevenotes to the original issue; he shouldnt have been so modest. Absolutely essential.

Reviewer: Peter Marsh