Which Skeleton Crew are you in?
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Topic: Which Skeleton Crew are you in?
Posted By: avestin
Subject: Which Skeleton Crew are you in?
Date Posted: March 01 2009 at 18:49
The duo of Tom Cora and Fred Frith that makes up ../artist.asp?id=2448 - SKELETON CREW delivered two albums, which later became available as a 2-cd set.
SKELETON CREW Albums
../album.asp?id=11512">
3.00 | 2 ratings
../album.asp?id=11512 - Learn to Talk
1984
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../album.asp?id=11513">
3.00 | 2 ratings
../album.asp?id=11513 - The Country Of Blinds
1986 |
The 2-cd set
../album.asp?id=11514">
4.14 | 3 ratings
../album.asp?id=11514 - Learn to Talk/Country of the Blinds
2005 |
Syzygy's (Chris) bio of the band:
Skeleton Crew came into being more or less by accident. In 1982 Fred
Frith and Tom Cora planned to work together in a quartet, but in a
bizarre coincidence the other two members both suffered from collapsed
lungs within a couple of weeks of each other. Frith and Cora elected to
go ahead and work as a duo, playing all the instruments themselves.
Skeleton Crew became, in effect, two one man bands playing
simultaneously - Frith on guitar, 6 string bass, violin, piano,
keyboard and vocals; Cora on cello, bass, keyboard and vocals; and both
played different parts of a drum kit, using pedals and home made
contraptions so as to play different instruments simultaneously. This
initial line up also used tapes in the way that more contemporary acts
would use sampling - voices from TV and radio, clips of adverts and
similar found sounds were incorporated into their music. They toured
extensively, and for a while Dave Newhouse of the Muffins joined on sax
and drums. In 1984 Zeena Parkins of News From Babel became a permanent
third member, playing organ, harp, accordion, drums and singing. In
1986 the band split, shortly after completing their second studio
album. Fred Frith said of the original duo "It's all just on the edge
of breaking down all the time, which is a quality that I've always
liked. I don't like things to be too easy." and of their decision to
split "We actually started to sound like a normal rock and roll band so
it seemed kind of pointless to go on at that point."
Skeleton
Crew released two studio albums, both recorded at Sunrise Studio in
Switzerland. The first, Country of the Blinds, was released in 1984 and
was by the original duo of Frith and Cora. There's an engagingly
ramshackle quality to this album, with the two members seeming to
switch between instruments just in the nick of time. This, coupled with
their use of found sounds, gives the music a kind of punky energy.
There's no disguising their very high standard of musicianship, though,
and there are moments of beautiful instrumental interplay. Learn to
Talk (1986) was recorded as a trio with Zeena Parkins and has a more
polished sound, and as a trio they abandoned the use of tapes. There
were also several cassette only live recordings issued during their
career. The two studio albums were reissued on a single CD (with some
tracks omitted) in 1990. In 2005 a double CD was issued containing the
original studio albums in their entirety, plus selected live
recordings. Frith and Cora reunited briefly in 1995 for Etymology, a CD
of sound samples. Tom Cora died in 1998, and the recent CD reissue is
dedicated to him.
In the 1980s Skeleton Crew's DIY approach was
a welcome relief from the increasing blandness of most mainstream music
in the 1980s, while their extremely well developed musical skills
helped then to transcend the possible limitations of their stripped
down line up. While they are definitely part of the RIO/Avant prog
genre and their music involves impropvisation, the focus on relatively
short, song based material makes them relatively accessible. Dates, facts and quotes taken from Wikipedia.
Why this artist must be listed in www.progarchives.com : Skeleton
Crew featured members of several seminal RIO bands (Curlew, Henry Cow,
Art Bears, News From Babel and The Muffins) and were one of the most
important RIO acts of the 1980s.
Discography: Country of the Blinds (1984) Learn to Talk (1986) Country of the Blinds/Learn to Talk (single CD reissue)(1991) Country of the Blinds/Learn to Talk (double CD reissue)(2005)
Album reviews here in PA:
../album.asp?id=11513 - RIO/Avant-Prog
Review by
../Collaborators.asp?id=325 - Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Specialist
2.5 stars really!! The second album of Skeleton Crew, Country Of Blinds (also recorded in Switzerland
produced by another Henry Cow alumni Hodgkinson) is certainly even less accessible than
its predecessor and it announces it right from the bat with the opening title track (and later
Man Or Monkey) that is purposely sabotaged by tampering with the tapes. Parkins’
presence does not calm Frith and Cora either, but this album is slightly easier on the ears
sometimes because it is less sung (but when it is it still sounds like Damo-Belew) and gets
more often into grooves (Border, Hand That Bites), giving you the chance to get used to
the general weirdness. However Parkins’ accordion does get on my nerves (all accordions
do), and with the strangeitude of the songwriting, the whole thing is a little too much for
me. There is also a fairly evident feel of 80’s “funk feel” into the music as it reminds me a
bit of Talking Heads and Belew-era Crimson, mostly through Frith’s guitar parts.
Both albums got released as a 2 on 1 Cd, with a few tracks missing, which is probably a
rather good deal if you’re into this stuff. Please read the separate album entry’s reviews
just in case I am not convincing enough into avoiding this band. Generally I am normally
fully appreciative of Henry Cow alumni project (from Massacre to News From Babel), but I
must say that Frith’s Skeleton Crew and Cutler’s German adventures of Cassiber are both a
little too much for this writer’s sanity.
forum_posts.asp?TID=28343 - Report this review (#122953) | Posted Monday, May 21, 2007, 07:58 EST
../Review.asp?id=122953 - Review Permalink | ../album.asp?id=11513#postAReview - Submit a review for this album
../album.asp?id=11512">
Studio Album, 1984
3.00 | 2 ratings
../album.asp?id=11512#buymusic - BUY
../album.asp?id=11512 - RIO/Avant-Prog
Review by
../Collaborators.asp?id=325 - Sean Trane
Special Collaborator Prog-Folk Specialist
2.5 stars really!! While Chris Cutler was busy with News From Babel with Lindsey Cooper, Fred Frith
(guitars, piano, violin) got involved in Skeleton Crew, who was supposed to be a quartet
but ended up as a duo with American Tom Cora (cello, bass drums), both deciding to
become one man bands on Learn To Talk. On the later (and final) Country Of Blinds album,
they will be joined by Zeena Parkins (keys, harp, accordion) who was previously in News
From Babel.
On the scale of bizarreness, SC was certainly similar to a 9 on the Richter scale, and this is
fitting because listening to LTT usually leaves your brains in the state of an Earth tremor
with few chances of building something back. If some tracks are rather accessible (title
track, Factory Song), a lot of them are close to pure nonsense. Sonically, I guess the
closest you could come up with would be the 80’s Crimson, based on the singing strongly
reminiscent of Belew, but also the guitar parts which can sound like a Chapman stick. Some
tracks are very ethnic-sounding (Zac’s Flag), while others (the intro of the opening
Onwards And Upwards) are sickly-sounding (vocals barking like Damo Suzuki, but not at
ease) and completely disjointed. Not exactly something that can be put in anyone’s disc player for dear of permanent
damage. Skeleton Crew toured as a trio with Muffin’s Dave Newhouse on sax and
apparently they were quite a sight live, but this did not materialized in terms of recording.
forum_posts.asp?TID=28343 - Report this review (#122952) | Posted Monday, May 21, 2007, 07:57 EST
../Review.asp?id=122952 - Review Permalink | ../album.asp?id=11512#postAReview - Submit a review for this album
../album.asp?id=11514">
Boxset/Compilation, 2005
4.14 | 3 ratings
../album.asp?id=11514#buymusic - BUY
../album.asp?id=11514 - RIO/Avant-Prog
Review by
../Collaborators.asp?id=8161 - Slartibartfast
Prog Reviewer
I bought Learn to Talk and Speechless at the show when Skeleton Crew came to
Atlanta. Love that opening line “I was born an American, born free, and these past 46
years, I’ve never had to get up in the morning, thank God for freedom.” Of course
unfortunately, I do have to get up in the morning most days. I think they used a tape
of Bob Dole for that one with a little editing in the middle. This was really my first
introduction to Frith. I was only familiar with his bit parts with Brian Eno on Before and
After Science & Music for Films. If the concerts didn’t hook me on Frith, Learn to Talk
certainly did. Zeena Parker was with Fred and Tom Cora. As I recall, one show was
official Skeleton Crew and the second was billed as just the three of them. The thing I
remember most about the first one was the one man band like thing they seemed to be
doing. Everyone was playing at least two instruments at the same time most of the
time. The second show had an intermission where the audience spontaneously
morphed their applause into a polyrhythmic clapping, myself included. As figures, as soon as I think an LP will never see the light of CD, I record it to CD scan
in the album cover, to make my own CD booklet, and the thing gets remastered and
released on CD. Not really complaining. I was totally pleasantly surprised to find that
there was another album by SC called The Country of Blinds. It may have for sale at
the time they came to Atlanta and poor college student that I was, couldn’t buy it and
soon forgot about it. Never saw much Firth at the local record stores though plenty of
good prog was available here and there. The Frith/Cora collaboration on LTT is very interesting. Most of the songs have Frith
singing politically oriented lyrics and just plain funny stuff like It’s Fine, where he’s
singing like he doubts it really is. “What we know we don’t believe, what we don’t know
we believe.” Really enjoyed Tom Cora’s cello work on this one. Never had heard of him
before and don’t have much of him in my collection except for posthumous collection It’s
a Brand New Day (seen a couple copies for sale on the web at a nice price). “Don’t
worry, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine, it’s fine.” “I
think you’re right.” The bonus tracks are a welcome inclusion as almost always. The LTT ones wouldn’t
have fit into the original album, stylistically or time wise. I still haven’t completely absorbed The Country of Blinds yet. It’s certainly musically on
par with LTT. No shortage of political content, either. The title track is a little shrill, but
funny. The Border is nice number that almost could have had some pop success. Man
or Monkey sounds like it could have been written regarding our current president,
GWB. Another interesting set of bonus tracks here. Can’t properly evaluate them
against the original album, as I never heard it before I acquired this package. Second
Rate also seems somewhat relevant to today’s events. “You have to pay to get the
body brought back, the US government will not pay, do you get the feeling that the
USA is turning into a second rate world power?” Can’t recommend this release enough to those who like their prog a little twisted.
forum_posts.asp?TID=28343 - Report this review (#87694) | Posted Saturday, August 19, 2006, 15:18 EST
../Review.asp?id=87694 - Review Permalink | ../album.asp?id=11514#postAReview - Submit a review for this album
../album.asp?id=11514">
Boxset/Compilation, 2005
4.14 | 3 ratings
../album.asp?id=11514#buymusic - BUY
../album.asp?id=11514 - RIO/Avant-Prog
Review by
../Collaborators.asp?id=1076 - Syzygy
Special Collaborator Zeuhl/RIO Specialist
This timely reissue and remaster of Skeleton Crew's two studio albums is excellent
value. In addition to presenting the original albums in sparkling clear sound, they have
both been expanded with selections from the various live cassette releases that they
issued in the 80s. The albums have been reviewed in detail individually, so this review
will focus more on the additional material. Learn to Talk is a highly enjoyable slice of RIO tomfoolery. As a genre, RIO has a
reputation for being rather serious and dour a lot of the time, but artists like Robert
Wyatt, Slapp Happy and Sammla Mammas Manna have an anarchic, Dadaist sense of
humour that is much in evidence here. The use of tapes, especially Ronald Reagan's
voice, gives the album a slightly dated feel, but the energy and inventiveness of the
double one man band line up is still staggering. There are four live tracks included from
1982 -4. Sick As A Parrot is a radio/tapes sound collage incorporating a few bars of Y
Viva Espana, which segues into Automatic Pilot (lyric: 'I'm on automatic pilot'). Hook is
of historical interest as it features Dave Newhouse of The Muffins, who toured with
Skeleton crew but appeared on neither studio album, while the album closes with Frith
and Cora tackling Massacre's Killing Time - a power trio masterwork played by a power
duo. Superb guitar from Frith, magnificent cello/bass from Cora and somehow they
manage to play the drum parts as well - breathtaking, and much the strongest of the
bonus tracks. On Country Of The Blinds the two one man bands were joined by Zeena Parkins, a one
woman band, which gave a more varied sonic palette. No tapes this time, the beguiling
complexity of the duo was taken to another level and the vocal arrangements became
deeper and more layered. Six live tracks are included, most of them of excellent sound
quality. Frith's guitar is more prominent than on the studio recordings, and the good
humour and unique interplay of the band is obvious - on Cora's solo showpiece
Howdyhoola Too audience laughter is clearly audible. Second Rate is probably their
most overtly political song and is delivered with almost brutal directness and shows
just how tight they could sound. More unexpected is an accordion driven version of
Jelly Roll Morton's New Orleans Stomp, which is played with verve as gypsy jazz.
Proceedings are brought to a close with Hasta La Victoria, which recalls the chaotic
sound of Learn To Talk. In some ways this is an object lesson in how reissues should be presented. The live
material is as strong as the studio recordings (although the extras on disc 1 are of less
than pristine sound quality) and there are no alternate versions of any of the album
tracks. Rather than filling the discs with extraneous material, the additional tracks have
been selected to complement and add to the original albums. Skeleton Crew were
unique and have an important place the development of 80s RIO. This collection is a
fitting monument both to the band and to the brilliant Tom Cora, whose untimely death
deprived the world of a remarkable musical talent. Strongly recommended.
forum_posts.asp?TID=28343 - Report this review (#85347) | Posted Tuesday, August 01, 2006, 06:26 EST
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../album.asp?id=11513">
Studio Album, 1986
3.00 | 2 ratings
../album.asp?id=11513#buymusic - BUY
../album.asp?id=11513 - RIO/Avant-Prog
Review by
../Collaborators.asp?id=1076 - Syzygy
Special Collaborator Zeuhl/RIO Specialist
When Skeleton Crew expanded from a duo to a trio, they didn't do anything obvious like
hiring a drummer - instead, they added a third one man/woman band to the
proceedings. Dave Newhouse of the Muffins joined for a while, and subsequently the
third Skeleton was Zeena Parkins (News From Babel, Bjork and many other
collaborations) on harp, accordion, organ, vocals and more drums. The result was
another fine album of off kilter RIO songs and strangeness. The Country Of The Blinds is in the same style as Learn To Talk, but there are a number
of interesting contrasts. The expanded line up makes for a fuller sound, although things
are no smoother than previously; Fred Frith remains the principal vocalist, but there are
far more harmonies and shared vocals this time around; and the use of tapes has been
abandoned. Overall there seems to be less raw spontanaeity than on the previous
outing, but the material is stronger musically and lyrically. Fred Frith's guitar is less
prominent, but this album contains his best violin work since Art Bears' debut album.
Zeena Parkins adds some superb Sun Ra style organ to the proceedings, and her
electric harp is played off against the strings to superb effect. Tom Cora is as inventive
as ever on cello and bass, and also adds some demented accordion to the mix. The
drumming is as powerful and unpredictable as previously - on Man Or Monkey they
manage to sound like a RIO version of King Crimson's double trio line up with only half
the number of musicians. Other stand out tracks are The Border, an almost normal
song structure subverted by some impossible drumming and a brilliant call and
response vocal arrangement, and the comparatively lengthy You May Find A Bed,
where Fred Frith finally cuts loose with some lead guitar. The latter track also boasts
some wonderful lyrics with echoes of Robert Wyatt's Dada inspired ramblings - 'There
is no convenient time to break your leg' observes Fred Frith, and makes the same
comment about (among other things), starving, having a flat tyre and having a child.
Both Skeleton Crew albums contain some superb lyrics, but it is on Country Of The
Blinds that lyrics and music really complement each other to near perfection. The
instrumental interludes are also spellbinding; at times it seems impossible that three
human beings are producing this noise in real time, but live recordings show that they
could and did. Skeleton Crew broke up after this album, Fred Frith remarking that they were starting to
sound like a normal rock and roll band. This remark should be taken with a pinch of salt,
unless your defintion of normal rock and roll is The Magic Band and Pere Ubu, but there
is a grain of truth in it. While in many ways stronger than the debut album, Country of
the Blinds doesn't have quite the same manic energy and inventiveness as Learn To
Talk. It's still a brilliant slice of 80s RIO/Avant prog, however, and is strongly
recommended to lovers of the off beat and bizarre.
forum_posts.asp?TID=28343 - Report this review (#85194) | Posted Sunday, July 30, 2006, 16:52 EST
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Odd sounding, creative, forward thinking and yet simplistic at the same time, these two albums are to me an acquired taste and took time to get into but it's very worth while.
As a note, I absolutely love the song It's Fine. It's just addictive...
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Replies:
Posted By: Valdez
Date Posted: March 01 2009 at 19:27
I have learned over the last two or three years to trust Sean Tranes reviews, But I will have a listen to this band if I can find some samples anywhere. I like the offbeat and bizarre but am not a big fan of silly humor in music ala Beefheart or Zappa. I can take or leave the yuks. Country of the blinds may be my style according to these reviews.
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Posted By: Slartibartfast
Date Posted: March 01 2009 at 19:47
I just read Sean Trane's reviews for the first time and they are fair. These albumses aren't of universal appeal.
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Posted By: rileydog22
Date Posted: March 01 2009 at 21:17
Learn to Talk is excellent. I haven't gotten a chance to give Country of the Blinds a listen yet, but I imagine it's just as good. Listening to some live tapes I've found on the interwebs, it's absolutely incredible what they manage to pull off with just two people.
Come to think of it, the reason I might like this is because I'm a musician. To me, it's absolutely astounding to hear these guys playing guitar/cello/bass/keys/violin/whatever while singing and maintaining those complex, interlocking drum patterns between the two of them. The songs aren't bad, but I get a feeling that I might not bother with this stuff if it was four guys playing one instrument each.
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Posted By: The Hemulen
Date Posted: March 02 2009 at 15:43
Country of Blinds just nudges ahead for me, but I love both albums, really.
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