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Fred Frith - The Technology Of Tears - And Other Music For Dance And Theatre CD (album) cover

THE TECHNOLOGY OF TEARS - AND OTHER MUSIC FOR DANCE AND THEATRE

Fred Frith

 

RIO/Avant-Prog

4.00 | 16 ratings

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Evolver
Special Collaborator
Crossover & JR/F/Canterbury Teams
4 stars I find this album, which consists of pieces commissioned for a few different dance companies, to be one of Fred Frith's most intriguing solo albums. The pieces were performed mostly in 1987 (one was in Boston, I wish I had known about it then), and all but one was written by Frith.

The title piece, taking up the entire first LP, consistes of three angular songs, featuring Frith along with John Zorn on sax, Tenko on voice, and Christan Marclay on turntables. These are quirky tracks, with blips and sounds coming together for some surprisingly coherent compositions.

The third album side is the best work. It has Frith playing most of the instruments on some splendid RIO tracks. He gets an assist from trombonist Jim Staley, but Frith's sharp guitar is the star of this side.

The last side is a series of fourteen tracks, written by Matthew Maguire, called Propaganda. These are some eerie sounding short pieces, made even weirder by noises and found recordings blended into the music. The problem with these is that they are so short that once you get the feel of what the music is doing, the song fades out.

On the whole, this is a fine Frith album (someone else must think so too, as my CD of this has disappeared from my collection).

Evolver | 4/5 |

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