Prints (album)

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Prints
Studio album by Fred Frith
Released 2002 (2002)
Recorded 1987–2001
Genre
Length 41:36
Label Fred (UK)
Producer Fred Frith
Fred Frith chronology

Accidental
(2002)		 Prints
(2002)		 Rivers and Tides
(2003)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]

Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001 is a 2002 album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and his first album of songs since Cheap at Half the Price (1983). It comprises four tracks taken from previously released compilations that Frith had contributed to between 1987 and 1997, seven tracks that were "created spontaneously"[2] in the studio in 1997 and 2001, and one live guitar improvisation in 2001. The album was released on CD in 2002 on Fred Records and was the second release in Frith's archival release program on the record label.

Content

Compilation tracks

"Trains & Boats & Planes" and "The Ballad of Melody Nelson" are two cover songs Frith recorded for the Tzadik tribute CDs, Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (1997) and Great Jewish Music: Serge Gainsbourg (1997) respectively. "The Ballad of Melody Nelson (La Ballade de Melody Nelson)" is about Gainsbourg's fictional character, Melody Nelson, and is sung by Frith in the original French. "Life of a Detective" was recorded with the 5uu's in 1990 and appeared on Place of General Happiness (1993). "True Love" was recorded in 1987 and was released on a Shimmy Disc compilation, The 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love (1987).

Improvisations

The tracks "Stones", "Fingerprints", "Trocosi", "Levity", "I Want it to be Over" and "In the Winter of '64" were recorded for a WDR radio production by Alexander Schuhmacher in January 1997. Frith explained how the pieces were created:[2]

“ The aim of the program was to explore the nature of improvisation. I was supposed to create pieces spontaneously, using my choices from a long list of sampled fragments which I heard only after arriving in the studio. The texts were derived from whatever was in the newspapers on the day of the recording. All these songs were composed and constructed directly onto tape without preparation. ”

"Reduce Me" was recorded four years later using the same approach described above. "Spot" was a live guitar improvisation by Frith recorded in July 2001 where he used a live sampler to dynamically capture and loop guitar sounds (see Frith's equipment).

Track listing

  1. "Trains & Boats & Planes" (Bacharach, David) – 5:07
  2. "Stones" (Frith) – 2:02
  3. "Fingerprints" (Frith) – 3:50
  4. "Life of a Detective" (Frith, Brookings) – 3:13
  5. "The Ballad of Melody Nelson" (Gainsbourg) – 2:01
  6. "Trocosi" (Frith) – 4:36
  7. "Reduce Me" (Frith) – 5:48
  8. "Levity" (Frith) – 2:36
  9. "True Love" (Frith) – 2:56
  10. "I Want it to be Over" (Frith) – 3:01
  11. "Spot" (Frith) – 4:38
  12. "In the Winter of '64" (Frith) – 1:48

Track notes

  1. From Great Jewish Music: Burt Bacharach (1997, Tzadik)
  2. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997
    • Text: International Herald Tribune, 27/01/97, "Palestinian independence celebrations in Hebron"
    • Sample: "Ligueyou Ndeye" by Doudou N'Diaye Rose
  3. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997
  4. From Place of General Happiness (1993, Modern Variety Music)
    • Recorded at Triple Helix, Denver, Colorado, 1990 (engineer: Bob Drake)
  5. From Great Jewish Music: Serge Gainsbourg (1997, Tzadik)
  6. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997
    • Text: International Herald Tribune, 28/01/97, "Enslavement of women in Ghana"
    • Sample: "Where Do You Want to Go" by Kahil El'Zabar
  7. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, 2001
    • Text: The Guardian, July 2001, "Afghan woman returns home after ten years of exile"
  8. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997
  9. From The 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love (1987, Shimmy Disc)
  10. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997
    • Text: International Herald Tribune, 27/01/97, "Bill Clinton interviewed about Monica Lewinsky"
    • Samples: Escher-loop, broken glass
  11. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, July 2001
  12. Recorded at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, January 1997

Personnel

  • Fred Frith – all instruments (except those listed below), voice
  • Bernd "Lönsch" Lehmann (2,3) – clarinet, tenor saxophone
  • Mike Johnson (4) – principal voice
  • Dave Kerman (4) – backup voice
  • Sebastian Gramms (6) – acoustic bass
  • Alexandra Schulz (7) – additional voice
  • Sheena Dupuis (9) – backing vocal

Sound and artwork

  • Re-mixed, re-constructed and compiled at Jankowski Studio, Esslingen, Germany, by Peter Hardt and Fred Frith, July 2001
  • CD cover design by Tomas Kurth
  • Polaroid photograph by Heike Liss

References

  1. ↑ Couture, François. "Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001". AllMusic.com. Retrieved 2011-06-20. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Frith, Fred. Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001 CD liner notes.

External links

Fred Frith
Discography
Related articles
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