Fred Records

Fred Records
Parent company Recommended Records
Founded 2002
Founder Fred Frith
Distributor(s) RēR Megacorp (UK)
RēR USA (USA)
Locus Solus (Japan)
Genre Rock in Opposition
Avant-rock
Experimental music
Country of origin England
Location Thornton Heath, Surrey
Official website Fred Records

Fred Records is a British independent record label created in 2002 by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith to re-release his own back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material. It is an independent company working in co-operation with Chris Cutler and Recommended Records, utilising Recommended Records' distribution network.

Background

From the mid-1980s Fred Frith released much of his music (solo and in collaboration with other musicians) on the Swiss independent record label RecRec Music. However, the label went bankrupt in 1997 after its founder, Daniel Waldner died in a mountain climbing accident in 1995.[1] Under Swiss copyright law all the rights to Frith's music released by RecRec reverted to him, totalling 13 different titles. Having lost money in unpaid royalties, Frith wanted to re-release all the titles on a single label. In the early 2000s and with the help of Chris Cutler of Recommended Records, Frith set up his own label, Fred Records as an imprint of Recommended Records.[2][3]

The new label gave Frith an opportunity to re-issue material from his archives that would have been difficult to release elsewhere. Advances in technology also enabled Frith to remaster the original recordings and produce a sound much closer to what was originally intended. In addition, Frith has released previously unreleased material by himself and in collaboration with other musicians. To create a consistent image for the label as a whole, Frith has used the artist, Tomas Kurth to illustrate the CD covers, often incorporating elements of the original LP covers in the design.[2]

Tributaries

Currently the Fred Records catalogue is divided into three tributaries:

The catalogue numbers of each release includes one of these tributary codes. For example "RēR/FRA 02" reads: "Recommended Records / Fred Records Archive #2".

Releases

These are all the titles currently released on the Fred Records label.[4]

Year released Catalogue No. Artist Title
2002 RēR/FRO 01 Fred Frith Gravity
2002 RēR/FRA 01 Fred Frith Accidental
2002 RēR/FRO 02 Fred Frith Guitar Solos
2002 RēR/FRA 02 Fred Frith Prints
2003 RēR/FRA 03 Keep the Dog That House We Lived In
2003 RēR/FRO 03 Fred Frith Step Across the Border
2003 RēR/FRO 04 Fred Frith Speechless
2004 RēR/FRO 05 Fred Frith Middle of the Moment
2004 RēR/FRO 06 Fred Frith Cheap at Half the Price
2004 RēR/FRO 07 Fred Frith Allies
2005 RēR/FRO 8/9 Skeleton Crew Learn to Talk / Country of Blinds
2005 RēR/FRO 10 Massacre Killing Time
2006 RēR/FRFC 01 Fred Frith Impur
2006 RēR/FRA 05 Fred Frith The Happy End Problem
2008 RēR/FRO 11 Fred Frith The Technology of Tears
2008 RēR/FRA 06 Fred Frith & John Zorn The Art of Memory II
2009 RēR/FRFC 02 Fred Frith Impur II[5]
2009 RēR/FRA 07 Fred Frith Nowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air[6]
2010 RēR/FRO 12 Fred Frith Live in Japan[7]

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ "Recommended Records, Zürich (RecRec)". Border Music. Retrieved 2007-01-30.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Frith, Fred. "Fred Records". Fred Frith's homepage. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
  3. ↑ "Interview with Fred Frith". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 2006-02-15. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
  4. ↑ Frith, Fred. "Fred Records releases". Fred Frith's homepage. Retrieved 2007-01-25.
  5. ↑ "FRITH, FRED: Impur part II". ReR Megacorp. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  6. ↑ "FRITH, FRED: Nowhere . Sideshow . Thin Air". ReR Megacorp. Retrieved 2009-09-11.
  7. ↑ "FRITH, FRED: Live in Japan". ReR Megacorp. Retrieved 2010-10-13.

External links