The Art Box

The Art Box
Box set by Art Bears
Released 2003
Recorded 1978–1980, 1984,
1998–2003
Genre Avant-rock
Length 281:33
Label Recommended (UK)
Producer Art Bears and others
Art Bears chronology

The World as It Is Today
(1981)		 The Art Box
(2003)		 Art Bears Revisited
(2004)
Art Bears Revisited
2xCD album containing Discs 4 and 5 of the box set.
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [1]
Pitchfork Media 9/10[2]

The Art Box is a six-CD box set by English avant-rock group Art Bears. It contains all Art Bears album and single releases, plus new material, including live and unreleased Art Bears tracks, and unreleased remixes and reworkings of Art Bears material by other musicians. The box set also contains a book of photographs, artwork, articles, interviews and commentary on the CD tracks, the work process, the band and their tour of Europe in 1979. The Art Bears material was recorded between 1978 and 1980, while the work by other musicians was recorded between 1998 and 2003. The box set was released in 2003. A double-CD entitled Art Bears Revisited containing Discs four and five of the box set was released in 2004.

Discs one, two and three are remastered versions (by Bob Drake) of the first three Art Bears albums, Hopes and Fears (1978), Winter Songs (1979) and The World as It Is Today (1981). Discs four and five, entitled Art Bears Revisited, contain remixed and reworked Art Bears pieces by various musicians, plus two Art Bears singles and an unreleased Art Bears track. Disc six contains more remixed and reworked Art Bears pieces by various musicians, including a 1984 cover of "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" by Duck and Cover, plus five live Art Bears tracks, four of which were never officially released before.

Art Bears personnel

Disc 1: Hopes and Fears

Contains all the tracks from the original release of the first Art Bears album, Hopes and Fears (1978)

Track list

  1. "On Suicide" (Brecht, Eisler) – 1:27
  2. "The Dividing Line" (Cutler, Frith, Cooper) – 4:11
  3. "Joan" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:06
  4. "Maze" (Cutler, Frith) – 5:06
  5. "In Two Minds" (Cutler, Frith) – 8:58
  6. "Terrain" (Frith) – 3:49
  7. "The Tube" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:05
  8. "The Dance" (Cutler, Frith) – 5:09
  9. "The Pirate Song" (Cutler, Hodgkinson) – 1:28
  10. "Labyrinth" (Cutler, Hodgkinson) – 2:15
  11. "Riddle" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:49
  12. "Moeris Dancing" (Frith) – 5:15
  13. "Piers" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:12

Additional personnel

Recording information

Disc 2: Winter Songs

Contains all the tracks from the original release of the second Art Bears album, Winter Songs (1979)

Track list

  1. "The Bath of Stars" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:45
  2. "First Things First" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:50
  3. "Gold" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:41
  4. "The Summer Wheel" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:47
  5. "The Slave" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:38
  6. "The Hermit" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:59
  7. "Rats and Monkeys" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:24
  8. "The Skeleton" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:11
  9. "The Winter Wheel" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:06
  10. "Man and Boy" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:21
  11. "Winter/War" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:05
  12. "Force" (Cutler, Frith) – 0:54
  13. "3 Figures" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:51
  14. "3 Wheels" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:35

Recording information

Disc 3: The World as It Is Today

Contains all the tracks from the original release of the third Art Bears album, The World as It Is Today (1981)

Track list

  1. "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" (Frith, Cutler) – 2:38
  2. "Truth" (Frith, Cutler) – 2:56
  3. "Freedom" (Frith, Cutler) – 3:25
  4. "(Armed) Peace" (Frith, Cutler) – 2:30
  5. "Civilisation" (Frith, Cutler) – 4:52
  6. "Democracy" (Frith, Cutler) – 2:22
  7. "The Song of the Martyrs" (Frith, Cutler) – 4:09
  8. "Law" (Frith, Cutler) – 0:51
  9. "The Song of the Monopolists" (Frith, Cutler) – 1:48
  10. "The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital" (Frith, Cutler) – 2:27
  11. "Albion, Awake!" (Frith, Cutler) – 4:08

Recording information

Disc 4: Art Bears Revisited disc 1

Contains remixed and reworked Art Bears pieces by various musicians, plus two Art Bears singles (tracks 17-18)

Track list

  1. Jon Rose: "The Violin in Winter" – 3:49
  2. Ossatura: "Tranne Lacrimae (Bar Tears)" – 4:12
  3. Otomo Yoshihide/Ground Zero: "On Suicide" – 5:49
  4. Massimo Simonini: "Artico & Baci" – 3:37
  5. When/Lars Pedersen: "The Tube" – 2:44
  6. Warrick Sony/Kalahari Surfers/DJ Ballard: "Rats and Monkeys Remix" – 3:15
  7. John Oswald: "Time/Bye" – 5:01
  8. Chris Cutler: "Three Bears Room" – 4:49
  9. Roberto Musci/Giovanni Venosta/Massimo Mariani: "The World as it Hopes in Winter" – 3:55
  10. The Residents: "The Bath of Stars"/"The Skeleton" – 4:51
  11. Yasushi Utsunomiya: "Tokusa-No-Kandakara (91 Pieces Of 'C')" – 3:02
  12. Herb Heinz: "The Skeleton" – 2:59
  13. Martin Archer: "Long Winter" – 5:03
  14. Jon Leidecker/Wobbly: "Winter/War/Force" – 4:09
  15. Fred Frith: "Everything Again" – 4:14
  16. Jocelyn Robert: "Coquelicot" – 7:17
  17. Art Bears: "Collapse" (Cutler, Frith) – 4:51
  18. Art Bears: "All Hail" (Cutler, Frith) – 4:08

Additional personnel

Recording information

Disc 5: Art Bears Revisited disc 2

Contains remixed and reworked Art Bears pieces by various musicians, plus an unfinished Art Bears piece, completed for the box set (track 18)

Track list

  1. Roger Kleier: "Armed Peace Remix" – 2:36
  2. Bob Drake: "Song of the Monopolists" – 1:16
  3. Andrea Rocca: "The Three Wheels Remix" – 2:45
  4. Vitor Rua: "Gold" – 1:27
  5. Brian Woodbury: "The Fourth Wheel" – 4:10
  6. Chris Cutler: "The Three Figures" – 1:06
  7. Bob Drake: "First Things First : The Mix That Should Not Be" – 2:56
  8. Stevan Tickmayer: "Monopolists Democracy" – 4:24
  9. Annie Gosfield: "All is Encompassed in the Night (part 1)" – 1:35
  10. Annie Gosfield: "All is Encompassed in the Night (part 2)" – 1:35
  11. Annie Gosfield: "All is Encompassed in the Night (part 3)" – 1:37
  12. Biota: "The Summer Mix (part 1)" – 4:08
  13. Biota: "The Summer Mix (part 2)" – 2:47
  14. Biota: "The Summer Mix (part 3)" – 4:10
  15. Biota: "The Summer Mix (part 3)" – 3:09
  16. Thomas Dimuzio: "Democracy Remix" – 4:26
  17. Christian Marclay: "Some Truth" – 4:51
  18. Art Bears: "Carved in Stone (Rebirth)" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:46

Additional personnel

Recording information

Disc 6: Free Box CD

Contains remixed and reworked Art Bears pieces by various musicians, plus five live Art Bears pieces (tracks 4-7,11)

Track list

  1. Bob Drake: "And the Comedy Bears" – 0:42
  2. Duck and Cover: "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" (Cutler, Frith) – 3:42
  3. John Oswald: "Summer/Freedom" – 2:48
  4. Art Bears: "The Riddle" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:21
  5. Art Bears: "First Things First" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:55
  6. Art Bears: "March From the Dance" (Cutler, Frith) – 1:05
  7. Art Bears: "The Hermit" (Cutler, Frith) – 2:47
  8. Biota: "The Winter Mix" – 4:35
  9. Fred Frith: "Wheels" – 3:12
  10. Yasushi Utsunomiya: "Tokusa-No-Kandakara II" – 3:37
  11. Art Bears: "Coda to Man and Boy" (Cutler, Frith) – 7:17

Additional personnel

Recording information

Art Bears Revisited

Discs 4 and 5 above were also released in 2004 on a double-CD entitled Art Bears Revisited.

References

  1. ↑ Lynch, Dave. "The Art Box". Allmusic. Retrieved 2011-06-21.
  2. ↑ Leone, Dominique. "Art Box". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 2012-07-23.

External links