Middle of the Moment | ||||
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Soundtrack album by | ||||
Released | 1995 | |||
Recorded | Early 1990s, North Africa and Europe | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 60:40 | |||
Label | RecRec (Switzerland) | |||
Producer | Fred Frith | |||
Fred Frith chronology | ||||
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Music for Film series chronology | ||||
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Middle of the Moment is a soundtrack by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1995 documentary film, Middle of the Moment by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel.
The film was made over a period of three years in the early 1990s, following the tuareg in North Africa and an avant garde circus troupe, Cirque O in Europe. The music comprises Frith compositions and sound collages drawn from field recordings of ambient sounds, conversations and indigenous music.
Frith describes how he created the soundtrack: [1]
I 'travelled' through this material, formed my impressions, and created a 'sound-movie' from them, using a process analogous to that of editing a film ... My idea is more to create a parallel narrative, free to draw on music that wasn't in the film but was part of the process of making it.
Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [2] |
In a review of Middle of the Moment in AllMusic, Brian Olewnick said the predominance of found sounds recorded during the making of the film makes this "[m]ore of a real soundtrack" than usual. [2] He stated that the way Frith merges these natural sounds with his own music, which vary from "drawn-out, evocative guitar plaints to jaunty, acerbic accordion dances", works well. [2] Olewnick added that Middle of the Moment "fits in comfortably with many of [Frith's] mature works", like his Pacifica (1998). [2]
Writing in The Wire . Clive Bell also felt that Middle of the Moment is not a "conventional" soundtrack. [3] He stated that the ambient sounds recorded during the making of the film blend seamlessly into the music, adding that he liked Frith's former Henry Cow band mate Tim Hodgkinson's "luxuriously squealing clarinet", and the way it "collapses into the sound of Tuareg women drumming, whooping and chasing each other." [3]
All music is composed by Fred Frith
No. | Title | Length |
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1. | "Le Jour Se Leve" | 6:26 |
2. | "Moving" | 3:55 |
3. | "Digging For Water" | 2:34 |
4. | "Portrait I" / "Tam-Tam in Timia" | 3:28 |
5. | "Le Cirque" | 7:10 |
6. | "Robert Lax Is" | 0:58 |
7. | "Gnawa Express Tanger" | 3:01 |
8. | "Bell Song" | 2:37 |
9. | "Portrait II" | 1:44 |
10. | "Ghost Stories" | 6:50 |
11. | "Portes Ouvertes" | 3:43 |
12. | "Le Cirque-Oh!" / "Ghost Dance" / "Portrait III" | 10:43 |
13. | "Le Jour S'Arrache" | 2:59 |
14. | "Middle of the Moment (title theme)" | 4:32 |
Total length: | 1:00:40 |
Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as a founding member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. He was also a member of the groups Art Bears, Massacre, and Skeleton Crew. He has collaborated with a number of prominent musicians, including Robert Wyatt, Derek Bailey, the Residents, Lol Coxhill, John Zorn, Brian Eno, Mike Patton, Lars Hollmer, Bill Laswell, Iva Bittová, Jad Fair, Kramer, the ARTE Quartett, and Bob Ostertag. He has also composed several long works, including Traffic Continues and Freedom in Fragments. Frith produces most of his own music, and has also produced many albums by other musicians, including Curlew, the Muffins, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Orthotonics.
Skeleton Crew was an American experimental rock and jazz group from 1982 to 1986, comprising core members Fred Frith and Tom Cora, with Zeena Parkins joining later. Best known for their live improvisation performances where they played various instruments simultaneously, they also recorded two studio albums Learn to Talk (1984) and The Country of Blinds (1986). The group drew on music and themes from a number of sources, including world music, left-wing politics and pre-recorded tapes.
Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and (briefly) Gong/Mothergong. He has collaborated with many musicians and groups, including Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins, Peter Blegvad, Telectu and The Residents, and has appeared on over 100 recordings. Cutler's career spans over four decades and he still performs actively throughout the world.
Timothy "Tim" George Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds, lap steel guitar, and keyboards. He first became known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968. After the demise of Henry Cow, he participated in numerous bands and projects, eventually concentrating on composing contemporary music and performing as an improviser.
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Step Across the Border is a soundtrack double album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1990 avant-garde documentary film on Frith, Step Across the Border. The album features music from the film performed by Frith and other musicians, and covers ten years of Frith's musical career from 1979 to 1989.
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Eye to Ear II is a studio album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It is a collection of film music composed and performed by Frith, and is the second of three Eye to Ear albums dedicated to his work for short films. It was recorded in Germany and the United States between 1997 and 2003.
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The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box is a three-CD limited-edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in 1991 by Recommended Records and East Side Digital Records, and contains three albums Henry Cow made for Virgin Records between 1973 and 1975: Legend, Unrest and In Praise of Learning. Included in the box set is a 24-page souvenir booklet and a Henry Cow fold-out family tree.
Rebecca Saunders is a London-born composer who lives and works freelance in Berlin. In a 2017 Classic Voice poll of the greatest works of art music since 2000, Saunders' compositions received the third highest total number of votes (30), surpassed only by the works of Georg Friedrich Haas (49) and Simon Steen-Andersen (35). In 2019, writers of The Guardian ranked Skin (2016) the 16th greatest work of art music since 2000, with Tom Service writing that "Saunders burrows into the interior world of the instruments, and inside the grain of Fraser's voice [...] and finds a revelatory world of heightened feeling."
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Free Dirt (Live) is a live double-CD album by American experimental rock and jazz band Skeleton Crew. It is their first live album and was released posthumously in December 2021 by Austrian record label, Klanggalerie. It comprises live material by the group recorded at eight venues in Europe, Canada and the United States between 1982 and 1986. Both CDs feature Fred Frith and Tom Cora, with Dave Newhouse on eight tracks on the first CD, and Zeena Parkins on thirteen tracks on the second CD.
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