The Art Box

Last updated

The Art Box
ArtBears AlbumCover ArtBox.jpg
Box set by
Released2004 (2004)
Recorded1978–1980, 1984,
1998–2003
Genre Avant-rock
Length281:33
Label Recommended (UK)
Producer Art Bears and others
Art Bears chronology
The World as It Is Today
(1981)
The Art Box
(2004)
Art Bears Revisited
(2004)
Art Bears Revisited
ArtBears AlbumCover Revisited.jpg
2xCD album containing Discs 4 and 5 of the box set.

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 2004 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the band's formation. [1] A double-CD entitled Art Bears Revisited containing Discs four and five of the box set was released later in 2004.

Contents

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.

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [1]
Pitchfork Media 9/10 [2]

Dave Lynch at AllMusic described Art Bears' music as "an adventurous mix of avant rock experimentalism, smatterings of noise and dissonance, British folk flavors, medieval imagery, and leftist, anti-corporate politics". [1] He said that The Art Box "is a comprehensive document of a band that represented what the best rock music should be: utterly uncompromising". [1] Dominique Leone wrote in Pitchfork Media that Art Bears made music "almost as ahead of the curve today as it did twenty years ago", and said that they deserve the "deluxe reissue treatment" of a 6-CD box set. [2] In a review at BBC Music, Peter Marsh wrote that Art Bears "recorded some of the most carefully crafted (and indeed timeless) music you're ever likely to hear". [3] He added that while he felt that many of the remixes "seem unnecessary at best", he liked the live tracks where Art Bears perform songs "never meant to be performed". [3] Marsh particularly liked Fred Frith's guitar solo on "Coda to Man and Boy". [3]

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

No.TitleArtistLength
1."On Suicide" (Brecht, Eisler) Henry Cow 1:26
2."The Dividing Line" (Cutler, Frith, Cooper)Henry Cow4:11
3."Joan" (Cutler, Frith)Henry Cow3:05
4."Maze" (Cutler, Frith)Henry Cow5:05
5."In Two Minds" (Cutler, Frith)Henry Cow8:45
6."Terrain" (Frith) Art Bears 3:49
7."The Tube" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears3:05
8."The Dance" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears5:09
9."The Pirate Song" (Cutler, Hodgkinson)Henry Cow1:28
10."Labyrinth" (Cutler, Hodgkinson)Henry Cow2:15
11."Riddle" (Cutler, Frith)Henry Cow2:49
12."Moeris Dancing" (Frith)Henry Cow5:08
13."Piers" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears2:10

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

All tracks composed by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."The Bath of Stars" Art Bears 1:45
2."First Things First"Art Bears2:50
3."Gold"Art Bears1:41
4."The Summer Wheel"Art Bears2:47
5."The Slave"Art Bears3:38
6."The Hermit"Art Bears2:59
7."Rats and Monkeys"Art Bears3:24
8."The Skeleton"Art Bears3:11
9."The Winter Wheel"Art Bears3:06
10."Man and Boy"Art Bears3:21
11."Winter/War"Art Bears3:05
12."Force"Art Bears0:54
13."Three Figures"Art Bears1:51
14."Three Wheels"Art Bears3:35

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

All tracks composed by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler.

No.TitleArtistLength
1."The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" Art Bears 2:38
2."Truth"Art Bears2:56
3."Freedom"Art Bears3:25
4."(Armed) Peace"Art Bears2:30
5."Civilisation"Art Bears4:52
6."Democracy"Art Bears2:22
7."The Song of the Martyrs"Art Bears4:09
8."Law"Art Bears0:51
9."The Song of the Monopolists"Art Bears1:48
10."The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital"Art Bears2:27
11."Albion, Awake!"Art Bears4:08

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

No.TitleArtistLength
1."The Violin in Winter" Jon Rose 3:49
2."Tranne Lacrimae (Bar Tears)"Ossatura4:12
3."On Suicide" Otomo Yoshihide/Ground Zero 5:49
4."Artico & Baci"Massimo Simonini3:37
5."The Tube" When/Lars Pedersen2:44
6."Rats and Monkeys Remix" Warrick Sony/Kalahari Surfers/DJ Ballard3:15
7."Time/Bye" John Oswald 5:01
8."Three Bears Room" Chris Cutler 4:49
9."The World as it Hopes in Winter" Roberto Musci/Giovanni Venosta/Massimo Mariani3:55
10."The Bath of Stars"/"The Skeleton" The Residents 4:51
11."Tokusa-No-Kandakara (91 Pieces Of 'C')"Yasushi Utsunomiya3:02
12."The Skeleton"Herb Heinz2:59
13."Long Winter"Martin Archer5:03
14."Winter/War/Force" Jon Leidecker/Wobbly 4:09
15."Everything Again" Fred Frith 4:14
16."Coquelicot"Jocelyn Robert7:17
17."Collapse" (Cutler, Frith) Art Bears 4:51
18."All Hail" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears4:08

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

No.TitleArtistLength
1."Armed Peace Remix" Roger Kleier 2:36
2."Song of the Monopolists" Bob Drake 1:16
3."The Three Wheels Remix" Andrea Rocca 2:45
4."Gold"Vitor Rua1:27
5."The Fourth Wheel"Brian Woodbury4:10
6."The Three Figures" Chris Cutler 1:06
7."First Things First : The Mix That Should Not Be"Bob Drake2:56
8."Monopolists Democracy"Stevan Tickmayer4:24
9."All is Encompassed in the Night (part 1)" Annie Gosfield 1:35
10."All is Encompassed in the Night (part 2)"Annie Gosfield1:35
11."All is Encompassed in the Night (part 3)"Annie Gosfield1:37
12."The Summer Mix (part 1)" Biota 4:08
13."The Summer Mix (part 2)"Biota2:47
14."The Summer Mix (part 3)"Biota4:10
15."The Summer Mix (part 4)"Biota3:09
16."Democracy Remix"Thomas Dimuzio4:26
17."Some Truth" Christian Marclay 4:51
18."Carved in Stone (Rebirth)" (Cutler, Frith) Art Bears 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

No.TitleArtistLength
1."And the Comedy Bears" Bob Drake 0:42
2."The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" (Cutler, Frith) Duck and Cover 3:42
3."Summer/Freedom" John Oswald 2:48
4."The Riddle" (Cutler, Frith) Art Bears 2:21
5."First Things First" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears1:55
6."March From the Dance" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears1:05
7."The Hermit" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears2:47
8."The Winter Mix" Biota 4:35
9."Wheels" Fred Frith 3:12
10."Tokusa-No-Kandakara II"Yasushi Utsunomiya3:37
11."Coda to Man and Boy" (Cutler, Frith)Art Bears7:17

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. 1 2 3 4 Lynch, Dave. "The Art Box". AllMusic . Retrieved 21 June 2011.
  2. 1 2 Leone, Dominique (22 March 2004). "Art Box". Pitchfork Media . Retrieved 21 July 2025.
  3. 1 2 3 Marsh, Peter (27 January 2004). "Art Bears, The Art Box". BBC Music. Archived from the original on 14 January 2009. Retrieved 5 June 2015.