With Friends Like These (album)

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With Friends Like These
Frith&Kaiser AlbumCover WithFriendsLikeThese.jpg
Studio album by
Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser
Released1979 (1979)
RecordedJuly 8, 11 and 17, 1979
StudioMobius Music, San Francisco
Genre Experimental music, free improvisation, noise
Length42:10
Label Metalanguage (US)
Producer Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser
Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser chronology
With Friends Like These
(1979)		 Who Needs Enemies?
(1983)
Fred Frith chronology
Guitar Solos
(1974)		With Friends Like These
(1979)		 Gravity
(1980)

With Friends Like These is a 1979 studio album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser. It was recorded in July 1979, and was released on LP by Metalanguage Records later that year. It was Frith and Kaiser's first collaborative album, and was followed in 1983 by Who Needs Enemies?

Contents

In 1987 SST Records released With Enemies Like These, Who Needs Friends?, a CD with five tracks from With Friends Like These, seven tracks from Who Needs Enemies?, and four additional tracks from an unreleased live album by Frith and Kaiser. In 1999 Cuneiform Records released Friends & Enemies , a double-CD containing all the tracks from With Friends Like These and Who Needs Enemies?, plus unreleased live and studio material. [1]

Background

Frith and Kaiser began working together when English avant-rock group Henry Cow, with whom Frith played guitar, lost their bass player. Frith decided to switch to bass guitar and recruited Kaiser to play guitar for the band. [2] [3] While Kaiser never joined the band permanently, he played guitar at several of their European concerts. [4] Frith and Kaiser's work together resulted in a partnership that gave rise to two collaborative albums, With Friends Like These and Who Needs Enemies? , [3] and several concert performances. [5] [1]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [6]

In a review in AllMusic, Dean McFarlane called With Friends Like These "[a]n extraordinary collaboration between two of avant-garde's most respected guitarists". [6] He described much of the album as "chaotic experimental noise", but added that "traditional virtuosity" also features prominently. [6] McFarlane concluded that With Friends Like These showcases some of Frith and Kaiser's "most striking performances", and demands repeated listening, which, he said, is unusual for this type of music. [6]

Also writing in AllMusic, Rick Anderson described With Friends Like These as "one of the defining documents of the downtown avant-garde scene". [5] He said Frith and Kaiser's improvised duets "essentially redefined the sound of the guitar". [5]

Track listing

All music by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."It Moves ..."2:00
2."The Changing of Names"5:45
3."It Sings"5:40
4."Believing What We Read"3:00
5."...But Does It Swing?"3:30
Side B
No.TitleLength
6."Twisted Memories Give Way to the Angry Present"3:50
7."Black Glass"5:30
8."Third Rail"3:25
9."Three Languages"9:30

Tracks 2, 6 and 7 are guitar duets recorded with no overdubbing.

Sources: Liner notes, [7] Discogs, [8] Fred Frith discography. [1]

Personnel

Sources: Liner notes, [7] Discogs, [8] Fred Frith discography. [1]

Sound

Sources: Liner notes, [7] Discogs, [8] Fred Frith discography. [1]

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<i>The Stone: Issue Two</i> Album by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler

The Stone: Issue Two is a 2007 live album of improvised experimental music by Fred Frith and Chris Cutler. It was recorded at The Stone in New York City on 15 December 2006 and was one of four CDs released between 2006 and 2010 by Tzadik Records to raise funds for The Stone. It was Frith and Cutler's fourth collaborative album.

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Live in Prague and Washington is a 1983 live album of improvised experimental music by Chris Cutler and Fred Frith. It was recorded at the 8th Prague "Jazz Days" Festival in Prague in former Czechoslovakia on 25 May 1979, and at the DC Space in Washington, D.C. on 20 December 1979. The album was released by Recommended Records in 1983 on a 45 rpm 12" LP. It was Frith and Cutler's first collaborative album.

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Who Needs Enemies? is a 1983 studio album of improvised experimental music by Henry Kaiser and Fred Frith. It was recorded in October 1983, and was released on LP by Metalanguage Records later that year. It was Kaiser and Frith's second collaborative album, following on from their first, With Friends Like These in 1979.

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Friends & Enemies is a 1999 double-CD compilation album of studio and live material by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser. It contains the complete collaborative recordings of Frith and Kaiser from 1979 to 1999, namely their two studio albums With Friends Like These (1979) and Who Needs Enemies? (1983), an unreleased live album recorded in 1984, and new studio tracks recorded in 1999. The album was released by Cuneiform Records in June 1999.

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Fear No Love is the fourth studio album by Bob Ostertag, released on February 18, 1995 by Avant Records. The album's concept deals with the phobias surrounding queer love including fear of intimacy, fear of gender, fear of stereotypes, fear of AIDS, fear of rejection and fear of fear.

<i>Still Urban</i> 2009 studio album by Fred Frith and ARTE Quartett

Still Urban is a 2009 avant-garde jazz studio album by English guitarist and composer Fred Frith and the Swiss-based ARTE Quartett. It was recorded in January 2008 at Swiss Radio DRS2 in Zürich, Switzerland, and was released in 2009 by Intakt Records, together with Frith and the ARTE Quartett's second collaborative album, The Big Picture, which was also recorded in January 2008 at Swiss Radio DRS2.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Ramond, Michel; Roussel, Patrice; Vuilleumier, Stephane. "Discography of Fred Frith". New York Downtown Scene and Other Miscellaneous Discographies. Archived from the original on June 19, 2019. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  2. ↑ Sherman, Lee (September 30, 1983). "Henry Breaks the Rules". Santa Cruz Sentinel . p. 61. Retrieved May 31, 2018– via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  3. 1 2 Sherman, Lee (February 10, 1984). "Musical Surprise". Santa Cruz Sentinel . p. 51. Retrieved May 31, 2018– via Newspapers.com. Lock-green.svg
  4. ↑ "Henry Cow Chronology". Calyx: The Canterbury Music Website. Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  5. 1 2 3 Anderson, Rick. "Friends & Enemies". AllMusic . Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  6. 1 2 3 4 McFarlane, Dean. "With Friends Like These". AllMusic . Retrieved May 31, 2018.
  7. 1 2 3 Metalanguage Records (1979). With Friends Like These (LP liner notes). Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser.
  8. 1 2 3 "Fred Frith / Henry Kaiser – With Friends Like These". Discogs . Retrieved May 31, 2018.
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