Improvisers always end up playing with each other,and effortlessly turn out composed pieces to show that they can do it too, if they wanted.
Luckily for us ,'The Listening Public', Fred frith and Tom Cora decided to make us this Avant-pop classic.The virtuosity,the difficult ever changing time signatures,and mental ward vocals, do not distract from the greatness of this record.Like a cross between XTC and Egg, its the kind of prog-pop that could have hit some charts a few years earlier.
Tracklist:
1 Que Viva/Onwards And Upwards 7:37
2 The Way Things Fall (Back Apart) 2:36
3 Not My Shoes 2:14
4 The Washington Post 1:28
5 We're Still Free 4:16
6 Victoryville 2:43
2 The Way Things Fall (Back Apart) 2:36
3 Not My Shoes 2:14
4 The Washington Post 1:28
5 We're Still Free 4:16
6 Victoryville 2:43
7 Los Colitos/Life At The Top 4:35
8 Learn To Talk 3:40
9 Factory Song 5:13
10 It's Fine 4:22
11 Zach's Flag 3:10
8 Learn To Talk 3:40
9 Factory Song 5:13
10 It's Fine 4:22
11 Zach's Flag 3:10
12 Sick as a Parrot 2:58
13 Automatic Pilot 1:27
14 Hook 2:15
15 Killing Time 2:26
1 comment:
Beyond the simple fact that Frith and Cora enjoyed playing together, the point of Skeleton Crew was to see how full a sound two people could produce in concert. Frith swapping off guitar and violin, Cora sometimes abandoning cello for bass guitar, each with a Casio keyboard and a cassette player within easy reach to drop in extra sounds, as well as cymbals and drums (especially hi-hat and bass drum they could play with their feet). I saw them a couple times, both shows full of jaw-dropping frenzy and fun.
That's not what they did on this record, however. Instead, rather than capture the ragged edges of the live experience, they decided to overdub the difficult parts. There used to be bootlegs around to document how it worked in concert; I remember one where you can hear Frith inform the mixing engineer, "That should be in the direct line!"
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