Fred Frith - Gravity (1980) [Full Album]

[@kraftyhandz]

Spring Any Day Now fills me with so much (healthy) envy as a musician and guitarist. One of the most complicated/interesting compositions in my opinion. It’s so beautiful. Ugh.

[@teddydog6229]

I bought this because one day a lifetime or two ago I saw this album called Third Reich and Roll by the Residents at this record store chain (if you can imagine such a thing) called Strawberries. If you've seen the cover you'd know why a slightly unhinged 13 year old who'd only just discovered the Sex Pistols had to have it. Anyway the music within transformed my perceptions of life, the world and everything in it beyond recognition. As the 'Hey Jude/Sympathy for the Devil' portion of Hitler Was A Vegetarian faded out I was not the same person I was when 'Swastikas on Parade' began. What's this got to do with Fred Frith ? Well not a whole f--k of a lot honestly. Except that the Residents album inner sleeve informed me they were on Ralph Records and that some other musical terrorists were as well and I had to have them ALL ! Like immediately or sooner. So back to Strawberries I went -God knows where I got the money back then - and came out with a weighty bag of Residents, Snakefinger, MX-80 Sound, Tuxedomoon and this little number here by Fred Frith. Have you ever listened to an album so often that it almost becomes a part of you somehow ? And no matter how many times you listen it never gets tired and stale ? I won't lie, every album I bought that day was a five star A plus stone classic. Each one a revolution on wax. Don't even get me started on the consequences of my hearing a group named Chrome on a compilation called Subterranean Modern. Truly was a time of wonder when you'd hear music and wonder how is this possible ? Wha..who..why ? A wonderous beffudlement I'd call it. The only cure was to play those albums again and again and again until I either understood or was infected. Either way it was dive in and don't come back up until you have an eyeball for a head, metaphorically speaking. But in that jungle of the weird and wonderful 'Gravity' shines brightest of all. One of the greatest goddamn record ever made by anyone ever full stop. And Half Machine Lip Moves by Chrome but that's an entirely different and equally dull story. I thank you all for your attention and patience.

[@gabrielgolden4336]

When I was a teenager in the 1980s I came to this by way of the Residents and Ralph Records It's s still one of my favorite albums of all time.

[@ericarmstrong6540]

Love this record. During the summer of 1982 Gravity, along with Peter Gabriel's 4th album and King Crimson's "Beat" were my sound track for daily living.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

On cassette?

[@ericarmstrong6540]

@@incumbentvinyl9291 Yes, I made my own cassettes from vinyl records of these and other artists and played them in the car while driving.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

@@ericarmstrong6540 Here is your medal. No pun intended =:)

[@Unreissued]

thats some good fukkin taste m8 love it

[@avi_s0ncin0]

All amazing albums

[@川口健太郎-m5e]

坂本龍一がYMO時代に、これを推奨していた クラシック音楽の現代音楽とアバンギャルドロックがブレンドされた名品 中学生で渋谷の輸入レコード店で購入 生意気な中学２年生だったらしい

[@goofmuffin]

just the right mix of unpredicatability and structure for me! and especially fitting for such a lovely spring day

[@dsweedler]

It's like an ethnomusicoligist did field recordings in an eastern land that only exists in Fred's imagination

[@davidprime6080]

Or perhaps in one of Calvino's Invisible Cities...

[@shuggiemainlander4109]

A methnomusicologist unwittingly happens upon a most strange salvation amidst a newfound hope and terror made up of instances of jouissance and a dark, convulsing sobriety which only may be summoned unsuspectingly. All happening inside of a funhouse mirror tunnel - each reflection bearing and hiding the countenance of a Soundcloud rapper from an international future that hearkens back to the imaginatorial ruin-excavation Frithian anthropologists discovered upon the release of this record some 900,000 years ago.

[@askteriskc4957]

In fact, back in the eighties, he performed in a music space called "Soundscape", which was owned and operated by an ethnomusicologist. :)

[@flip65515]

@@tth547 Some of it is reminiscent of early to mid 70's King Crimson. Henry Cow opened for KC a lot in the UK. It also has its moments of Frank and the Mothers, who Henry Cow also toured with

[@postatility9703]

First listening:Confusion Second listening:Hmmmm....Third listening:A Masterpiece of every sound cuisine possible.!

[@ask-televisionmartingremme9253]

What I dont´t like: If I give this kinda music to friends and they listen barely 5 seconds and say "don´t like" What I like: If I listen these ways of composements concentrated and for a while. Then and all of a sudden it pops into sense. I love it. Back in 1985 I was sitting with friends and did not understand a thing about this kinda music. After a few days listening I found the entrance. So it became one more important platform in my music listening life.

[@tonymostromable]

nice...sounds like me and Trout Mask at age 15.

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

@@tonymostromable Replicate my Bass to Mouth.

[@mikeandrews2217]

The term "Found a entrance " is brilliant-we have so many smart brain cells and bits and pieces of this and that, that our brain makes a "bridge equation'" and we're in n new elliptical things.

[@teddydog6229]

This has got to be the ultimate curse of the short attention span. While the rational part of me wants to say that's fine, we all have different tastes, if someone tells me they don't like the Beatles or Stones or the Residents or Fred Frith it thinks 'Yeah I don't think me and you are going to be friends'. It's asinine and maybe demonstrably untrue but I sincerely believe there are objectively good and bad opinions. And this person you're describing plainly isn't even trying. Admittedly 'Gravity' knocked me flat on my ass the first time I heard it and here it is 40 or 50 or God knows how many years it's been and I am still getting full musical nutrition from this album and hearing it in new ways. You probably know the old proverb about how a river never looks the same twice. Gravity never sounds the same twice. That anyone can actually dismiss this in one minute makes me think we live in truly blighted times. We used to have words for people like that. Ignoramus. Philistine. Now it's 'most people'.. Stop the world I wanna get off.

[@thomasmcevoy6362]

I can't take my ears off this.

[@waltersmetak]

One of the unsung heroes of our times. Got to love Fred!

[@Darrylizer1]

Still one of my favorite albums in every genre.

[@ottomatic8080]

Darrylizer1 this is my favourite drill album

[@madberlin]

Artwork made by the great Alfie Benge, wife of Robert Wyatt

[@hassanas-sabbagh6562]

A Marc Chagall tribute.

[@teddydog6229]

That is nice to know. Robert Wyatt is to the voice what Frith is to the guitar. I have to reconfigure my mind each time I hear them. Even though it's a Fred Frith album it has that freewheeling Robert Wyatt style. Fred, Alfie and Robert have built my particular musical experience. When you branch out from what just these precious people an entire universe of music and art explodes everywhere. When I try to take in just how influential this tiny community has been, it's staggering. In case a poor lost soul is looking Bandcamp has Hugh Hopper's 1984 at a digestible price Also I would like to say this is my favorite version of 'Dancing in the Streets' but it's not. That has to go to Ray Davies and his melancholic version with the Kinks but Fred's take on it is brilliant. Once there was this vortex of Henry Cow and Soft Machine that eventually blew up and made music unrecognizable. I doubt Alfie is retired but hope Robert gets true happiness from his. As for Fred please check out his (and Ikue Mori's) 'Death Ambient' for a truly definitive statement on the genre.

[@iwanwirawan7901]

This music is timeless, still give me the same excitation the first time I heard it more than twenty years ago. I was fortunate to have attend two Fred Firth performance in Paris.

[@juriseksteins9379]

Привет из Риги. Пластинка, сейчас, слушается с большим кайфам. Тогда мы выбирали, что слушать. Шедевр. Не помню , это был один винил ЛП или это был двойник.

[@pomodoroxnanoquip]

First there was speechless which still is the best for me out of this trilogy - one side of the lp with musicians of etron fou le loublain, crazy amazing - a superblast and outstanding of everything around at the time and before, even of aksak mabouls - un peu de l'ame de bandit album ... and then came gravity, oh wow, thank you! ... some of the loveliest years in my music listening life and i am not disappointed at all hearing that now again 40 years later. it's still as unique and marvellous as ever - of course the mixing and recording sounds 1980. definately 2 albums to take with on an island and not regret it later.

[@eldritchcroon]

Gravity was before Speechless.

[@lemokolyon]

Very good. Sometime it makes me think of Etron Fou Leloublan. Very good album, thanks.

[@teddydog6229]

I never would have heard of Etron Fou Loublan if they hadn't been recommended to me by someone. You know who ? Fred Frith ! Seriously!

[@philippecirse4872]

Perfect songs to read the subjective forms of the clouds and to follow with a tender eye the grooves of the stems of the trees; appreciate the complex writing of the nested branches, taste the colors of the decomposition of light into water droplets in a garden, and strongly feel the wet soil of ancestral forest to perceive the traces of animals from deep past 🤪

[@teddydog6229]

Yes but what does it MEAN ?? I'm just kidding. It means what you hear and that'd what you heard. That's some good listening you did !

[@philippecirse4872]

@@teddydog6229 Yes, I am very sensitive to this artist like some others and these melodies please my ear because I am a musician myself kzbin.info/door/mZIhyXDlDLe2oB_pmbFkmA 🤠

[@avi_s0ncin0]

If any Frith fans out here enjoy this album, you will fall in love with Zamla Mammas Manna’s album “Familjesprickor”. Zamla is Frith’s backing band on most of the album, and the music is quite similar to some of the songs on here.

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

I've never fallen in love with an album that fast when it comes to Fred Frith's Gravity, discounting the bonus tracks, which are great in its own field.

[@davidryan7386]

have you heard henry cow' red sock album yet? It was faster than frith's gravity and speechless for me.

[@TheVeryBlondeOne]

@@davidryan7386 You mean In Praise of Learning? Yes, I did. I second your opinion on it; Beautiful as the Moon is by far a strong track as well as the Long March which resembles as if it was industrial music. Living in the Heart of the Beast just left me in awe with the strong lyrics and shifts of musical keys that may seem unprecedented in an avant-garde classical rock arrangement. A fresh album. Including Slapp Happy's albums, I've pretty much listened to Leg End, Unrest and that - I've yet to take steps into listening to Western Culture and their live concert recordings in its entirety and I might do that some day.

[@mellotrongirl]

I'd love to throw this on during a party at my place. Someone could bring over some early Steve Fisk cassettes, someone else could come in with some Matching Mole, and oh, how 'bout some Kramer, Social Climbers, Renaldo & The Loaf, Kamikaze Ground Crew, Jandek, and Eric Livgren??

[@Rshields388]

Jeni Kaybee I’ll bring over early b holes, residents, Captain Beefheart.

[@christopherfreed4966]

what, no Snakefinger?!

[@alcoholya]

I'll bring some Jackson C. Frank, to kill the mood, whatever the mood may be..

[@ceef8688]

33,033 Crossdressers from the Rig Veda by Sun City Girls... whew. Tough masterpiece

[@JohnReinschmidt]

Maybe a little Daniel Johnston, Kew.Rhone, Half Japanese, Jad Fair, Savage Aural Hotbed, Scott Johnson's "John Somebody", some Chrome, Pere Ubu, James Chance, Tuxedomoon, Residents...fun party

[@georgehenry8391]

Thanks for putting this on KZbin. The CD got stolen out of my truck in the summer of 2001. And now I can listen to it again.

[@darwinblinks]

This album just listened to me.

[@teddydog6229]

That sentence just brutally kicked the ass of the 20 paragraph essay I just submitted. Precisely.

[@alskeno9918]

One of my fav Ralph Records. My parents heard this a lot.

[@teddydog6229]

You were raised in a very positive environment. Eskimo must have really blown your mind.

[@田代智樹-r8v]

ありがとうございました。

[@navmanshack1579]

The second track brings me so much joy

[@LuisGonzalez-iu9ut]

I've ever listened so many times, and always got something new for me.

[@sharonbodea7677]

This is a cachet for magnum opuses, as for Beefheart's 69/70 era and some output of the Residents.

[@paologazzarini9384]

Thank you fred for this album and all your music

[@incumbentvinyl9291]

Fred says thanks.

[@Bram25]

Spring any day is an amazing track. Place it under ANY talk show or interview intro and you are done!

[@martinpirint8559]

I posted on the album site (w/out the bonus tracks) but I see here "Art Bears Hopes and Fears" songs added. Check THAT out if you want to hear some SINGING...

[@christopherfreed4966]

i love this album so much it moves me to tears

[@JasonElectron]

If you like this check out Aksak Maboul, from similar period.

[@johanschwerter2473]

Un disco pa no olvidar !!

[@jejesus]

A new kind of folk music.

[@teddydog6229]

If you want to hear a truly great folk album - or his version of folk music - I very highly recommend his album Rivers and Tides. In a comment section somewhere I said it was like Fred Friths 'Beggars Banquet'. Someone got very indignant and in high dudgeon because it sounds nothing like Beggars Banquet and I was misleading the parishioners. F--k that guy. I knew what I meant.

[@christopherfreed4966]

these extra tracks are mind bending! MOARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

[@danaandra9735]

Some (or all) of the bonus tracks are from the Art Bears, another band Frith was in. Check those out too.

[@haroldsmith1524]

Gravity and Speechless are definitely 2 of my desert island 🏝️ albums 🎼🎶along with H Cow's Leg End🎵

[@stevetoth7944]

fun and interesting - Love it

[@behzadomidzadeh9053]

happy to being on the same planet

[@mhiraldo]

Absolute masterpiece (i have not liked a Frith project quite as much as this)

[@mcginnundersscore]

same here. I have listened to a lot of Fred over the years yet this one really satisfies probably because it sits at the intersection of so many bands and genres I love

[@gregedwards1171]

Henry Cow and Art Bears preceded this and my tiny mind got well into those somehow and then Gravity was almost commercial by comparison !

[@flip65515]

This is my White Album.

[@jasonbeatty831]

Norrgarden Nyvla sounds so triumphant.

[@Freddy-Da-Freeloadah]

This must be some kind of CD re-mix. I don't remember there being this much detail on my LP copy back in the 1980s...

[@Joeherman]

Maybe your stylus was worn down ;)

[@cactusland88]

Shades of Zappa! What the hell!!??

[@teddydog6229]

There are shades of Zappa in almost all boundary-shredding music. I think Frank Zappa has influenced people who haven't even heard him. But I bet if Fred Frith read that he would appreciate the compliment. Being compared to the greatest composer of the 20th century would lift my spirits too.

[@alcoholya]

Fred Frith was influenced by literally Everyone on this record.

[@FellDestroyedMusic]

Spring Any Day Now

[@dcodfert]

masterpiece ....

[@simonreverb619]

Wonderful album

[@markpatterson9585]

GENIUS,WILD DADAMUSIK,THRILLING STUFF ALL AROUND

[@shellacSOUP58]

These bonus tracks are ridiculously good, almost better than the album proper

[@juanitodh6538]

ShellacSoup ,🤔 really? shocking...

[@sacredgeometrymusic3290]

lel i fucking agreeee

[@gidouille]

One is an outtake from a Henry Cow recording session, two others were recorded by Henry Cow but released on the first Art Bears album, another is from Aksak Maboul's Un Peu de l'ame des bandits album, one of them appeared on a Skeleton Crew album. The last one doesn't appear anywhere else as far as I can recall. Frith included them in this reissue because they related to the Gravity record as song form compositions with displaced folkloric elements.

[@davidryan7386]

dang am thrilled. just clicked on it. have not heard in maybe ten years!

[@christopherfreed4966]

was instantly one of my all time favorite albums the first time i heard it

[@cliffyoung4612]

Wonderful & very accessible compared to Henry Cow. Looks like Fred was trying to get on Top of the Pops in 1982.

[@davidhumphrey7874]

Fred's Sell Out Album!!!! Lol

[@cliffyoung4612]

@@davidhumphrey7874 Yep. No integrity !

[@bernab]

First Part: I agree. Second part: I don't think so. And after all, he already appeared in 1974 with Robert Wyatt.

[@cliffyoung4612]

@@bernab You're right. kzbin.info/www/bejne/imbMp5pmmKl1ndE

[@mikeknowles5848]

He was there in 1974 with Robert Wyatt

[@pawlio66]

Terrain sounds like it was written by Zappa .Fabulous.

[@uhhhclem]

For some reason I was able to reach my majority without ever having heard Martha and the Vandellas's original version, and I was _quite surprised_ when I found out that Fred Frith hadn't written it.

[@felipesigne901]

wow cant believe i havent heard that fred frith lp bedfore ! thanks santiago- the ""metal"" part of career in real estate remind of berenice from disco volante... lots of stuff that have been picked up by zorn etc actually, no?

[@puttieyum]

Merci

[@川口健太郎-m5e]

下の左から３人めがフリス ベルギーの画家ジェームス・アンソールみたいなイラストレーション

[@SandEdwards]

Awesome after all these years!

[@vivianavaldivieso428]

Lo mas maravilloso que he escuchado en mi vida

[@ALAINBRAULIO]

escuchate a Frank Zappa. Si no conoces, te encantará. Especialmente lo "orchestal" ; por ejempleo Shut Up And Play Your Guitar...

[@vivianavaldivieso428]

Excelente Frank Zappa también...de verdad que valdría la pena volver a nacer

[@fourorthree2]

the music of music

[@vasantiago3038]

Best Frith album ever. .no long meaningless improvs.

[@matiasocarez]

totally!

[@matiasocarez]

does he has more that sounds like this? I know of Henry Cow already

[@vasantiago3038]

@matiasocarez / Speechless is somewhat. .Cheap at Half the Price is more like a basement project. .all are great. .and Massacre of course.

[@kenanthomas6326]

music to expand the brain

[@basscataz]

Awesome.

[@dcodfert]

in france we have ALBERT MARCOEUR ... similar genius ...

[@hassanas-sabbagh6562]

I heard his L'Apostrophe (2005) and wasn't impressed. Maybe I should give it a second try.

[@lemokolyon]

On avait Etron fou Leloublan aussi. Ça ressemble assez.

[@pierrepicot3706]

This masterpiece (folk/irich celtic/blues/psychédélic/waltz) made remenber : the filmworks & naked city without native screamings and thé melodic sax of john zorn

[@joaquinodriozola4963]

Fucking brilliant

[@ManuelTavares]

Amazing.

[@udomatthiasdrums5322]

stll love it!!

[@technoporice]

I love this songs.

[@mauroneghe2452]

great album

[@elisavieira737]

❤️

[@quentinnussbaumer8922]

Simply bedazzling................

[@friesiamans1966]

no one for "oh wie schön ist panama!"? it´s the title of a nice well known book (here in germany) for children by janosch... :-)

[@sacredgeometrymusic3290]

leeeeeeeeeeel Me, from south tyrol in italy, i'm italian, but in the middle school I used to cheat my (dumb) german teacher, which wanted us to read a book in german and do a summary. I red kinda for three years "wie schon ist panama" so I didnt had to do other summaries. For this reason i had to learn german almost from the beginning when I got to college lelel

[@Caligari...]

Yes !

[@trentnunyabiz6204]

Imagine being so boring and square that you call this "Pretentious" God i hate the 80's radio stations for pushing nothing but Michael and Madonna when Frith was doing amazing things with his compositions.

[@liviabarcelos8039]

love it

[@tomoijun]

SpringAnyDayNow

[@niclawson1520]

LOVE this song!

[@Joeherman]

What song, because this is the whole album?

[@fejuliano]

This is genius

[@jimsonisolation]

WOW!

[@alexmorrison9156]

The sound of the sustainer , as well as the style of the solo, sounds a bit like Fripps

[@bernab]

Probably, the same kind of Big Muff/Fuzz pedal...

[@DeadPerspective]

rhythm @ 25:00 sounds a bit like Beefheart's Suction Prints

[@spoombung]

It does a bit

[@PrestonDowMusic]

yeah, wow

[@electrictundra678]

More Fred Frith?

[@IvanPotapov]

The music.

[@moomookoan7248]

i love this.

[@davidchisesi]

Amazing

[@johnsehlin3337]

OUTof SIGHT:)

[@silviobelusic2022]

savršenstvo

[@plonplon243]

is it me or are there some part with polytonality?

[@jongreenbaum250]

Frith has talked about absorbing Balkan rhythms and scales and then channelling these songs. I have a vague memory of him talking about some oud player or something, then me going on KZbin and having an aha moment.

[@rottersclub1]

One for you, Walt.

[@glockteau______twins]

ok, this is eric

[@mampatogu]

Obra maestra

[@travisbryan4136]

This music is messing me up, but good.

[@johnbyronartist]

not to mention Skelton Crew

[@valnitnelav3239]

SAMLA MAMMAS MANNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@pippincovington1348]

that first track is pretty messed up man

[@saraivatoledo1842]

Hahhahah , i know it´s a 1 year long post ... by now you should be more acquainted with how ´messed up ` Fred Frith ( all the bands he´s been in can be) can get ... funny though , exactly my reaction when I 1st listened to ´Torture Garden ` by Naked City when it 1st came out in the early 90s I think ( could be earlier , not sure now ).

[@flip65515]

That's my favorite one

[@sashakingcrimson187]

💿💿💿💿

[@tschikyl000]

President Trump made it on the album cover! Hahas, I just noticed that. I've said it before and will repeat it; Great channel, Santiago!

[@obelusyt]

creo que el wey que hizo el jingle de dulces Vero le gustaba el track #2

[@aptilzehir1705]

xmuni gare mihir iyin?