Cheap at Half the Price
Encyclopedia
Cheap at Half the Price is a 1983 solo album
by English
guitarist
, composer
and improviser
Fred Frith
. It was Frith's fifth solo album, and was originally released in the United States on LP record
on The Residents
' Ralph
record label
. It was the third of three solo albums Frith made for the label.
Cheap at Half the Price was recorded by Frith at his home in New York City
on a 4-track
machine. He played all the instruments himself, with the exception of bass guitar on two tracks, and drums, for which he used tapes and samples
previously recorded by other drummers. The record differed from Frith's previous experimental
albums in that it consisted largely of pop
-like songs, and he sang for the first time.
The LP's release in 1983 caused a stir in progressive circles because of its "apparent simplicity" and its departure from the experimental music Frith had become known for. But a remastered
version of the album released on CD in 2004 was better received by critics, who admitted that they had overlooked what Frith had been doing at the time.
(1980), an avant-garde
"dance" record that drew on rhythm and dance from folk music across the world, and the second being Speechless
(1981), a mixture of folk music, free improvisation
, avant-rock and noise. He had recorded with The Residents in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and appeared on several of their albums. Both Gravity and Speechless were well received by critics.
Frith recorded Cheap at Half the Price at his home in New York City on a 4-track machine. Unlike his two previous albums for Ralph Records, where he used backing bands, on this album Frith played all the instruments himself, with the exception of bass guitar on two tracks, and drums. Bill Laswell
from Frith's band Massacre played bass on "Same Old Me", and Tina Curran played bass on "Too Much, Too Little". For the drumming Frith used samples that had been previously recorded of drummers he had worked with, namely Frank Wuyts of Aksak Maboul
, Fred Maher
from Massacre, Paul Sears of The Muffins
, and Hans Bruniusson from Samla Mammas Manna
.
on all the tracks and sang for the first time. Allmusic described Frith's singing on the album as "strange[ly] high-pitched", and the songs as "pop-like ditties" with a "simple and repetitive" structure. Leonardo Digital Reviews said most of the tracks had a "happy-go-lucky" feel to them.
The lyrics on Cheap at Half the Price are politically oriented, set during US President Ronald Reagan
's first term of office, with socialist
commentaries on, amongst other things, dogs and insects. Despite Frith's apparent departure from his previous progressive albums, some the tracks on this album have ties to his earlier work. "Some Clouds Do" has a similar "driving rhythm" to Paul Sears' drumming on "What a Dilemma" on Gravity. "Absent Friends", a traditional Swedish melody arranged by Frith, has the same "fun and dance" feel that occurs at the end of "Don't Cry for Me", also on Gravity. "Absent Friends" is also the only track on Cheap at Half the Price that departs from the album's "pop vein".
In contrast to the high-pitched singing on most of the songs, "Same Old Me", one of the few "dark" tracks on the album, is a "gloomily introspective" song featuring some "rough lyrics" that have been slowed to a drawl over "angry riffing" and "relentless bass and percussion". Leonardo Digital Reviews said that this and many of the other songs on the album had a complex structure beneath the apparent "carefree and beaming surface".
, founded and run by Chris Cutler
(Frith's band-mate from Henry Cow), elected not to stock it because Cutler felt it was not "terribly good". Trouser Press
said that the quality of the record suffered from the lo-fi
experiment of recording "at home on a 4-track".
In 1985 Michael Bloom of The Boston Phoenix
wrote that Cheap at Half the Price "will never get the hearing it deserves". He said that Frith was trying to shake off this "progressive" mould he had been cast in, and believed that the songs on the album should be judged on their own merit and not as "rarefied art rock". The New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
described Cheap at Half the Price as Frith's response to punk
, a low-tech approach to performing songs. It called the album a "twisted pop" record, saying that it is "as uncompromising as everything else Frith recorded". François Couture in a review of Frith's 2002 album, Prints
called Cheap at Half the Price "the best tongue-in-cheek take at the New Wave
".
Despite the criticism the LP received at the time of its release, the remaster
ed CD issued 21 years later was generally well received. In the 2004 Recommended Records catalogue, Cutler wrote that the album had "raised eyebrows at the time (from, as Fred calls them 'progressive music snobs'—of which I guess I was one) for its apparent simplicity and departure from what was then thought of as Fred Style." René van Peer of Leonardo Digital Reviews admitted in 2005 that he was "one of those snobs" and wrote "I am astonished and embarrassed to find how little I grasped back then of what Frith had put into it." Looking at Frith's projects after Cheap at Half the Price made it clear that what he did on the album was not a departure from his musical experiments, as people saw it at the time, but rather a part of it. Van Peer said (in retrospect) that Cheap at Half the Price "bursts with inventiveness, and eradiates the irrepressible joy of playful creativity".
Frith's exploration of song forms on this album was later developed further with Tom Cora
in Skeleton Crew, where Frith and Cora played "deceptively simple catchy songs", often using melodies derived from Scandinavia
n and Eastern Europe
an traditional music. Songs from Cheap at Half the Price appeared in several of Frith's later projects. Step Across the Border
(1990), a film on Frith, and its accompanying soundtrack
, featured three such songs, "Same Old Me", "Evolution" and "Too Much Too Little". Keep the Dog
, a 1989–1991 Fred Frith review band, played a number of arrangements of songs from this album, including "Walking Song", "Some Clouds Do" and "Instant Party".
Side two
** 1991 CD bonus tracks
's home in New York City by Frith on a 4-track recorder, except for "True Love" (recorded at Noise in New York City) and "Person To Person" (recorded at BC Studio in New York City).
re-issued Cheap at Half the Price on CD with two additional tracks by Frith: "True Love", from The 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love (1987) by various artists; and "Person to Person", from North America (1985) by Curlew
. In 2004 Fred Records
, Frith's own record label and an imprint
of Recommended Records
, issued a remaster
ed version on CD of the original Cheap at Half the Price LP with no extra tracks.
Solo album
A solo album, in popular music, is an album headlined by a current or former member of a band. A solo album may feature simply one person performing all instruments, but typically features the work of other collaborators; rather, it may be made with different collaborators than the artist is...
by English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, composer
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and improviser
Musical improvisation
Musical improvisation is the creative activity of immediate musical composition, which combines performance with communication of emotions and instrumental technique as well as spontaneous response to other musicians...
Fred Frith
Fred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
. It was Frith's fifth solo album, and was originally released in the United States on LP record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on The Residents
The Residents
The Residents is an American art collective best known for avant-garde music and multimedia works. The first official release under the name of The Residents was in 1972, and the group has since released over sixty albums, numerous music videos and short films, three CD-ROM projects and ten DVDs....
' Ralph
Ralph Records
Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone."...
record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. It was the third of three solo albums Frith made for the label.
Cheap at Half the Price was recorded by Frith at his home in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
on a 4-track
Multitrack recording
Multitrack recording is a method of sound recording that allows for the separate recording of multiple sound sources to create a cohesive whole...
machine. He played all the instruments himself, with the exception of bass guitar on two tracks, and drums, for which he used tapes and samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
previously recorded by other drummers. The record differed from Frith's previous experimental
Experimental music
Experimental music refers, in the English-language literature, to a compositional tradition which arose in the mid-20th century, applied particularly in North America to music composed in such a way that its outcome is unforeseeable. Its most famous and influential exponent was John Cage...
albums in that it consisted largely of pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
-like songs, and he sang for the first time.
The LP's release in 1983 caused a stir in progressive circles because of its "apparent simplicity" and its departure from the experimental music Frith had become known for. But a remastered
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
version of the album released on CD in 2004 was better received by critics, who admitted that they had overlooked what Frith had been doing at the time.
Background and recording
Cheap at Half the Price was the third of a series of three solo albums Frith made for The Residents's record label Ralph Records, the first being GravityGravity (Fred Frith album)
Gravity is a 1980 solo album by English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith from Henry Cow and Art Bears. It was Frith's second solo album and his first since the demise of Henry Cow in 1978...
(1980), an avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
"dance" record that drew on rhythm and dance from folk music across the world, and the second being Speechless
Speechless (Fred Frith album)
Speechless is a 1981 solo album by English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith of the group Henry Cow. It was Frith's third solo album, and was originally released in the United States on LP record on The Residents' Ralph record label...
(1981), a mixture of folk music, free improvisation
Free improvisation
Free improvisation or free music is improvised music without any rules beyond the logic or inclination of the musician involved. The term can refer to both a technique and as a recognizable genre in its own right....
, avant-rock and noise. He had recorded with The Residents in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and appeared on several of their albums. Both Gravity and Speechless were well received by critics.
Frith recorded Cheap at Half the Price at his home in New York City on a 4-track machine. Unlike his two previous albums for Ralph Records, where he used backing bands, on this album Frith played all the instruments himself, with the exception of bass guitar on two tracks, and drums. Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell
Bill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
from Frith's band Massacre played bass on "Same Old Me", and Tina Curran played bass on "Too Much, Too Little". For the drumming Frith used samples that had been previously recorded of drummers he had worked with, namely Frank Wuyts of Aksak Maboul
Aksak Maboul
Aksak Maboul were a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis. They made two studio albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits , the last one with ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler and Fred Frith...
, Fred Maher
Fred Maher
Fred Maher is an American drummer, programmer and record producer.He was a member of Massacre , Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed, and is best known as the producer of I'm Talking's album Bear Witness , Lou Reed's album New York , Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend , and Information Society's self...
from Massacre, Paul Sears of The Muffins
The Muffins
The Muffins are an American Maryland-based progressive rock/avant-jazz group. They were formed in Washington, DC in the early 1970s and recorded four albums before disbanding in 1981. In 1998 the group reformed and recorded a further five albums and a DVD...
, and Hans Bruniusson from Samla Mammas Manna
Samla Mammas Manna
Samla Mammas Manna was a Swedish progressive rock band, often characterized by its virtuoso musicianship, circus references and silly humour, similar in many ways to the song-writing styles of Frank Zappa. They were one of the founding members of the Rock in Opposition movement in the late 1970s....
.
Composition
Cheap at Half the Price differed from Frith's previous experimental albums in that it featured a collection of short songs and instrumentals in a "tongue-in-cheek pop vein". He also played a "cheap" Casio-101Casiotone
Casiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co. in the early 1980s.These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments...
on all the tracks and sang for the first time. Allmusic described Frith's singing on the album as "strange[ly] high-pitched", and the songs as "pop-like ditties" with a "simple and repetitive" structure. Leonardo Digital Reviews said most of the tracks had a "happy-go-lucky" feel to them.
The lyrics on Cheap at Half the Price are politically oriented, set during US President Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan was the 40th President of the United States , the 33rd Governor of California and, prior to that, a radio, film and television actor....
's first term of office, with socialist
Socialism
Socialism is an economic system characterized by social ownership of the means of production and cooperative management of the economy; or a political philosophy advocating such a system. "Social ownership" may refer to any one of, or a combination of, the following: cooperative enterprises,...
commentaries on, amongst other things, dogs and insects. Despite Frith's apparent departure from his previous progressive albums, some the tracks on this album have ties to his earlier work. "Some Clouds Do" has a similar "driving rhythm" to Paul Sears' drumming on "What a Dilemma" on Gravity. "Absent Friends", a traditional Swedish melody arranged by Frith, has the same "fun and dance" feel that occurs at the end of "Don't Cry for Me", also on Gravity. "Absent Friends" is also the only track on Cheap at Half the Price that departs from the album's "pop vein".
In contrast to the high-pitched singing on most of the songs, "Same Old Me", one of the few "dark" tracks on the album, is a "gloomily introspective" song featuring some "rough lyrics" that have been slowed to a drawl over "angry riffing" and "relentless bass and percussion". Leonardo Digital Reviews said that this and many of the other songs on the album had a complex structure beneath the apparent "carefree and beaming surface".
Reception and influence
Followers of Fred Frith's music generally had trouble coming to terms with Cheap at Half the Price. To them Frith was "progressive, genre-bending music's last great hope", and on this album he appeared to have abandoned this role. When the album was released on LP in 1983, Recommended RecordsRecommended Records
Recommended Records is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels.In 1982 Cutler established November...
, founded and run by Chris Cutler
Chris Cutler
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 a number of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and Gong/Mothergong...
(Frith's band-mate from Henry Cow), elected not to stock it because Cutler felt it was not "terribly good". Trouser Press
Trouser Press
Trouser Press was a rock and roll magazine started in New York in 1974 as a mimeographed fanzine by editor/publisher Ira Robbins, fellow Who fan Dave Schulps and Karen Rose under the name "Trans-Oceanic Trouser Press" ...
said that the quality of the record suffered from the lo-fi
Low fidelity
Low fidelity or lo-fi describes a sound recording which contains technical flaws such as distortion, hum, or background noise, or limited frequency response...
experiment of recording "at home on a 4-track".
In 1985 Michael Bloom of The Boston Phoenix
The Phoenix (newspaper)
The Phoenix is the name of several alternative weekly newspapers published in the United States by Phoenix Media/Communications Group of Boston, Massachusetts including the Boston Phoenix, the Providence Phoenix, the Portland Phoenix and the now-defunct Worcester Phoenix...
wrote that Cheap at Half the Price "will never get the hearing it deserves". He said that Frith was trying to shake off this "progressive" mould he had been cast in, and believed that the songs on the album should be judged on their own merit and not as "rarefied art rock". The New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock
Gibraltar (web site)
Gibraltar, also called The New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, is a web site devoted to presenting news and reviews in the world of progressive rock. It was started originally as a mailing list — Gibraltar - The Electronic Magazine For Progressive Rock And Related Music — by...
described Cheap at Half the Price as Frith's response to punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
, a low-tech approach to performing songs. It called the album a "twisted pop" record, saying that it is "as uncompromising as everything else Frith recorded". François Couture in a review of Frith's 2002 album, Prints
Prints (album)
Prints: Snapshots, Postcards, Messages and Miniatures, 1987–2001 is a 2002 album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, and his first album of songs since Cheap at Half the Price...
called Cheap at Half the Price "the best tongue-in-cheek take at the New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
".
Despite the criticism the LP received at the time of its release, the remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed CD issued 21 years later was generally well received. In the 2004 Recommended Records catalogue, Cutler wrote that the album had "raised eyebrows at the time (from, as Fred calls them 'progressive music snobs'—of which I guess I was one) for its apparent simplicity and departure from what was then thought of as Fred Style." René van Peer of Leonardo Digital Reviews admitted in 2005 that he was "one of those snobs" and wrote "I am astonished and embarrassed to find how little I grasped back then of what Frith had put into it." Looking at Frith's projects after Cheap at Half the Price made it clear that what he did on the album was not a departure from his musical experiments, as people saw it at the time, but rather a part of it. Van Peer said (in retrospect) that Cheap at Half the Price "bursts with inventiveness, and eradiates the irrepressible joy of playful creativity".
Frith's exploration of song forms on this album was later developed further with Tom Cora
Tom Cora
Thomas Henry Corra , better known as Tom Cora, was a United States cellist and composer, best known for his improvisational performances in the field of experimental jazz and rock...
in Skeleton Crew, where Frith and Cora played "deceptively simple catchy songs", often using melodies derived from Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n and Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is the eastern part of Europe. The term has widely disparate geopolitical, geographical, cultural and socioeconomic readings, which makes it highly context-dependent and even volatile, and there are "almost as many definitions of Eastern Europe as there are scholars of the region"...
an traditional music. Songs from Cheap at Half the Price appeared in several of Frith's later projects. Step Across the Border
Step Across the Border
Step Across the Border is a 1990 avant-garde documentary film on English guitarist, composer and improviser Fred Frith. It was written and directed by Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel and released in Germany and Switzerland...
(1990), a film on Frith, and its accompanying soundtrack
Step Across the Border (soundtrack)
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...
, featured three such songs, "Same Old Me", "Evolution" and "Too Much Too Little". Keep the Dog
Keep the Dog
Keep the Dog was a United States-based experimental rock touring band from New York City formed in 1989 by English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith...
, a 1989–1991 Fred Frith review band, played a number of arrangements of songs from this album, including "Walking Song", "Some Clouds Do" and "Instant Party".
LP releases
Side one- "Some Clouds Don't" – 3:12
- "Cap the Knife" – 2:47
- "Evolution" – 3:21
- "Too Much, Too Little" (FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Curran) – 2:09 - "The Welcome" – 2:28
- "Same Old Me" – 2:58
- "Some Clouds Do" – 2:49
Side two
- "Instant Party" – 1:53
- "Walking Song" – 3:13
- "Flying in the Face of Facts" – 2:38
- "Heart Bares" – 4:56
- "Absent Friends" (FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
/Trad. Swedish) – 3:58 - "The Great Healer" – 2:07
1991 CD release
- "Some Clouds Don't" – 3:12
- "Cap the Knife" – 2:47
- "Evolution" – 3:21
- "Too Much, Too Little" (FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
, Curran) – 2:09 - "True Love" – 2:58 **
- "The Welcome" – 2:28
- "Same Old Me" – 2:58
- "Some Clouds Do" – 2:49
- "Instant Party" – 1:53
- "Person To Person" – 2:20 **
- "Walking Song" – 3:13
- "Flying in the Face of Facts" – 2:38
- "Heart Bares" – 4:56
- "Absent Friends" (FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
/Trad. Swedish) – 3:58 - "The Great Healer" – 2:07
Personnel
- Fred FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
– guitar, 6-string bass, Casio-101CasiotoneCasiotone refers to a series of home electronic keyboards released by Casio Computer Co. in the early 1980s.These first keyboards used a sound synthesis technique known as Vowel-Consonant synthesis to approximate the sounds of other instruments...
, violin, xylophone, homemade instruments, voice - Frank Wuyts – drums
- Fred MaherFred MaherFred Maher is an American drummer, programmer and record producer.He was a member of Massacre , Material, Scritti Politti, Lou Reed, and is best known as the producer of I'm Talking's album Bear Witness , Lou Reed's album New York , Matthew Sweet's album Girlfriend , and Information Society's self...
– drums - Paul Sears – drums
- Hans Bruniusson – drum samples
- Tina Curran – bass guitar ("Too Much, Too Little")
- Bill LaswellBill LaswellBill Laswell is an American bassist, producer and record label owner....
– bass guitar ("Same Old Me") - Aksak MaboulAksak MaboulAksak Maboul were a Belgian avant-rock band founded in 1977 by Marc Hollander and Vincent Kenis. They made two studio albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits , the last one with ex-Henry Cow members Chris Cutler and Fred Frith...
– clapping ("Absent Friends") - Sheena Dupuis – voice ("True Love")
- George Cartwright – alto saxophone ("Person To Person")
Recording and production
Recorded in August 1983 at Fred FrithFred Frith
Fred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
's home in New York City by Frith on a 4-track recorder, except for "True Love" (recorded at Noise in New York City) and "Person To Person" (recorded at BC Studio in New York City).
- Fred FrithFred FrithFred Frith is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer and improvisor.Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. Frith was also a member of Art Bears, Massacre and Skeleton Crew...
– engineer, producer (except "True Love", "Person To Person") - KramerMark KramerMark Kramer , known professionally as Kramer, is a musician, composer, record producer and founder of the New York City record label Shimmy-Disc...
– engineer ("True Love") - Martin BisiMartin bisiMartin Bisi is an American producer and songwriter.He is known for recording important records by Sonic Youth, Swans, John Zorn, Material, Bill Laswell, Helmet, Unsane, Cop Shoot Cop, White Zombie, Boredoms, Angels of Light and Herbie Hancock's Grammy-winning song Rockit,In 1979, Martin Bisi...
– engineer ("Person To Person" - Paul Zinman – digital mastering
- Peter Bäder – album cover layout
- Busag, Zürich – album cover lithography
- Tina Curran – album cover photography
CD reissues
In 1991 East Side Digital and RecRec MusicRecRec Music
RecRec Music was a Swiss independent record label created in 1983 by Daniel Waldner. The label was modeled on, and affiliated to, the British independent record label Recommended Records, but remained financially independent...
re-issued Cheap at Half the Price on CD with two additional tracks by Frith: "True Love", from The 20th Anniversary of the Summer of Love (1987) by various artists; and "Person to Person", from North America (1985) by Curlew
Curlew (band)
Curlew is an experimental free jazz group founded by saxophone player George Cartwright in 1979. Members of the band have included cellist Tom Cora, guitarists Davey Williams and Fred Frith, and bassist Bill Laswell.-Discography:*Curlew...
. In 2004 Fred Records
Fred Records
Fred Records is a British independent record label created in 2002 by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith to re-release his own back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material...
, Frith's own record label and an imprint
Imprint
In the publishing industry, an imprint can mean several different things:* As a piece of bibliographic information about a book, it refers to the name and address of the book's publisher and its date of publication as given at the foot or on the verso of its title page.* It can mean a trade name...
of Recommended Records
Recommended Records
Recommended Records is a British independent record label and distribution network founded by Chris Cutler in March 1978. RēR features largely "Rock in Opposition" and related music, but it also distributes selected music released on other independent labels.In 1982 Cutler established November...
, issued a remaster
Remaster
Remaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed version on CD of the original Cheap at Half the Price LP with no extra tracks.