Gravity (Fred Frith album)
Encyclopedia
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. It was originally released in the United States on LP record
on The Residents
's Ralph
record label
and was the first of three solo albums Frith made for the label.
Gravity was recorded in Sweden, the United States and Switzerland and featured Frith with Swedish Rock in Opposition
group Samla Mammas Manna
on one side of the LP, and Frith with United States progressive rock
group The Muffins
on the other side. Additional musicians included Marc Hollander
from Aksak Maboul
and Chris Cutler
from Henry Cow.
Gravity has been described as an avant-garde "dance" record that draws on rhythm and dance from folk music
across the world. Allmusic called it one of the most important experimental guitar titles from Fred Frith.
-trained violin
ist who turned to playing blues
guitar while at school. In 1967 he went to Cambridge University
where he and fellow student, Tim Hodgkinson
formed the English avant-rock group
Henry Cow
. Frith and Hodgkinson remained with the band until its demise in 1978. After the release of Henry Cow's second album in May 1974, Frith recorded his debut solo album, Guitar Solos (1974), which featured unaccompanied and improvised
experimental rock
music played on prepared guitar
s by Frith without any overdubbing
. Guitar Solos was well received by music critics, and was voted one of the best albums of 1974
by NME
.
During the recording of Henry Cow's sixth album in January 1978, musical differences arose within the group over the prevalence of song-oriented material on the album. Some wanted purely instrumental compositions, while others, including Frith, favoured songs. As a compromise Frith and the band's drummer, Chris Cutler
released the songs on an album Hopes and Fears
(1978) under the name Art Bears
, while the instrumental tracks, plus others recorded later were released on Henry Cow's last album, Western Culture
(1979). Art Bears went on to make two more albums of songs.
After Henry Cow broke up, Frith moved to New York City in 1979 where he became involved with a number of musical projects, including a new solo album. To make a more "immediate" record after the intensities of Henry Cow and Art Bears, Frith turned his attention to world folk and dance music
. In Hopes and Fears he had "rediscovered the joys of song-form", and it was the song "The Dance" that Frith and Cutler wrote for that album that inspired the making of Gravity. Frith said in a BBC
interview:
Frith had been listening to music from other cultures, particularly Eastern Europe
since the mid-1970s. He made no attempt to notate
what he heard, but absorbed it and let it find its way later into his own music. On Gravity Frith mixed up all these different musical styles to make new songs out of them.
's record label Ralph Records
. He had recorded with The Residents in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and appeared on several of their albums.
Frith used two backing bands for Gravity, Swedish Rock in Opposition
group Samla Mammas Manna
and United States progressive rock
group The Muffins
. He recorded side one of the LP record with Samla Mammas Manna at Norrgården Nyvla in Uppsala
, Sweden, with additional recording at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
, Switzerland in August 1979. Side two of the LP was recorded with The Muffins at Catch-a-Buzz Studio in Rockville, Maryland
, United States in November 1979, with additional recording at Sunrise Studios in Switzerland in January 1980. Frith recorded two additional tracks with The Muffins, "Vanity, Vanity" and "Dancing in Sunrise, Switzerland", but they were omitted from the album due to space constraints. They appeared later on The Muffins's 1985 album, Open City.
Many of the tracks on Gravity consist of melodic lines woven into complex rhythmic structures taken from different folk music cultures. The time signature
s are not the standard 3/4 or 4/4, but more complex signatures like 15/8. Frith described in an interview how he arrived in Uppsala with his carefully written music sheets, only to find that Samla Mammas Manna could not read music. But when he played the music to them, he was "stunned by their ability to hear the details, especially the rhythmic details, that I had written."
The title of the album came from a 1937 quote by Curt Sachs
(printed on the back of the album sleeve) in which he described dance as "the victory over gravity".
In 1980 Ralph Records also released a single
from the album, "Dancing in the Street" b/w "What a Dilemma". It did not chart
on any of the major music charts.
/funk
sense of its day, but a collection of "dance music" drawn from cultures around the world. The album features an array of rock, folk and jazz instruments, plus field recording
s, clapping and "whirling", and has been described as a "musical hybridization" of "Latin percussion, calypso
festivity, eastern-tinged percussion [and] Klezmer
-like celebration".
"The Boy Beats the Rams" opens Gravity with a burst of laughter followed by some tap dancing
, "random" percussion and Frith's "distinctive keening" violin. On "Spring Any Day Now" Frith mixes a bossa nova
rhythm with a North African melody. "Don't Cry For Me" features Greek mandolin with heavy metal
guitar. "Hands of the Juggler" draws on Middle Eastern folk dance, "Slap Dance" is a Serbian "folk romp", and "Career in Real Estate" is in the tradition of a Scottish fiddle tune.
"Dancing in the Street
" is a "de/reconstruction" of Martha and the Vandellas
's 1964 hit that includes a "bizarrely harmonised guitar" playing the song's melody over a "boiling mass of feedback" and tape manipulation. According to the album's sleeve notes, this track also includes a recording of "Iranian demonstrators celebrating the capture of American hostages".
"Crack in the Concrete" features an e-bowed guitar over "edgy, dissonant chords" and a "massed kazoo choir of horns" that presages Frith's experimental rock
band Massacre he formed in New York City in February 1980. "Norrgården Nyvla" flows into "Year of the Monkey" which ends with a brief sample of the 13th Puerto Rico Summertime Band, "ten seconds of the real thing" according to the LP liner notes.
magazine, Bill Milkowski wrote that in contrast to Art Bears
's "bleak attitude", Frith's Gravity is a "truly joyous solo LP, [...] an extremely warm, almost whimsical album". Thomas Schulte at Allmusic described it as an "entertaining and multicultural pocket folk festival" and said it was "one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist". In a BBC Online review of Gravity, Peter Marsh called it "Absolutely essential", adding that it "manages to be wildly eclectic yet avoids incoherence". Brandon Wu of Ground and Sky said that despite his "relative indifference" to the album, one of Gravity great strengths is that it is both accessible and avant-garde.
Gravity inspired a 2003 album Spring Any Day Now by David Greenberg and David McGuinness with the Concerto Caledonia. Subtitled "Music of 18th century Scotland and elsewhere", the album includes covers
of two tracks from Gravity, "Spring Any Day Now" and "Norrgården Nyvla", and a track from Frank Zappa
's Roxy & Elsewhere
(1974), "Echidna's Arf (Of You)".
Frith continued his exploration of folk and dance music on his next album for Ralph Records
, Speechless
(1981). As with Gravity, he recorded Speechless with two bands, French Rock in Opposition
group Etron Fou Leloublan
on one side of the LP, and Frith's New York City group Massacre on the other. The album included extensive tape manipulation, which was an ongoing passion of Frith's at the time.
, Sweden and at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
, Switzerland in August 1979.
, United States in November 1979 and at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
, Switzerland in January 1980.
re-issued Gravity on CD with six bonus tracks: "Terrain" and "Moeris Dancing" from Hopes and Fears
(1978) by Art Bears
, "Geistige Nacht" from Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits
(1980) by Aksak Maboul
, "Life at the Top" from Learn to Talk
(1984) by Skeleton Crew, and two unreleased tracks, "Waking Against Sleep" by Henry Cow
and "Oh Wie Schon Ist Panama!" by Fred Frith
. In 2002 Fred Records
issued a remaster
ed version of the original Gravity with no bonus 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 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
Improvisation
Improvisation is the practice of acting, singing, talking and reacting, of making and creating, in the moment and in response to the stimulus of one's immediate environment and inner feelings. This can result in the invention of new thought patterns, new practices, new structures or symbols, and/or...
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...
from Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
and Art Bears
Art Bears
Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...
. It was Frith's second solo album and his first since the demise of Henry Cow in 1978. It 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....
's 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,...
and was the first of three solo albums Frith made for the label.
Gravity was recorded in Sweden, the United States and Switzerland and featured Frith with Swedish Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music...
group 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....
on one side of the LP, and Frith with United States progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
group 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...
on the other side. Additional musicians included Marc Hollander
Marc Hollander
Marc Hollander is a Belgian musician, producer and creator of the independent record label, Crammed Discs.Hollander was a founding member of the Belgian avant-rock group Aksak Maboul in 1977, which released two albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits...
from 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...
and 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...
from Henry Cow.
Gravity has been described as an avant-garde "dance" record that draws on rhythm and dance from folk music
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
across the world. Allmusic called it one of the most important experimental guitar titles from Fred Frith.
Background
Fred Frith was a classicallyClassical music
Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...
-trained violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
ist who turned to playing blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
guitar while at school. In 1967 he went to Cambridge University
University of Cambridge
The University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
where he and fellow student, Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson
Tim Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds and keyboards. He is best known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968...
formed the English avant-rock group
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
. Frith and Hodgkinson remained with the band until its demise in 1978. After the release of Henry Cow's second album in May 1974, Frith recorded his debut solo album, Guitar Solos (1974), which featured unaccompanied and improvised
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...
experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
music played on prepared guitar
Prepared guitar
A prepared guitar is a guitar that has had its timbre altered by placing various objects on or between the instrument's strings, including other extended techniques...
s by Frith without any overdubbing
Overdubbing
Overdubbing is a technique used by recording studios to add a supplementary recorded sound to a previously recorded performance....
. Guitar Solos was well received by music critics, and was voted one of the best albums of 1974
1974 NME Critics End of Year Poll
This is the list of the best albums voted by the NME critics at the end of 1974. This was the first year the list was published. A ranked singles list was not compiled this year.-List of Best Albums:#Pretzel Logic – Steely Dan...
by NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
.
During the recording of Henry Cow's sixth album in January 1978, musical differences arose within the group over the prevalence of song-oriented material on the album. Some wanted purely instrumental compositions, while others, including Frith, favoured songs. As a compromise Frith and the band's drummer, 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...
released the songs on an album Hopes and Fears
Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album)
Hopes and Fears is the debut album by the English avant-rock group Art Bears. It comprises tracks by Henry Cow, Art Bears's predecessor, recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg in Switzerland in January 1978, and tracks by Art Bears, recorded at Kaleidophon Studios in London in March...
(1978) under the name Art Bears
Art Bears
Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...
, while the instrumental tracks, plus others recorded later were released on Henry Cow's last album, Western Culture
Western Culture (album)
Western Culture is an album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in January, July and August 1978. It was their last album and was released on Henry Cow's own private label, Broadcast, in 1979. Later editions appeared on Interzone in the US...
(1979). Art Bears went on to make two more albums of songs.
After Henry Cow broke up, Frith moved to New York City in 1979 where he became involved with a number of musical projects, including a new solo album. To make a more "immediate" record after the intensities of Henry Cow and Art Bears, Frith turned his attention to world folk and dance music
World music
World music is a term with widely varying definitions, often encompassing music which is primarily identified as another genre. This is evidenced by world music definitions such as "all of the music in the world" or "somebody else's local music"...
. In Hopes and Fears he had "rediscovered the joys of song-form", and it was the song "The Dance" that Frith and Cutler wrote for that album that inspired the making of Gravity. Frith said in a BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
interview:
Frith had been listening to music from other cultures, particularly 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"...
since the mid-1970s. He made no attempt to notate
Musical notation
Music notation or musical notation is any system that represents aurally perceived music, through the use of written symbols.-History:...
what he heard, but absorbed it and let it find its way later into his own music. On Gravity Frith mixed up all these different musical styles to make new songs out of them.
Recording
Gravity was the first of a series of projects Frith did for The ResidentsThe 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....
's record label Ralph Records
Ralph Records
Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone."...
. He had recorded with The Residents in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and appeared on several of their albums.
Frith used two backing bands for Gravity, Swedish Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music...
group 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....
and United States progressive rock
Progressive rock
Progressive rock is a subgenre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility." John Covach, in Contemporary Music Review, says that many thought it would not just "succeed the pop of...
group 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...
. He recorded side one of the LP record with Samla Mammas Manna at Norrgården Nyvla in Uppsala
Uppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Sweden, with additional recording at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
Kirchberg, St. Gallen
Kirchberg is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:Kirchberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested...
, Switzerland in August 1979. Side two of the LP was recorded with The Muffins at Catch-a-Buzz Studio in Rockville, Maryland
Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...
, United States in November 1979, with additional recording at Sunrise Studios in Switzerland in January 1980. Frith recorded two additional tracks with The Muffins, "Vanity, Vanity" and "Dancing in Sunrise, Switzerland", but they were omitted from the album due to space constraints. They appeared later on The Muffins's 1985 album, Open City.
Many of the tracks on Gravity consist of melodic lines woven into complex rhythmic structures taken from different folk music cultures. The time signature
Time signature
The time signature is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats are in each measure and which note value constitutes one beat....
s are not the standard 3/4 or 4/4, but more complex signatures like 15/8. Frith described in an interview how he arrived in Uppsala with his carefully written music sheets, only to find that Samla Mammas Manna could not read music. But when he played the music to them, he was "stunned by their ability to hear the details, especially the rhythmic details, that I had written."
The title of the album came from a 1937 quote by Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs
Curt Sachs was a German-born but American-domiciled musicologist. He was one of the founders of modern organology , and is probably best remembered today for co-authoring the Sachs-Hornbostel scheme of musical instrument classification with his fellow scholar Erich von Hornbostel.Born in Berlin,...
(printed on the back of the album sleeve) in which he described dance as "the victory over gravity".
In 1980 Ralph Records also released a single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
from the album, "Dancing in the Street" b/w "What a Dilemma". It did not chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
on any of the major music charts.
Music
Frith called Gravity a "dance album", not in the discoDisco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
/funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
sense of its day, but a collection of "dance music" drawn from cultures around the world. The album features an array of rock, folk and jazz instruments, plus field recording
Field recording
Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside of a recording studio. The recording is typically recorded in the same channel format as the desired result, for instance, stereo recording equipment will yield a stereo product...
s, clapping and "whirling", and has been described as a "musical hybridization" of "Latin percussion, calypso
Calypso music
Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...
festivity, eastern-tinged percussion [and] Klezmer
Klezmer
Klezmer is a musical tradition of the Ashkenazic Jews of Eastern Europe. Played by professional musicians called klezmorim, the genre originally consisted largely of dance tunes and instrumental display pieces for weddings and other celebrations...
-like celebration".
"The Boy Beats the Rams" opens Gravity with a burst of laughter followed by some tap dancing
Tap dance
Tap dance is a form of dance characterized by using the sound of one's tap shoes hitting the floor as a percussive instrument. As such, it is also commonly considered to be a form of music. Two major variations on tap dance exist: rhythm tap and Broadway tap. Broadway tap focuses more on the...
, "random" percussion and Frith's "distinctive keening" violin. On "Spring Any Day Now" Frith mixes a bossa nova
Bossa nova
Bossa nova is a style of Brazilian music. Bossa nova acquired a large following in the 1960s, initially consisting of young musicians and college students...
rhythm with a North African melody. "Don't Cry For Me" features Greek mandolin with heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
guitar. "Hands of the Juggler" draws on Middle Eastern folk dance, "Slap Dance" is a Serbian "folk romp", and "Career in Real Estate" is in the tradition of a Scottish fiddle tune.
"Dancing in the Street
Dancing in the Street
"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.-Martha and the Vandellas original:...
" is a "de/reconstruction" of Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas were among the most successful groups of the Motown roster during the period 1963–1967...
's 1964 hit that includes a "bizarrely harmonised guitar" playing the song's melody over a "boiling mass of feedback" and tape manipulation. According to the album's sleeve notes, this track also includes a recording of "Iranian demonstrators celebrating the capture of American hostages".
"Crack in the Concrete" features an e-bowed guitar over "edgy, dissonant chords" and a "massed kazoo choir of horns" that presages Frith's experimental rock
Experimental rock
Experimental rock or avant-garde rock is a type of music based on rock which experiments with the basic elements of the genre, or which pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique....
band Massacre he formed in New York City in February 1980. "Norrgården Nyvla" flows into "Year of the Monkey" which ends with a brief sample of the 13th Puerto Rico Summertime Band, "ten seconds of the real thing" according to the LP liner notes.
Reception and influence
In the January 1983 edition of Down BeatDown Beat
Down Beat is an American magazine devoted to "jazz, blues and beyond" to indicate its expansion beyond the jazz realm which it covered exclusively in previous years. The publication was established in 1934 in Chicago, Illinois...
magazine, Bill Milkowski wrote that in contrast to Art Bears
Art Bears
Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...
's "bleak attitude", Frith's Gravity is a "truly joyous solo LP, [...] an extremely warm, almost whimsical album". Thomas Schulte at Allmusic described it as an "entertaining and multicultural pocket folk festival" and said it was "one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist". In a BBC Online review of Gravity, Peter Marsh called it "Absolutely essential", adding that it "manages to be wildly eclectic yet avoids incoherence". Brandon Wu of Ground and Sky said that despite his "relative indifference" to the album, one of Gravity great strengths is that it is both accessible and avant-garde.
Gravity inspired a 2003 album Spring Any Day Now by David Greenberg and David McGuinness with the Concerto Caledonia. Subtitled "Music of 18th century Scotland and elsewhere", the album includes covers
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of two tracks from Gravity, "Spring Any Day Now" and "Norrgården Nyvla", and a track from Frank Zappa
Frank Zappa
Frank Vincent Zappa was an American composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, record producer and film director. In a career spanning more than 30 years, Zappa wrote rock, jazz, orchestral and musique concrète works. He also directed feature-length films and music videos, and designed...
's Roxy & Elsewhere
Roxy & Elsewhere
Roxy & Elsewhere is a live album by Frank Zappa & The Mothers which was released in 1974. Most of the songs were recorded at The Roxy Theatre in Hollywood, California on December 8, 9 and 10, 1973...
(1974), "Echidna's Arf (Of You)".
Frith continued his exploration of folk and dance music on his next album for Ralph Records
Ralph Records
Ralph Records was The Residents' original record label, the name coming from the somewhat colorful phrase "calling Ralph on the porcelain telephone."...
, 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). As with Gravity, he recorded Speechless with two bands, French Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition
Rock in Opposition or RIO was a movement representing a collective of progressive bands in the late 1970s united in their opposition to the music industry that refused to recognise their music...
group Etron Fou Leloublan
Etron Fou Leloublan
Etron Fou Leloublan, also known as EFL, were a French avant-rock band founded in 1973 by actor and saxophonist Chris Chanet. They recorded five studio albums between 1976 and 1985, and released a live album, En Public Aux Etats-Unis d'Amérique recorded during a tour of the United States in 1979...
on one side of the LP, and Frith's New York City group Massacre on the other. The album included extensive tape manipulation, which was an ongoing passion of Frith's at the time.
Side one
- "The Boy Beats the Rams (Kluk Tluce Berany)" – 4:54
- "Spring Any Day Now" – 3:04
- "Don't Cry For Me" – 3:28
- "The Hands of the Juggler" – 5:31
- "Norrgården Nyvla" – 2:54
- "Year of the Monkey" – 4:11
Side two
- "What a Dilemma" – 3:11
- "Crack in the Concrete" – 1:24
- "Come Across" – 2:47
- "Dancing in the StreetDancing in the Street"Dancing in the Street" is a 1964 song first recorded by Martha and the Vandellas. It is one of Motown's signature songs and is the group's premier signature song.-Martha and the Vandellas original:...
" (GayeMarvin GayeMarvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
, Stevenson, HunterIvy Jo HunterIvy Jo Hunter, born George Ivy Hunter and sometimes credited as Ivy Hunter, is a former R&B songwriter, record producer and singer, most associated with his work for the Motown label in the 1960s....
) – 3:20 - "My Enemy is a Bad Man" – 1:22
- "Slap Dance" – 2:32
- "A Career in Real Estate" – 4:42
- "Dancing in Rockville Maryland" – 3:04
Bonus tracks on 1990 CD re-issue
- "Waking Against Sleep" – 2:08
- "Terrain" – 3:50
- "Moeris Dancing" – 5:03
- "Geistige Nacht" – 5:18
- "Life at the Top" – 1:40
- "Oh Wie Schon Ist Panama!" – 5:02
Side one
- 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, bass guitar, violin, extra percussion - Samla Mammas MannaSamla Mammas MannaSamla 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....
:- Lars HollmerLars HollmerLars Gustav Gabriel Hollmer was a Swedish accordionist, keyboardist and composer whose work draws on influences ranging from Nordic folk tunes to progressive rock. He has been a member and/or founder of over half a dozen groups, most of whose work has been recorded at The Chickenhouse, his well...
– piano, organ, accordion - Hans Bruniusson – drums
- Eino Haapala – guitar, mandolin
- Lars Hollmer
- Marc HollanderMarc HollanderMarc Hollander is a Belgian musician, producer and creator of the independent record label, Crammed Discs.Hollander was a founding member of the Belgian avant-rock group Aksak Maboul in 1977, which released two albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits...
– alto saxophone, clarinet
Guests
- Olivia Bruynhooghe – tap dancing, clapping
- Chris CutlerChris CutlerChris 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...
– snare drum and maracas (track 3), clapping - Tina Curran – whirling, clapping
- Catherine JauniauxCatherine JauniauxCatherine Jauniaux is a Belgian avant-garde singer. She has been described as a "one-woman-orchestra", a "human sampler", and "one of the best kept secrets in the world of improvised music". Her solo album, Fluvial is regarded as one of her most accomplished works...
– whirling, clapping - Frank Wuyts – recorders (track 6), whirling, clapping
- Michel Berckmans – clapping
- Etienne Conod – clapping
- Denis van Hecke – clapping
- Veronique Vincent – clapping
Recording and production
Recorded at Norrgården Nyvla in UppsalaUppsala
- Economy :Today Uppsala is well established in medical research and recognized for its leading position in biotechnology.*Abbott Medical Optics *GE Healthcare*Pfizer *Phadia, an offshoot of Pharmacia*Fresenius*Q-Med...
, Sweden and at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
Kirchberg, St. Gallen
Kirchberg is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:Kirchberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested...
, Switzerland in August 1979.
- Gabriel Rosen – engineer (Sweden)
- Etienne Conod – engineer (Switzerland)
Side two
- 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, bass guitar, violin, keyboards, drums (tracks 1,5,7) - The MuffinsThe MuffinsThe 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...
:- Dave Newhouse – alto saxophone, organ (track 4)
- Thomas Scott – soprano saxophone (track 6)
- Paul Sears – drums (tracks 1,2,4,6,8)
- Billy Swann – bass guitar (tracks 2,4,6,8)
- Marc HollanderMarc HollanderMarc Hollander is a Belgian musician, producer and creator of the independent record label, Crammed Discs.Hollander was a founding member of the Belgian avant-rock group Aksak Maboul in 1977, which released two albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits...
– alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Guests
- Hans Bruniusson – drums (track 4)
- Tina Curran – subliminal bass guitar (track 1)
- Frank Wuyts – drums (track 3)
Recording and production
Recorded at Catch-a-Buzz Studio, Rockville, MarylandRockville, Maryland
Rockville is the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. It is a major incorporated city in the central part of Montgomery County and forms part of the Baltimore-Washington Metropolitan Area. The 2010 U.S...
, United States in November 1979 and at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg
Kirchberg, St. Gallen
Kirchberg is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:Kirchberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested...
, Switzerland in January 1980.
- Thomas Scott and Colleen Scott – engineers (USA)
- Etienne Conod – engineer (Switzerland)
Bonus tracks on 1990 CD re-issue
- 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...
– bass guitar, guitar, violin, keyboards, drums, percussion - Marc HollanderMarc HollanderMarc Hollander is a Belgian musician, producer and creator of the independent record label, Crammed Discs.Hollander was a founding member of the Belgian avant-rock group Aksak Maboul in 1977, which released two albums, Onze Danses Pour Combattre la Migraine and Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits...
– soprano saxophone (track 18) - Chris CutlerChris CutlerChris 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...
– drums (tracks 15–18) - Frank Wuyts – synthesiser (track 18)
- Michel Berckmans – oboe, bassoon (track 18)
- Denis van Hecke – cello (track 18)
- Lindsay CooperLindsay CooperLindsay Cooper is an English bassoon and oboe player, composer and political activist. Best known for her work with the band Henry Cow, she was also a member of Comus, National Health, News from Babel and David Thomas and the Pedestrians...
– bassoon, oboe (tracks 15,16) - Tim HodgkinsonTim HodgkinsonTim Hodgkinson is an English experimental music composer and performer, principally on reeds and keyboards. He is best known as one of the core members of the British avant-rock group Henry Cow, which he formed with Fred Frith in 1968...
– alto saxophone (track 15) - Annemarie RoelofsAnnemarie RoelofsAnnemarie Roelofs , also spelt Anne-Marie Roelofs and Anne Marie Roelofs, is a Dutch trombone player and violinist, and is a professor at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. She is a member of several musical groups and has performed in Holland and England.-Biography:Roelofs...
– trombone (track 15) - Dagmar KrauseDagmar KrauseDagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups like Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler...
– voice (track 17) - Tom CoraTom CoraThomas 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...
– bass guitar, percussion (track 19)
Recording
- Track 15 recorded at Sunrise Studios, KirchbergKirchberg, St. GallenKirchberg is a municipality in the Wahlkreis of Toggenburg in the canton of St. Gallen in Switzerland.-Geography:Kirchberg has an area, , of . Of this area, 59.5% is used for agricultural purposes, while 30.9% is forested...
, Switzerland in July–August 1978 - Track 16 recorded at Kaleidophon, London in March 1978
- Track 17 recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg, Switzerland in January 1978
- Track 18 recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg, Switzerland in January 1979
- Track 19 recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg, Switzerland in January 1984
- Track 20 recorded at Noise, New York City in September 1988
Artwork
- Alfreda BengeAlfreda BengeAlfreda Benge is a lyricist and illustrator. She has been married to musician Robert Wyatt since 1974. She has contributed lyrics to many of his compositions, and has written lyrics for French musician/producer Bertrand Burgalat, and for Brazilian singer Monica Vasconcelos.Benge studied and worked...
(Robert WyattRobert WyattRobert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...
's wife) – album cover artwork on the original LP record
CD reissues
In 1990 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 Gravity on CD with six bonus tracks: "Terrain" and "Moeris Dancing" from Hopes and Fears
Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album)
Hopes and Fears is the debut album by the English avant-rock group Art Bears. It comprises tracks by Henry Cow, Art Bears's predecessor, recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg in Switzerland in January 1978, and tracks by Art Bears, recorded at Kaleidophon Studios in London in March...
(1978) by Art Bears
Art Bears
Art Bears were an English avant-rock group formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Chris Cutler , Fred Frith and Dagmar Krause...
, "Geistige Nacht" from Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits
Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits
Un Peu de l'Âme des Bandits is the second album by Belgian avant-rock band Aksak Maboul. It was recorded at Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg, Switzerland in February and August 1979, and released on LP in January 1980 on founding member Marc Hollander's Belgian independent record label, Crammed Discs...
(1980) by 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...
, "Life at the Top" from Learn to Talk
Learn to Talk
Learn to Talk is a studio album by United States experimental rock band Skeleton Crew, recorded at Sunrise Studio, Kirchberg, Switzerland, between Christmas and New Year 1983/1984. It was their debut album and was released in 1984....
(1984) by Skeleton Crew, and two unreleased tracks, "Waking Against Sleep" by Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
and "Oh Wie Schon Ist Panama!" by 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...
. In 2002 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...
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 of the original Gravity with no bonus tracks.