Live in Japan (Fred Frith album)

Infobox Album
Name = Live in Japan
Type = Live album
Artist = Fred Frith


Background = orange
Released = 1982
Recorded = Japan, July 1981
Genre = Avant-progressive rock
Length = 1:08:34
Label = Recommended (Japan)
Producer = Fred Frith
Reviews =
*"Allmusic" Rating|2|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:7dd6vwmta9rk link]
*Piero Scaruffi (6.5/10) [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/frith.html link] | Last album = "Speechless"
(1981)
This album = "Live in Japan"
(1982)
Next album = "Cheap at Half the Price"
(1983)

"Live in Japan" is a 1982 double live album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It was recorded during an improvised solo performance tour of Japan in July 1981. The double album was released by Recommended Records Japan on two LP records in a black corrugated box containing booklets in English and Japanese. It was also released as two single LPs, entitled "Live in Japan, Vol. 1" and "Live in Japan, Vol. 2".

On "Live in Japan", subtitled "The Guitars on the Table Approach", Frith continued his pioneering guitar work he began on his landmark cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:8f87gjer46iv |title="Guitar Solos" |work=AllMusic.com |first=Sean |last=Westergaard |accessdate=2006-11-20] 1974 album "Guitar Solos". Comprising eight improvised pieces taken from four concerts in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Maebashi in 1981, Frith used an old 1961 solid body Burns guitar, built by British craftsman Jim Burns, a homemade six- and eight-string double-neck guitar created by a friend Charles Fletcher, and a battered violin. The guitars were laid flat on a table and "played" by plucking, scraping and beating the strings with a variety of found objects. Frith also wore a WW 2 pilot's throat microphone to amplify his periodic vocal utterances. The same microphone had been used by Frith during some of the Massacre concerts held earlier in 1981.

Track listing

;Disk 1
#"Osaka 1" (Frith) – 21:42
#"Osaka 2" (Frith) – 2:16
#"Osaka 3" (Frith) – 2:15
#"Fukuoka 1" (Frith) – 9:30;Disk 2
#"Fukuoka 2" (Frith) – 9:17
#"Maebashi 1" (Frith) – 8:22
#"Fukuoka 3" (Frith) – 11:22
#"Tokyo 1" (Frith) – 3:50

Concert venues

Recorded live in Japan at:
*Nichifutsu Kaikan, Tokyo, 11 July 1981
*Mainichi Kokusai Salon, Osaka, 17 July 1981
*80's Factory, Fukuoka, 20 July 1981
*Kawai Hall, Maebashi, 22 July 1981

Personnel

*Fred Frith
**1961 Burns Black Bison guitar
**Charles Fletcher custom-made double-neck guitar
**anonymous wrecked violin
**WW 2 pilot's throat microphone
**HH electronic SM200 stereo mixer
**amplifier with HH digital effects unit

Production

Collated and adjusted at Sorcerer Sound, New York City, by Fred Frith, Greg Curry and Adam Moseley.

CD releases

"Live in Japan" is scheduled for release on Fred Records in 2007. It was remastered and restored from a virgin vinyl copy by Tom Dimuzio. The original master tapes were unobtainable. [cite web |url=http://www.fredfrith.com/fredrecords.htm |title=A list of upcoming releases |work=Fred Records |accessdate=2007-04-02]

ee also

*Fred Frith's equipment

References

External links

*amg | id = 10:7dd6vwmta9rk | label = Live in Japan, Vol. 1
*amg | id = 10:t20e4j471wae | label = Live in Japan, Vol. 2
* [http://home.arcor.de/nyds-exp-discogs/frith.htm Fred Frith discography]