The Technology of Tears

Infobox Album
Name = The Technology of Tears
Type = Studio album
Artist = Fred Frith


Background = orange
Released = 1988
Recorded = United States, 1986–1987
Genre = Avant-progressive rock
Length = 01:22:59 (LP releases) 01:00:15 (CD releases)
Label = RecRec (Switzerland)
Producer = Fred Frith
Reviews =
*"Allmusic" Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ad1gtq3ztu48 link]
*Piero Scaruffi (6/10) [http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/frith.html link] | Last album = "Cheap at Half the Price"
(1983)
This album = "The Technology of Tears"
(1988)
Next album = "The Top of His Head"
(1989)
Misc = Extra chronology 2
Artist = Fred Records
Type = Studio
Last album = "The Happy End Problem" (2006) Fred Frith (RēR/FRA 05)
This album = "The Technology of Tears"
(2008) Fred Frith (RēR/FRO 11)
Next album = "The Art of Memory II" (2008) Fred Frith & John Zorn (RēR/FRA 06) Extra album cover
Upper caption = Re-issues
Background = CadetBlue


Lower caption = Fred Records re-issue (2008).

"The Technology of Tears (And Other Music for Dance and Theatre)" is a double album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith. It was the first of a series of Music for Dance albums Frith made, and is sometimes subtitled "Music for Dance volume 1". It was recorded between June 1986 and April 1987, and released on a double LP and a single CD by RecRec Music (Switzerland) and SST Records (United States) in 1988. It was re-issued on CD in 2008 by Fred Records (United Kingdom). All the CD releases omit the "Propaganda" suite (side 4 of the double LP).

The album comprises three suites:
*"The Technology of Tears", commissioned by Rosalind Newman and first performed by her dance company at the Joyce Theatre, New York City in February 1987;
*"Jigsaw", commissioned by the Concert Dance Company of Boston as a collaboration between Fred Frith, Rosalind Newman and Pier Voulkos and funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Works Program of the Massachusetts Council on the Arts and Humanities;
*"Propaganda" (omitted on the CD releases), commissioned by the Creation Production Company, written and directed by Matthew Maguire and first performed at La Mama ETC in New York City from May 1 to 24 1987.Frith composed all the music and plays most of the instruments, with assistance from John Zorn, Tenko Ueno, Christian Marclay and Jim Staley.

The music

On "The Technology of Tears", Fred Frith continues his exploration of world dance music he began on "Gravity" and "Speechless", this time supplementing traditional instrumentation with digital technology to generate patterns, pulses and noise. Samples are used throughout, accompanied by horns, sporadic percussion and wordless vocals. The album is a mix of musique concrète, folk music and improvisation.

On the first part of the "Technology of Tears" suite Frith experiments with Henry Kaiser's newly acquired synclavier, at the time the state-of-the-art sampling and processing technology. On parts two and three of the suite Frith plays mostly "low-grade" instruments with added samples by turntablist Christian Marclay. "Jigsaw" is a collection of dozens of musical cells, "each recorded separately in increments of between 3 and 12 measures, all at the same tempo, and in the same key". cite web |url=http://www.rermegacorp.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RM&Product_Code=FRO11&Category_Code=CU |title=Frith, Fred: The Technology of Tears |work=RēR Megacorp |accessdate=2008-05-27 ] The intention was that the modules could be assembled in any order to create the final piece. The reason for this construction was that Rosalind Newman had requested that many changes be made to the "Technology" suite; with "Jigsaw" she could arrange the pieces how she whished. Ironically, she accepted the Frith's demonstration of what was possible as the final piece.

"Allmusic" described the "Technology of Tears" suite as "... unrelenting slices of hard-edged sounds over a pulse ...", "Jigsaw" as "... patterns with constantly shifting accents and sub-divisions ...", and "Propaganda" as "... a series of brilliantly evocative soundpieces with electronics, guitar, and sound effects ...". cite web |url=http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:ad1gtq3ztu48 |title="Technology of Tears" |work=AllMusic.com |first="Blue" Gene |last=Tyranny |accessdate=2006-12-07 ]

Track listing

LP releases

Side A: "The Technology of Tears"
#"Sadness, Its Bones Bleached Behind Us" (Frith) – 13:05
#"You Are What You Eat" (Frith) – 7:22Side B: "The Technology of Tears (continued)"
#"You Are What You Eat (continued)" (Frith) – 11:39
#"The Palace of Laughter, The Technology of Tears" (Frith) – 10:08Side C: "Jigsaw"
#"Jigsaw" (Frith) – 14:39
#"Jigsaw Coda" (Frith) – 3:04Side D: "Propaganda"
#"Shelter For Them All" (Frith) – 1:36
#"A Deeper Understanding of Conflict" (Frith) – 0:54
#"The Turning of an Hourglass" (Frith) – 2:04
#"Birth of a Rebel" (Frith) – 1:51
#"Your Beautiful Corpse" (Frith) – 1:17
#"The Excellent Hyena" (Frith) – 1:25
#"The Old Man Moves a Mountain" (Frith) – 1:06
#"The Wolf Demon (part 1)" (Frith) – 1:07
#"Meditation Upon Propaganda" (Frith) – 3:06
#"Liberty" (Frith) – 1:59
#"The Relentless Landscape" (Frith) – 0:59
#"The Gaze That Sings" (Frith) – 1:03
#"The Wolf Demon (part 2)" (Frith) – 1:05
#"Rashomon" (Frith) – 3:30

CD releases

"The Technology of Tears"
#"Sadness, Its Bones Bleached Behind Us" (Frith) – 13:18
#"You Are What You Eat" (Frith) – 18:46
#"The Palace of Laughter, The Technology of Tears" (Frith) – 10:16"Jigsaw"
#"Jigsaw" (Frith) – 14:48
#"Jigsaw Coda" (Frith) – 3:07

Personnel

*Fred Frith – guitars, violin, percussion, keyboards, synclavier, voice
*John Zorn – alto saxophone ("The Technology of Tears")
*Tenko Ueno – voice ("The Technology of Tears")
*Christian Marclay – turntables ("The Technology of Tears")
*Jim Staley – trombone ("Jigsaw")

Production

*"The Technology of Tears" – recorded BC Studios, June 1986; Noise New York, November 1986 to January 1987; Synclavier recorded in California, June 1986 with programming
*"Jigsaw" – recorded Noise New York, October 1986
*"Propaganda" – recorded Noise New York, April 1987
*Digitally remastered at New York Digital, August 1987
*Cover images and photos – Pierre Hébert
*Cover design – Peter Bäder

References

External links

*amg | id = 10:ad1gtq3ztu48 | label = Technology of Tears
* [http://home.arcor.de/nyds-exp-discogs/frith.htm Fred Frith discography]
* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DE7D9123FF936A15751C0A961948260 Dance: Rosalind Newman] . "The New York Times Archives, February 25, 1987 ("The Technology of Tears" premiere)".