Art Bears S/D

Winter Songs is my favorite. So excellent.

If you like Dagmar's voice and go for more op/song oriented stuff, the Slapp Happy albums "Sort Of" and "Acnalbasac Noom" are seriously two of my favorite albums ever.

Also search "Collapse", the B-side of the "Rats And Monkeys" single. It might be on some CD reissue now, I dunno.

I have much Art Bears but it's def. more Henry Cow then Slapp Happy and can't say I spend much time listening to them.

i've got two of their albums and both are in the for sale pile :(

sadness!

Acnalbasac Noom is better. It might be my favorite record ever made. Sort Of gets a little dragged down by the songs Blegvad sings.

Art Bears were completely great. (sometimes I can't believe I live so close to Frith, purely on stuff he did with this band.) I think what I love most about them was the fact that they applied so much sonic experimentation and tricks w/form to *songs*. It's really in inspiring sound. I wish they got more due outside RIO circles (esp as I like them a lot more than I like most HC), but might be that they're still a bit ahead of the curve

faves are TWAIIT -> Winter Songs ->Hopes and Fears, but they're all great

OTM about Blegvad on Sort Of. "Tutankhamen"? please. Though the rest is some of their best stuff.

And sleeve, is that "Collapse" different from the one on Hopes and Fears? Or maybe the one I picked up has bonus tracks. But yeah, that track stood out.

as for the remastering, well, i think they sound fantastic especially when compared to the original cd releases - expansive, detailed and full of depth. (and they sound just great when compared to my scratchy 20 year old vinyl). i really don't understand where this idea of poor remastering has come from.

i've always loved H&F but i found the others dull - but this could have just been post-punk making me ignore them at the time. still don't like the last one much but 'winter songs' really came to life for me with the remastered cd.

slapp happy - well, i love all their stuff as i've said on this board before. don't diss blegvad's voice either - tutankhamun IS trite but i still find it kind of jolly but his best slapp happy moment is 'strayed' from desperate straights.

henry cow's concerts 2 cd has been remastered and should be arriving on my doorstep this month - apparently the muddy mid-range of the vinyl and original cd has all been clarified. can't wait.

Sadly, this is the case for ALL of the ReR remasters. Cutler must be going deaf if he believes any of these sound decent.

One consolation: at least ReR isn't involving themselves in the loudness wars and compressing the hell out of the music.

Speaking of remaster issues, I was bemused that the reissue of "Acnalbasac" had fucked up indexing, with "Michelangelo" and "The Drum" together as a single track. Seemed like a weird mistake for such a lovingly done reissue.

I got a vinyl copy and it came with a zine inside. You can still find the vinyl for less than $20 every month on eBay. It's totally worth it...

Especially because the remasters aren't so hot. "Hopes And Fears" is a bad sounding record to start with.

I don't think I'll go for that box (yet), but I did finally found those other two Art Bears CDs, and wow.

Slapp Happy rules, too.

And Owen, awesome, yeah, ideally I'd like them on vinyl, so that's a good tip.

Yeah, and all points brought forth about the sound quality, now I hear the comparisons, and the poor quality is a bit of a nuisance

SOUNDS SO NICE ON K GUYZ

art bearz is so sick

any of you contrarian-ass muthas feeling art bears right now?

I love 'em. Hopes and Fears is actually my favorite; I like Henry Cow's sound but their records are unfocused to my ear, but Hopes and Fears takes what I love about the Cow and applies it to more conventional song structures.

They're shit.

for blogspot googlers

Art Bears Songbook - All Live!
Festival International Musique Actuelle Victoriaville: Day 5 - May 19, 2008 ------ Zeena Parkins, Julia Eisenberg, Kristin Slipp, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Carla Kihlstedt

it does take them a few songs to warm up, and the tinny audience recording basically already means Fans Only. but: live version of 'Rats and Monkeys' is its own brand new thing, and we finally get to hear the melody of 'Albion, Awake' sung with the original lyrics, which Dagmar refused to perform because she found them too disturbing

Art Bears Songbook featuring Dagmar Krause, September 17, 18, 19: http://www.rocktime.org/rio/artbearseng.html

It'd be great if they played in the UK but I can't see it happening, as prog fests here consist largely of Pendragon and their ilk. Any ilxors going to the RIOfest?