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2CD
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GG 389CD
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"Skeleton Crew was founded in the early 1980s by Fred Frith and Tom Cora. The original idea was to create a new group out of the ashes of Massacre, but medical issues of several potential members saw Frith and Cora end up as a duo. They started experimenting with what they could achieve by themselves, recorded the fantastic debut album Learn to Talk and finally decided to take the new project out on the road. Dave Newhouse of The Muffins joined them for these live shows which proved very successful. Back in the studio, Frith and Cora recorded their second and last album, The Country of Blinds, and afterwards went on tour again. This time, they were joined by multi-instrumentalist Zeena Parkins who had already played on the recent album. Fred Frith remembers the days of touring as very low-key affairs with incredibly exciting results, saying the songs they played sounded very different every single night, such was the energy that was created by the band on stage. Everybody who has seen them perform will agree that Skeleton Crew on stage was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. After several years of searching for recordings, mixing and mastering, and held up by the global pandemic, we are proud to finally offer you this double-CD of live recordings, including songs that never ended up on any of their albums."
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LP
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RER FROV8
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ReR Vinyl present a reissue of Skeleton Crew's Learn to Talk, originally released in 1984. A true avant-rock classic. Skeleton Crew were the maverick duo of Ex-Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith and the great late cellist Tom Cora. Formed during one of Frith's early American residencies, Skeleton Crew was a legendary two-man crew who somehow -- in real time, managed to play all their instruments, cello, bass, electric guitar, violin, vocals -- as well as, drum parts dislocated between the two of them. No one sounded like Skeleton Crew, ever. An unprecedented and tight duo coalition that produced some of the best music of the decade. Originally released in 1984, Learn to Talk consists of a highly integrated mixture of art-rock, punk energy, tape manipulation, and re-imagined folk elements. A catalog of invention that remains breathtaking today. Fully re-mastered and including a printed inner sleeve with previously unpublished text by Fred Frith in memory of Tom Cora on the 20th anniversary of his premature passing.
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2CD
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FRO 008/9CD
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"A timely reissue of two timeless classics. On the first CD it's just Fred Frith and Tom Cora, the legendary two man crew who somehow -- in real time, not with endless overdubs -- managed to play all their own instruments (cello, bass, electric guitar, violin, casio) and sing -- as well as, between them, constructing the drum parts -- dislocated into elements with each of them having bits of the kit. This made for some fantastic -- and normally unplayable parts -- most drummers having only one brain. No one sounded like Skeleton Crew, ever. Devious, complicated, brutally simple, always unexpected, turning on a dime, this was not just a pop band but a tocsin, a call to arms -- and in a short recorded life it produced a catalogue of invention that is still breathtaking today. On the second album, the inspired addition of Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion, more drums, more vocals) led to some of the best music of the decade. The recording was rawer, more urgent, the songs standing out in sharp relief; every part essential. And yet -- it's a puzzle almost impossible to unravel: how on earth did they ever evolve those dislocated parts and still make them fit so perfectly together? Did I mention the texts? So much to the point, so good. And where are the Skeleton Crews today when we really need them? Both CDs are here, in full, re-mastered by Fred and with 10 extra tracks -- each as good as anything on the official albums."
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