Live in Japan (Fred Frith album)

Live in Japan
Live album by Fred Frith
Released	1982
Recorded	July 1981, Japan
Genre	Avant-rock free improvisation
Length	68:34
Label	Recommended (Japan)
Producer	Fred Frith
Fred Frith chronology
Speechless (1981) Live in Japan (1982) Cheap at Half the Price (1983)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1][2]
Clouds and Clocks	mixed[3]

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 a limited edition release of 1,000^[3] by Recommended Records Japan^[4] on two LP records in a black corrugated box containing posters, artwork and 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 ^[5] 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 II 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

All tracks by Fred Frith.

Side 1 No. Title Length 1. "Osaka 1"   21:42 Side 2 No. Title Length 2. "Osaka 2"   2:16 3. "Osaka 3"   2:15 4. "Fukuoka 1"   9:30

Side 3 No. Title Length 5. "Fukuoka 2"   9:17 6. "Maebashi 1"   8:22 Side 4 No. Title Length 7. "Fukuoka 3"   11:22 8. "Tokyo 1"   3:50

Concert venues

Recorded live in Japan at:

• Nichifutsu Kaikan, Tokyo, 11 July 1981
• Mainichi Kokusai Salon, Osaka, 17 July 1981
• 80s Factory, Fukuoka, 20 July 1981
• Kawai Hall, Maebashi, 22 July 1981

Personnel

• Fred Frith
  • 1961 Burns Black Bison guitar
  • 1974 Charles Fletcher custom-made double-neck guitar (one fretted, one fretless)
  • anonymous "wrecked" violin
  • piano
  • WW II 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 was reissued on CD on Fred Records in October 2010. None of the original booklets, posters or artwork from the two LP box were included. It was remastered and restored from a virgin vinyl copy by Tom Dimuzio.^[4] The original master tapes were unobtainable.^[3][6]

See also

• Fred Frith's equipment

References

1. "Live in Japan, Vol. 1". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
2. "Live in Japan, Vol. 2". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
3. Colli, Beppe (8 November 2008). "Live In Japan". Clouds and Clocks. Retrieved 30 April 2012.
4. "FRITH, FRED: Live in Japan". ReR Megacorp. Retrieved 13 October 2010.
5. Westergaard, Sean. "Guitar Solos". AllMusic. Retrieved 20 June 2011.
6. "A list of upcoming releases". Fred Records. Retrieved 2 April 2007.

External links

• Fred Frith discography