Hopes and Fears (Art Bears album)

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search
Hopes and Fears
ArtBears AlbumCover HopesFears (1978).jpg
Studio album by Art Bears
Released May 1978 (1978-05)
Recorded January 1978, Switzerland
March 1978, London
Genre
Length 48:25
Label Recommended (UK)
Producer Art Bears
Etienne Conod
Art Bears chronology
Hopes and Fears
(1978)		 Winter Songs
(1979)Winter Songs1979
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic 4.5/5 stars[1]
Robert Christgau B[2]

Hopes and Fears is the debut album by the English avant-rock group Art Bears. It comprises tracks by Henry Cow, Art Bears's predecessor, recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg in Switzerland in January 1978, and tracks by Art Bears, recorded at Kaleidophon Studios in London in March 1978.

Background

Hopes and Fears began as a Henry Cow album, but after the first recording sessions in Switzerland, some of the members of the band were unhappy about the predominance of song-oriented material. As a compromise it was agreed that two albums would be made: the songs would be released by Fred Frith, Chris Cutler and Dagmar Krause as Art Bears, and the instrumental compositions would be released later by Henry Cow. The newly formed Art Bears recorded four more tracks in London to complete Hopes and Fears, which was released in May 1978. Henry Cow returned to Switzerland in July that year to record additional instrumental pieces for what was to be their last album, Western Culture (1979).

Description

Because of Henry Cow's presence on this album, Hopes and Fears is considered by some to be "the lost Henry Cow album".[3] But the predominance of songs makes the album a bridge between Henry Cow and Art Bears, a move away from Henry Cow's usual intense compositions, and the beginnings of Art Bears's music, fully realised on their next two albums. It also shows Fred Frith experimenting with folk and dance music ("Terrain", "Moeris Dancing", "The Dance"), which he explored further on some of his subsequent solo albums, particularly Gravity (1980) and Speechless (1981).

"Joan" and "On Suicide" had been performed live by Henry Cow in 1977 and appear on Volume 7: Later and Post-Virgin of The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009). This version of "Joan" differs from the earlier live recording in that it is shorter, and the lyrics are not the same. Chris Cutler wrote the original lyrics for "Joan" and Tim Hodgkinson's "The Pirate Song", but Henry Cow were unhappy with them, and the songs were withdrawn from their repertoire. "Joan" was only performed a few times, and "The Pirate Song" not at all. Prior to the Hopes and Fears recording session, Cutler rewrote the lyrics of the two songs, but once again there were objections from the feminist faction within Henry Cow. Dagmar Krause, however, supported the new lyrics and both songs were recorded with the revised texts.[4][5]

The longest track, "In Two Minds" is the closest Art Bears came to playing "conventional rock music".[1] The instrumental section in the song sounds like a homage to The Who, a fact that Chris Cutler does not deny, considering the influence the band had on him and others.[6]

Track listing

Recorded by Henry Cow at Sunrise Studio, Kirchberg, Switzerland, 15–29 January 1978; and by Art Bears at Kaleidophon, London, 15–18 March 1978.

Side one – Áhá: Palace courtyard
No. Title Writer(s) Artist Length
1. "On Suicide"   Brecht, Eisler Henry Cow 1:26
2. "The Dividing Line"   Cutler, Frith, Cooper Henry Cow 4:11
3. "Joan"   Cutler, Frith Henry Cow 3:05
4. "Maze"   Cutler, Frith Henry Cow 5:05
5. "In Two Minds"   Cutler, Frith Henry Cow 8:45
Side two – Mer: Irrigated land
No. Title Writer(s) Artist Length
6. "Terrain"   Frith Art Bears 3:49
7. "The Tube"   Cutler, Frith Art Bears 3:05
8. "The Dance"   Cutler, Frith Art Bears 5:09
9. "The Pirate Song"   Cutler, Hodgkinson Henry Cow 1:28
10. "Labyrinth"   Cutler, Hodgkinson Henry Cow 2:15
11. "Riddle"   Cutler, Frith Henry Cow 2:49
12. "Moeris Dancing"   Frith Henry Cow 5:08
13. "Piers"   Cutler, Frith Art Bears 2:10

Bonus track notes

  • Track 14 from the B-side of the Art Bears 7" single "Rats & Monkeys" (1979) – recorded at Kaleidophon Studios, London, Winter 1979.
  • Track 15 from Recommended Records Sampler (1982) – recorded at Kaleidophon Studios, London, Winter 1979.
  • Track 16 from a 7" single given free to subscribers of The World as It Is Today (1981) – a coda to the Art Bears track "Man and Boy" from Winter Songs (1979), recorded live at Cantù, Italy, 30 May 1979.
  • "Collapse" and "All Hail!" are inverted in the CD liner notes.

Personnel

  • Fred Frith – guitars, violin, viola, harmonium, xylophone, piano, bass guitar on "Terrain" and "The Tube"
  • Chris Cutler – drums, percussion, noise
  • Dagmar Krause – voice

Guests (from Henry Cow)

Additional personnel

Sound and art work

  • Produced by Art Bears and Etienne Conod
  • Cover art by E. M. Thomas, assisted by Graham Keatley, Charlotte Sainsbury, Doug Kierdorf and Jane Colling (figures on the original LP cover)

Album title

Hopes and Fears derived its name from the following conversation between Charion and Hermes in Satirical Sketches: Charon Sees Life by Lucian of Samosata (quoted in the booklet accompanying the CD release of the album):[7]

Charion: All I can see is a complicated muddle – a world full of utter confusion. Their towers are like beehives in which every bee has a sting of his own and uses it against his neighbour – and some are like wasps, preying on the weaker members of the community. But what are those dim shapes flying around them?
Hermes: Hopes and Fears, Charon...

CD reissues

  • Hopes and Fears was reissued on CD in 1992 by Recommended Records with three extra tracks.
  • The album was also reissued in 2004 in The Art Box, a 6xCD box set of all Art Bears releases with live and unreleased tracks, plus remixes by other musicians.

Footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Cutler 2009, vol. 6–10, p. 5.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (subscription required)
Works cited

External links

Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=Hopes_and_Fears_(Art_Bears_album)&oldid=4376653"