Music Arcades: Fred Frith: The Technology of Tears

The Sheffield improv scene went through several names and venues while I was there. The Foot and Mouth Club, Other Music, currently Notes and Sounds and something else in the interim, I think, that I can't remember. I hope someone is keeping an archive of all those performances.

When I first started attending the venue was upstairs at The Hallamshire, then a ramshackle old pub on West Street, now refurbished and so anonymous that I couldn't even be certain of identifying the building. I saw local bands Hornweb and my favourites Wire Assembly several times. I think I first saw Evan Parker at The Hallamshire and, sometime in 1988, Fred Frith came to play, appearing with Japanese vocalist Tenko.

I can't remember anything about the gig, but I can't imagine it sounded much like this CD — particularly since you can hardly hear any guitar on it until the last and shortest track. I've never liked the album that much. It shares a family resemblance to the work of John Zorn and Christian Marclay, both of whom play on the album, but doesn't work quite as well.

I bought the CD from Frith at the end of the show. He can't have been on an extended tour because he had to ask me how much CDs cost in England. We settled on a round tenner.