ART BEARS - Hopes & Fears (1978-2015) RM / Mini LP SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The first album from Dagmar Krause, Chris Cutler, and Fred Frith's post-Henry Cow project is one of the art rock masterpieces of the 1970s. It's as politically potent as Henry Cow's more strident work, but couched in more poetic and provocative terms. Opening with Bertolt Brecht's "On Suicide," with Krause declaiming the playwright's bitter lyrics in her semi-operatic style to the wheezing accompaniment of Frith's harmonium, the album continues in that uncompromising vein. Although most of the other members of Henry Cow guest, with reeds player Lindsay Cooper and keyboardist Tim Hodgkinson playing on a majority of the 13 songs, Hopes and Fears is considerably more focused and powerful than that group's often scattershot albums. The songs are built on Cutler's impressively varied drumming (often on electronically modified instruments), and the amazing variety of sounds Frith is able to coax out of a battery of electric and acoustic guitars, but there's enough space in the music for Krause's unique vocals to shine. Highlights include the epic, multi-part "In Two Minds," parts of which are as close as the Art Bears ever come to conventional rock music (which is to say, not very close at all, but there's an electric guitar solo), and the puckish instrumental, "Moeris Dancing." by Stewart Mason  
Tracklist :
1    On Suicide 1:26
Written-By – Brecht, Eisler
2    The Dividing Line 4:11
Written-By – Cutler, Frith, Cooper
3    Joan 3:05
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
4    Maze 5:05
Voice [2nd Voice] – Georgie Born
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
5    In Two Minds 8:45
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
6    Terrain 3:49
Bass – Fred Frith
Written-By – Frith
7    The Tube 3:05
Bass – Fred Frith
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
8    The Dance 5:09
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
9    Pirate Song 1:28
Piano – Tim Hodgkinson
Written-By – Cutler, Hodgkinson
10    Labyrinth 2:15
Written-By – Cutler, Hodgkinson
11    Riddle 2:49
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
12    Moeris, Dancing 8:08
Written-By – Frith
13    Piers 2:10
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
14    Silence    1:00
15    The Riddle    2:21
16    First Things First    1:55
17    March From The Dance    1:05
18    The Hermit    2:47
Credits :
Bass, Cello – Georgie Born
Bassoon, Oboe, Soprano Saxophone, Recorder – Lindsay Cooper
Drums, Drums [Electrified Drums], Percussion [Percussions], Noises [Noise], Artwork [Centre] – Chris Cutler
Guitar [Guitars], Violin, Viola, Piano, Harmonium, Xylophone – Fred Frith
Organ, Clarinet – Tim Hodgkinson
Voice – Dagmar Krause

ART BEARS - Winter Songs (1979-2015) RM / Mini LP SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The Art Bears' second album consists of 12 songs of various tensions: rest vs. speed, improv vs. pulse, space vs. density, Dagmar Kraus's vocals vs. everyone else. As usual, Chris Cutler's lyrics tell political allegories through medieval-tinged stories: slaves, castles, and wheels of fortune (and industry) dominate. Fred Frith explores discordance through his guitar, and European folk figures through his always enjoyable violin. Though not as confrontational as their other work, the centerpiece has to be the frantic "Rats and Monkeys" with three minutes of teeth-gritting, out-of-control insanity as all three players are plugged into a wall outlet and let rip. A guaranteed lease breaker if played often enough. by Ted Mills
Tracklist :
1     The Bath of Stars 1:45
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
2     First Things First 2:50
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
3     Gold 1:41
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
4     The Summer Wheel 2:47
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
5     The Slave 3:38
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
6     The Hermit 2:59
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
7     Rats and Monkeys 3:24
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
8     The Skeleton 3:11
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
9     The Winter Wheel 3:06
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
10     Man and Boy 3:21
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
11     Winter/War/Force/Three Figures 3:05
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
12     Force 0:54
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
13     Three Figures 1:51
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
14     Three Wheels 3:35
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
Credits :
Drums, Percussion, Written-By, Arranged By, Text By [Texts] – Chris Cutler
Guitar [Guitars], Violin, Keyboards, Xylophone, Written-By, Arranged By, Composed By [Compositions] – Fred Frith
Voice – Dagmar Krause 

ART BEARS - The World as It Is Today (1981-2015) RM / Mini LP SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

If you thought Henry Cow was a pretty political band to start with, you may be even more taken aback by the Art Bears, which was put together following Henry Cow's demise by former Cows Chris Cutler (percussion), Fred Frith (guitar, violin), and Dagmar Krause (voice). On The World As It Is Today and its predecessor, Winter Songs, the Art Bears move away from the long-form art rock of Henry Cow and get much, much more politically explicit: song titles like "The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital" and "The Song of Investment Capital Overseas" almost sound like Monty Python gags today, but if any humor was intended it was clearly meant to be mordant. Frankly, the lyrics are so overwrought and portentous that it's hard to take them seriously. But the music is something else again. Cutler and Frith are natural collaborators; Cutler's drumming always rides a very fine line between the scattershot and the funky, while Frith bounces his horror-show guitar noise and carnival piano off of Cutler's grooves with manic abandon and fearsome inventiveness. And Krause's singing is just as inventive; she whoops, croons and screams her way through the density of Cutler's lyrics without a hesitation or misstep. Easy listening it isn't, but it's sure worth hearing. Frith fans, in particular, should consider this album a must-own. by Rick Anderson  
Tracklist :
1     The Song of Investment Capital Overseas 2:38
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
2     Truth 2:56
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
3     Freedom (Armed) Peace 3:25
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
4     (Armed) Peace 2:30
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
5     Civilisation 4:52
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
6     Democracy 2:22
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
7     The Song of the Martyrs 4:09
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
8     Law 0:51
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
9     The Song of the Monopolists 1:48
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
10     The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital 2:27
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
11     Albion, Awake! 4:08
Chris Cutler / Fred Frith
12    Silent Track    1:00
13    Code To Man And Boy    7:18
14    All Hail    4:08
15    Duck And Cover: The Song Of Investment Capital Overseas    3:43
Credits :
Drums, Electronic Drums [Electric Drums], Percussion, Lyrics By [Texts], Artwork [Booklet] – Chris Cutler
Guitar, Keyboards, Violin, Viola, Composed By [Compositions] – Fred Frith
Songwriter [All Songs Written By], Arranged By – Chris Cutler, Fred Frith
Vocals – Dagmar Krause