Friends & Enemies, by Fred Frith & Henry Kaiser

Friends & Enemies

by Fred Frith & Henry Kaiser

supported by

jack_the_riffer 1-5, 19-22: Friends
6-10, 23-28: Enemies
11-15, 29-34: Live '84
16-18, 35-36: Studio Session '99

scubageek Classic albums by Frith and Kaiser reissued, with a gaggle of previously unreleased material. Favorite track: The Kirghiz Light.

The Sonic Archives Recording Co. thumbnail

more...

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$14 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

Includes unlimited streaming of Friends & Enemies via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

ships out within 3 days

Purchasable with gift card

$23 USD or more

	1.	It Moves... 02:07
	2.	The Changing of Names 05:47
	3.	It Sings 05:43
	4.	Believing What We Read 03:02
	5.	...But Does It Swing? 03:34
	6.	Hard Time Killin' Floor Blues 03:31
	7.	The Golden Eighties 05:47
	8.	Everyday Objects 02:52
	9.	The Kirghiz Light 04:55
	10.	Special Rider Blues 04:31
	11.	Drowsy Maggie 04:06
	12.	An HK Guitar Solo 03:31
	13.	Strandloper 01:16
	14.	Major Nichols 03:53
	15.	The Live Trace 04:39
	16.	See Over 09:06
	17.	Fourth Rail 05:16
	18.	Squirrely 05:42
	19.	Twisted Memories Give Way to the Angry Present 03:57
	20.	Black Glass 05:30
	21.	Third Rail 03:30
	22.	Three Languages 09:30
	23.	One of Nature's Mistakes 02:07
	24.	Roy Rogers 05:02
	25.	The Confession 03:57
	26.	Objects Everyday 02:49
	27.	Wool and Water 04:11
	28.	The Trace 02:53
	29.	Life in Hell 05:37
	30.	The Incarceration 05:38
	31.	An FF Bass Solo 02:37
	32.	John S. French 03:31
	33.	Fifteen Blues 04:34
	34.	Dog Puppet Born Out of a Sock 02:10
	35.	Reading Glasses 02:05
	36.	A Portrait of the Artists as Two Old Men 09:37

about

Friends & Enemies is the complete recordings (1979-1999) by Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser, who, separately & together, have both pushed the boundaries of what can be done in music and with their instruments for many decades now.
This includes the albums "With Friends Like These", "Who Needs Enemies", their unreleased live album (which was originally slated to be Cuneiform Rune 5), and 30 minutes of material recorded expressly for this set in January, 1999!
Despite the fact that both players are "guitarists", there is a very wide range of sounds & styles to be found here.

"In 1979, guitarists Fred Frith and Henry Kaiser made an album titled With Friends Like These... on the Metalanguage label. It was one of the defining documents of the downtown avant-garde scene, a collection of improvised duets on which both players essentially redefined the sound of the guitar, Frith with his physically altered (and sometimes beaten) instruments, and Kaiser with his virtuosic and harmonically adventurous technique.
Four years later they reunited to make Who Needs Enemies?, again on Metalanguage, and on this second album they expanded their arsenal to include the Linn drum and sequencer. Until now the only in-print remnant from those two albums was a condensed single-disc package on SST.
The Cuneiform reissue improves on the SST item enormously, first of all by including the entirety of both albums, secondly by adding another full album's worth of previously unreleased live material, and thirdly by adding on top of that another half hour of new studio performances.
In short, this set offers everything Frith and Kaiser have recorded together, and at mid-price. Absolutely a must for noise fans, skronk hounds, and adventurous guitarheads." – AllMusic

credits

released May 15, 1999

Fred Frith - electric & acoustic guitars, 4 & 6 string bass, "drums", violin, marimba, piano, Casio 202 organ
Henry Kaiser - electric & acoustic guitars, 6 string bass, "drums", electric sitar, banjo, piano
Oliver DiCicco - engineering

1-5 and 19-22 from "With Friends Like These", recorded July, 1979.
5-10 and 23-28 from "Who Needs Enemies", recorded October, 1983.
11-15 and 29-34 were recorded live, October 1984
16-18 and 35-36 were recorded especially for this album, January, 1999.

license

about

Cuneiform Records Washington, D.C.

Cuneiform Records is an independent record label releasing adventurous, boundary-bursting music by artists from around the world.

Founded in 1984.
Based in Washington D.C.

Recommendations

contact / help

Contact Cuneiform Records

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Redeem code

Report this album or account

Cuneiform Records recommends:

The Gift of Purpose [Hopper Family Benefit Album]
by Bone (Nick Didkovsky / Hugh Hopper / John Roulat)

The BENEFIT ALBUM for Hugh Hopper's family is now on Bandcamp! Cuneiform Records
go to album

If you like Friends & Enemies, you may also like:

Artlessly Falling
by Mary Halvorson's Code Girl

supported by 45 fans who also own “Friends & Enemies”

Mary Halvorson is a genius composer and guitarist who has developed her own musical language, and with Code Girl she has incorporated poetry into that language. Incredible compositions and lyricism (each track is a different kind of poem). Halvorson's playing is as great as usual, and all the other members of the band sound great. Robert Wyatt's singing in particular works extremely well in the tracks he's featured. Highly, highly recommend. rat
go to album
Abracadabra In Osaka (Elton Dean, Allan Holdsworth, Hugh Hopper, John Marshall)
by Soft Works

supported by 45 fans who also own “Friends & Enemies”

The combination of Elton and Allan on this is absolutely incredible! Hugh Hopper and John Marshall fill it out BEAUTIFULLY! Jonathan Pryor
go to album
Amaryllis
by Mary Halvorson

supported by 43 fans who also own “Friends & Enemies”

Fresh and alive jazz, sounds as something new. pivazz
go to album
Furvent
by Le Grand Sbam

Progressive music ensemble The Grand Sbam's bombastic compositions defy tempo, genre, and description. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 17, 2020
go to album
Wagtail
by Julius Schwing

Tasmanian guitarist Julius Schwing embraces the visceral sounds of finger playing, incorporating them into his experimental guitar work. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 8, 2022
go to album