Hopes
& Fears
by Art Bears
ReR MEGACORP, Thornton Heath, Surrey,
UK, 2004
Remastered CD-ROM from vinyl (1978), ReR
ab1, £11.50
Distributors website: http://www.rermegacorp.com.
Reviewed by Michael R. (Mike) Mosher
Saginaw Valley State University
mosher@svsu.edu
What is Rock? One questions the breathy
PR calling this 1978 reissue (originally
a Henry Cow album) "some of the best and
most bizarre of the old school of Art-Rock".
Only two cuts, "In Two Minds" and "Riddle"
have regular rhythmic drumming as a crucial
part of the composition, which this reviewer
considers Rock's prerequisite. A couple
of cuts have moments like the late Frank
Zappa's pieces where he employs irregular
rhythms and stop-time, but those lack
Zappa's biting electric guitar that lassos
his pieces to Rock instrumental conventions.
Epistemological quibbling aside, "Hopes
and Fears" is an interesting album outside
of Rock tradition. This reviewer first
heard Dagmar Krause on producer Hal Wilner's
"Lost in the Stars", the multi-artist
tribute to Kurt Weill that included Lou
Reed, Sting, Stan (Wall of Voodoo) Ridgeway.
Krause is a cabaret chanteuse like the
mature, reinvented Marianne Faithfull,
and most of this CD uses kabarett band
instrumentation on discordant, early twentieth
century lieder. Krause often phrases Chris
Cutler's words like a Brecht/Weill song,
and the lyrics of the opening cut "On
Suicide" is a poem by Brecht. "Pirate
Song" promises something like "Pirate
Jenny" but is more in the manner of a
Steven Sondheim show tune. "Hopes &
Fears" could be memorable soundtrack to
a theatrical multimedia, multi-image show,
for at their most focused the Art Bears
set up stage sets in the listener's mind's
eye.
The fifth song on the CD, "In Two Minds",
is the first one that's Rock music, albeit
rather un-Arty, with all the pomp of Elton
John-style piano chords and Pete Townshend-esque
power guitar. Here we get Chris Cutler's
lyrics at their strongest, a snapshot
of dysfunctional domesticity like the
Beatles' "She's Leaving Home" but more
pointed and political. "Maze" is distinguished
by solo drums, and "Riddle" has an ominous
beginning before guitar-drum interplay.
The weaving and swaying of "The Dance"
evokes Celtic music in the British isles
or Brittany. "Terrain" has fine fiddle
and choppy rhythm, and Fred Frith then
plays prog-rock guitar reminiscent of
Chris Howe of Yes. "Morris Dancing" has
the feel of Yes or Zappa.
Supposedly there was much improvisation
in the process of composing and recording
these pieces, so Frith and Cutler may
have bent over backwardsperhaps
excessivelyto avoid Rock clichés
and repeating themselves. This tendency
is even noticeable on Cutler and Frith's
1999 "2 Gentlemen in Verona" concert (issued
by this label as ReR CCFF 3), where there's
no traditional 4/4 rock structure until
the Encore. The result is that the Art
Bears generally lack Rock's simpleeven
stoopedmelodies and beats,
the kind that you inadvertently catch
yourself singing while shaving of showering.