ELEVENTH HOUR (WITH ARDITTI STRING QUARTET / UWE DIERKSEN / WILLIAM WINANT )

I still have yet to find an album in this decade by Frith that I like as much as his '80's stuff. Fred's become a much serious musical artist, perhaps a bit too serious. The humor and politics is now a thing of the past. However if you are familiar with that era and didn't find it appealing, you might want to check out what he's been doing lately.

This is a hard album to categorize. Maybe it fits in with modern classical or something. We do have two electric guitarists (the second only plays with Frith on a piece called Stick Figures), but also a string quartet (two violins, a viola, and a violincello), with a trumpeter. I am at a loss of words to really describe this music. I guess the term that first comes to mind is dissonant. A quote from the liner notes; "kids playing, security guards with night sticks, radio static." It was only for a piece called Tense Serenity.

If you're coming at prog from a modern classical area, this just might be the thing for you. If you are coming at the music of Fred Frith from a more conventional prog rock place, I'd recommend you start somewhere else.