Art Bears were an avant-garde rock group from the United Kingdom formed dur… Read Full Bio ↴Art Bears were an avant-garde rock group from the United Kingdom formed during the disassembly of Henry Cow in 1978 by three of its members, Fred Frith on guitar, bass, violin, and keyboards, Chris Cutler on percussion, electronics, and lyrics, and Dagmar Krause on vocals. The group released three studio albums between 1978 and 1981, and toured Europe in 1979. After their third album in 1981, they disbanded, although Cutler and Frith continue to play concerts together as a duo.
The Art Bears' music was often deeply political in content, reflecting the bands' socialist leanings, and frequently experimental. Art Bears were more "song oriented" than Henry Cow, although much of the material that comprised their debut album release was actually written with the intention of being performed by Henry Cow.
Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's last album after disagreements arose over the album's content. Frith and Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while others in the band wanted instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears, with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests. The instrumental material appeared later on the final Henry Cow album, Western Culture (1979).
Hopes and Fears (1978) thus consisted of Henry Cow songs plus new Art Bears material recorded later by Frith, Cutler and Krause to complete the album. Towards the end of 1978, Art Bears returned to the studio to record their first "true" album, Winter Songs (1979). It comprised fourteen short songs composed by Frith around texts by Cutler that were based on carvings on the stylobate of the Amiens Cathedral in France.
In December 1978, Art Bears joined Rock in Opposition (RIO), and toured Europe in April and May 1979. For the tour, they added Peter Blegvad (ex-Slapp Happy, guitar, bass guitar, voice) and Marc Hollander (Aksak Maboul, keyboards, clarinet) to their line-up, and rehearsed at the Cold Storage Recording Studios in Brixton, London before leaving for Italy in late April. They performed in Italy, France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, including an RIO festival on the 1st of May in Milan. Some of the songs recorded during the tour were later added to the album release of Hopes and Fears and The Art Box (2003), a box set of Art Bears material.
The band returned to the studio in 1980 to make one final album, The World as It Is Today (1981), before splitting up. In October 1983 Frith, Cutler and Krause reunited again, this time with Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth from Cassiber, Tom Cora and from Skeleton Crew, and George Lewis from the ICP Orchestra under the name "Duck and Cover". The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983 Moers Festival at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth, but the group only materialised later that year after another commission by the Berlin Jazz Festival. "Duck and Cover" performed a 40-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the Berlin Jazz Festival in October 1983 in West Berlin, and again at the Festival des Politischen Liedes (Festival of Political Song) in East Berlin in February 1984. The second performance was recorded by Rundfunk der DDR (East German Radio) and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the "Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2" LP record. In 1993 Frith, Cutler and Krause worked together again on a song project, "Domestic Stories" (1993) by Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien, with saxophonist Alfred Harth. While similar to Art Bears, the addition of Glandien's electronic music made "Domestic Stories" a distinctly different album.
An Art Bears "review" took place in May 2008 at the world premiere of the Art Bears Songbook at the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. It was performed by Cutler (drums), Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, piano), Jewlia Eisenberg (voice), Carla Kihlstedt (violin, voice), Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion), Kristin Slipp (voice) and The Norman Conquest (sound manipulation). Krause had been unable to participate and Frith and Cutler decided to rework the trio's repertoire for an expanded group, with the voices of Eisenberg, Slipp and Kihlstedt replacing Krause's "eccentric and idiomatic delivery". The project was so-named because Frith and Cutler did not want it to be seen as an Art Bears reunion. According to All About Jazz the Art Bears Songbook was "not just a highlight, but the highlight of the [five day] festival."
The Art Bears' music was often deeply political in content, reflecting the bands' socialist leanings, and frequently experimental. Art Bears were more "song oriented" than Henry Cow, although much of the material that comprised their debut album release was actually written with the intention of being performed by Henry Cow.
Art Bears were formed during the recording of Henry Cow's last album after disagreements arose over the album's content. Frith and Cutler favoured song-oriented material, while others in the band wanted instrumental compositions. As a compromise, Frith, Cutler and Krause agreed, early in 1978, to release the songs already created on their own album, Hopes and Fears, under the name Art Bears, with the rest of Henry Cow credited as guests. The instrumental material appeared later on the final Henry Cow album, Western Culture (1979).
Hopes and Fears (1978) thus consisted of Henry Cow songs plus new Art Bears material recorded later by Frith, Cutler and Krause to complete the album. Towards the end of 1978, Art Bears returned to the studio to record their first "true" album, Winter Songs (1979). It comprised fourteen short songs composed by Frith around texts by Cutler that were based on carvings on the stylobate of the Amiens Cathedral in France.
In December 1978, Art Bears joined Rock in Opposition (RIO), and toured Europe in April and May 1979. For the tour, they added Peter Blegvad (ex-Slapp Happy, guitar, bass guitar, voice) and Marc Hollander (Aksak Maboul, keyboards, clarinet) to their line-up, and rehearsed at the Cold Storage Recording Studios in Brixton, London before leaving for Italy in late April. They performed in Italy, France, Belgium and Czechoslovakia, including an RIO festival on the 1st of May in Milan. Some of the songs recorded during the tour were later added to the album release of Hopes and Fears and The Art Box (2003), a box set of Art Bears material.
The band returned to the studio in 1980 to make one final album, The World as It Is Today (1981), before splitting up. In October 1983 Frith, Cutler and Krause reunited again, this time with Heiner Goebbels and Alfred Harth from Cassiber, Tom Cora and from Skeleton Crew, and George Lewis from the ICP Orchestra under the name "Duck and Cover". The ensemble was initially commissioned for the 1983 Moers Festival at the request of festival director Burkhard Hennen to Alfred Harth, but the group only materialised later that year after another commission by the Berlin Jazz Festival. "Duck and Cover" performed a 40-minute musical piece entitled "Berlin Programme" at the Berlin Jazz Festival in October 1983 in West Berlin, and again at the Festival des Politischen Liedes (Festival of Political Song) in East Berlin in February 1984. The second performance was recorded by Rundfunk der DDR (East German Radio) and broadcast nationally. An edited version of the broadcast was released in September 1985 on one side of the "Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2" LP record. In 1993 Frith, Cutler and Krause worked together again on a song project, "Domestic Stories" (1993) by Chris Cutler and Lutz Glandien, with saxophonist Alfred Harth. While similar to Art Bears, the addition of Glandien's electronic music made "Domestic Stories" a distinctly different album.
An Art Bears "review" took place in May 2008 at the world premiere of the Art Bears Songbook at the 25th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. It was performed by Cutler (drums), Frith (guitar, bass guitar, violin, piano), Jewlia Eisenberg (voice), Carla Kihlstedt (violin, voice), Zeena Parkins (keyboards, accordion), Kristin Slipp (voice) and The Norman Conquest (sound manipulation). Krause had been unable to participate and Frith and Cutler decided to rework the trio's repertoire for an expanded group, with the voices of Eisenberg, Slipp and Kihlstedt replacing Krause's "eccentric and idiomatic delivery". The project was so-named because Frith and Cutler did not want it to be seen as an Art Bears reunion. According to All About Jazz the Art Bears Songbook was "not just a highlight, but the highlight of the [five day] festival."
Carved In Stone
Art Bears Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Carved In Stone' by these artists:
D.I.E. (Death Inevitable) I've waited for this moment. I can't even tell you…
E.A.S.E. There's only one way out of this crazy town and…
Ground Mower Dirty, cold and scared In a world gone mad No angel seems…
HammerFall There is silence in the dark There's a fire, ready to…
Kari Rueslåtten I let myself in Through the kitchen door Silence at first …
Memory Garden Come and burn with me I have something you must see The…
Mobb Deep We gettin' our burn here we go again I bet y'all…
Pantheon I I despise myself I slash my wrist Yet your name is carved…
Pink Cream 69 Ooh ooh ooh... I watched a maiden mourning, hurt was in…
Restless Heart We wrote our names on every bridge and every wall On…
Saor When day fades into night Stars ignite the sky Illuminatin…
Scar Symmetry You're never alone Still you're on your own You cannot see t…
Shotgun City The stars are my footsteps, that lead me to you The…
Sister Dollars make your eyes bleed Like a fed dress seeing red A…
The Subdudes Carved in stone is a name I will remember Skin and…
Ulcus Time flies by, while souls meet and drift through existence.…
Unleashed 9. Carved In Stone Gone, is the black horizon But not th…
We Sell The Dead I hope I get this right I don’t want you to…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Art Bears:
3 Wheels The double wheel Of the sun Rolls in the sky Out step t…
All Hail! Like a waterfall Descending From a cloud A stream of fire…
Civilisation Night came down like a curtain – stuck with stars A-midstr…
Collapse Stone blocks spin Earth turns It whirls, it Hurls these m…
Democracy I saw a lion and a snake Each killed the other. From…
Dividing Line Over thee high rise Great shadow falls In yellow streets Eac…
First Things First Two dead trees Strain to each pole Alone Divided ever Un…
Force The Dead Tower Cracked Like Phanes' Egg Where She Haule…
Freedom After this I saw multitudes Forced from the land, Cleared …
Gold I was born in the Earth Out of fire and flood Owned…
In Two Minds She sits up all night, every night Down in the kitchen,…
Joan Was I a witch? In the dark days I heard voices Emptied…
Labyrinth Money bought me, Lusts made my labour, Greed sustained me,…
Law I saw our masters Sat to dine, Bloated on liberty, Yours …
Man and Boy The boy is chopping down The twisted tree The man feeds …
Maze All in a maze Dancing our dream days away Misled by coinci…
On Suicide In such a country and at such a time, There should…
Peace An angel, leashed Was loosed, and chaos Reigned, In Engla…
Piers When I lay on Malvern hills To sleep, I dreamed of you,…
Riddle I turn in gravity upon a law. I swallow stars, a…
The Bath of Stars He steps from a crucible Held by an angel The angel is…
The Dance I trod the mazes in my prime I learned the dance. I…
The Dividing Line Over thee high rise Great shadow falls In yellow streets Eac…
The Hermit The hermit sits Before the fire And toasts a fish Upon a …
The Skeleton He danced off his clothes In the grip of a demon He…
The Slave Once as the sun was setting A slave came to the…
The Song of Investment Capital Overseas Out of town, my work takes me Out of town, I empty…
The Song of the Dignity of Labour Under Capital As I stood at my Bench And the job hurried By- While my …
The Song of the Martyrs All our lives, all of us Whose bones you have Climbed on …
The Song of the Monopolists Keep calm! The small. ones will go down, The air will clea…
The Summer Wheel The midsummer fire was made by the Friction Of a wheel sp…
The Tube Lines flicker, pictures vanish. On the street a window open…
The Winter Wheel A fence leans In the driving Snow Upon a Wheel a Cock…
Truth Then I went walking And I saw Long queues – But little F…
Winter/War Where time has stood I passed And glanced aside I saw t…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@BMSculptures
What should I carve next???
@AngelinaRose
A dog! :)
@top-secret-sci
Coral and Turtle!
@tamtam145
Can you do an owl ?
@vernonhall6939
Kangaroo ???
@mkdrivingzone
How about a bust, of yourself.
@BlacktailStudio
I watched the whole thing, which isn’t unusual. What was unusual is that my wife also watched the whole thing and was wildly impressed. Great video man!
@tylercathey8848
seems like you have competition bro
@michaellyons33
I love both of your work
@BMSculptures
I hope you made her watch on a different device - need that extra view. 😂 glad you guys enjoyed watching!