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."
Civilisation
Art Bears Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
– stuck with stars
A-midstream a boat hovered
– caught between shore and
Shore,
Around it darkness gathered
The boatman shipped his oars
I could see no more...
Art Bears's song "Civilisation" is a poignant portrayal of the complexities of the human condition. The lyrics talk about the arrival of nightfall as a curtain, filled with countless stars, descending upon humanity. The arrival of the night is brought about with the image of a boat, adrift midstream, caught between two shores. The boatman, visible by the dim light of his lantern, is unable to move the boat to either of the shores. This image is a powerful metaphor for the state of humanity, caught between the past and the future, unable to move forward or back. The darkness gathers around the boat, as if mocking the fate of the people trapped within it.
The lyrics of "Civilisation" are layered and complex, as Art Bears attempt to explore the futility of human existence. The boatman, in a sense, represents the human spirit, struggling to find its way in a world that seems both beautiful and terrifying. The darkness that surrounds him speaks to the darker aspects of our world, the pain and suffering that is inherent in human life.
Line by Line Meaning
Night came down like a curtain
The darkness of the night descended abruptly, separating the world like a heavy theater curtain.
stuck with stars
The sky was punctuated with countless, unchanging stars that seemingly remained in place.
A-midstream a boat hovered
Amidst the flow of the river, a boat ceaselessly drifted, unable to hold its position.
caught between shore and Shore,
Stranded between two different worlds, the boat was held in place by the constant tug-of-war of opposing forces.
Around it darkness gathered
The boat was completely surrounded by the mysterious and unknown darkness of the night.
The boatman shipped his oars
The person in charge of the vessel decided to cease their efforts at moving forward in that overwhelming environment.
his tiny lantern glimmered,
The faint light that the boatman held acted as a meager source of hope in a vast, foreboding world.
I could see no more...
The perspective of the artist fades out into obscurity, unable to decipher the mysteries of the world beyond that small, flickering light.
Contributed by Ethan Y. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
MeloLand
Amazing.
Mehefinheulog1
magnificent thanks for posting
Mark Darnell
Much more realized, and focused conceptually, and musically than any of the Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Silver Mount Zion glop coming out of Montreal! - and years before it as well! FANTASTIC!
willy vlyminck
I wish a box with the collected works of Dagmar krause, who else?:-)
Wharvez
Gabby's Playhouse!