Step Across the Border (soundtrack)

For the film of the same name, see Step Across the Border.
Step Across the Border
Soundtrack album by Fred Frith
Released 1990 (1990)
Recorded 1979–1989
Genre Avant-rock
Length 73:31
Label RecRec (Switzerland)
Producer Fred Frith
Fred Frith chronology
The Top of His Head
(1989)		 Step Across the Border
(1990)		 Quartets
(1994)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Step Across the Border is a soundtrack double album by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith, of the 1990 avant-garde documentary film on Frith, Step Across the Border. The album features music from the film performed by Frith and other musicians, and covers ten years of Frith's musical career.

Music

Step Across the Border is more than a just a soundtrack. It includes additional tracks, for example, "Drum Factory" and "Candy Machine", that were written for the album by Frith from ambient sounds in the film. Discussing the album, Frith said:[2]

“ It struck me as not very interesting just to take what was exactly in the film and stick it on a CD and put it out as a soundtrack. Apart from anything else, the function, when you listen with the image and when you listen without the image, is very, very different.

One of the things I particularly enjoyed doing was taking raw sound from locations during the film, like the candy machine, and writing pieces of music to go with them, which is totally unnecessary within the context of the film, because they have their own logic ... In the film, the candy machine is there, and you hear the noise it makes but the image was so strong that there was no need to do anything with it. On the record there was no point of sticking the sound of a machine on there, because it wouldn't mean very much.

 ”

The album also includes live music as performed in the film, for example "Houston St"; tracks from other albums that accompany scenes in the film, for example "Too Much Too Little"; and tracks from other albums that replace live covers of those tracks performed in the film, for example "Legs".

Track listing

All tracks composed by Fred Frith except where stated.

Side A
No.TitleLength
1."Sparrow Song"  1:28
2."Voice of America (part 3)" (Frith, Bob Ostertag) / "Legs" (Frith, Bill Laswell, Fred Maher)4:24
3."Selluloid Restaurant" / "The Old Man Puts Out the Fire"  3:09
4."After Dinner" (Haco)1:47
5."Houston St" (Frith, John Zorn)2:54
6."Drum Factory"  2:01
7."Regardless of Rain" (Frith, Tom Cora)3:05
Side B
No.TitleLength
1."Candy Machine"  2:59
2."Romanisches Café"  6:19
3."The Border" (Frith, Anne Hemenway)3:29
4."Nirvana Again"  1:53
5."Scottish Roppongi"  1:46
Side C
No.TitleLength
1."Norrgården Nyvla"  2:58
2."Birds" (Frith, Tim Hodgkinson)2:18
3."The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not (part 3)"  1:47
4."Williamsburg Bridge"  1:53
5."Same Old Me" / "Williamsburg Bridge (reprise)"  4:10
6."The As Usual Dance Towards the Other Flight to What is Not (part 5)"  2:24
7."Lost and Found"  3:21
Side D
No.TitleLength
1."Nine by Nine" (Frith, Eitetsu Hayashi)5:52
2."Evolution"  3:20
3."Union Square"  1:41
4."Morning Song" (Iva Bittová, Pavel Fajt, Pitinsky)2:00
5."Voice of America (part 4)" (Frith, Ostertag)2:02
6."Too Much Too Little" (Frith, Tina Curran)2:08
7."Too Late"  2:23

Personnel

The numbers below indicate the tracks on which the musicians played.

Recording details

Tracks from other albums

CD reissues

References

  1. ↑ Anderson, Rick. "Step Across the Border". AllMusic. Retrieved 2011-06-20.
  2. ↑ Wolff, Sander R. "Defining The Edge: The Musical World Of Fred Frith". The Long Beach Union Newspaper. Retrieved 2009-02-27.
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