Rarities Volumes 1 & 2

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Released2014 (2014)
Recorded1979–1992
Length122:34
Rarities Volumes 1 & 2
Compilation album by
Released2014 (2014)
Recorded1979–1992
Genre
Length122:34
LabelRēR Megacorp
Lindsay Cooper chronology
A View from the Bridge
(1998)
Rarities Volumes 1 & 2
(2014)

Rarities Volumes 1 & 2 is a 2014 posthumous double-CD compilation album of various pieces by English experimental musician and composer Lindsay Cooper. It was recorded between 1979 and 1992, and released in the UK and US by RēR Megacorp in 2014. The compilation was also released by ReR Megacorp in Japan in 2015.

Rarities was compiled by Udi Koomran and Chris Cutler in Cooper's honour. It comprises unreleased material, and tracks that had previously appeared only on limited edition releases and compilations.[1]

Cooper died of multiple sclerosis in 2013. She had been diagnosed in 1987, but did not reveal her illness until the late-1990s.[2] Three memorial concerts took place for Cooper in November 2014 in London, West Yorkshire, and Forlì, Italy.[3][4][5]

Content

The double-CD compilation booklet includes background information by Chris Cutler, and memorials written by Sally Potter, Tim Hodgkinson, David Thomas and Kate Westbrook.[1]

Reception

In a review of Rarities in Musicworks, René van Peer wrote that the compilation "is a fitting memorial to a creative life that was cruelly cut short by a horrific disease."[6] He said the album highlights Cooper's main interests, the empowerment of women, her opposition to the establishment, and "an irrepressible urge to play, to be heard ... with dedication and focus, and with [a] zest for life."[6] A review of the album at Avant Music News described it as "full of treasures".[7] It stated that while Cooper's work with Henry Cow and News from Babel is well documented, much of her other work is generally not that well known. The reviewer said that this compilation fills those holes, and called it "an excellent introduction to the varied career of the sadly missed Cooper."[7]

Writing in the Czech cultural magazine kulturní magazín UNI [cs], Petr Slabý said that the collection of thirty brief pieces on the first disc illustrates Cooper's ability to exploit the short format.[8] He stated that the second disc highlight is the Trio Trabant's Strasbourg concert in which Cooper excels, and called her piano solo on "Piano Roulette", with its variations in tempo and mood, an "unreleased rarity". Overall Slabý was impressed with the compilation, but added that he would have liked to have seen samples of the Feminist Improvising Group and Cooper's collaborative work with Alex Švamberk and Laurie Amat.[8]

In a review in the French webzine, Rythmes Croisés, Stéphane Fougere said that Rarities reveals Cooper's lesser known work, and fills the gaps in her discography.[9] He was particularly impressed by the previously unreleased Trio Trabant concert and Cooper's solo "Piano Roulette", but also would have like to have seen something from the Feminist Improvising Group.[9] Fougere stated that while the material on this compilation is quite diversified, and will appeal to diverse audiences, it should not be seen as a retrospective collection, nor used as an introduction to Cooper's music. He suggested that newcomers start with her solo albums like Rags and The Golddiggers, the Oh Moscow concert, and the two News from Babel albums.[9]

Tracks

All tracks composed by Lindsay Cooper, unless otherwise stated.

Disc 1

I. Outtakes for Other Occasions
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Tsar's Band" 0:44
2."The Assassination" 1:33
3."The Evening Before" 1:51
4."Give Us a Smile: film score" 3:05
5."Washing Line" 0:35
6."Against the Current: film score" 3:08
7."The Time of Their Lives: curtain music" 1:22
8."Trih's Song" 1:16
II. The Small Screen: Music for Television
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."The Song of the Goose and the Common"traditional1:33
10."Off the Fence"Lindsay Cooper, Lis Rhodes1:20
11."Fair Exchange"Cooper, Rhodes1:58
12."Windscale"Cooper, Rhodes0:46
13."The Number 8 Bus"Cooper, Rhodes1:23
14."Belfast" 2:07
15."Fanfare" 0:38
16."Flute Tune"traditional1:16
17."Priesthill" 0:48
18."Domestic Bliss: end credits" 2:37
19."Court Entry" 0:57
20."Lord Wilberforce" 1:01
21."Home Movie 1" 1:12
22."Open Letters" 2:30
23."Linda B" 1:04
24."Home Movie 2" 2:50
25."Three Heads" 1:14
26."Julia: end credits" 3:16
III. Lindsay Cooper and orchestra
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
27."Extract from Concerto per Sax Sopranino e Archi" 5:07
IV. A Classic Guide to Nomansland
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
28."In the Archive" 0:40
29."Mainz" 1:55
30."Paulskirche" 2:22

Disc 2

Trio Trabant
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Le Detroit"Cooper, Alfred 23 Harth, Phil Minton6:48
2."De Breede en de Smalle Weg"Cooper, Harth, Minton4:41
3."Le Cadran Bleu 3"Cooper, Harth, Minton5:38
4."State of Retrograd"Cooper, Harth, Minton4:42
5."Vigilanz"Cooper, Harth, Minton3:46
6."Le Cadran Bleu 5"Cooper, Harth, Minton8:02
Lindsay Cooper
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Pictures from the Great Exhibition"
"Fingers Weary and Worn"
"Canal Towpath"
"Musical Box"
"Regent Street"
"Women's Wrongs"
"Cholera Morbus"
"The Housewife's Nightmare"
"Spitalfields"
 

Cooper, James Tulley

Cooper, Tulley
Cooper, Herold

Cooper, Minton
Cooper, Herold

Cooper, Tulley
8:06
Cooper/Cutler/Gilonis/Wyatt
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."In the Dark Year"Cooper, Chris Cutler3:47
Lindsay Cooper (solo piano)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Piano Roulette" 11:25
David Thomas and the Pedestrians
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Petrified"Cooper, Cutler, David Thomas9:49
Bauer/Cooper/Cutler/Gilonis/Potter
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Education"Cooper, Cutler3:41

Source: CD liner notes[1]

Track notes and personnel

References

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