The Stone: Issue Two

All titles released by Tzadik Records.^[3]

• The Stone: Issue One (2006) – John Zorn, Dave Douglas, Rob Burger, Bill Laswell, Mike Patton and Ben Perowsky
• The Stone: Issue Two (2007) – Fred Frith and Chris Cutler
• The Stone: Issue Three (2008) – John Zorn, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson
• The Stone: Issue Four (2010) – Chris Wood, Billy Martin and John Medeski

Frith and Cutler were members of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow (1968–1978), and their collaboration at The Stone on 15 December 2006 took place during the so-called "Henry Cow reunion" weekend^[1][4] when they reunited with bandmate Tim Hodgkinson.^[a]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
All About Jazz	favorable[4]
AllMusic	[7]

In a review of The Stone: Issue Two at AllMusic, Michael G. Nastos described Cutler's performance as "intriguing" "electronic colorations", and Frith's as "challenging, commanding, and demonstrative". He said this is a recording that careful listening to will demonstrate "the sense of passion, wonder, and depth these two have displayed in their music since their days with Henry Cow, but digging deeper than ever".^[7]

Marc Medwin wrote in a review in All About Jazz that compared to Frith and Cutler's earlier collaborations, this set is "rich and full" and makes it sound like there are more than just two of them. Medwin added that this album is a worthy addition to The Stone's benefit series.^[4]

Reviewing the album in The Wire, Barry Witherden described the music as "fascinating, bemusing, hypnotic, seductive, sometimes disturbing, sometimes consoling, sometimes chaotic, ultimately revealing a mysterious, elemental beauty".^[8] He said one of the joys of listening to "sound-sculpting" like this is "trying to work out ... not only who plays what but how the sounds are created". Witherden stated that what makes this album work is Frith and Cutler's "imagination and control of design, trajectory and texture".^[8]

Sources: Liner notes,^[2] Discogs,^[9] Fred Frith discography.^[10]