Fred Records


Fred Records is a British independent record label created in 2002 by English guitarist, composer and improvisor Fred Frith to re-release his own back catalogue of recordings and previously unreleased material. It is an independent company working in co-operation with Chris Cutler and Recommended Records, utilising Recommended Records' distribution network.

Background

From the mid-1980s Fred Frith released much of his music on the Swiss independent record label RecRec Music. However, the label went bankrupt in 1997 after its founder, Daniel Waldner died in a mountain climbing accident in 1995. Under Swiss copyright law all the rights to Frith's music released by RecRec reverted to him, totalling 13 different titles. Having lost money in unpaid royalties, Frith wanted to re-release all the titles on a single label. In the early 2000s and with the help of Chris Cutler of Recommended Records, Frith set up his own label, Fred Records as an imprint of Recommended Records.
The new label gave Frith an opportunity to re-issue material from his archives that would have been difficult to release elsewhere. Advances in technology also enabled Frith to remaster the original recordings and produce a sound much closer to what was originally intended. In addition, Frith has released previously unreleased material by himself and in collaboration with other musicians. To create a consistent image for the label as a whole, Frith has used the artist, Tomas Kurth to illustrate the CD covers, often incorporating elements of the original LP covers in the design.

Tributaries

Currently the Fred Records catalogue is divided into three tributaries:
The catalogue numbers of each release includes one of these tributary codes. For example, "RēR/FRA 02" reads: "Recommended Records / Fred Records Archive #2".

Releases

These are all the titles currently released on the Fred Records label.
Year releasedCatalogue No.ArtistTitle
2002RēR/FRO 01Fred FrithGravity
2002RēR/FRA 01Fred FrithAccidental
2002RēR/FRO 02Fred FrithGuitar Solos
2002RēR/FRA 02Fred FrithPrints
2003RēR/FRA 03Keep the DogThat House We Lived In
2003RēR/FRO 03Fred FrithStep Across the Border
2003RēR/FRO 04Fred FrithSpeechless
2004RēR/FRO 05Fred FrithMiddle of the Moment
2004RēR/FRO 06Fred FrithCheap at Half the Price
2004RēR/FRO 07Fred FrithAllies
2005RēR/FRO 8/9Skeleton CrewLearn to Talk / Country of Blinds
2005RēR/FRO 10MassacreKilling Time
2006RēR/FRFC 01Fred FrithImpur
2006RēR/FRA 05Fred FrithThe Happy End Problem
2008RēR/FRO 11Fred FrithThe Technology of Tears
2008RēR/FRA 06Fred Frith & John ZornThe Art of Memory II
2009RēR/FRFC 02Fred FrithImpur II
2009RēR/FRA 07Fred FrithNowhere, Sideshow, Thin Air
2010RēR/FRO 12Fred FrithLive in Japan
2015RēR/FRA 08Fred FrithField Days
2015RēR/FRO 13Fred FrithPropaganda

Footnotes