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Skeleton Crew was a United States Experimental Rock and Jazz group from 1982 to 1986 , comprising core members Fred Frith (guitar) and Tom Cora (cello), with Zeena Parkins (harp) joining later. Best known for their live Improvision performances where they played various instruments simultaneously, they also recorded two studio albums '' Learn To Talk '' ( 1984 ) and '' The Country Of Blinds '' ( 1986 ). HISTORY Skeleton Crew was always primarily an Improvising live act. They originally began in 1982 as an unnamed Quartet but before their first performance, two of the band members suffered Collapsed Lungs within two weeks of each other, leaving ex- Henry Cow guitarist Fred Frith and improvisational cellist Tom Cora from Curlew with the choice of continuing or abandoning the project. They chose to continue, agreeing to play all the instruments on stage themselves. Frith played guitar, violin, keyboards, bass drum and hi-hat while Cora played cello, bass guitar, homemade drums and other contraptions enabling him to play instruments with his feet. Performing like this was a challenge for them and made the resulting music unpredictable, but as an improvising Duo , this pleased them. It gave rise to a rhythmic tension not present in a group with just one drummer. Frith told Down Beat magazine in 1982 : :"It's all just on the edge of breaking down all the time, which is a quality that I've always liked. I don't like things to be too easy." The duo sounded like a much larger band and they called themselves "Skeleton Crew". Their accidental inception would never have happened had it not been for the untimely withdrawal of half the band. In 1982 they performed extensively in Europe , North America and Japan , refining their double One-man-band act with each new concert. Later that year Dave Newhouse of The Muffins helped out for a while playing saxophone and part of a drum kit. Two Limited Edition Cassette Tape recordings of some of the Trio 's live performances in 1982 were released in 1982 and 1984 . After Newhouse left, Skeleton Crew continued touring as a duo again before settling down in saying "We're still free in America", cut-ups of Sousa 's " Washington Post " and TV ad clips. Tapes had also become a part of their live act. By now, Skeleton Crew had become quite competent with their one-man-band act. Later in 1984 Zeena Parkins , playing electric harp and keyboards, joined the band and remained until the end. As a trio, they made their second studio album '' The Country Of Blinds '' in 1986 (again in Switzerland and produced by ex-Henry Cow member Tim Hodgkinson ). Here the music was richer and more rhythmical than their first album. The songs were more developed but the cynical edge of the first album remained. Soon after the recording sessions the group decided to split up. Frith explained why: :"We actually started to sound like a normal rock and roll band so it seemed kind of pointless to go on at that point." Frith and Cora re-united in 1995 in The Netherlands to record a CD-ROM ''Etymology'', a sound sample library of sonic sounds and wire manipulations. DISCOGRAPHY Skeleton Crew recorded two studio albums:
Several Limited Edition Cassette Tape recordings of some of their live performances in 1982 were released between 1982 and 1984 . Numerous Bootleg Recording s of live performances also exist. Reissues
The 2005 reissue was dedicated to Tom Cora, who died in 1998 : ''"Dedicated to the memory of Tom Cora - dear friend, master musician and enthusiatic co-conspirator."'' SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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