'' is the second
Album by
English Avant-garde Rock Group Art Bears . It was recorded at Sunrise Studio in Kirchberg,
Switzerland between 22 November and 5 December 1978, and was released in 1979. It was Art Bears' first album to be recorded on their own, the bulk of their first album, ''
Hopes And Fears '' (1978) having being recorded as
Henry Cow .
''Winter Songs'' comprises fourteen short songs composed by
Fred Frith around texts by
Chris Cutler that were based on carvings on the
Stylobate of the
Amiens Cathedral in
France . The whole album was recorded and mixed simultaneously, taking 14 days from start to finish. The group adopted an approach of creating the sound first and committing it to tape immediately, instead of leaving the sound detail to post-production mixing. This method used the studio as a compositional instrument, and
Etienne Conod , the studio engineer at Sunrise Studio, played an important part in this process, becoming an indispensable member of the group.
1
Side 1
#"The Bath of Stars" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 1:45
#"First Things First" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 2:50
#"Gold" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 1:41
#"The Summer Wheel" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 2:47
#"The Slave" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:38
#"The Hermit" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 2:59
#"Rats & Monkeys" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:24
Side 2
#"The Skeleton" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:11
#"The Winter Wheel" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:06
#"Man & Boy" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:21
#"Winter/War" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:05
#"Force" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 0:54
#"3 Figures" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 1:51
#"3 Wheels" (
Cutler ,
Frith ) – 3:35
- ''Winter Songs'' and Art Bears' next album, '' The World As It Is Today '' were reissued on a single CD in 1988, entitled ''25 Songs''.
- The album was also reissued in 2003 in '' The Art Box '', a 6xCD box set of all Art Bears releases with live and unreleased tracks, plus remixes by other musicians.
