Guitar Solos - Background

Background

Fred Frith was a classically-trained violinist who turned to playing blues guitar while still at school. In 1967 he went to Cambridge University where he and fellow student, Tim Hodgkinson formed Henry Cow. While at University, Frith read John Cage's Silence: Lectures and Writings, which changed his attitude to music completely. He realised that "sound, in and of itself, can be as important as melody and harmony and rhythm." This changed his approach to the guitar, "just to see what I could get out of it" and initiated a long period of experimentation that continued throughout Frith's musical career.

While the music of Henry Cow was highly orchestrated and structured, Frith also began to experiment with unstructured music, using prepared instruments and chance composition. In June 1974, after the release of Henry Cow's second album, Virgin Records (Henry Cow's record label) commissioned a solo record from Frith. They were impressed with his musical ability and gave him free rein to record whatever he wanted. In a 2001 radio interview, Frith said he used the opportunity as a challenge: "I said to myself in two weeks time I'm going to go into the studio and I have no idea what I'm going to do and I'm going to kind of reinvent the instrument for myself." Frith spent four days in July 1974 recording at the Kaleidophon Studios in London, and the resulting experimentation and the process of galvanisation and pressure led to the "radical approach to the guitar" on the album. In October 1974, Virgin released the album as Guitar Solos on their budget label, Caroline Records.