Name: Instrumentals
Brand: Arthur Russell

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

RT0307LP

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Remastered with 12 Page Booklet.

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Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2022-05-13

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

PIAS

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0191402030716

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Total Cap

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

Artist

Arthur Russell

Genre GB

New Wave / Post Punk

Label GB

Rough Trade

Arthur Russell was an American cellist, composer, and artist. Born on May 21, 1951 in Oskaloosa, Iowa, he began studying the cello and writing his own music at a young age. In the early 1970s, Russell moved to California where he studied Indian music and collaborated with Allen Ginsberg. He later relocated to New York City and contributed to various musical projects with renowned artists such as David Byrne and Peter Zummo.

Russell's groundbreaking career included producing disco singles like "Kiss Me Again" and "Is It All Over My Face". In 1982, he co-founded Sleeping Bag records and released his album "24-24 Music". Throughout the mid-1980s, Russell continued to experiment with different genres while captivating audiences with his performances on cello accompanied by innovative effects.

Tragically, Arthur Russell passed away from AIDS-related illnesses in April 1992. His deeply personal songs left a lasting impact on the music industry. A documentary titled "Wild Combination: A Portrait Of Arthur Russell" was released in 2008 to honor his remarkable contributions.

Rough Trade is a multinational label that was started by Geoff Travis in 1976 as a London record-shop. It quickly grew into an independent label and distributor, collaborating with notable labels such as 4AD, Factory Records, and One Little Indian. The label's catalogue numbering system for singles/EPs included prefixes like RT### and RTT###CD for different formats. Albums were numbered sequentially as ROUGH### with extensions for different formats.In the early 1990s, Rough Trade faced financial difficulties after expanding into the US market. The US branch was shut down and the German branch ended up in the Zomba Music Group. One Little Indian provided financing and took over the label in the UK, retaining ownership of key releases like A.R. Kane albums. Geoff Travis eventually regained control of Rough Trade around 1999–2000 and re-launched it alongside Tugboat Records.

Check out our latest restocks of vinyl records, CDs, books and merchandise at Rough Trade. Dive into rare finds, classic albums and add something special to your collection.

Back In Stock

Remastered double LP with 12 page booklet including liner notes by Tim Lawrence, Ernie Brooks and Arthur Russell. All material previously released on the Audika CD compilation First Thought Best Thought. Before Disco, and before the transcendent echoes, Arthur wanted to be a composer. His journey began in 1972, leaving home in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Heading west to Northern California, Arthur studied Indian classical composition at the Ali Akbar Khan College of Music followed by western orchestral music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, before ending two years later in New York at the Manhattan School of Music. Traversing the popular and the serious, Arthur composed “Instrumentals” in 1974, inspired by the photography of his Buddhist teacher, Yuko Nonomura, as Arthur described, “I was awakened, or re- awakened to the bright-sound and magical qualities of the bubblegum and easy-listening currents in American popular music”. Initially intended to be performed in one 48 hour cycle, Instrumentals was in fact only performed in excerpts a handful of times as a work in progress.

The legendary performances captured live in New York at The Kitchen (1975 and 1978) and Franklin St. Arts Center (1977) feature the cream of that eras downtown new music scene including Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Julius Eastman, Jon Gibson, Peter Gordon, Garrett List, Andy Paley, Bill Ruyle, Dave Van Tieghem, and Peter Zummo. Also included are two of Arthur’s most elusive compositions, Reach One, and Sketch For Face Of Helen. Recorded live in 1975 at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Reach One is a minimal, hypnotic ambient soundscape written and performed for two Fender Rhodes pianos. Sketch For Face Of Helen was inspired by Arthur’s work with friend and composer Arnold Dreyblatt, recorded with an electronic tone generator, keyboard and ambient recordings of a rumbling tugboat from the Hudson River. For this remastered vinyl edition, a key part of Arthur’s musical life has been restored. The sparkling, multidimensional results take the listener closer to Arthur’s coast-to-coast journey: his iconoclastic determination to combine pop and art music; and his desire to make music that would resonate in the present and, ultimately, across time.

Instrumentals

Music GB