• Track Listing

Skeleton Crew was founded in the early 1980s by Fred Frith and Tom Cora. The original idea was to create a new group out of the ashes of Massacre, but medical issues of several potential members saw Frith & Cora end up as a duo. They started experimenting with what they could achieve by themselves, recorded the fantastic debut album Learn to Talk and finally decided to take the new project out on the road. Dave Newhouse of The Muffins joined them for these live shows which proved very successful. Back in the studio, Frith and Cora recorded their second and last album, The Country of Blinds, and afterwards went on tour again. This time, they were joined by multi-instrumentalist Zeena Parkins who had already played on the recent album. Fred Frith remembers the days of touring as very low-key affairs with incredibly exciting results, saying the songs they played sounded very differrent every single night, such was the energy that was created by the band on stage. Everybody who has seen them perform will agree that Skeleton Crew on stage was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. After several years of searching for recordings, mixing and mastering, and held up by the global pandemic, we are proud to finally offer you this double CD of live recordings, including songs that never ended up on any of their albums.