Released 1987 (1987) Length 54:08 (CD releases) Release date 1987 Label There Records | Recorded March 1987 Live, Love, Larf & Loaf
(1987) Invisible Means
(1990) Producer Henry Kaiser | |
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Artists French Frith Kaiser Thompson, Thompson, Frith, French, Kaiser Genres Folk rock, Experimental rock Similar Thompson albums, Folk rock albums | ||
Live, Love, Larf & Loaf is a studio album by the United States experimental rock quartet French Frith Kaiser Thompson. It was the group's first album and was recorded at Mobius Music in San Francisco in March 1987. The album was released in 1987 in the United States by Rhino Records on LP, CD and cassette. The CD release contained two extra tracks.
Contents
This album was released in Borneo and Sumatra with the title Dead Man's Gloom.
Reception
Music critic Robert Christgau called the album "an ad hoc collaboration that sounds as good as it reads". Mark Deming at AllMusic described it as "[an] oddball delight from four truly gifted musicians", adding that while Kaiser, Frith and French's "avant-leaning art rock" is toned down by the presence of Thompson's folk-rock guitar, it does not detract from the album's appeal.
In a review in the Santa Ana Orange County Register, Jim Washburn wrote that the album is "a fresh surprise even after repeated listenings", and called it "one of the year's best". He said "the four [musicians] take some amazing turns", from a "lunatic" cover of The Beach Boys' Surfin' U.S.A. to the "apocalyptic" "Drowned Dog Black Night".
Track listing
- "Wings à la Mode" (Adams, French) – 2:38
- "Killerman Gold Posse" (Thompson) – 1:42
- "Where's the Money?" (Frith) – 3:48
- "Hai Sai Oji-San" (Shoukichi Kina) – 2:37
- "Drowned Dog Black Night" (Thompson) – 6:45
- "Surfin' U.S.A." (Wilson/Berry) – 2:18
- "DrumBo Ogie" (French) – 5:02 *
- "A Blind Step Away" (Thompson) – 5:38
- "The Second Time" (French, Frith) – 2:58
- "Tir-Nan-Darag" (Kaiser, Thompson) – 5:17
- "Disposable Thoughts" (French) – 2:55
- "Bird in God's Garden" (Archuletta) / "Lost and Found" (Frith) – 5:40
- "The Same Thing" (Dixon) – 6:50 *
* Only available on the CD pressings.
Personnel
Songs
1Wings a la Mode (feat Fred Frith - Henry Kaiser - Richard Thompson & John French)John French2:43
2Killerman Gold Posse (feat Fred Frith - Henry Kaiser - Richard Thompson & John French)John French1:46
3Where's The Money? (feat Fred Frith - Henry Kaiser - Richard Thompson & John French)John French3:52