Fred Frith 'Gravity' Ralph Records FF 8057-L A/B US 1st press + inner 1980

£ 50

$ 66

£ 50 Sold For

May 13, 2026 Sold Date

Apr 12, 2026 Start Date

1 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

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Description

Fred Frith 'Gravity' Ralph Records FF 8057-L US 1st press Vinyl, LP, housed in a printed "Official Buy Or Die Innersleeve", and released in 1980.
The vinyl appears to have been lightly played and is in great condition. It played through beautifully on my stereo - no skip or stick. It is housed in its original, printed company inner sleeve, which has some light signs of wear, but, generally, it is in good condition - with no rips or writing. Similarly, the sleeve is still wrapped in its original cellophane, so it too shows minimal signs of wear, again, no rips or writing. The spine is intact and legible. Matrix / Runout Side One : FF-8057-L-A JG L-2729 Matrix / Runout Side Two : FF-8057-L-B JG L-2729-X
'Gravity' is a 1980 solo album by English guitarist and composer Fred Frith. It was Frith's second solo album, and his first since Henry Cow disbanded in 1978. It was originally released in the United States on the Residents' Ralph Records, as the first of three solo albums Frith would record for the label. 'Gravity' has been described as an avant-garde "dance" record that draws on rhythm and dance from folk music across the world.
'Gravity' was recorded in Sweden, the United States and Switzerland, and featured Frith backed by Swedish Rock in Opposition group Samla Mammas Manna on the first side of the LP and by American progressive rock group the Muffins on the second side. Additional musicians included Marc Hollander of Aksak Maboul and Frith's former Henry Cow bandmate Chris Cutler.
Frith called Gravity a "dance album", not in the disco/funk sense of its day, but a collection of "dance music" drawn from cultures around the world. The album features an array of rock, folk and jazz instruments, plus field recordings, clapping and "whirling", and has been described as a "musical hybridization" of "Latin percussion, calypso festivity, eastern-tinged percussion [and] Klezmer-like celebration".
In a 1980 review in Sounds magazine, John Gill described 'Gravity' as an album of "wonderfully stateless music", a blend of jazz, rock'n'roll, chamber, European ethnic, and New York City soul and Hispanic. With a reference to Frith's former bands, Henry Cow and Art Bears, Gill added "[a]nd this time, folks, you can dance to it!" John Diliberto called 'Gravity' "a whirlwind flight across a cultural landscape where features run into each other with a rush". Writing in a 1981 review in Audio magazine, Diliberto said the album's mood and tempo changes constantly: "a quaint bar mitzvah [becomes] a Middle Eastern waltz"; a climax of "fuzzed" guitars switches to a "light-hearted horse and buggy romp". Diliberto stated that with Henry Cow and Art Bears, Frith's guitar work was "barely traditional", but on his solo albums, it was "totally anarchic", and 'Gravity' was no exception. Bill Milkowski wrote in the January 1983 edition of DownBeat magazine that in contrast to Art Bears's "bleak attitude", Frith's Gravity is a "truly joyous solo LP ... an extremely warm, almost whimsical album".
Thomas Schulte at AllMusic described 'Gravity' as an "entertaining and multicultural pocket folk festival" and said it was "one of the most important guitar-based, experimental guitar titles from the avant-guitarist". In a BBC Online review of 'Gravity', Peter Marsh called it "absolutely essential", adding that it "manages to be wildly eclectic yet avoids incoherence".