Rarities Volumes 1 & 2 is a 2014 posthumous double-CD compilation album of various pieces by English experimental musician and composer Lindsay Cooper. It was recorded between 1979 and 1992, and released in the UK and US by RēR Megacorp in 2014. The compilation was also released by ReR Megacorp in Japan in 2015.
Rarities was compiled by Udi Koomran and Chris Cutler in Cooper's honour. It comprises unreleased material, and tracks that had previously appeared only on limited edition releases and compilations.
Background
Cooper died of multiple sclerosis in 2013. She had been diagnosed in 1987, but did not reveal her illness until the late-1990s. Three memorial concerts took place for Cooper in November 2014 in London, West Yorkshire, and Forlì, Italy.
Content
The double-CD compilation booklet includes background information by Chris Cutler, and memorials written by Sally Potter, Tim Hodgkinson, David Thomas and Kate Westbrook.
Reception
In a review of Rarities in Musicworks, René van Peer wrote that the compilation "is a fitting memorial to a creative life that was cruelly cut short by a horrific disease." He said the album highlights Cooper's main interests, the empowerment of women, her opposition to the establishment, and "an irrepressible urge to play, to be heard ... with dedication and focus, and with [a] zest for life." A review of the album at Avant Music News described it as "full of treasures". It stated that while Cooper's work with Henry Cow and News from Babel is well documented, much of her other work is generally not that well known. The reviewer said that this compilation fills those holes, and called it "an excellent introduction to the varied career of the sadly missed Cooper."
Writing in the Czech cultural magazine , Petr Slabý said that the collection of thirty brief pieces on the first disc illustrates Cooper's ability to exploit the short format. He stated that the second disc highlight is the Trio Trabant's Strasbourg concert in which Cooper excels, and called her piano solo on "Piano Roulette", with its variations in tempo and mood, an "unreleased rarity". Overall Slabý was impressed with the compilation, but added that he would have liked to have seen samples of the Feminist Improvising Group and Cooper's collaborative work with Alex Švamberk and Laurie Amat.
In a review in the French webzine, Rythmes Croisés, Stéphane Fougere said that Rarities reveals Cooper's lesser known work, and fills the gaps in her discography. He was particularly impressed by the previously unreleased Trio Trabant concert and Cooper's solo "Piano Roulette", but also would have like to have seen something from the Feminist Improvising Group. Fougere stated that while the material on this compilation is quite diversified, and will appeal to diverse audiences, it should not be seen as a retrospective collection, nor used as an introduction to Cooper's music. He suggested that newcomers start with her solo albums like Rags and The Golddiggers, the Oh Moscow concert, and the two News from Babel albums.
Tracks
All tracks composed by Lindsay Cooper, unless otherwise stated.
Disc 1
Disc 2
Source: CD liner notes
Track notes and personnel
Disc 1
Assembled and pre-mastered by Udi Koomran at Ginger's Studio, Tel Aviv, Israel.
I. Outtakes for Other Occasions
Tracks 1–3 from the 1982 play, The Execution by Melissa Murray
Track 4 from the 1983 film Give Us a Smile by the Leeds Animation Workshop
Tracks 5–8 from the 1983 Channel 4 television documentary, Green Flutes, directed by Nancy Scheisari
Originally released as a limited edition cassette to subscribers to Cooper's Music for Other Occasions (1986)
Recorded in London between 1979 and 1984
Lindsay Cooper – piano, bassoon
Chris Cutler – drums
Maggie Nicols – voice
Irita Kutchmy – flute, saxophone
Vicky Aspinall – violin
Georgie Born – cello on "Trih's Song" Fred Frith – guitar
II. The Small Screen: Music for Television
Tracks 9–13 from Four Corners, for Channel 4
Tracks 14–17 from the 1983 Channel 4 television documentary, Green Flutes, directed by Nancy Scheisari Track 18 from Domestic Bliss, a comedy drama directed by Joey Chamberlain for Channel 4 Tracks 19–26 from With Our Children, a film about lesbian mothers directed by Melanie Chait for Channel 4
Originally released as a limited subscription cassette in 1984
Recorded in March 1983 (Green Flutes), March and August 1984 (Four Corners), June 1984 (Domestic Bliss), September 1984 (With Our Children). All engineered by Charles Gray.