Live Love Larf & Loaf

French/Frith/Kaiser/Thompson | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (June 18, 1996)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Shanachie
• ASIN: B000000DS8
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Audio Cassette  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #482,398 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Wings a la Mode

2. Killerman Gold Posse

3. Where's the Money?

4. Hai Sai Oji-San

5. Drowned Dog Black Night

6. Surfin' U.S.A.

7. Drumbo Ogie

8. A Blind Step Away

9. The Second Time

10. Tir-Nan-Darag

11. Disposable Thoughts

12. Bird in God's Garden

13. The Same Thing

Editorial Reviews

2008 digitally remastered and expanded edition of this collaboration album featuring four previously unreleased live bonus tracks. The album Live, Love, Larf & Loaf was first released in 1987 and is a wonderful and rare collaboration between four experimental world-class master musicians. Richard Thompson once joked that if his presence on an album with John French, Fred Frith, and Henry Kaiser was expected to help it appeal to a wider audience, it didn't say much for the state of their careers. Their first album from this unlikely ensemble mixes sophisticated playing with some humorous repertoire and idiosyncratic covers. Live, Love, Larf & Loaf covers a bewildering variety of genres, from Folk and R&B to Avant-Garde and Comic Opera. The New York Times made it their Rock Album of the Week - "As it draws on music from at least four continents, Live, Love, Larf and Loaf romps past borderlines". Fledgling. --This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eclectic genre-hopping fun, August 22, 1999

By 

Jeremy York "-beanish-" (Bothell, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live Love Larf & Loaf (Audio CD)

This is an oddball supergroup. You have amazing avant-garde players like Henry Kaiser (guitar) and Fred Frith (here playing bass, like he did with John Zorn's Naked City, though much of his reputation is built on guitar work). You have Richard Thompson, a fantastic singer-songwriter. French I can't comment on, except to say that he can keep up with the others musically and he has a screwball sense of humor.

The album veers all over the place, a mixture of (mostly) obscure covers and original songs. There's some jerky, rhythmically complex progressive rock songs, there's a post-punk type song, there's a very silly cover of surfin' usa, there are some very nice instrumental tracks, there's a japanese folk song, there are some great Thompson-style songs, it finishes out with a pretty standard blues track. Thompson does most of the singing, although I think French sings some of the songs. Eclectic and quirky.

However, don't buy it if you're hoping to hear Kaiser and Frith play completely freaky oddball stuff. Although the playing is twisted and unusual, it doesn't veer too far from standard rock-and-roll styles. It's more about them just having fun and relaxing.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Just to add to the last review . . ., January 24, 2000

By 

Patrick Herron - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Live Love Larf & Loaf (Audio CD)

(To add to the last review, John French was the percussionist for Captain Beefheart for many years. You can hear him stand alone quite well on "Drum Boogie.")

The entire album is entertaining and showcases each artist's talents. Highlights include "Where's the Money," a powerful rant written by Fred Frith, who uses the song to carry not only his wit but also his oddly timbred, thumping, and complex bass stylings. Perhaps my favorite song is the traditional Okinawan folk song, "Hai Sai Oji-San." It has a melody that is fun, unforgettable, and infectious. It may be the greatest drinking song ever composed (sorry, Mr. Waits).

Perhaps the only reason why the fifth star is missing is because the album is not so much an album as it is a loose collection of remarkable songs. Let not the absence of one star dissuade you; I highly recommend it, especially to fans of any of the band members. It's an album where sounds can be deceiving; there's so much wonderful oddness slightly camoflaged under each pop song facade.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very mixed bag, but entertaining, June 7, 2002

By 

woburnmusicfan (Woburn, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Live Love Larf & Loaf (Audio CD)

This is the first of two collaborations between folk/rock guitar legend Richard Thompson, avant-garde guitarist Henry Kaiser and bassist Fred Frith, and former Beefheart drummer John French. While it's not a bad listen, you get the impression that they were throwing things at the recorder to see what would stick. The album is all over the map, going from the frantic and funny "Where's the Money" and a joyously silly "Hai Sai Oji-San" (an Okinawan folk song) directly into "Drowned Dog Black Night", a tremendously depressive song of the type only Thompson can write, and then into a goof on Chuck Berry's "Surfin' USA". My favorite cut is "Bird in God's Garden", a Sufi song given a big assist by Frith's violin playing. Thompson contributes the good but minimalist unrequited-love song "A Blind Step Away" and "Killerman Gold Posse", a ditty about a youth gang that was reprised on the "Mirror Blue" tour. French and Frith also provide a catchy rocker, "The Second Time". There is a cover of Willie Dixon's "The Same Thing" (a LOT of bands I like have covered this one). To keep the album from building any momentum, there is a five-minute drum solo in the middle. Overall, I prefer these guys' second CD, "Invisible Means".