Wikipedia

RēR Quarterly

The RēR Quarterly (also known as Rē Records Quarterly and RēR Records Quarterly) was an English "quarterly" sound-magazine comprising an LP record and a magazine. It was published at irregular intervals between 1985 and 1997 by Recommended Records and November Books, and edited by English percussionist, lyricist and music theorist Chris Cutler. It was sold internationally by Recommended Records via mail order and in specialist record shops.

Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.1 LP and magazine.

A total of thirteen issues were published (four volumes of four, four, three and two issues respectively) plus two "collection" issues featuring music selections from volumes 1 and 2. From volume 4 the LP was replaced by a CD and the CD and the magazine (now entitled unFILEd: The RēR Sourcebook) were sold separately or together as a set.

Background

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The idea for RēR Quarterly began in 1982 when Recommended Records released the Recommended Records Sampler, a sampler double album by various artists that contained newly recorded and previously unreleased work by musicians and groups on the Recommended Records catalogue at the time.

The record in each issue of RēR Quarterly contained previously unreleased music by artists from across the world, including commissioned pieces, projects and live recordings. The A4 magazine (varying from 42 to 112 pages per issue) included artwork and theoretical and practical articles on music, often by the composers and performers featured on the record. In keeping with the goals of Recommended Records and its prime mover, Rock in Opposition, a number of new musicians and groups appeared on the records, many having their music published internationally for the first time.

Editor Chris Cutler described the RēR Quarterly as:

... firstly a sound magazine – not a sampler or a compilation, but a window on what was happening, essays in the possibilities of sound, introduction to new people. And secondly a printed magazine without the usual interviews and reviews, avoiding the language and outlook of the vapid music press ...[1]

Distribution

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RēR Quarterly was distributed primarily to international subscribers by Recommended Records in London. Individual issues were also sold by the record label and other specialist record stores. Subscribers received special Subscription Editions that were numbered and signed, and included "something extra". For example, issue 1/1 included additional artwork by Peter Blegvad from his and John Greaves's 1977 album, Kew. Rhone., and issue 1/2 contained a cassette tape of Soviet pop songs from the early 1980s (at that time musicians in the former Soviet Union had little to no exposure in the West).

Name

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When the RēR Quarterly was first published in 1985, it was entitled The Rē Records Quarterly, "Rē" being the label Cutler had set up for his own projects in 1978 alongside Recommended Records which served for distribution, mailorder and as a label for outside projects. In 1988 the name changed to The RēR Records Quarterly since the distinction between the two operations no longer needed to be marked. In 1994 the magazine title was reduced to The RēR Quarterly, which remained until it mutated again into the Sourcebook series.

Frequency

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While RēR Quarterly was intended to be a quarterly sound-magazine, the gaps between issues varied from four months to four years. Cutler remarked that "It was always hard to get sufficient material of quality for the Quarterly, and so it always took a long time to prepare each issue."[1] Most of the pieces featured on the disc and magazine were commissioned, and as the magazine's circulation was small and it received no subsidy (each issue generally ran at a loss), the contributors received very little for their work. In addition, Cutler was not a full-time editor of the magazine and preparing each issue had to be squeezed into his schedule of recording, touring and running Recommended Records.

Reception

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Paul Oldfield wrote in the English music newspaper Melody Maker in 1985: "[RēR Quarterly] is the pursuit of unimaginable, packed in artwork of giddy luminescence."[2]

In a review of Vol. 4 No. 1 at AllMusic, François Couture wrote that the music on the CD covers a broad range of styles, and that "[i]t takes wide ears and a solid stomach to switch from Cornelius Cardew's sweet-and-sour orchestral music to N.O.R.M.A.'s street band exuberance".[3] He praised the tracks by Thinking Plague, Tom Nunn, Al Margolis and N.O.R.M.A., and said the album is "important" because pieces by Les Sales Combles, Diledadafish and Koongoortoog are the only recorded works left by these "occulted projects". Couture described this CD as "an accurate snapshot" of avant-garde music at the time, and gave it 3 stars out of 5.[3]

Tom Schulte gave the Vol. 4 No. 2 CD 3 stars out of 5 in a review at AllMusic. He wrote that the album highlights include "[w]ave-like shapes of ambient noise" in "Feu Brilliant" by Keith Rowe and Alaid De Phillips, and extracts from a live radio performance in "After Hours" / "The Colour of Blood" by Shelley Hirsch, Jon Rose and Chris Cutler.[4] Schulte called the latter a "very interesting listen" and described it as a "collage of conversation and instrumentation" that sounds like a "bizarre radio play".[4]

Issues

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Volume 1

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All tracks written by the artist, except where noted.

Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.1 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0101, May 1985)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."The Threshold of Liberty"Steve Moore9:25
2."Experiment"Lars Hollmer1:19
3."Education"Chris Cutler and Lindsay Cooper3:45
4."Compromisation" (Dave Kerman)5uu's3:00
5."Dans les Yeux Bleues"Joseph Racaille1:10
6."Naiwabi"The Lowest Note2:35
7."Sorry 'bout That"Adrian Mitchell1:50
8."Prayer for Civilisation" (Warrick Sony)Kalahari Surfers5:02
9."Indefinite"Mission Impossible2:58
10."Pensa un Numero"Stefano Delu2:13
11."Song in Space"Adrian Mitchell0:35
12."A Walk Around the Brewery"Mikoláš Chadima6:06
13."Saw It in the Paper"Adrian Mitchell3:40
Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.2 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0102, September 1985)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Berlin Programme" (Brecht, Eisler, Cutler, Frith, Goebbels, Harth, Cora, Krause, Lewis)Duck and Cover27:44
2."Mystery Tapes 1"John Oswald6:04
3."Märzfeber"Conrad Bauer6:44
4."Fluent" (Andrzej Karpiński)Reportaż3:13
5."Battle-painter's Song" (Karpiński)Reportaż2:11
6."The Day When Truth Was not Existed" (Karpiński)Reportaż2:58
7."Stufferation"Adrian Mitchell1:42
Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.3 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0103, January 1986)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Card to Bernard" (Peter Blegvad)The Big Guns2:42
2."Early Rest Home" (Whitlow, Wilson, Piersel, Scholbe, Katsimpalis, Sharp)Biota9:40
3."Pigs"Robert Wyatt2:40
4."Sprung from Traps"Roger Turner5:05
5."Little Red Bombadier"Kontroll Csoport4:13
6."Woman of Water"Adrian Mitchell1:16
7."Coste"Cassix1:52
8."Criota"Cassix2:42
9."Religion"Cassix2:30
10."The Stanislavsky Method"Cassix1:07
11."Tempo di Pace, Bari"Cassix3:52
12."Copy Machine"Cassix1:46
13."Finta di Nulla"Cassix1:54
14."Nadja"Nazca4:21
Rē Records Quarterly Vol.1 No.4 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0104, May 1986)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."After Dinner"After Dinner2:55
2."A Walnut"After Dinner3:05
3."RE" (Tadahiko Yokogawa)After Dinner4:29
4."A Man of Marble"After Dinner2:56
5."Glass Tube"After Dinner4:34
6."L'heure des Louves" (Joane Hétu, Diane Labrosse)Wondeur Brass5:15
7."Раз, Два (1, 2)"Strange Games4:31
8."Hermetic Discourse"Steve Moore6:32
9."C'est Bon la Viande!"Art Moulu Tréfin4:54
10."The Murder of the Poet Michael Smith by Three Men in Kingston, Jamaica"Adrian Mitchell0:40
11."Power"The Black Sheep4:18
12."Cantate 159" (Bach, arr. Duchesne)André Duchesne5:13
13."Staying Awake"Adrian Mitchell1:31

Volume 2

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All tracks written by the artist, except where noted.

Rē Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.1 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0201, May 1987)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Puptent"Blitzoids3:45
2."Imperialism of the Future"Ůr4:38
3."The Same Thing" (Willie Dixon)Henry Kaiser, Michael Maxymenko and Bill Frisell5:50
4."Wedding" (Iva Bittová, Pavel Fajt, Karel David)Iva Bittová and Pavel Fajt4:52
5."Plains of Hungary"Anthony Moore11:00
6."Parade"John Oswald11:10
7."Pégase" (Joseph Racaille, arr. Christophe Baillot)Joseph Racaille1:14
8."Nivelles"This Heat5:48
9."The Egg & I" (Anton Fier, David Thomas)David Thomas & The Accordion Club3:31
10."It Happened to Me" (Thomas)David Thomas & The Accordion Club2:33
Rē Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.2 (LP, Recommended Records Rē 0202, Autumn 1987)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."In Life's Hand" (Dave Kerman)5uu's4:35
2."Chairman Mao" (Charlie Haden, Robert Wyatt)Robert Wyatt6:19
3."Yeah Mom"John French3:47
4."From Suite 'Koradi'"Arturo Meza12:22
5."Suite (Resume 84–86)" (Stevan Tickmayer)Intellectual Cabare11:48
6."Christi Crucifixi Ultima Verba"Jocelyn Robert5:28
7."Dance"Hunk Ai!5:22
8."The Barking Dogs Versus the Minimalists"Henry Kaiser3:42
RēR Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.3 (LP, Recommended Records RēR 0203, 1988)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Klangfarbenprobes (Episodes Excerpt)"John Oswald2:02
2."Warsong (For Lovers Only)"Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta3:03
3."Redens" / "Orbiston Parva"Luciano Margorani3:06
4."Brave It" (Amy Denio)Tone Dogs4:35
5."Engine of Myth"David Myers2:44
6."Warheads"James Grigsby4:28
7."Under Xmas Tree" (Lars Pedersen)When3:48
8."Tango"Kampec Dolores3:43
9."Tra le due Inghilterre"La 19193:35
10."Pageant for Blinking Signal" (James Grigsby)James Grigsby and Brad Laner1:44
11."Flaubears Dancing"J. Lachan4:48
12."Moyen-âge"Miriodor9:00
RēR Records Quarterly Vol.2 No.4 (LP, Recommended Records RēR 0204, 1989)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Todesanzeige"Expander Des Fortschritts5:40
2."Cairo: Khan Al Khaki"Werner Kodytek8:50
3."Picasso's Last Stand" (Jim Meneses)Increase the Angle4:15
4."All Thumbs"Bill Gilonis4:06
5."Os Monomakhos"Dimosiypalliliko Retire4:12
6."Cut"Lutz Glandien11:45
7."Organism"Thinking Plague8:37
8."USA/Intolerance"Jean Derome1:33
9."Italy/Resistance"Jean Derome2:14
10."Ghana/Hope"Jean Derome3:35

Volume 3

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All tracks written by the artist, except where noted.

RēR Records Quarterly Vol.3 No.1 (LP, Recommended Records RēR 0301, 1989)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Iranian Rock"Steve Moore7:01
2."Bakerloo Boogaloo" (Will Menter)Overflow7:33
3."Bells"Don Wherry11:40
4."War is Deception" (Christoph Anders)State of War3:45
5."Vox-5"Trevor Wishart5:37
6."Anything's Possible"ZGA2:15
7."Duchesne Téléphone"René Lussier2:14
8."Christmas Message"René Lussier2:46
9."Extrait du Manifeste du 'Front de libération du Québec'"René Lussier3:29
10."Government of Love"Bing Selfish & The Ideals4:29
11."Working Stiff"Murphy Working Stiffs2:32
RēR Records Quarterly Vol.3 No.2 (LP, Recommended Records RēR 0302, 1990)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Pressure Inversion Ratios"David Myers and Alex Ross 
2."Es Lebe"Lutz Glandien 
3."Stone Music"Zygmunt Krauze 
4."Music from 'The Bacchae'"Rasmus Lunding 
5."Dedicated to Marina D."Ne Zhdali 
6."Release"Charles Southern 
7."The Old Pianola" (Pierre Bastien)Mecanium 
RēR Records Quarterly Vol.3 No.3 (LP, Recommended Records RēR 0303, 1991)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Chiaroscuro"Steve Moore7:00
2."Photo Project 1"Jocelyn Robert2:22
3."Bell" (Lars Pedersen)When6:25
4."Tombo"Tom Djll5:05
5."Racer Hero" (Susanne Lewis)Hail3:33
6."Microclimats" (Marc Pira, Pierre Chuchana)Illegal Function9:19
7."Carousel of Progress" (Dave Kerman, Sanjay Kumar)5uu's5:22
8."Intense Grace" (Dave Fox)Abdo Men3:16
9."Diary XI-XV"Erik Hug7:30

Volume 4

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All tracks written by the artist, except where noted.

RēR Quarterly Vol.4 No.1 (CD, Recommended Records RēR 0401, 1994)
No.TitleArtistLength
1.UntitledKoongoortoog4:00
2."Ostrich Wheel" (Django Bates)The Adenoid Quartet7:20
3."Z"John Oswald0:18
4."TP2" (Doug Carroll)Tom Nunn7:24
5."What's the Point?"Diledadafish2:09
6."The Desk" (Warrick Sony)Lesego Rampolokeng with the Kalahari Surfers3:41
7."Vietnam's Victory"Cornelius Cardew6:26
8."Death in 40 Pictures"Peter Machajdík2:27
9."Circus Music" (Tiziano Popoli)Tiziano Popoli and N.O.R.M.A.8:59
10."Sonnet 2"Al Margolis2:39
11."The Unknown (No. 4)"David Lee Myers2:43
12."How to Clean Squid"Thinking Plague5:41
13."Lost Title"ZGA3:19
14."Walk Aside"Biota4:14
15."The Cross and the Circle"Martin Burlas5:41
16."Chair"Blitzoids3:36
17."Les cons ont Dansé" / "Lait Condensé" (Yves Chichillos Hausermann)Les Sales Combles3:42
18."Encore"Chris Cutler and Fred Frith1:16
RēR Quarterly Vol.4 No.2 (CD, Recommended Records RēR 0402, 1997)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Sacrifice to Isis"Q.R. Ghazala2:22
2."Three Cold Floors"Mike Hovancsek and Paul Guerguerian3:59
3."Inception"Tom Dimuzio4:10
4."Short-Cuts: Brahms"Marie Goyette4:25
5."Danseuse"Ken Ando5:06
6."Congo"Robert Iolini1:40
7."Zimbabwe"Robert Iolini2:27
8."From 'Le Ombre di Otello'"Giovanni Venosta3:28
9."Feu Brilliant"Keith Rowe and Alain De Filippis5:18
10."Shenandoah" / "Innsbruck"Brian Woodbury's Variety Orchestra5:30
11."The Unthinkable"Richard Barrett6:27
12."Heterophony"Stevan Tickmayer7:02
13."Des Objets de la Plus Grande Importance" (Gigou Chenevier)Volapük3:26
14."Interludium: Two Drums"Boris Kovač2:46
15."Virgo Ramayana"Philip Perkins6:00
16."After Hours" / "The Colour of Blood"Shelley Hirsch, Jon Rose and Chris Cutler4:40

Selections

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All tracks written by the artist, except where noted.

RēR Quarterly Selections from Vol.1 (CD, Recommended Records RēR QCD1, 1991)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Mystery Tapes"John Oswald6:07
2."Berlin Programme" (Brecht, Eisler, Cutler, Frith, Goebbels, Harth, Cora, Krause, Lewis)Duck and Cover27:41
3."Hermetic Discourse"Steve Moore6:45
4."Religion"Cassix2:32
5."The Stanislavsky Method"Cassix1:11
6."Tempo di Pace, Bari"Cassix3:56
7."Copy Machine"Cassix1:49
8."Finta di Nulla"Cassix1:59
9."The Birth of Compomisation" (Dave Kerman)5uu's2:53
10."The Threshold of Liberty"Steve Moore9:32
11."Early Rest Home" (Whitlow, Wilson, Piersel, Scholbe, Katsimpalis, Sharp)Biota9:43
RēR Quarterly Selections from Vol.2 (CD, Recommended Records RēR QCD2, 1991)
No.TitleArtistLength
1."Chairman Mao" (Charlie Haden, Robert Wyatt)Robert Wyatt6:15
2."Wedding" (Iva Bittová, Pavel Fajt, Karel David)Iva Bittová and Pavel Fajt4:52
3."Tra le due Inghilterre"La 19193:33
4."Christi Crucifixi Ultima Verba"Jocelyn Robert5:29
5."Pageant for Blinking Signal" (James Grigsby)James Grigsby and Brad Laner1:42
6."Flaubears Dancing"J. Lachan4:47
7."The Barking Dogs Versus the Minimalists"Henry Kaiser3:39
8."Picasso's Last Stand" (Jim Meneses)Increase the Angle4:15
9."All Thumbs"Bill Gilonis4:07
10."The Egg & I" (Anton Fier, David Thomas)David Thomas & The Accordion Club3:28
11."Pégase" (Joseph Racaille, arr. Christophe Baillot)Joseph Racaille1:14
12."Klangfarbenprobe"John Oswald2:00
13."Warsong"Roberto Musci and Giovanni Venosta2:46
14.""Redens" / "Orbiston Parva""Luciano Margorani3:07
15."In Life's Hand" (Dave Kerman)5uu's4:36
16."Warheads"James Grigsby4:30
17."Under Xmas Tree" (Lars Pedersen)When3:48
18."USA Intolerance"Jean Derome1:33
19."Italy Resistance"Jean Derome2:14
20."Ghana Hope"Jean Derome3:54

Footnotes

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  1. ^ a b Colli, Beppe. "An interview with Chris Cutler (1999)". Clouds and Clocks. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
  2. ^ "RēR Quarterlies". SquidCo. Retrieved 20 September 2007.
  3. ^ a b Couture, François. "The RéR Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 1". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  4. ^ a b Schulte, Tom. "The RéR Quarterly, Vol. 4, No. 2". AllMusic. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  5. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 1". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  6. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 2". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  7. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 3". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  8. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 1 No. 4". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  9. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 1". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  10. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 2". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  11. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 3". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  12. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 2 No. 4". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  13. ^ "Rē Records Quarterly Vol. 3 No. 1". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  14. ^ "RēR Records Quarterly Vol. 3 No. 2". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  15. ^ "RēR Records Quarterly Vol. 3 No. 3". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  16. ^ "The ReR Quarterly Volume 4 Number 1". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  17. ^ "The ReR Quarterly Volume 4 Number 2". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  18. ^ "ReR Quarterly Vol 1 – Selections". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  19. ^ "The ReR Quarterly – Selections From Vol. 2". Discogs. Retrieved 24 May 2018.

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