Five American Portraits
| Five American Portraits | |
|---|---|
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 | |
| Studio album by The Red Krayola with Art & Language | |
| Released | January 26, 2010 |
| Recorded | |
| Studio |
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| Label |  Drag City
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   /   
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Track listing
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Portrait of Wile E. Coyote" | 5:03 |
| 2. | "Portrait of President George W. Bush" | 12:16 |
| 3. | "Portrait of President Jimmy Carter" | 5:59 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Portrait of John Wayne" | 15:05 |
| 2. | "Portrait of Ad Reinhardt" | 5:49 |
| Total length: | 44:12 | |
Background
Mayo Thompson, 2010[1]
Those are all people chosen by Art & Language, and they generated those texts for paintings that they were making, for works that they were making. And we’ve done so many things over the years together they thought perhaps I might like to try to put it to music. They sent it to me and I did want to do it. And so that’s the way it happened. But they made the selections.
Related works by Art & Language
-
"Portrait of President George W. Bush in the Style of Jackson Pollock" 2006 -
!["Portraits of John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Ad Reinhardt and Wile E. Coyote" 2007[2]](/w/images/thumb/f/fd/AL-Portraits-Wayne.jpg/120px-AL-Portraits-Wayne.jpg)
"Portraits of John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Ad Reinhardt and Wile E. Coyote" 2007[2] -
!["Five American Background Songs" 2009-10[3]](/w/images/thumb/6/62/AL-Five-American-Background-Songs.jpg/150px-AL-Five-American-Background-Songs.jpg)
"Five American Background Songs" 2009-10[3] -
!["Part of an American Portrait" 2013[4]](/w/images/thumb/a/ae/AL-Part-of-an-American-Portrait.jpg/150px-AL-Part-of-an-American-Portrait.jpg)
"Part of an American Portrait" 2013[4] -
"Tell Me, Have You Ever Seen Me? II, Xi Jinping" 2014 -
"Map to Not Indicate" 1967
!["Portraits of John Wayne, Jimmy Carter, Ad Reinhardt and Wile E. Coyote" 2007[2]](/wiki/File:AL-Portraits-Wayne.jpg)
!["Five American Background Songs" 2009-10[3]](/wiki/File:AL-Five-American-Background-Songs.jpg)
!["Part of an American Portrait" 2013[4]](/wiki/File:AL-Part-of-an-American-Portrait.jpg)
Personnel
The Red Krayola
- Gina Birch - vocals, bass
- Alex Dower - drums, percussion, backing vocals
- Jim O'Rourke - bass
- Tom Rogerson - piano
- Mayo Thompson - vocals, guitar piano
- Tom Watson - guitar
Additional musicians
- Dan Cox - backing vocals
- Matt Ingram - backing vocals
- Fred Somsen - backing vocals
Technical
- Dan Cox - engineering
- Matt Ingram - engineering
- Mayo Thompson - mixing
- Butchy Fuego - mixing
- Rian Murphy - mixing
Retrospectives
Mayo Thompson, 2023[5]
Five American Portraits is a rehash of American cliches from dixie to "The Eyes of Texas are Upon You". Also Mozart, on the Ad Reinhardt tune, that's Mozart's piano concerto.
The fellows in Art & Language, Mel [Ramsden] and Michael [Baldwin], wrote those lyrics. They're descriptions of paintings that they were making — which was, rather than "he's a this kind of that kind of guy," it talked about where the hair went. And they even wrote me one for Trump, which I didn't want — I will not publicize that... freak — but it had a beautiful first line, like, "a shock of piss-colored hair."
Butchy Fuego, 2011[6]
I had been a fan of Mayo Thompson's prolific output for years, and had the opportunity to assist Mayo & Drag City on a previous project which I'm not at liberty to discuss due to a non-disclosure agreement. What I can say about it is that it involved time travel, another legendary avant-guardian and an agent of "the company" assisting my efforts. Mixing Five American Portraits at my studio Top Cat International was a joy and a breeze. DC mogul Rian Murphy was in the house simultaneously cracking the whip and jokes. Mayo was in rare form executing his laser-like vision over the session. The combination of The Raincoats' Gina Birch and the ever-confounding aural collaborations of The Red Krayola with Art & Language proves to be a potent combination. DON'T MESS WITH MAYO.
Reviews
Prefix
January 12, 2010[7]
Mike Wood
Dusted
January 20, 2010[8]
Jon Dale
Pitchfork
January 25, 2010[9]
Andrew Gaerig
PopMatters
January 25, 2010[10]
Richard Elliott
Philadelphia Inquirer
A.D. Amorosi
AllMusic
Thom Jurek[13]
Uncut
March, 2010[14]
OutsideLeft
April, 2010[15]
Alex V. Cook
References
| Songs |
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
- ↑ https://larecord.com/interviews/2010/03/18/mayo-thompson-the-man-from-mars
- ↑ https://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-portraits-of-john-wayne-jimmy-carter-ad-reinhardt-and-wile-e-coyote
- ↑ https://www.artsy.net/artwork/art-and-language-five-american-background-songs
- ↑ https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/art-language-part-of-an-american-portrait-p82091
- ↑ 1:42:25 https://falloutpodcast3557.podbean.com/e/falloutpodcast-ep74-and-all-who-sail-in-her/
- ↑ https://redkrayolaartandlanguage.bandcamp.com/album/five-american-portraits
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20100202160745/http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/the-red-krayola-with-art-language/five-american-portraits/35078/
- ↑ http://www.dustedmagazine.com/reviews/5469
- ↑ https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/13854-five-american-portraits/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20120419150225/http://www.popmatters.com/pm/review/118898-the-red-krayola-with-art-language/
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20200725214646/https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/20100131_New_Recordings.html
- ↑ https://issuu.com/consolidatedpublishing/docs/as20100205-c/6
- ↑ https://www.allmusic.com/album/five-american-portraits-mw0001954602
- ↑ Uncut Mar 2010, p.93
- ↑ https://outsideleft.com/main.php?updateID=1239