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1980’s Gravity marked British guitarist Fred Frith’s break from the intensely composed sound he pioneered with the band Henry Cow. Originally released on Ralph Records (home to The Residents), the album lives up to the liner notes’ promise of a musical “victory over gravity, over all that weighs down or oppresses.”

The eclectic array of upbeat, delightfully eccentric grooves scavenged from the Mediterranean, Eastern Europe, and Scandinavia is astoundingly consistent with Frith’s own arsenal of avant-garde stylings. Backup band Zamla Mammas Manna infect the first half of the disc with their delirious, electrified Swedish folk colorings. The Muffins (hailing from the decidedly un-exotic Maryland) lay down a solid rock foundation on the later tracks, climaxing in a bone-crunching instrumental take of Martha and the Vandellas’ “Dancing in the Street.” Frith’s homey fiddle is an appropriate vehicle for the skewed melodies that run through the disc, most successfully in an accordion duet on “Hands of the Juggler.” This ReR/Fred Records remaster strips away the bonus tracks on an earlier edition, as most of the extras are now available elsewhere. Gravity remains the most accessible and concentrated dose of Frith’s charisma, energy, and creativity.

—Michael Draine