Mark Fry
Encyclopedia
Mark Fry is an English painter
and psychedelic folk musician. He is best known for his album Dreaming With Alice, released in 1972, which has been hailed as a psychedelic folk classic by critics and a diverse range of musicians. Original copies of the album are much sought after and have sold for in excess of £2,000.
, into a family of artists descended from the Quaker founders of the Bristol-based chocolate business J. S. Fry & Sons
. His father is the painter Anthony Fry. Mark Fry is a cousin of Roger Fry
, the artist, critic and member of the Bloomsbury Group
.
Fry was educated at Dartington Hall School in Devon. On leaving Dartington in 1970 he enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence
, Italy, where he studied painting under the Futurist
Primo Conti
.
.
Fry left Italy in autumn 1971 to return to England before Dreaming With Alice was released. He was sent a box of the records following the release on IT Dischi records in Italy in 1972, and had no further dealings with the label. For several years, Fry continued to perform music with various musicians including drummer Pete Thomas
(later of Elvis Costello's
band The Attractions), but without any associated record releases. In the early 1980s, after a long period of travel in the US and West Africa, Fry decided to return to London and pursue his career as an artist.
Unknown to Mark Fry, the album Dreaming With Alice had been developing cult status over the ensuing three decades as a psychedelic folk classic, garnering acclaim from critics and a new generation of musicians as diverse as Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), Colleen and Plastic Crimewave
. Fry was to discover this by chance in the early 2000s.
Dreaming With Alice is included in Record Collector
’s Top 20 Strange Folk Albums (Strange Folk Revisited, August 2009).
Mark Fry and Dreaming With Alice are featured in the anthology Galactic Ramble (Foxcote Press, 2009) as well as in Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid, Psych and Experimental Folk by Jeanette Leech (Jawbone Press, 2010).
The highest price paid at auction to date for an original copy of Dreaming With Alice was £2,327 in May 2009.
In January 2008, Fry released his second album, Shooting the Moon, an album of 15 songs penned over a number of years.
In November 2008, Fry was invited by Steve Krakow, also known as Plastic Crimewave
, to appear at the fourth Million Tongues Event in Chicago.
In February 2009, Fry collaborated with Nick Franglen
of Lemon Jelly
on a new version of the title song of Dreaming With Alice, which was released as a limited edition vinyl single on Fruits de Mer Records.
In 2009 Fry was contacted by Dorset-based experimental musicians Michael Tanner and Nicholas Palmer, together known as The A. Lords. A musical collaboration ensued, and during 2009 and 2010 the three worked on new songs together, Fry adding lyrics and vocal parts to music composed and recorded by Palmer and Tanner.
In May 2010 Mark Fry and The A. Lords played at Bush Hall in London, where they were introduced by critic Will Hodgkinson
on the occasion of Fry’s first performance on a London stage for over thirty years.
In August 2011 Second Language Records announced the impending release in September 2011 of the record created by Mark Fry, Nicholas Palmer and Michael Tanner, called I Lived In Trees by Mark Fry and The A.Lords.
Painting
Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a surface . The application of the medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush but other objects can be used. In art, the term painting describes both the act and the result of the action. However, painting is...
and psychedelic folk musician. He is best known for his album Dreaming With Alice, released in 1972, which has been hailed as a psychedelic folk classic by critics and a diverse range of musicians. Original copies of the album are much sought after and have sold for in excess of £2,000.
Early life
Mark Lewis Fry was born in Epping, EssexEssex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...
, into a family of artists descended from the Quaker founders of the Bristol-based chocolate business J. S. Fry & Sons
J. S. Fry & Sons
J. S. Fry & Sons, Ltd. was a British chocolate company owned by Joseph Storrs Fry and his family.This business moved through several names and hands before ending up as J. S. Fry & Sons.- History :*circa 1759 — Joseph Fry starts making chocolate...
. His father is the painter Anthony Fry. Mark Fry is a cousin of Roger Fry
Roger Fry
Roger Eliot Fry was an English artist and art critic, and a member of the Bloomsbury Group. Establishing his reputation as a scholar of the Old Masters, he became an advocate of more recent developments in French painting, to which he gave the name Post-Impressionism...
, the artist, critic and member of the Bloomsbury Group
Bloomsbury Group
The Bloomsbury Group or Bloomsbury Set was a group of writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists who held informal discussions in Bloomsbury throughout the 20th century. This English collective of friends and relatives lived, worked or studied near Bloomsbury in London during the first half...
.
Fry was educated at Dartington Hall School in Devon. On leaving Dartington in 1970 he enrolled at the Accademia delle Belle Arti in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
, Italy, where he studied painting under the Futurist
Futurism (art)
Futurism was an artistic and social movement that originated in Italy in the early 20th century. It emphasized and glorified themes associated with contemporary concepts of the future, including speed, technology, youth and violence, and objects such as the car, the airplane and the industrial city...
Primo Conti
Primo Conti
Primo Conti was an Italian Futurist artist.Conti was born in Florence. Between the ages of 8 and 9, his precocious talent in the fields of music, poetry and painting was showing signs of his genius...
.
Dreaming With Alice
During Fry's time in Italy he was introduced to the record producer Vincenzo Micocci. On hearing some of Fry's songs, Micocci signed him to record label IT Dischi, a subsidiary of RCA. Dreaming with Alice was recorded by Fry and a band of session musicians in Rome over a three-day period in the summer of 1971. Following the recording session Fry toured Italy supporting singer Lucio DallaLucio Dalla
Lucio Dalla is a popular Italian singer-songwriter and musician. He also plays clarinet and keyboards.He is the composer of Caruso , which has been covered by numerous international artists...
.
Fry left Italy in autumn 1971 to return to England before Dreaming With Alice was released. He was sent a box of the records following the release on IT Dischi records in Italy in 1972, and had no further dealings with the label. For several years, Fry continued to perform music with various musicians including drummer Pete Thomas
Pete Thomas
Pete Thomas is best known as the longtime drummer for Elvis Costello. Tom Waits has referred to him as "one of the best rock drummers alive".-Career:...
(later of Elvis Costello's
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
band The Attractions), but without any associated record releases. In the early 1980s, after a long period of travel in the US and West Africa, Fry decided to return to London and pursue his career as an artist.
Unknown to Mark Fry, the album Dreaming With Alice had been developing cult status over the ensuing three decades as a psychedelic folk classic, garnering acclaim from critics and a new generation of musicians as diverse as Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), Colleen and Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave , otherwise known as Steve Kraków, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario. He is the editor of Drag City-published magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, eponymous frontman for Plastic Crimewave Sound, founder of the Million Tongues...
. Fry was to discover this by chance in the early 2000s.
Dreaming With Alice is included in Record Collector
Record Collector
Record Collector is the United Kingdom's longest-running monthly music magazine. It distributes both within the UK and worldwide. It started in 1979.-The early years:...
’s Top 20 Strange Folk Albums (Strange Folk Revisited, August 2009).
Mark Fry and Dreaming With Alice are featured in the anthology Galactic Ramble (Foxcote Press, 2009) as well as in Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid, Psych and Experimental Folk by Jeanette Leech (Jawbone Press, 2010).
The highest price paid at auction to date for an original copy of Dreaming With Alice was £2,327 in May 2009.
Painting
Fry has achieved renown as a painter, with seven solo exhibitions since 1993 in London's West End and the Charleston Gallery. Fry's 2005 show Into the Air was reviewed by British periodical The Week, which wrote: “With simple lines and subtle effects of texture and shadow, Fry achieves a cool, lyrical elegance with its own dynamism.”Recent work
In 2006, Sunbeam Records reissued a remastered version of the album Dreaming With Alice in the UK.In January 2008, Fry released his second album, Shooting the Moon, an album of 15 songs penned over a number of years.
In November 2008, Fry was invited by Steve Krakow, also known as Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave
Plastic Crimewave , otherwise known as Steve Kraków, is a Chicago-based illustrator and writer, avant-garde musician, music historian and impresario. He is the editor of Drag City-published magazine Galactic Zoo Dossier, eponymous frontman for Plastic Crimewave Sound, founder of the Million Tongues...
, to appear at the fourth Million Tongues Event in Chicago.
In February 2009, Fry collaborated with Nick Franglen
Nick Franglen
Nick Franglen is a British musician, composer and record producer. He is best known as a founding member of the electronica duo Lemon Jelly.A classically trained musician and multi-instrumentalist, during the 1990s Franglen worked as a session keyboard player and drum programmer on studio...
of Lemon Jelly
Lemon Jelly
Lemon Jelly is a British electronic music duo from London, formed in 1998. Since their inception, the band's line-up has included Fred Deakin and Nick Franglen. Lemon Jelly has been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and BRIT Awards....
on a new version of the title song of Dreaming With Alice, which was released as a limited edition vinyl single on Fruits de Mer Records.
In 2009 Fry was contacted by Dorset-based experimental musicians Michael Tanner and Nicholas Palmer, together known as The A. Lords. A musical collaboration ensued, and during 2009 and 2010 the three worked on new songs together, Fry adding lyrics and vocal parts to music composed and recorded by Palmer and Tanner.
In May 2010 Mark Fry and The A. Lords played at Bush Hall in London, where they were introduced by critic Will Hodgkinson
Will Hodgkinson
Will Hodgkinson is a journalist and author from London, England. He writes for The Guardian newspaper, 'The Times newspaper, 'Mojo magazine, and presents the Sky Arts TV show Songbook, in which he interviews contemporary songwriters....
on the occasion of Fry’s first performance on a London stage for over thirty years.
In August 2011 Second Language Records announced the impending release in September 2011 of the record created by Mark Fry, Nicholas Palmer and Michael Tanner, called I Lived In Trees by Mark Fry and The A.Lords.
Albums
- Dreaming With Alice LP (IT ZLST 70006), RCA / IT Dischi, 1971
- Dreaming With Alice CD (SBR CD5028), Sunbeam Records, 2006
- Dreaming With Alice LP (SBR LP5028), (includes 2 bonus tracks), Sunbeam Records, 2007 and 2010
- Shooting the Moon (IDLECD001), Boredidlebaby, 2008
- I Lived In Trees (SL013), Second Language Music, 2011
Singles
- Dreaming With Alice (A side) + The Witch (live) (B side), Fruits de Mer Vol. 5, (Crustacean06), Fruits de Mer, 2009
Compilations
- Mandolin Man is included in the compilation album Love, Peace & Poetry - British Psychedelic Music (QDKCD041), Normal Records, 2001
- Song for Wilde is included in the compilation album Shifting Sands (SBRCD5075), Sunbeam Records, 2010
- Song for Wilde is included in the October 2011 edition of the Late Night Tales series (ALNCD26), curated by US band MGMTMGMTMGMT is an American alternative rock band founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. After the release of their first album, the members of their live band, Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman, joined the core band in the studio...
- I Lived In Trees is included in the compilation album Vertical Integration (SL06), Second Language, 2010
Solo exhibitions
- Christopher Hull Gallery, London - 1993, 1995, 1998
- The Charleston Gallery, Sussex - 2006
- Archeus Fine Art, London - 2001, 2003, 2005