Nous Autres

Nous Autres (Quebec French for "We") is a live album by Fred Frith and René Lussier recorded in October 1986 at the 4th Festival International de Musique Actuelle de Victoriaville in Victoriaville, Quebec, Canada. The live mixes were later enhanced with additional material recorded by Frith and Lussier in December 1986 at a studio in Montreal, Quebec, and the resulting album was released on LP in 1987. The album was released on CD in 1992 with four additional studio tracks recorded by Frith and Lussier in January 1992 in New York City.
Three guest vocalists, Tenko Ueno, Geneviève Letarte and Christoph Anders sing on four of the album tracks in Japanese, French and German respectively. The LP release included a record sleeve insert with the lyrics in the original languages and translations to French and English.
"Nous Autres" was Frith and Lussier's first collaborative recording and its success introduced Lussier, at the time not well known outside Quebec, to an international audience.
Background.
French experimental guitarist/composer René Lussier from Quebec, Canada had performed at the first three Victoriaville festivals, and for the fourth, festival artistic director Michel Levasseur suggested that Lussier play in a duo concert with English experimental guitarist/composer Fred Frith from Henry Cow. Henry Cow and the Rock in Opposition movement (initiated by Henry Cow) had been a big influence on Lussier, and he seized the opportunity to perform with Frith.
Also performing at this 4th Victoriaville festival was Cassiber, and two of its members, Chris Cutler (ex-Henry Cow) and Christoph Anders performed on two of the album's tracks, "Cage de Verre" and "J'Aime la Musique" respectively. An altered form of "J'Aime la Musique" was later frequently performed by Cassiber and appeared on their 1990 album, "A Face We All Know".
The success of this concert prompted a number of future collaborations between Frith and Lussier:
Content and reception.
Most of the tracks on "Nous Autres" are instrumental and focus on Fred Frith and René Lussier's guitar and bass guitar playing. Four vocal tracks, "Ketsui", "Iceberg", "J'aime la Musique" and "Domaine Revisited" include lyrics written and sung by the three guest vocalists, Tenko Ueno, Geneviève Letarte and Christoph Anders in their own languages. "Domaine Revisited" was derived from an instrumental "Domaine de Planousset" on Frith's solo album, "Speechless" (1981) and includes singing (in French) by Letarte.
AllMusic wrote that, "Fans of Frith will find much to love here, and will be equally impressed by Lussier, whose slightly more rockish approach nicely counterbalances Frith's more abstract tendencies ... Wonderful stuff." 