Wednesday, November 4, 2020

ACBA: Lawrence Weiner for Thick Pigeon








[Lawrence Weiner] Thick Pigeon
Too Crazy Cowboys
Manchester, UK: Factory Records, 1984
12" vinyl LP
Edition size unknown


The 1984 debut from the New York Art Rock duo of Miranda Stanton and Carter Burwell.

Burwell would later find success as a soundtrack composer, scoring three films by Todd Haynes, three for Spike Jonze, almost every movie by the Coen Brothers, and every film by Martin McDonagh. He received Oscar nominations for his scores to Haynes' Carol and McDonagh's Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri.

Miranda Stanton played bass in a band with Kim Gordon called CKM, which was formed in order to participate in a festival organized by Dan Graham. It was their first and final performance, but Stanton introduced Gordon to Lee Ranaldo and Thurston Moore, who and they soon after formed Sonic Youth together. (Moore also appears on the Thick Pigeon song "Pope", which is available on the 2003 reissue of Too Crazy Cowboys). 

Stanton's other Factory Records connections include the single "Wheels Over Indian Trails" (produced by Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert from New Order),  a cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart", and guest vocals on recordings by the Durutti Column. 

She also had an acting career, appearing in three films by Jonathan Demme: Something Wild, Married to the Mob, and Silence of the Lambs. She played the lead role in the small art-house film Souvenir, directed by Michael H. Shamberg of Factory Records US. 

Shamberg invited Lawrence Weiner to design the album cover, which features a die-cut jacket. 

In a 2003 review for Pitchfork, William Bowers gave the record a 2.1 out of 10, noting "don't buy this Thick Pigeon reissue unless you love post-Warhol sub-glam absurdist-meets-infantile eighties-underground New York-ness, or atrocious-Tony-Wilson hair-era Factory."

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