Morgan Fisher Discography
- Miniatures -

The original "Miniatures" collection was released in 1980 - featuring a sequence of 51 tiny masterpieces, each one minute or less in length. It was a totally independent project, when "indie" was still a fairly new word - Morgan Fisher produced it single-handedly, even recording some of the artists himself in their own homes.

"Miniatures" was available on LP and curiously, as a limited edition microcassette (pictured above right) - quite possibly the only album ever to be issued on this format! The album was re-issued on CD in 1994. All three editions are discussed on this page - along with the "The Pocket Libary Of Unusual Film Music", a rare Morgan Fisher solo single consisting of 40 miniature compositions, some no more than 4 seconds in lenght! There is also a separate page for "Miniatures 2" - the new compilation which was released in April 2000. Quick links:

Comments: The "Miniatures" album came about after Morgan had discovered an old Pete Seeger LP which featured a one minute version of Beethoven's 9th Symphony, played on banjo - and wanted to make a full album with such short songs. Morgan invited 60 fellow musicians/artists/performers to contribute miniature pieces - and only about half a dozen people refused to participate. Featured artists: THE RESIDENTS sing South Pacific, ROBERT WYATT sings Frank Sinatra, DAVID BEDFORD compresses Wagner's Ring, FRED FRITH shrinks the entire works of Henry Cow, ROBERT FRIPP plays keyboard, ANDY PARTRIDGE (XTC) offers the history of rock'n'roll in 20 seconds, RALPH STEADMAN sings, R.D. LAING plays the piano, MARTIN CHAMBERS (THE PRETENDERS) lectures while drumming, PETE SEEGER plays Beethoven on the banjo, A one-minute version of the acclaimed world's longest play "The Warp" by KEN CAMPBELL, DAVE VANIAN (THE DAMNED) preaches Dracula-style from his black-walled bedroom. MORGAN FISHER contributed a track called "Green And Pleasant" and other acts include ANDY 'THUNDERCLAP' NEWMAN, GAVIN BRYARS, SIMON JEFFES ( PENGUIN CAFE ORCHESTRA ), MICHAEL NYMAN, DAVID CUNNINGHAM ( FLYING LIZARDS ), IVOR CUTLER, HECTOR ZAZOU, RON GEESIN, QUENTIN CRISP, NEIL INNES, GEORGE MELLY, and many, many more ! - UK LP: Pipe Records PIPE 2 (pictured left, top) - UK CD re-issue (1994): Voiceprint VP159CD

Comments: the 'Miniatures Micro Pack' (cat no: Pipe MMC1) was released on March 1, 1981 - in a signed limited edition of 100 (plus a few unnumbered copies for artists and friends). The micropack consisted of: 1) A Sony microcassette recording of the album "Miniatures". There are a few minutes' silence at the end of each side. 2) Four 35mm colour transparencies depicting: (a) the front cover of the "Miniatures" LP, (b) the poster included with the LP, (c) the list of the artistes in order of appearance on side A, (d) ditto for side C. N.B.: some tapes are marked sides B and D instead. 3) A page ripped from a rare and valuable 19th-century miniature edition of Shakespeare's King Henry VIII. 4) A page ripped from a common and cheap new miniature bible. 5) Probably the world's smallest playing card - from Taiwan - plus two of her larger mates - one cheap and English, one posh and Viennese. 6) A scaled down replica of the original invitation sent to the "Miniatures" artistes. 7) Possibly the smallest sketch book in the world. 8) In NUMBERED editions only: an actual letter from a "Miniatures" artiste, or an item of printed or written ephemera connected with the organising of the "Miniatures" LP.	view contents!
Comments from Morgan 26/7/2000: "We placed an invitation inside the micropack to draw, paint or write on one of the pages of the tiny sketch book, and send it in to Cherry Red Records so that we could establish a miniature art gallery. Nobody sent any - a pity - it might have been nice to have had an exhibition, in enormous gilt frames, of works of art measuring 15 x 22mm! We also asked if anybody knew of any other pre-recorded micro-cassettes - as we'd like to think we were the first. I got no reponse to this - so I think we were!" Morgan is also interested to find out who bought the micropack - he can be contacted through his website: www.morgan-fisher.com

Tracks: this single (full title: The Pocket Library Of Unusual Film Music) contains forty tracks lasting a total of over seventeen minutes. The music can best be described as 'miniature aural clip art' - it featured previously recorded tape bits edited together. The single was limited to 500 copies, and it was actually made to get Morgan out of a terrible contract with Dick James Music. They needed 40 songs, so he put them all on this single - some of the songs were only 4 seconds long!" - UK single: Passion Records PASS1 (the record was manufactured in France)

Comments: Morgan got the idea for this single while he worked on "Miniatures", but it doesn't really bear any relationship to "Miniatures" - despite the obvious similarities.