Fred Frith’s Guitar Solos album is the best introduction to his most experimental work. Gravity is the best example of his more pop-oriented efforts. It’s not pop music, exactly, but it’s much more accessible and tuneful than those familiar with his guitars-on-the-table work and his music with Henry Cow could have expected. “Spring Any Day Now” is so tuneful and lovely that it’s easy not to notice its oddly shifting time signatures; his take on “Dancing in the Streets” is twisted but still easily recognizable. Filled with humor as well as eccentricity, this is one of Frith’s finest solo albums.

– Rick Anderson