Each in Our Own Thoughts is a 1994 solo album by English experimental music composer and performer Tim Hodgkinson. It is his second solo album, after Splutter (1985), and comprises six unreleased pieces composed by Hodgkinson between 1976 and 1993. They were recorded in 1993 and co-released in 1994 on CD by Woof Records in the United Kingdom and Megaphone Records in the United States.
Content
Each in Our Own Thoughts consists of three instrumental pieces and three songs. The music varies from contemporary classical music to avant-rock: there is a string quartet ("String Quartet 1"), two works for small ensembles ("A Hollow Miracle" and "Palimpsest"), a piece for samples and multiple horns ("From Descartes' Dreams"), a piece for MIDI-instruments ("Numinous Pools for Mental Orchestra"), and an unrecorded Henry Cow number from 1976 ("Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine"). Hodgkinson composed the music for all the tracks and wrote the lyrics for "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine"; Chris Cutler wrote the song texts for "A Hollow Miracle" and "Palimpsest". Hodgkinson does not perform on "String Quartet 1".
"Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine" was originally composed by Hodgkinson for Henry Cow as "Erk Gah" in 1976 and was performed regularly by the band between 1976 and 1978.[1] It was scheduled to be recorded in Switzerland in early 1978 for their next album, but objections from some of the band members over its revised lyrics resulted in it being shelved. Henry Cow broke up in mid-1978 and "Erk Gah" was never recorded in the studio.[2] Three live recordings of "Erk Gah" appear in The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009).
The recording of "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine" in 1993 (with the original "Erk Gah" lyrics) was a Henry Cow reunion of sorts in that four of the musicians that played on this track were from the original band: Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper and Dagmar Krause.
In a review in Exposé, Mike Borella called Each in Our Own Thoughts "an important and invigorating release" that is a "high-water mark for RIO alumni". He said that despite its mix of "avant-garde, post-classical [and] structurally complex music", it remains "cohesive in itself", and "is a must" for Henry Cow fans. Borella felt that although the "synergy of group composition" is lacking, he gave the album his "[h]ighest recommendation".[4]
