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Posts tagged Lindsay Cooper
Egg – Civil Surface (1974) (@256)
17 Oct 2009
(Review from progarchives.com, progreviews.com, wikipedia)
In 1974, Dave Stewart, now signed with Virgin as a member of Hatfield and the North, also got a deal for Egg to record their unreleased material, which resulted in the farewell album Civil Surface.
Beginning with a metronome click, sped up drums, and organ fanfare, “Germ Patrol” is the sound of an Egg rehatched. The masterstroke on the album, however, is “Enneagram”. This track expertly synthesizes all of the Stravinsky ostinati, jazz chords, and space sounds that Egg had touched upon earlier in their career but hadn’t quite mastered. Shorter, but just as telling of things to come, is “Prelude”, filled out by the Northettes on vocals. Not everything is as revelatory as the previously mentioned tracks, but other tracks are enjoyable nonetheless and feature a sense of humor.
In addition to the keyboards of Dave Stewart here we have a wind quartet, various wind instrumental virtuosos, and a female vocal trio. The overall impact of this is to give the album a modern classical feel, with many pleasant sounds. The compositions are generally more fusion based, straying at times towards krautrock. There are at times strong hints of the wonderful work of early 70′s multi- instrumentalist Yoel Schwarcz and his work with Continuum. The complex counterpoint and tart harmonies on this album set the stage for the sound that would later be National Health’s trademark.
Line-up:
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano; bass (6)
- Clive Brooks / drums
- Mont Campbell / bass, voice, French horn and piano
with
- Jeremy Baines / Germophone & Bowle
- Lindsay Cooper / oboe, basson (1-6)
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet (1-6)
- Amanda Parsons / vocals (4)
- Ann Rosenthal / vocals (4)
- Barbara Gaskin / vocals (4)
- Steve Hillage / guitar (5)
Track List:
01. Germ Patrol – 8:31
02. Wind Quartet 1 – 2:25
03. Enneagram – 9:09
04. Prelude – 4:17
05. Wring Out the Ground Loosely Now – 8:10
06. Nearch – 3:27
07. Windquartet 2 – 4:44
Link in comments.
Comus – To Keep From Crying (1974) (@256)
09 Nov 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
The second album from Comus came some two years after the release of First Utterance and the accompanying maxi-single release. By this time Comus had disbanded and at the demand of Virgin Records, they briefly reformed to record this sequel. Although there are moments of sheer brilliance that remind you of the debut album, as might be feared with the conditions mentioned above, it doesn’t fully measure up to their masterpiece debut.
“Down” and “Children Of The Universe” as well as the title track are very worthy tracks taking you back to the debut album and the highlight being the excellent “Get Yourself A Man” make this album still worthy of the hunt.
Line-up:
- Lindsay Cooper / wind
- Philip Barry / percussion
- Gordon Caxon / drums
- Didier Malherbe / saxophone
- Keith Hale / keyboards
- Andy Hellaby / bass
- Tim Kraemer / cello
- Roger Wootton / guitar and vocals
- Bobby Watson / percussion and vocals
Track List:
01. Down (Like A Movie Star) – 4:08
02. Touch Down – 4:48
03. Waves And Caves – 1:35
04. Figure In Your Dreams – 3:13
05. Children Of The Universe – 5:40
06. So Long Supernova – 3:23
07. Perpetual Motion – 4:08
08. Panophany – 0:32
09. Get Yourself A Man – 7:10
10. To Keep From Crying – 5:41
11. After The Dream – 1:02
Link in comments.
Slapp Happy – Desperate Straights (1975) (@256)
29 Apr 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
Slapp Happy was formed in 1972 in Hamburg by British composer Anthony Moore. At the time he was recording for Polydor, but was continually frustrated by the more popular direction the label was trying to woe his music. His music was sited as not commercial enough. Venting this frustration he proposed the formation of a pop group with his girlfriend (Dagmar Krause) from Hamburg and an American friend Peter Blegvad. So Slapp happy was born. After much disputes and bantering Blegvad and Moore convinced Krause of their inabilities to sing and she step up as their sing. And to this day remains as one of the distinctive characteristics surrounding the band.
Shortly after recording ‘Unrest’, Henry Cow entered into a merger with label mates Slapp Happy. Slapp Happy comprised Dagmar, their German vocalist who would later win great acclaim for interpretations of Brecht, Peter Blegvad, American born but raised and educated in England, played guitar and wrote most of the lyrics and would later contribute the unique strip cartoon Leviathan to the Independent, and Anthony Moore, English pianist who wrote most of the music and who would later work with the post Waters Pink Floyd. Together they produced a kind of skewed pop awash with literary and artistic references. They had recorded 2 albums with Faust, the second of which was re-recorded with session players for Virgin. 2 albums would come from this merger; Desperate Straights (Slapp Happy with Henry Cow) and In Praise Of Learning (Henry Cow with Slapp Happy).
Desperate Straights was the first of the joint ventures to be recorded, and the union of Henry Cow’s avant rock with Slapp Happy’s warped pop was both challenging and accessible. The majority of the songs were built around a piano/bass/drums accompaniment, with other instruments adding extra colour where needed. Tim Hodgkinson’s clarinet is deployed as an instrumental foil to Dagmar’s unique voice to superb effect, particularly on the opening song Some Questions About Hats. Elsewhwere, The Owl features Dagmar accompanied solely by horns and Europa has some superb percussion from Pierre Moerlen – all the arrangements are highly original and well thought out. Peter Blegvad takes the lead vocal on Strayed and does a neat pastiche of Lou Reed’s drawl. Excerpt From The Messiah is a snippet of Handel as though played by a 70s glam metal band like Slade. There are 2 instrumentals, the title track which is a short, off kilter foxtrot, and the closing track, a lengthy piano/clarinet piece which features the 2 instruments playing scales very slowly. Caucasian Lullaby isn’t bad at all, and would have been a superb addition to one of Eno’s Obscure label releases, but it is somewhat out of keeping with the rest of the album.
This release is more representative of Slapp Happy than Henry Cow. If you’ve ever wondered what a cabaret band from mars would sound like, this album is definitely for you.
Line-up:
- Peter Blegvad / guitar, voice
- Mont Campbell / french horn
- Lindsay Cooper / oboe, bassoon
- Chris Cutler / drums
- Nick Evans / trombone
- Mongezi Fezza / trumpet
- Fred Frith / guitar, violin, xylophone
- John Greaves / bass guitar, piano (4)
with
- Anthony Moore / piano
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet, organ, piano (13)
- Dagmar Krause / voice, wurlitzer (12)
- Geoff Leigh / flute
- Pierre Moerlen / percussion (5)
Track List:
01. Some Questions About Hats (1:49)
02. The Owl (2:14)
03. A Worm Is At Work (1:52)
04. Bad Alchemy (3:06)
05. Europa (2:48)
06. Desperate Straights (4:14)
07. Riding Tigers (1:43)
08. Apes In Capes (2:14)
09. Strayed (1:53)
10. Giants (1:57)
11. Except From The Messiah (1:48)
12. In The Sickbay (2:08)
13. Caucasian Lullaby (8:20)
Link in comments.
Art Bears – Art Box (1978-80) (@256)
27 Apr 2008
(Review from progweed.net, progarchives.com)
In the late 70s, the seemingly monolithic Henry Cow, founders of the Rock in Opposition movement, found themselves split down the middle: Tim Hodgkinson and Lindsay Cooper wanted to write longer pieces, while Fred Frith and Chris Cutler wanted to work on song-based material. The result was the dissolution of Henry Cow, with the longer pieces being released as Henry Cow’s Western Culture and the shorter vocal tracks being released as the first Art Bears album, Hopes and Fears.
Art Bears are a branch of Henry Cow and include vocalist extraordinaire Dagmar Krause, Chris Cutler on percussion, and Fred Frith on guitar/violin/keyboards/etc. They were longtime members of the seminal English radical political avant-garde art rock band Henry Cow. Their music is very high level progressive/experimental rock, with shades of ambient and electronic thrown in. Like much RIO-influenced music, it’s not so much progressive, as experimental, “rehearsal intensive” rock.
Since their debut was recorded during the same sessions as the last Cow album, Hopes and Fears features several members of Henry Cow as guests, and sounds somewhat more Cow-like than the other albums. The esoteric Winter Songs is something rather different: a concept album based on French cathedral carvings, with a dry, stark sound to match. The World As It Is Today, the Bears’ final album, is a bitter, sarcastic critique of capitalism, complete with heavy-handed Marxist lyrics from Cutler and a blocky, strident sound.
If you are an adventurous listener, willing to explore the world of Art Bears should look no further. This 6 CD box set includes the remastered versions of all the 3 albums in whole, plus bonus material including previously unreleased tracks.
Track List:
CD1
01. On Suicide – 1:27
02. The Dividing Line – 4:08
03. Joan – 3:02
04. Maze – 5:04
05. In Two Minds – 8:44
06. Terrain – 3:48
07. The Tube – 3:04
08. The Dance – 5:07
09. Pirate Song – 1:25
10. Labyrinth – 2:13
11. Riddle – 2:46
12. Moeris Dancing – 5:05
13. Piers – 2:12
CD2
01. The Bath of Stars – 1:45
02. First Things First – 2:46
03. Gold1:41
04. The Summer Wheel – 2:40
05. The Slave – 3:33
06. The Hermit – 2:53
07. Rats and Monkeys – 3:09
08. The Skeleton – 3:05
09. The Winter Wheel – 3:03
10. Man and Boy – 3:18
11. Winter-War – 3:05
12. Force – 0:47
13. Three Figures – 1:43
14. Three Wheels – 3:35
CD3
01. The Songs of Investment Capital Overseas – 2:38
02. Thruth – 2:53
03. Freedom – 3:17
04. (Armed) Peace – 2:27
05. Civilisation – 4:38
06. Democracy – 2:18
07. The Song of the Martyrs – 4:01
08. Law – 0:48
09. The Song of the Monopolists – 1:45
10. The Song of the Dignity of Labour under Capital – 2:24
11. Albion Awake! – 4:08
CD4
01. John Rose – The Violin in Winter – 3:48
02. Ossatura – Tranne Lacrimae (Bar Tears) – 4:06
03. Otomo Yoshihide-Ground Zero – On Suicide – 5:42
04. Massimo Simonini – Artico & Baci – 3:31
05. When-Lars Pedersen – The Tube – 2:38
06. Warrick Sony-Kalahari Surfers-DJ Ballard – Rats & Monkeys Remix – 3:08
07. John Oswald – Time-Bye – 5:01
08. Chris Cutler – Three Bear Rooms – 4:41
09. Roberto Musci-Giovanni Venosta-Massimo Mariani – The World as it Hopes in Winter – 3:51
10. The Residents – The Bath of Stars-The Skeleton – 4:49
11. Tokusa-No-Kandakara (91 Pieces Of ‘C’) – Yasushi Utsunomiya – 2:57
12. Herb Heinz – The Skeleton – 2:52
13. Martin Archer – Long Winter – 4:58
14. Jon Leidecker-Wobbly – Winter-War-Force – 3:59
15. Fred Frith – Everything Again – 4:14
16. Jocelyn Robert – Coquelicot – 7:04
17. Art Bears – Collapse – 4:47
18. Art Bears – All Hail – 4:08
CD5
01. Roger Kleier – Armed Peace Remix – 2:33
02. Bob Drake – Song of the Monopolists – 1:14
03. Andrea Rocca – The Three Wheels Remix – 2:42
04. Vitor Rua – Gold – 1:20
05. Brian Woodbury – The Fourth Wheel – 4:00
06. Chris Cutler – The Three Figures – 1:03
07. Bob Drake – First Things First – The Mix That Should Not Be – 2:54
08. Stevan Tickmayer – Monopolists Democracy – 4:17
09. Annie Gosfield – All is Encompassed in the Night (part 1) – 1:35
10. Annie Gosfield – All is Encompassed in the Night (part 2) – 1:35
11. Annie Gosfield – All is Encompassed in the Night (part 3) – 1:29
12. Biota – The Summer Mix (part 1) – 4:08
13. Biota – The Summer Mix (part 2) – 2:47
14. Biota – The Summer Mix (part 3) – 4:10
15. Biota – The Summer Mix (part 4) – 3:01
16. Thomas Dimuzio – Democracy Remix – 4:18
17. Christian Marclay – Some Truth – 4:43
18. Art Bears – Carved in Stone (Rebirth) – 1:46
CD6
01. Bob Drake – And the Comedy Bears – 0:41
02. Duck and Cover – The Song of Investment Capital Overseas – 3:42
03. John Oswald – Summer-Freedom – 2:40
04. Art Bears – The Riddle (live) – 2:21
05. Art Bears – First Things First (live) – 1:55
06. Art Bears – March from The Dance (live) – 1:05
07. Art Bears – The Hermit (live) – 2:37
08. Biota – The Winter Mix – 4:29
09. Fred Frith – Wheels – 3:09
10. Yasushi Utsunomiya – Tokusa-no-kandakara (91 pieces of ‘C), II – 3:32
11. Art Bears – Coda to Man and Boy (live) – 7:17
Links in comments.
Henry Cow – Western Culture (1978) (@256)
26 Apr 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
Western Culture was Henry Cow’s farewell album, recorded after a protracted break during which they had become independent from Virgin Records, Chris Cutler had laid the foundations for what were to become Rock In Opposition and Recommended Records and they’d already decided to split. Much of the material which was to become the first Art Bears album had already been recorded before the band decided that the material wasn’t ‘Henry Cow’, although the closing track ‘Half The Sky’ came from these sessions. With all this turmoil it’s surprising that an album was made at all, and in a way it’s ironic that this least showbizzy of bands should have followed the old showbiz maxim ‘save the best till last’.
Western Culture is Henry Cow’s most coherent album – the only one to feature only composed pieces, the only purely instumental album and the album on which Lindsay Cooper emerged as a talented composer in her own right, as well as a great musician. In creative terms, the album is a 50/50 split between Tim Hodgkinson, who wrote tracks 1 – 3 (side 1 of the vinyl original) and Lindsay Cooper (who wrote or co-wrote the remainder).
Hodgkinson’s pieces on side 1 really blend into a seamless whole – brass and reeds play a prominent part here, with relatively little electric guitar but with acoustic guitar featuring prominently for the first time on a Henry Cow album. Special mention should be made of guest musician Anne Marie Roelofs, a Dutch musician who had played with them on stage, and who added some warm, blurry trombone lines to complement Cooper’s bassoon – her playing is particularly effective on ‘Industry’ and ‘The Decay Of Cities’. These compositions are a continuation of the compositional style first heard on ‘Living In The Heart Of The Beast’, with more of a jazz element (perhaps as a result of Henry Cow’s work with the Mike Westbrook Orchestra and the Art Ensemble Of Chicago). They evoke a decaying urban landscape, with the closing piece ‘On The Raft’ giving a more optimistic tone with huge brass/reed chords played over a lazy tempo, the whole never quite settling into the comfortable orthodoxy that seems to be promised.
Lindsay Cooper’s compositions are a more diverse selection, drawing on contemporary classical and avant garde influences. ‘Falling Away’ is probably the track that is closest to the avant rock style normally associated with Henry Cow. ‘Gretel’s Tale’ features an astonishing piano contribution by Irene Schweizer, almost like John Cage plying free jazz. ‘Half The Sky’ takes its title from a famous quotation from Chairman Mao, also cited by John Lennon on ‘Woman’ a couple of years later – appropriate for a musician who would go on to be a key player in the Feminis Improvising Group.
The key players in Henry Cow continued to work together in various configurations over the years, and released a lot of fine music and exerted a massive influence on the more left field aspects of progressive rock. Odd tracks have since emerged on compilations, but there have been no reunion tours and no ‘greatest hits’. Their final press release said that they would not be trapped into reproducing their past in order to secure their future, and they have been as good as thir word. Western Culture is a fitting end to a remarkable career, and is an essential album of its genre.
Line-up:
- Tim Hodgkinson / organs, Alto sax, clarinet, Hawaiian guitar (1,2), piano (3)
- Lindsay Cooper / bassoon, oboe, Soprano sax, Sopranino recorders
- Fred Frith / electric & acoustic guitars, bass, Soprano sax (3)
- Chris Cutler / drums, electric drums, noise, piano (4), trumpet (3)
with
- Anne-Marie Roelofs / trombone, violin
- Irene Schweizer / piano (5)
- Georgie Born / bass (7)
Track List:
01. Industry (6:58)
02. The Decay of Cities (6:56)
03. On The Raft (4:01)
04. Falling Away (7:39)
05. Gretel’s Tale (3:58)
06. Look Back (1:20)
07. Half the Sky (5:14)
Link in comments.
Henry Cow – Concerts (1976) (@256)
25 Apr 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
This album could be subtitled “The Young Person’s Guide To Henry Cow”. In the absence of an official compilation, this is the closest thing we have to a one-stop shop which contains new versions of pieces from every album, a couple of cover versions, a generous slice of live improv and (bonus on the CD reissue) half an album’s worth of studio improv as well. The original issue was a lengthy vinyl double album, but for the CD reissue Henry Cow’s contribution to Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwall’s Dancehall is added as well.
Side 1 of the vinyl original was taken up with a 23 minute medley originally recorded in 1975 for legendary DJ John Peel’s show. It was winning Peel’s ‘Rockertunity Knocks’ contest that helped Henry Cow secure a record deal in the first place, so it’s fitting that this session was included. Rather than simply rattle through a few tracks off their latest album, they arranged a continuous medley with new bridging passages. They start with ‘Beautiful As The Moon…’ from In Praise Of Learning, here played with even more clarity and intensity than the album version. This leads into a new, different version of ‘Nirvana For Mice’, the opening track from their first LP. The substitution of Lindsay Cooper’s bassoon for Geoff Leigh’s sax gives the piece a rather different, less overtly jazzy feel. Then we’re into ‘Ottawa Song’, a version of a song known to some from Matching Mole’s Little Red Record. This again was a fitting choice, as Matching Mole were the only other UK prog act of the time to make explicit political statements. Dagmar’s interpretation of the lyrics is clearer than Wyatt’s, and the arrangement almost makes it into a new song altogether. ‘Gloria Gloom’ is an otherwise unreleased Cutler/Frith composition, and a reprise of ‘Beautiful As The Moon…’ brings the whole thing to a close. Clear and concentrated, this was Henry Cow at their most accessible.
Side 2 was tracks 2 and 3, recorded on stage with Robert Wyatt. This segment opens with ‘Bad Alchemy’ from Desperate Straits, featuring Wyatt and Dagmar duetting to great effect, before a segue into a manically uptempo reading of Wyatt’s ‘Little red Riding Hood Hit The Road’. Following this is a live version of ‘Ruins’, probably the most complex of their composed pieces. This version is nothing short of amazing, but the real revelation comes in the closing section of the piece where Dagmar sings Fred Frith’s violin part from the studio original.
If CD 1 gives a good overview of Henry Cow’s skills as composers, CD 2 plunges into the altogether more challenging waters of their group improvisations. ‘Groningen’, Groningen Reprise’ and ‘Udine’ all come (I believe) from a Dutch tour where they played as a quartet without Dagmar or Lindsay Cooper. In parts of these pieces you can hear fragments of what would become ‘Living In The Heart Of The Beast’ on In Praise of Learning. The interplay is often stunning on these tracks. ‘Oslo’ features the full 6 piece line up in almost half an hours worth of extremely free improvisation, including Dagmar apparently speaking in tongues about half way through. On all the concert recordings Frith’s guitar is superb, and he also manages to work in some manic xylophone passages. The remaining tracks on CD 2 were earlier recordings from ‘Live At Dingwall’s Dance Hall’, and they sound like a set of studio improvisations recorded between the departure of Geoff Leigh and Lindsay Cooper joining. Leigh is credited on the sleeve, but any contributions he made are inaudible and his name is also absent from the composer credits. These are not as advanced as the studio improvs on “Unrest” and “In Praise Of Learning”, but they are a welcome addition to this reissue.
“Concerts” was excellent value on vinyl, and is even better as a CD reissue. It functions as a good introduction to the many faceted beast that was Henry Cow, and gives tasters of their previous albums without spoiling them.
Line-up:
- Lindsay Cooper / bassoon, flute, oboe, piano
- Chris Cutler / drums, piano
- Fred Frith / guitar, piano , violin, xylophone
- John Greaves / bass, voice, celeste, piano
- Tim Hodgkinson / Organ, clarinet, alto saxophone
- Dagmar Krause / voice, piano
- Geoff Leigh / tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone, recorder, flute, clarinet
- Robert Wyatt / vocals
Track List:
CD1
01. Beautiful as the Moon, Terrible as an Army With Banners – 5:41
02. Nirvana For Mice – 5:30
03. The Ottowa Song – 4:15
04. Gloria Gloom – 4:13
05. Beautiful As The Moon (Reprise) – 3:11
06. Bad Alchemy – 2:54
07. Little Red Riding Hood Hits The Road – 5:49
08. Ruins – 16:29
09. Groningen – 8:53
10. Groningen (Again) – 7:26
CD2
01. Oslo – 1 – 5:38
02. Oslo – 2 – 3:15
03. Oslo – 3 – 3:23
04. Oslo – 4 – 3:00
05. Oslo – 5 – 3:00
06. Oslo – 6 – 1:44
07. Oslo – 7 – 4:54
08. Oslo – 8 – 4:01
09. Off The Map – 8:22
10. Cafe Royal – 3:20
11. Keeping Warm In Winter / Sweet Heart Of Mine – 9:58
12. Udine – 9:39
Links in comments.
Henry Cow – In Praise Of Learning (1975) (@256)
24 Apr 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
Henry Cow’s politics were as radical as their music, and this was never more explicit. Their third album sees the band collaborating with Slapp Happy. The trademark chainmail sock was deep red, and the cover was adorned with a quote from the left wing film maker John Grierson – ‘Art is not a mirror, it is a hammer’. The titles of the two instrumentals also explicitly refer to the band’s left wing politics; Beginning: The Long March is a reference to the Chinese Revolution, while Morning Star is the name of the daily paper published by the Communist Party of Great Britain.
And what of the music? The album opens with War, a Slapp Happy song alluded to in the lyrics of A Worm Is At Work from “Desperate Straights”. Where Peter Blegvad’s lyrics had previously tended towards the whimsical, here he goes straight for the jugular and Dagmar spits them out with suitable venom – ‘Stacking the bones on the empty aerodrome’, ‘Shaking her gory locks over the deserted docks’ and ‘Violence completes the partial mind’. The whole thing is over in less than three fast and furious minutes. This leads into the album’s centrepiece, Tim Hodgkinson’s remarkable Living In The Heart Of The Beast, a 15 minute call to arms set to complex and compelling music that comes from the same dark, haunted place as Magma or King Crimson circa Lark’s Tongues/Starless. Fred Frith plays lead guitar over a desolate soundscape while Dagmar intones doom laden lyrics. The interplay between Frith’s guitar and Dagmar’s voice in the first half of this composition is remarkable. After painting a picture of bleak desperation, the second half of the piece is rhythmic and focussed and the lyrics offer a way out – ‘Dare to take sides in the conflict that is common cause/Let us all be as strong and as resolute…’ . It says a lot about Henry Cow’s abilities as composers and performers that a revolutionary manifesto sung over complex music is also catchy and even hummable in places. The rhythm gradually speeds up as the piece draws to a conclusion, propelled by a wonderful bubbling and melodic bassline from John Greaves. This brings side 1 of the vinyl original to a close.
The second half of the album opens with “Beginning: The Long March”, a studio improvisation/sound collage of the type that Henry Cow included on the second half of Unrest. This is uneasy listening even by the standards of this album, but there is some angular, spiky beauty to be found if you presevere with it. The centrepiece of side 2 is “Beautiful as the Moon”, Terrible as an Army With Banners, written by Cutler (words) and Frith (music). In a sense, this is the first Art Bears song and is also the most accessible track on the album. The arangement is simple and uncluttered, with Dagmar singing over a piano/drums accompinament with only the most subtle of embellishments. Cutler’s drumming is economical and restrained but as restless and complex as ever, and this may be his finest moment on a Henry Cow studio album. The album closed with another dense improvisation, Morning Star, in a similar vein to Beginning:The Long March, again not for the faint hearted but worth grappling with.
Among their contemporaries, only “Matching Mole” ever released an album as explicitly political as this with ‘Little Red Record’. Whether you agree with their politics or not, music as passionate and committed as this is all too rare, and in the progressive field it is almost unprecedented. Listen and be amazed.
Line-up:
- Dagmar Krause / vocals
- Peter Blegvad / clarinet, guitar, vocals
- John Greaves / bass, piano
- Chris Cutler / piano, trumpet, drums, vocals
- Lindsay Cooper / bassoon, oboe, Wind
- Mongezi Feza / trumpet
- Phil Becque / synthesizer
- Fred Frith / guitar, piano, violin, keyboards, xylophone
- Tim Hodgkinson / organ, clarinet, piano, keyboards, saxophone, vocals
- Geoff Leigh / trumpet, saxophones
- Anthony Moore / synthesizer, piano, keyboards, electronics
Track List:
01. War (2:26)
02. Living In The Heart of the Beast (15:30)
03. Beginning: The Long March (6:27)
04. Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army With Banners (7:02)
05. Morning Star (6:06)
06. Lovers of Gold (6:28)
Link in comments.
Henry Cow – Unrest (1974) (@256)
23 Apr 2008
(Review from progarchives.com)
Henry Cow’s second album saw a number of changes from their debut. Saxophonist Geoff Leigh had left, and was replaced by multi instrumentalist Lindsay Cooper.
The album drifts away from the Canterbury roots evident on their debut, showing two distinct sides to Henry Cow. Side 1 (tracks 1 – 3) features pieces composed by individual members, whilst side 2 is largely taken up with group improvisations enhanced with studio effects. If you’re looking for comparisons, side 1 has a lot in common with Univers Zero, while side 2 is closer to Faust.
Side 1 kicks off with Fred Frith’s Bittern Storm Over Ulm, a short piece that, according to the sleevenotes, “owes a debt to O.Rasputin’s ‘Got To Hurry’ by the Yardbirds”. Frith leads from the front with some magnificent guitar squalls and the rhythm section out- Beefheart Beefheart, and the whole thing is over in less than 3 minutes. John Greaves’ Half Asleep, Half Awake follows. A beautiful, under stated piano intro leads into the most accessible piece on the album, a reverie which has echoes of post-Third Soft Machine or Zappa circa Hot Rats/Burnt Weeny Sandwich, but which has a sound all of its own. Cooper’s oboe is the lead instrument for the main body of the piece, followed by shorter bursts of clarinet and guitar. The final piece on side 1 is one of Henry Cow’s most uncompromising composed pieces, Ruins, a piece which could well define the RIO sound and which has rarely been equalled for complexity or depth. 25 years after first hearing it, I still find new nuances every time I play it.
Side 2 opens with a short piece from Henry Cow’s music for a production of The Tempest, an oboe/guitar duet, before launching into some dazzling studio improvisations. Linguaphonie features a lot of half and double speed recording, puctuated by the band reciting bits of nonsense in a variety of foreign languages – sample ‘il y a pour moi vingt cinq chiens’, or ‘there are twenty five dogs for me’. Upon Entering The Hotel Adlon is a manically fast paced burst of improv that could blister paint at 50 paces. Arcades/Deluge closes the album, a beautiful and melanholy group improvisation that closes with a brief fragment of song from John Greaves, with semi audible lyrics.
Unrest is a superb achievement by on of the most committed and uncompromising of 1970s rock groups. It may be hard work, but ultimately it is also highly rewarding.
Line-up:
- John Greaves / bass, piano, vocals
- Chris Cutler / piano, trumpet, drums, vocals
- Lindsay Cooper / bassoon, oboe, recorder, vocals
- George Born / bass
- Fred Frith / guitar, piano, violin, keyboards, xylophone
- Charles Fletcher / vocals
- Tim Hodgkinson / organ, clarinet, piano, keyboards, saxophones, vocals
Track List:
01. Bitter Storm Over Ulm (2:44)
02. Half Asleep; Half Awake (7:39)
03. Ruins (12:00)
04. Solemn Music (1:09)
05. Linquaphonie (5:58)
06. Upon Entering The Hotel Adlon (2:56)
07. Arcades (1:50)
08. Deluge (5:52)
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Hatfield and the North – Rotters' Club (1975) (@256)
07 Nov 2007
(Review from progarchives.com)
More accomplished than the band’s self-titled debut album, it shares most of its basic features, but the level of musicianship is even higher, with Dave Stewart’s stunning keyboards more in evidence at the expense of The Northettes’ vocalising. The four musicians form an extremely tight unit, their instruments blending seamlessly in a harmonious whole, further enhanced by the vocal interludes, courtesy of Richard Sinclair’s golden voice. The presence of horns and other wind instruments is strong, though less improvisational-sounding than on the debut, adding to the more sophisticated feel of this album.
“The Rotters’ Club” opens with one of the most infectious, hummable songs ever, the delightful “Share It” – living proof of how you can have a song which is at the same time accessible and intelligent. The lyrics are very entertaining and superbly interpreted by Richard Sinclair – which is no mean feat, as all the songs on this album require quite a bit of technical skill. Pure instrumental bliss follows, with the interplay between the four musicians quite stunning in its smoothness and ease. The rhythm section of Pyle and Sinclair is among the tightest, most inventive, giving such luminaries as Squire and Bruford a run for their money. “The Yes-No Interlude” flows into the quirky “Fitter Stoke Has a Bath”, complete with funny underwater effects and Sinclair’s deadpan delivery, which in turn fades into the wistful, melancholy “Didn’t Matter Anyway”, accompanied by Jimmy Hasting’s sweetly mournful flute.
The album’s probably the best track is, however, the 20-minutes-plus Dave Stewart epic “Mumps”, a complex, meandering composition which features wordless vocal harmonies from The Northettes, monumental keyboard work from Stewart and a shorter vocal section with whimsical, nonsense lyrics, known as “The Alphabet Song”.
The five bonus tracks (which first appeared on the band’s posthumous compilation “Afters”) include the energetic instrumentals “Oh, Len’s Nature” and “Lying and Gracing” and Sinclair’s beautiful “Halfway Between Heaven and Earth”, another vocal tour de force for prog’s great unsung hero.
As to the lyrics, they’re funny and uplifting, squarely in the tradition of English nonsense verse. Like its predecessor, “The Rotters’ Club” is not the kind of album that everybody will like immediately, but there’s no doubt that it’s one of the best examples of what prog is all about. Get hold of it and enjoy – you won’t regret it.
Unfortunately, the group’s brief flash of brilliance lasted for only two albums.
Line-up:
- Phil Miller / guitars
- Pip Pyle / drums, percussion
- Richard Sinclair / bass, vocals, guitar (7)
- Dave Stewart / organ, electric piano tone generator
- Jimmy Hastings / flute, soprano & tenor saxophones
with
- Mont Campbell / French horn
- Lindsay Cooper / oboe, bassoon
- Barbara Gaskin / backing vocals
- Tim Hodgkinson / clarinet
- Amanda Parsons / backing vocals
- Ann Rosenthal / backing vocals
Track List:
01. Share It (3:02)
02. Lounging There Trying (3:10)
03. (Big) John Wayne Socks (0:46) Psychology on the Jaw
04. Chaos at the Greasy Spoon (0:30)
05. The Yes No Interlude (7:02)
06. Fitter Stoke has a Bath (7:38)
07. Didn’t Matter Anyway (3:03)
08. Underdub (3:55)
09. Mumps (20:06)
a) Your Majesty is Like a Cream Donut (quiet) (1:59)
b) Lumps (12:35)
c) Prenut (3:55)
d) Your Majesty is Like a Cream Donut (loud) (1:37)
10. (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology on the Jaw (Bonus) (0:43)
11. Chaos at the Greasy Spoon (Bonus) (0:20)
12. Halfway Between Heaven and Earth (Bonus) (6:07)
13. Oh, Len’s Nature! (Bonus) (1:59)
14. Lying and Gracing (Bonus) (3:58)
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