HENRY COW - Leg End (1973-2015) SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Political astuteness aside, Henry Cow's Leg End is simply a busy musical trip, comprised of snaking rhythms, unorthodox time signatures, and incongruous waves of multiple instruments that actually culminate in some appealing yet complex progressive rock. Here, on the band's debut, both Fred Frith and woodwind man Geoff Leigh hold nothing back, creating eclectic, avant garde-styled jazz movements without any sense of direction, or so it may seem at first, but paying close attention to Henry Cow's musical wallowing results in some first-rate instrumental fusion, albeit a little too abstract at times. Through tracks like "Amygdala," "Teenbeat," and "The Tenth Chaffinch," it's simply creativity run amok, instilling the free-spiritedness of the late '60s into this, a 1974 album. The techniques are difficult to follow, but the stewing that emerges between the piano, guitar, flute, and percussion is so animated and colorful, it actually sounds pleasant as a whole. Chris Cutler lends his uncommitted, self-governing brand of drumming to the album to help culminate the frenzy, and Leigh's tenor flute does add some extraordinary musical fabric to each of the album's ten cuts. "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" is one of the easiest pieces to listen to, while the short but amiable "Bellycan" is an excerpt removed from the group's work with the Greasy Truckers, performed a year earlier. In 1974, Henry Cow released Unrest, which contains the same vigor and spontaneity as Leg End, only it didn't receive the same amount of attention. Shortly after, they united with Dagmar Krause and the rest of Slapp Happy to further their unconventional route. by Mike DeGagne
Tracklist  
1 Nirvana For Mice 4:53
Engineer [First Part] – Mike Oldfield
Mixed By [Remixed By] – Fred Frith
Tenor Saxophone – Geoff
Written-By – Frith
2 Amygdala 6:47
Bassoon – Lindsay Cooper
Written-By – Hodgkinson
3 Teenbeat Introduction 4:32
Mixed By [Remixed By] – Fred Frith
Voice – Cathy Williams, Maggie Thomas, Sarah Greaves
Written-By – H. Cow
4 Teenbeat 6:57
Alto Saxophone [Alto On End Of] – Tim
Mixed By [Remixed By] – Fred Frith
Voice – Cathy Williams, Maggie Thomas, Sarah Greaves
Written-By – Frith, Greaves
5 Nirvana Reprise 1:11
Mixed By [Remixed By] – Fred Frith
Written-By – Frith
6 Extract From 'With The Yellow Half-Moon And Blue Star' 2:26
Written-By – Frith
Xylophone [Pixiphone] – Jeremy Baines
7 Teenbeat Reprise 5:07
Mixed By [Remixed By] – Fred Frith
Voice – Cathy Williams, Maggie Thomas, Sarah Greaves
Written-By – Frith
8 The Tenth Chaffinch 6:06
Written-By – H. Cow
9 Nine Funerals Of The Citizen King 5:34
Written-By – Hodgkinson
10 Bellycan 3:19
Tenor Saxophone – Geoff
Written-By – H. Cow
Bonus Tracks
11 Teenbeat 10:19
Voice [Conversation] – Amanda Parsons, Ann Rosenthal
Voice [Conversation], Celesta – Dave Stewart
12 Citizen King 5:21
13 Nirvana For Moles 4:09
Credits
Bass, Piano, Whistle, Voice – John Greaves
Drums, Toy [Toys], Piano, Whistle, Voice – Chris Cutler
Guitar [Guitars], Violin, Viola, Piano, Voice – Fred Frith
Organ, Piano, Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax], Clarinet, Voice – Tim Hodgkinson
Saxophone [Saxes], Flute, Clarinet, Recorder, Voice – Geoff Leigh

HENRY COW - Unrest (1974-2015) SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

By this point Henry Cow consisted of guitarist Fred Frith, drummer Chris Cutler, bassist John Greaves, keyboardist Tim Hodgkinson, and, of particular importance to the band's sound at this point, bassoonist Lindsay Cooper. As is so often the case with avant-garde rock & roll, it's the composed pieces that work best, and the fact that Frith is responsible for the majority of them is significant. "Bittern Storm Over Ulm" is an absolutely brilliant demolition of the Yardbirds' "Got to Hurry," while the brief but lovely "Solemn Music" unfolds in a stately manner with atonal but pretty counterpoint between Frith and Cooper. The improvised material succeeds in a more spotty way. "Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon" demonstrates how fine the line can be between bracing free atonality and mindless cacophony. The unsettling but eventually gorgeous "Deluge," on the other hand, shows how well Henry Cow could walk that line when they tried; in this piece, random guitar skitterings, scattershot drum clatter, and pointillistic reed grunts are eventually snuck up on and overtaken by softly massed chords and Cooper's gently hooting bassoon. The effect is startlingly moving. Overall, this is one of Henry Cow's better efforts.  by Rick Anderson  
Tracklist 
1 Bittern Storm Over Ulm  2:44
Written-By – Frith
2 Half Asleep; Half Awake  7:39
Written-By – Greaves
3 Ruins
Recorded By [Parts Of Ruins By] – Mike Oldfield  12:00
Written-By – Frith
4 Solemn Music  1:09
Written-By – Frith
5 Linguaphonie  5:58
Written-By – H. Cow
6 Upon Entering The Hotel Adlon  2:56
Written-By – H. Cow
7 Arcades  1:50
Written-By – H. Cow
8 Deluge  5:52
Written-By – H. Cow
9 Silence 1:00
10 DThe Glove  6:35
Written-By – H. Cow
11 Torchfire  4:48
Written-By – H. Cow
Bonus Tracks
12 Introduction 1:52
13 Ruins Ⅰ 6:35
14 Half Asleep; Half Awake 4:11
15 Ruins Ⅱ 0:59
16 Heron Shower Over Hamburg 2:29
Credits
Bass, Piano, Voice – John Greaves
Bassoon, Oboe, Recorder, Voice – Lindsay Cooper
Drums – Chris Cutler
Guitar [Stereo Guitar], Violin, Xylophone, Piano – Fred Frith
Mixed By [Mixing Engineers] – Henry Cow (tracks: 5 to 8), Phil Becque (tracks: 1 to 4), Tim Hodgkinson (tracks: 9, 10)
Organ, Alto Saxophone [Alto Sax], Clarinet, Piano – Tim Hodgkinson
Vocals [Certain Vocals], Engineer [Engineering Assistance By] – Charles Fletcher

HENRY COW - In Praise of Learning (1975-2015) RM | Mini LP SHM-CD | FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Henry Cow's third album, originally released in 1975, found them expanded to an eight-piece ensemble after a guest session on another group's record. Henry Cow absorbed Slapp Happy into their lineup after appearing on Slapp Happy's Desperate Straights album. It was a tenuous relationship (lasting only long enough for this release, and with Slapp Happy crumbling after Dagmar Krause decided to stay on with Henry Cow), but one that produced some stunning results. Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad's "War" has enormous proportion and power that would have been beyond the scope of a relatively quiet trio. The sheer ambition of this work is bracing. Intricately composed and arranged pieces, rife with lyrics that meld poetry with politics, give way to extended improvisations. While that had always been the Henry Cow recipe, it was never given such dramatic sweep. No one has ever, before or since, sounded like this incarnation of Henry Cow.  Rovi Staff
Tracklist:
1 War 2:31
Piano – Anthony Moore
Recorded By, Mixed By – Simon Heyworth
Soprano Saxophone – Geoff Leigh
Trumpet – Mongezi Feza
Voice, Clarinet – Peter Blegvad
Written-By – Moore, Blegvad
2 Living In The Heart Of The Beast 16:18
Guitar – Peter Blegvad
Piano – Anthony Moore, Tim Hodgkinson
Written-By – Hodgkinson
3 Beginning: The Long March 6:01
Guitar – Peter Blegvad
Written-By – H. Cow, S. Happy
4 Beautiful As The Moon- Terrible As An Army With Banners 7:02
Electronics [Oscillator] – Phil Becque
Piano – Fred Frith
Written-By – Cutler, Frith
5 Morning Star 6:02
Written-By – H. Cow, S. Happy
6 Silence 1:00
Bonus Tracks
7 Lovers Of Gold 6:29
8 Fair As The Moon 6:01
9 Living In The Heart Of The Beast 13:46
Credits:
Bass, Piano – John Greaves
Bassoon, Oboe – Lindsay Cooper
Clarinet, Organ – Tim Hodgkinson
Drums, Noises – Chris Cutler
Electronics, Tape – Anthony Moore
Guitar, Violin, Xylophone – Fred Frith
Voice – Dagmar Krause

HENRY COW - Concerts (1976-2015) 2CD / SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

Avant-garde rock & roll of 1970s vintage -- especially, it must be said, of the British variety -- doesn't typically age very well. And although Henry Cow was quite a unique ensemble, even by the standards of the 1970s avant-garde, it would be silly to deny that much of the music captured on these two live discs (originally released on LP in 1976) sounds pretty dated. But this is much more true of the song-based material than the more free-form, improvised music, which still sounds remarkably fresh and surprising 25 years later. And even the more period-specific material is of very high quality: singer Dagmar Krause (previously of Slapp Happy, later of the Art Bears) delivers fine performances on "Beautiful As the Moon/Terrible As an Army With Banners" and "Bad Alchemy," as does bassist John Greaves. On the second disc, guitarist Fred Frith tends to dominate, much to the music's benefit; for the most part, the sound is strictly abstract with Frith employing many of the extended guitar techniques that he would later expand and amplify in his solo work and in his duets with Henry Kaiser. The woodwinds and piano lend an almost classical feel to some of these tracks. It's probably not for everyone, but this really is great stuff. by Rick Anderson

HENRY COW - Western Culture (1978-2015) SHM-CD / FLAC (image+.cue), lossless

The group's fourth and final studio LP, Western Culture remained for a long time Henry Cow's hidden treasure. Two factors were instrumental to its occultation (and one more than the other): first, it was not released by Virgin like the other ones; second, it did not have the "sock" artwork common to its brothers. Obscurity aside, Western Culture remains one of the group's strongest efforts in the lines of composition, especially since the unit was literally torn apart at the time. Side one consists of a suite in three parts, "History & Prospects," written by Tim Hodgkinson. The opener, "Industry," stands as one of Henry Cow's finest achievements, the angular melody played on a cheap electric organ hitting you in the face so hard it makes an imprint in your brains. Side two features another suite, this one in four parts and by Lindsay Cooper. While Hodgkinson's music leans toward rock, energy, and deconstruction, her writing embraced more contemporary classical idioms. Filled with contrasting textures and delicate complicated melodies, these pieces showcased another aspect of the group's sound while foretelling her later works. Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer performed a cadenza of sorts in "Gretel's Tale." by François Couture
Tracklist:
History & Prospects
1 Industry 6:57
Guitar [Hawaiian], Written-By – Tim Hodgkinson
2 The Decay Of Cities 6:56
Guitar [Hawaiian], Written-By – Tim Hodgkinson
3 On The Raft 4:01
Piano, Written-By – Tim Hodgkinson
Soprano Saxophone – Fred Frith
Trumpet – Chris Cutler
Day By Day
4 Falling Away 7:39
Piano – Chris Cutler
Written-By – Lindsay Cooper
5 Gretel's Tale 3:58
Piano – Irene Schweizer
Written-By – Lindsay Cooper
6 Look Back 1:20
Written-By – Lindsay Cooper
7 Half The Sky 5:07
Bass – Georgie Born
Written-By – Lindsay Cooper, Tim Hodgkinson
Bonus Tracks
8 Silence 1:00
9 Viva Pa Ubu 4:28
10 Look Back 1:22
11 Slice 0:37
12 Half The Sky 5:05
13 Half The Sky 5:07
14 Viva Pa Ubu 2:18
15 The Herring People 2:07
Credits:
Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Bass – Fred Frith
Bassoon, Oboe, Soprano Saxophone, Sopranino Saxophone, Tape – Lindsay Cooper
Drums, Electronic Drums, Noises, Cover – Chris Cutler
Organ, Clarinet, Alto Saxophone – Tim Hodgkinson
Trombone, Violin – Annemarie Roelofs