UNREST

Unrest is the second studio album from avant garde rock act Henry Cow. Sax player Geoff leigh has left the band and new face is Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, oboe, recorder, vocals). Lindsay Cooper would also appear as a member of Comus on their To Keep From Crying album from the same year.

The music on Unrest is a continuation of the avant garde rock they initialized on their debut LegEnd. This time the music seems less structured though and IMO not as excellent as it was on the debut. The album gets of to a good start though with Bitter Storm Over Ulm and the highlight of the album Half Asleep; Half Awake which both could have been featured on the outstanding debut. The third song Ruins also gets of to a great start but after a couple of minutes goes to deep into avant garde territory for my taste. The rest of the songs are also in the same improvised avant garde style except for Deluge which is actually a great song that has a beautiful and for Henry Cow unusual ending.

When I listen to the most avant garde moments on Unrest I´m reminded of the most avant garde moments on albums like Uncle Meat and Weasels Ripped My Flesh by Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention. But Henry Cow takes it a bit too far IMO.

The musicianship is outstanding and it´s obvious that these musicians are something special. Breakneck time signatures and odd sounds are a piece of cake for these guys ( and girl).

The production is excellent. I really enjoy how this album sounds. Those drums have such an great sound. But there are lots of great organic sounds on the album.

Unrest is a bit of a disappointment compared to LegEnd but if you are able to enjoy the avant garde parts you´ll probably enjoy the album more than me. I prefer the more structured parts which are as excellent on Unrest as they were on LegEnd. My initial thought was to give Unrest 4 stars because I was so impressed by the musicianship and the great production but as I´ve listened to the album more I´m not as happy about it anymore and a 3 star rating will do for now.