Henry Cow: The World Is A Problem

If I was to stick my neck out; for me two groups were the epitome of progressive rock in the 1970s; Henry Cow and ELP.  Both groups occupied the extremes of the economic spectrum in rock but both bands were genuinely exciting and unpredictable.  They also recorded their 'final' albums in 1978; unlike ELP's contractually obliged 'Love Beach', 'Western Culture' we learn from the book, had quite different origins.  Bill Martin described it as the last, great progressive album.  Apart from the Lindsay Cooper tribute concerts in 2014, Henry Cow has steadfastly refused to have a 'reunion'.  I admire them for that.  ELP also chose not to struggle on and called it quits (for the first time) in 1979, when 'Western Culture' was released.

Benjamin Pikekut is an academic rather than a journalist, which means the book is not always an easy read, but as one would expect, it is extremely well researched (there is even a note to the 'scholarly reader').  The only time I wavered was during the dense expositions of some of their key works, such as 'Erk Gah'.  However, for genuine musicologists, these are likely to be a treat.  Anyway, the book is sensibly and chronologically ordered following an introduction on experimentalism in music.  It begins with the founding of the group at Cambridge University by Hodgkinson and Frith in 1968 right up to the dissolution of the band in the summer of 78 and the recording of 'Western Culture'.  The book is an essential read not just for Henry Cow fans, but should have appeal for anybody with an interest in experimental rock music, the politics of music in the 1970s, and the economics of rock (by the end of 1975, the band were virtually self-sufficient having been more or less abandoned by the Virgin label - although not formalised until late 77).  Oh, and Piekut mentions ELP in the opening chapter on experimentalism in rock...