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Each and every HC album is superb. Hard to choose a favourite, although the track Amygdala is unbelievably beautiful. Love the Canterburian feel of much of it. The tone of Hodgkinson's organ is pure magic. Western Culture is BRILLIANT. All their music sounds as fresh today as it would've been back then. I know many folks can't stand 'em.
To me, Western Culture has a bit of a Legend-esque feel to it. "Amygdala" is indeed phenomenal. It took me a while to figure out that the lush sound in the beggining is organ, not a synthesizer. I also like how the piece is placed after the dynamic, jazzy "Nirvana For Mice". Very good piece!
Joined: September 03 2005
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Posted: May 10 2016 at 06:45
Each and every HC album is superb. Hard to choose a favourite, although the track Amygdala is unbelievably beautiful. Love the Canterburian feel of much of it. The tone of Hodgkinson's organ is pure magic. Western Culture is BRILLIANT. All their music sounds as fresh today as it would've been back then. I know many folks can't stand 'em.
Joined: April 22 2016
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Points: 197
Posted: May 09 2016 at 09:40
I've been a big fan of H. Cow ever since the time of the first album--which I was first exposed to, believe it or not, on regular commercial American radio! It was the local classical station, which switched to jazz after 10:00 p.m. I first heard both Henry Cow and Oregon that same evening.
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Joined: March 16 2007
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Posted: May 09 2016 at 09:40
Side 1 of Concerts is probably my favorite work by Henry Cow, the improv stuff on side 2 I really have to be in the mood for to appreciate. I have both box sets and find both very good and pretty essential for completists. If I'm honest I bought the second box mainly for the DVD of the live footage from France & I saw the first box at a very reasonable price at last years RIO so grabbed it. I can't name a favorite studio album as they are all good and I'll grab whichever I'm in the mood for, they are so different.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
Socks are important. I'm not as conservative as they were though, colourwise that is. I own pairs in yellow, green, turquoise, purple, red, blue and orange.
Would've suited Western Culture's cover art immensely with a green sock imo.
“The Guide says there is an art to flying or rather a knack. The knack lies in learning how to throw yourself at the ground and miss.”
There is also an unofficial live album from 1978 with the lineup that is responsible for Western Culture. Not an excellent work, but a great listen nonetheless. And it has a sock on the cover
Doing a bit of sneak-peaking before you buy is probably the best way to go about it considering your recent review of 'Concerts'
Hehe, . It's a decent album and if you can get it at a reasonable price, pick one up. It's definitely an interesting album. First disc with Matching Mole tunes is neat and so are the Greasy Truckers session recordings. However... Meh, probably one of the least interesting works from Henry Cow. Down there with Side Two of Unrest, which I've been recently trying to get into (once again). But, nothing changed. I only enjoyed "Half Asleep, Half Awake", which is a very good tune. It's also a rarity, because it was written by John Greaves.
Anyone here own the live release cut in Stockholm?
One of those I'm still trying to digest - complete headscratcher of a listen. I imagine it would be a lot easier had I attended the gig.
Yeah, I've beem searching for the Stockholm tapes on Soulseek, nobody shares those (except for one guy, who shares the whole album as a private folder). Anyway, I'll look some more. And as always, I will probably end up buying the CD at a rip-off price.
I really like Legend-era Henry Cow, so I found this video extremely interesting. And suprisingly I can understand about 35% of French which I have never learnt! Anyway, highly recommended!
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Posted: May 09 2016 at 08:15
Lewian wrote:
On a related note, I have seen Fred Frith several times live, the last two times solo doing some guitar trickery, which I found quite intriguing. I have a number of his albums (mostly collaborations such as Helter Skelter, Steps Across The Border, Keep the Dog) but he has made such an incredible number of albums and most of them difficult to get hold of that I wonder whether his experimental solo guitar stuff is on any (good) one, and which one it is. Any recommendations?
I've only got a couple of Frith solo albums but they've been consistently recommended by people I trust as the place to start, Gavity & Speechless.
I saw him at RIO last year solo doing his guitar improvisation experimental stuff, I was expecting to hate it but it was surprisingly entrancing, one of the performances of the weekend. He also sat in on most of the Artaud Beats set which meant that 4 members of HC were on stage during their set. Quite sublime.
Half The Sky are playing RIO this year performing the music of Lindsay Cooper with Yumi Hara & Chris Cutler in the band & the Knifeworld bassoonist playing Lindsay's parts. I'm really looking forward to it.
Chris will also be playing with Yumi Hara, Jeff Leigh, plus two members of Faust (Zappi & Peron) as Jump For Joy.
Ian
Host of the Post-Avant Jazzcore Happy Hour on Progrock.com
Joined: August 09 2015
Location: Italy
Status: Offline
Points: 14728
Posted: May 09 2016 at 07:17
On a related note, I have seen Fred Frith several times live, the last two times solo doing some guitar trickery, which I found quite intriguing. I have a number of his albums (mostly collaborations such as Helter Skelter, Steps Across The Border, Keep the Dog) but he has made such an incredible number of albums and most of them difficult to get hold of that I wonder whether his experimental solo guitar stuff is on any (good) one, and which one it is. Any recommendations?
Joined: November 09 2014
Location: New York
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Points: 8642
Posted: May 08 2016 at 15:17
Kickass band. There was a time in my senior year of high school that all I could think about listening to, out of all the music in the world, were Concerts and Western Culture. Awesome successor projects, too.
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Tom Ozric wrote:
. It's a decent album and if you can get it at a reasonable price, pick one up. It's definitely an interesting album. First disc with Matching Mole tunes is neat and so are the Greasy Truckers session recordings. However... Meh, probably one of the least interesting works from Henry Cow. Down there with Side Two of Unrest, which I've been recently trying to get into (once again). But, nothing changed. I only enjoyed "Half Asleep, Half Awake", which is a very good tune. It's also a rarity, because it was written by John Greaves. 
