Henry Cow appreciation society

Fans of Henry Cow, this is your home.

I am writing this as I have just finnished reviewing all of the band's official releases (excluding boxsets and fan-made stuff). Really, what an excellent band this was. I really started listening to them after I fell in love with their contribution to Egg's Civil Surface a few months ago. I started discovering albums chronologically, which gave me a really good perspective in the end.

 And just this weekend, I have purchased an original LP of Legend in mint condition. This is a great record to have. The mixing is very nice.

Share your positive (and negative) thoughts, post clips, articles, and everything Henry Cow!

Cheers!


Edited by ALotOfBottle - May 08 2016 at 12:17

Love this band, becoming a completist.

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.

1988 : The Technology Of Tears And Other Music For Dance And Theatre. A double Lp and my favorite work by him.

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?

Guldbamsen wrote: 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!

Guldbamsen wrote: 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.




Edited by ALotOfBottle - May 09 2016 at 10:38

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

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.

Thanks for the Frith recommendations!