SLOW CRIMES

Just when I start to feel like I really am a pretty big fan of Avant-garde music, then along comes an album like this to bring me back to earth. HENRY COW broke up in 1978 but it wasn't long before one of it's founding members Tim Hodgkinson got back to work(haha). Yes he co-founded this band called THE WORK in 1980, and "Slow Crimes" is their debut released in 1982. The other co-founder here is guitarist and composer Bill Gilons, and we also have Mick Hobbs on bass, and Rick Wilson on drums. Other than Hodgkinson I'm not familiar with these other musicians.

But we also get HENRY COW drummer Chris Cutler helping out, as well as Catherine Jauniaux from AKSAK MABOUL on vocals. Catherine will likely make or break this album for you. I mean she can be annoying, cringe-worthy and really out there, but very entertaining. I understand the band got together on three different occasions to record this. From September of 1981 to January of 1982, and in three different countries including England, Switzerland and Belgium. Man this is a tough one for me. Noisy and manic are good descriptions. It's like they tried to make the music as difficult as possible, so no wonder Catherine is on here. Lots of unique sounds like jews harp, tapes, tuba, ukulele, hawaiian guitar and more.

There's not a lot on here that I'm into but I like the sounds late on the song "Pop", as well as those instrumental sections(surprise) on "Like This" and "Cain & Abel", as well as the all instrumental "Brickyard". They would not release another record until 1989 and Tim would release a couple of solo albums before that one came out called "Rubber Cage", which I prefer to "Slow Crimes". Their final studio release was in 1992 but they did release many live records. A strong album in the avant world, but not in mine. Barely 3 stars.