Henry Cow - Western Culture (1979): Thoughts, PA?

It's a great album but, in my opinion, the maserpiece of

HenryCowgirl wrote: Maybe it's just because I'm kind of obsessed with HC right now, but I've been listening to this album a lot lately! I never have any idea what a composition on this album is going to do next but i'm always pleasantly surprised because it always sounds cool. I think my favorite track off the album - and maybe my favorite Henry Cow track - is Gretel's Tale. The crazy piano is cool but what really does it for me is the woodwinds around :30-1:00 in, the rhythm, tone, and way the different instrument's lines move around each other is so interesting and enjoyable to me.

I love a lot of avant/RIO stuff but Henry Cow have a tendency (to my ears) to come over as too intellectual for the sake of being intellectual. I do find them interesting and am able to appreciate and occasionally enjoy their music, but they have far less emotional appeal to me than much of Frith's solo work, Art Zoyd, or Univers Zero, say. Western Culture is probably their most intellectual, "constructed" album, harder for me than others, although there isn't much between them. And surely it has its moments (actually I've got to say it starts very cold but becomes more engaging as it goes on).


Edited by Lewian - April 08 2021 at 04:30

It's only their second album that doesn't sock.