THE HENRY COW LEGEND [AKA: LEGEND OR LEG END]

Legend is the debut album from avant garde rockers Henry Cow. I´m new to Henry Cow but it´s clear that I have been missing out on something fantastic when listening to Legend. This is very very complex and challenging music that will take me years to fully comprehend but is instantly enjoyable all the same and that´s the way I like it. It´s very intriguing IMO and be warned that if you do not have patience for complex avant garde rock this will probably make you very frustrated.

The music is very influenced by Frank Zappa & the Mothers of Invention and of the jazzy part of Soft Machine´s music. If you take the most avant garde rock compositions from Zappa and mix them with some free jazz sections ( which are nicely structured and not as chaotic as it sounds at first) and just a touch of Canterbury ( mostly in the sole vocal track Nine Funerals of the Citizen King) you´re just about there. Henry Cow is a very original band though so this is no ripp-off. There are many great songs on the album and I´ll mention Amygdala ( My favorite) and Nine Funerals of the Citizen King as being standout tracks in masterpiece quality. Songs like these are some of the most beautiful avant garde rock songs I have heard so far. I must admit that Songs like Teenbeat Introduction and Tenth Chaffinch is a bit too trying for my patience. They are simply too avant garde even for me. They are not unbearable to listen to, but strange dissonant sounds with only sporadic percussion isn´t something I can endure for a very long time without going insane. I like the more structured songs much better.

I´ll enjoy the more avant garde songs in time I´m sure as I can hear the potential, but lacks the total understanding yet. But that´s great. I don´t want everything on an album laid out imidiatly. The really good albums always take me years to get through but then they usually last forever.

The musicianship is one of the most fantastic things on the album. It´s beyond outstanding. I have searched my mind to try and remember the last time I heard something this unique and bands like Magma and Dun comes to mind but it is very seldom I have heard anything this excellent.

The production is a story of it´s own. The drum sound is just brilliant. Very speedy percussion parts are emphasised brilliantly and everything is perfect in the mix.

I´ve given it some thought and even though I was gonna give this album 4 big stars after my initial listen I have listened to Legend many times since and grown even happier about it every time. This will have to be one of my very rare 5 star albums. Highly recommendable to people into avant garde rock with jazzy tendencies. Masterpiece.