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

Henry Cow's debut album - it's extremely difficult to put this one into words - first few things that come to mind are complex, difficult, Canterbury, whimsical, technical, Zappa - in a word - BRILLIANT. To have come this far in Prog, it's understandable that many folks may be less than thrilled by something like this. Henry Cow comprise of a band whose members have been performing their art since the end of the 60's. Notable members include guitarist Fred Frith, who is as individual as BOB FRIPP and organist Tim Hodgkinson, who likes to manipulate his sounds with fuzz, as well as playing saxes and clarinet. Drummer Chris Cutler plays his instruments with anything but conventionalism. With all the foundations laid out by Frank Zappa, Caravan, Egg, Soft Machine and the like, the Cow compose a selection of innovative, complex, and challenging music, both melodic and atonal, featuring a good dose of improvisation. To make an 'off-beat' sound somewhat 'normal', and sax work outside of 'regular' and familiar patterns, these guys know what works. At the end of the day, it's all good fun, intellectual, and unique sounding. The distinctive 'Sock' artwork on the cover (by Ray Smith) has become something of an icon for the group, adorning their next few releases - top stuff from an artistic point-of-view.... Having a young MIKE OLDFIELD (not so long out of KEVIN AYERS' band) engineering part of the first track, Nirvana For Mice, doesn't hurt. It's really cool that Oldfield's roots started within the Canterbury sub-genre of Prog. My words barely scathe the tip of the iceberg with this amazing album, but it qualifies as an absolute masterpiece of the progressive music genre. 5.