Authorianism National

National Health were one of those rare English progressive bands whose classic mid-'70s output still sounds fresh today. Their sound prospered on imaginative linear musicality, often in a jazzy format that emphasized extended instrumental solos. Arising during a challenging time when progressive rock was being overtaken by a tidal wave of punk, National Health featured members of other Canterbury and post-Canterbury bands Hatfield and the North (a band considered a Canterbury supergroup in itself), Gilgamesh, and Henry Cow. After the release of 1977's debut album National Health and 1978's sophomore Of Queues and Cures, the group issued 1982's D.S. Al Coda – an homage to keyboardist Alan Gowen, who died of leukemia in May 1981 – and then fell silent as its members pursued other ventures.