Iii Two Cow Garage

vant-garde rock & roll of 1970s vintage – especially, it must be said, of the British variety – doesn't typically age very well. And although Henry Cow was quite a unique ensemble, even by the standards of the 1970s avant-garde, it would be silly to deny that much of the music captured on these two live discs (originally released on LP in 1976) sounds pretty dated…

The group's fourth and final studio LP, Western Culture remained for a long time Henry Cow's hidden treasure. Two factors were instrumental to its occultation (and one more than the other): first, it was not released by Virgin like the other ones; second, it did not have the "sock" artwork common to its brothers…

A team-up with Slapp Happy may seem an obvious meeting of minds in 2000, but not at the time (1975) when all they really shared was a Marxist outlook and a record label (Virgin). The two bands had already recorded Desperate Straights, which focused more on songs and Dagmar Krause's vocals…

The group's fourth and final studio LP, Western Culture remained for a long time Henry Cow's hidden treasure. Two factors were instrumental to its occultation (and one more than the other): first, it was not released by Virgin like the other ones; second, it did not have the "sock" artwork common to its brothers. Obscurity aside, Western Culture remains one of the group's strongest efforts in the lines of composition, especially since the unit was literally torn apart at the time. Side one consists of a suite in three parts, "History & Prospects," written by Tim Hodgkinson. The opener, "Industry," stands as one of Henry Cow's finest achievements, the angular melody played on a cheap electric organ hitting you in the face so hard it makes an imprint in your brains…

British progressive pioneers Henry Cow was the leading group of the Rock In Opposition (R.I.O. for short) movement, initiated by their drummer Chris Cutler. All members of Henry Cow have been involved in collaborations with Canterbury groups and artists at one point or another, and most of them still are. Their music aged amazingly well over the last 20 years due to diverse influences: some of its roots in the Canterbury school, most notably early Soft Machine, other influences (Frank Zappa, Bela Bartok, Kurt Weil). The group functioned more or less as a collective, with a true group identity that changed from album to album as members came and went.
Concerts is a live double album by Henry Cow, recorded at concerts in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975…

The follow up to their self-titled debut was to be a 2 record set called "Fungo Bat". The band had flown to England and were going to record their but due to lack of work permits they only played one 20min impromptu show and it was back home to the U.S. to record the second album in L.A. with James Lowe (former singer of The Electric Prunes") as engineer. After finalizing the running order and due to increasing friction in the band the group decided to cut the record down to one LP and called it "Nazz Nazz". If the first record was varied this one was even more so. Starting with the sparkling pop of "Forget All About It" and "Gonna Cry Today" to rockers like "Under The Ice" and "Hang On Paul" to the opus "A Beautiful Song" in other words another great album.