Henry Cow Box is a seven-CD limited edition[nb 1] box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in December 2006 by Recommended Records and comprises the six original albums Henry Cow released between 1973 and 1979, including those recorded with Slapp Happy. A bonus 3" CD-single was given to advance subscribers of the box set which contains previously unreleased material taken from live performances in Europe by The Orckestra, a merger of Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong in 1977.
The CDs featured here are the 1998 to 2006 reissues by Recommended Records and contain the original LP mixes. (Remixed versions of Legend, Unrest and In Praise of Learning were issued in 1991 by East Side Digital.) Concerts and Western Culture include the bonus tracks present on their respective CD reissues. The box set's album covers are CD-sized cardboard replicas of the original LP covers.
Cover art
The box cover art work is one of artist Ray Smith's "paint socks" that adorned three of Henry Cow's albums. Smith was an old friend of the band from Cambridge who had worked with them on two dance projects and had often supported them in performance art at concerts. Smith came up with the idea of the woven sock and insisted that the band's name should not appear on the front cover. As Cutler later explained, in a 2011 interview, the idea was extended through the whole album series, with the sock changing "to suit the temper of the music".[1]
Track lists
Disc 1: Legend
Contains all the tracks (the US/Japanese vinyl mixes) from the Henry Cow LP, Legend (1973).
1. |
"Nirvana for Mice" | Frith |
4:53 |
2. |
"Amygdala" | Hodgkinson |
6:47 |
3. |
"Teenbeat Introduction" | Henry Cow |
4:32 |
4. |
"Teenbeat" | Frith, Greaves |
6:57 |
5. |
"Extract from 'With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star'" | Frith |
3:37 |
6. |
"Teenbeat Reprise" | Frith |
5:07 |
7. |
"The Tenth Chaffinch" | Henry Cow |
6:06 |
8. |
"Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" | Hodgkinson |
5:34 |
Disc 2: Unrest
Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow LP, Unrest (1974).
1. |
"Bittern Storm over Ulm" | Frith |
2:44 |
2. |
"Half Asleep/Half Awake" | Greaves |
7:39 |
3. |
"Ruins" | Frith |
12:00 |
4. |
"Solemn Music" | Frith |
1:09 |
5. |
"Linguaphonie" | Henry Cow |
5:58 |
6. |
"Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon" | Henry Cow |
2:56 |
7. |
"Arcades" | Henry Cow |
1:50 |
8. |
"Deluge" | Henry Cow |
5:52 |
Disc 3: Desperate Straights
Contains all the tracks from the Slapp Happy/Henry Cow LP, Desperate Straights (1975).
1. |
"Some Questions about Hats" | Moore, Blegvad |
1:49 |
2. |
"The Owl" | Moore |
2:14 |
3. |
"A Worm is at Work" | Moore, Blegvad |
1:52 |
4. |
"Bad Alchemy" | Greaves, Blegvad |
3:06 |
5. |
"Europa" | Moore, Blegvad |
2:48 |
6. |
"Desperate Straights" | Moore |
4:14 |
7. |
"Riding Tigers" | Blegvad |
1:43 |
8. |
"Apes in Capes" | Moore |
2:14 |
9. |
"Strayed" | Blegvad |
1:53 |
10. |
"Giants" | Moore, Blegvad |
1:57 |
11. |
"Excerpt from The Messiah" | Handel, arr. Blegvad |
1:48 |
12. |
"In the Sickbay" | Krause, Blegvad |
2:08 |
13. |
"Caucasian Lullaby" | Cutler, Moore |
8:20 |
Disc 4: In Praise of Learning
Contains all the tracks (the original mixes) from the Henry Cow/Slapp Happy LP, In Praise of Learning (1975).
Discs 5 and 6: Concerts
Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow double LP (with Robert Wyatt), Concerts (1976), plus the Henry Cow tracks on the double LP, Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1974).
1. |
"Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners" | Frith, Cutler |
5:41 |
2. |
"Nirvana for Mice" | Frith |
5:30 |
3. |
"Ottawa Song" | Frith, Cutler |
4:16 |
4. |
"Gloria Gloom" | Wyatt, MacCormick |
4:14 |
5. |
"Beautiful as the Moon (Reprise)" | Frith, Cutler |
3:11 |
6. |
"Bad Alchemy" | Greaves, Blegvad |
2:55 |
7. |
"Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road" | Wyatt |
5:50 |
8. |
"Ruins" | Frith |
16:29 |
9. |
"Groningen" | Hodgkinson, Henry Cow |
8:54 |
10. |
"Groningen Again" | Henry Cow |
7:27 |
1. |
"Oslo"
- "Part 2"
- "Part 3"
- "Part 4"
- "Part 5"
- "Part 6"
- "Part 7"
- "Part 8"
| Henry Cow |
5:38
- 3:16
- 3:24
- 3:01
- 3:00
- 1:45
- 4:55
- 4:01
|
9. |
"Off the Map"
| Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
- Hodgkinson
- Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
|
8:23 |
10. |
"Café Royal" (solo guitar) | Frith |
3:20 |
11. |
"Keeping Warm in Winter" | Frith, Greaves |
1:00 |
12. |
"Sweet Heart of Mine" | Henry Cow |
8:58 |
13. |
"Udine" | Henry Cow |
9:39 |
Disc 7: Western Culture
Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow LP, Western Culture (1979).
1. |
"Industry" | Hodgkinson |
6:58 |
2. |
"The Decay of Cities" | Hodgkinson |
6:55 |
3. |
"On the Raft" | Hodgkinson |
4:01 |
4. |
"Falling Away" | Cooper |
7:38 |
5. |
"Gretels Tale" | Cooper |
3:58 |
6. |
"Look Back" | Cooper |
1:19 |
7. |
"½ the Sky" | Cooper, Hodgkinson |
5:14 |
8. |
Untitled (silence only) | |
1:29 |
9. |
"Viva Pa Ubu" | Hodgkinson |
4:28 |
10. |
"Look Back (alt)" | Cooper |
1:21 |
11. |
"Slice" | Cooper |
0:36 |
Bonus 3" CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract"
Contains previously unreleased material taken from live performances in Europe by The Orckestra in April 1978. Given to advance subscribers of the box set.
Personnel
Henry Cow
- Fred Frith – guitars, violin, viola, xylophone, piano, voice
- Tim Hodgkinson – organ, piano, alto saxophone, clarinet, Hawaiian guitar, voice
- John Greaves – bass guitar, piano, voice
- Chris Cutler – drums, piano, voice
- Geoff Leigh – saxophones, flute, clarinet, recorder, voice
- Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, flute, oboe, soprano saxophone, sopranino recorder, piano, voice
- Dagmar Krause – voice, piano
- Georgie Born – bass guitar
Slapp Happy
The Orckestra
See also
Footnotes
- ↑ 200 copies, box set liner notes.
References
External links
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