Fred Frith, Henry Cow and other Canterbury sorta bands

[7/4]

new album: Henry Cow - Stockholm & Goteborg

This is the first new release in 30 years from this legendary audience-splitting British group, and the first featuring Georgina Born, the group's bassist from 1976-78. Remixed and re-mastered from the original Swedish radio tapes. Henry Cow were never going to fit in. Their compositions were way too composed and their improvising was way too improvised - a tendency that only got more extreme as time went on, as these recordings from 1976 and 1977 demonstrate. Stockholm and Goteborg fills in some of the missing history between In Praise of Learning (1975) and Western Culture (1978) and offers music that has not been heard on record until now. First is Tim Hodgkinson's late and fiendishly complicated epic composition 'Erk Gah' (a working title), that took many months of sweat to learn and resolutely eschews any hint of riff, solo or modular assembly. At the other extreme are the two wide-ranging improvisations built around heady extended instrumental techniques, aleatorics, quotations, more-or-less randomly inserted prepared materials and a blithe disregard for genre rules. Between, constantly shifting ground, are a straight-ahead version of Phil Ochs' No more Songs (one of only two covers ever performed by the band), an unreleased composition by Fred Frith, and a version of the Ottawa Song: a typical live set from that period. Finally, Stockholm is a snapshot of a band of exceptional talents having fun. And it reflects what the studio albums could not - that Henry Cow's natural habitat was the stage - and the real-time pressure of public performance - because it was there that the music could live and breathe. And evolve.

Edited October 12, 2008 by 7/4

[GA Russell]

Thanks for posting 7/4!

I saw Frith with Skeleton Crew (with was her name Zena? and the other guy) in 1985 in Atlanta. I would have loved to have seen Henry Cow ten years earlier.

[7/4]

I wish I could have heard either of those bands perform live.

I think I've heard Frith perform solo two or three times, and as part of a solos, duos, trios, quartets concert in Berkley with Kaiser, Duck Baker and some local guy. Also some show at the (then) new Knit with Chris Cutler about 12 years ago.

Listening to Western Culture right now!

Edited October 1, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

Thanks for posting 7/4!

I saw Frith with Skeleton Crew (with was her name Zena? and the other guy) in 1985 in Atlanta. I would have loved to have seen Henry Cow ten years earlier.

Zena Parkins and Tom Cora.

[7/4]

from Downtown Music Gallery:

OMIGOSH! We're having a cow! The First New HENRY COW Disc in 30 years!!!

HENRY COW [FRED FRITH/TIM HODGKINSON/CHRIS CUTLER/GEORGIE BORN or JOHN GREAVES/LINDSAY COOPER/DAGMAR KRAUSE] - 40th Anniversary Vol 6: Stockholm & Goteborg (ReR HC12; UK) This is the first new release in 30 years from this legendary audience-splitting British group, and the first featuring Georgina Born, the group's bassist from 1976-78. Remixed and re-mastered from the original Swedish radio tapes. Henry Cow were never going to fit in. Their compositions were way too composed and their improvising was way too improvised - a tendency that only got more extreme as time went on, as these recordings from 1976 and 1977 demonstrate. Stockholm and Goteborg fills in some of the missing history between In Praise of Learning (1975) and Western Culture (1978) and offers music that has not been heard on record until now. First is Tim Hodgkinson's late and fiendishly complicated epic composition 'Erk Gah' (a working title), that took many months of sweat to learn and resolutely eschews any hint of riff, solo or modular assembly. At the other extreme are the two wide-ranging improvisations built around heady extended instrumental techniques, aleatorics, quotations, more-or-less randomly inserted prepared materials and a blithe disregard for genre rules. Between, constantly shifting ground, are a straight-ahead version of Phil Ochs' No more Songs (one of only two covers ever performed by the band), an unreleased composition by Fred Frith, and a version of the Ottawa Song: a typical live set from that period. Finally, Stockholm is a snapshot of a band of exceptional talents having fun. And it reflects what the studio albums could not - that Henry Cow's natural habitat was the stage - and the real-time pressure of public performance - because it was there that the music could live and breathe. And evolve.

CD $16

[The CD above is an advance release from the coming TWO BOX SETS celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Henry Cow! BOX 1 will have 5 CDs covering the period from 1971 to 1976, BOX 2 will have 4 CDs + 1 DVD covering the years from 1975-1978; each box will have its own book!. The Stockholm CD [Vol 6] being sold above is an advance release from the second box.

These are promised for Xmas release, and for those that buy this disc now you will be able to purchase BOX 2 without the Stockholm CD in it at an appropriately lesser price from us, and slip in your already owned copy. There will also be a special price for purchasing both boxes together, with or without CD V6 (but PLEASE don't send us any requests for preorders now - the final prices are still up in the air as well as the exact release dates)

From ReR: "Assembled over 15 years, this collection gives for the first time some idea of the breadth and depth of Henry Cow's work. Always very much a live band, performance was their metier, and a concert might range far - always driven by an intense dialogue between tightly knit compositions and radically open improvisation. The officially released LPs tell at best only half this story, and one purpose of this definitive collection is to set the work back into its broader context. These are all previously unreleased recordings, that include many compositions and improvisations new to anyone who only knows the official releases, documentation of a number of one-off projects and events and - where different or remarkable enough to justify inclusion - live versions of parts of the LP repertoire. Many of these recordings are high quality radio transcriptions taken directly from the original masters, others are less hi-fi, but justified we think by their historic and musical quality. And everything has been carefully transferred and re-mastered by Bob Drake to the best audio quality that current technology allows without interference or tampering. It's all a million times better than the terrible bootlegs that are swimming around. Altogether, these 9 CDs embody some extraordinary, and occasionally prescient music. Taking this box together with the officially released albums, it is possible at last to get some impression of the extensive ground Henry Cow covered in it's 10 short years. Finally, there is the DVD: 80 minutes of the 1976 Cow (with Georgina Born and Dagmar Krause) performing many unreleased pieces as well as Living in the Heart of The Beast, Beautiful as the Moon &c. This is the only known video recording in existence - professionally made, multi camera - and has not been recovered since its original broadcast (just scour U-Tube, HC is conspicuous by its total absence). And last but not least, there is a great deal of written, photographic and textual documentation. Since this will probably be the last and definitive collection, it has to be thorough. For reasons of fairness and cost we have decided to split the set into two boxes - which can be bought separately or together. BOX 1 covers the period 1971 to the 1976 Hamburg radio show which documents John Greaves' last concert with the band, as well as the extraordinary Trondheim concert from the quartet tour that immediately followed. BOX 2 takes the story through to 1978 and includes more previously undocumented compositions as well as the Bremen radio recording."

Another reward for living long enough..sigh]

[A Lark Ascending]

My goodness - this will be like reliving my youth. I saw them on five occasions between late '73 and summer '76, every one a quite different and completely extraordinary event.

First time they screamed at the audience for five minutes and we all ended up screaming back. Second time I recall them leaving the stage and wandering around Reading Town Hall for ten minutes playing.

This was the era of grandiose stage sets by Pink Floyd, Yes, Rick Wakemen etc. They had old settees, a standard lamp and a general chintzy atmosphere of the decaying bourgoisie.

I wonder if I'm on any of these...I'm on the Robert Wyatt track on 'Concerts' clapping away merrily!

Very good news.

Edited September 26, 2008 by Bev Stapleton

[GA Russell]

Gee, do you think that BMG will get these?

[7/4]

Gee, do you think that BMG will get these?

Yeah, I'd love to find this in my local store in NJ, instead of having to make a trip into NYC.

I thought I'd save these here, sos they don't get lost in the What are you listening to thread:

Holy Cow, what's the deal with Henry Cow?

Mid-70s UK avant-rock band. Completely original - elements of rock (of Zappa-ish nature without the toilet humour), free jazz and contemporary classical. I think they were the first live band I heard who would play totally improvised music for extended periods. Right out left-field in the prog-rock era. I saw them five times! They were always a wonder to behold and very political.

Fred Frith, their guitarist, went on to feature in the New York avant scene and is a big name in the area where avant-jazz meets avant-classical.

I'm not sure how they would sound to a new listener but I still play their records.

Would be nice to hear some of the BBC recordings HC did prior to the first album. They were championed by UK legendary DJ John Peel and won some sort of competition on his programme. I can still recall hearing them on 'Top Gear' (Peel's programme) c. 1971-2 and being, by turns, intrigued and totally bewildered.

Fred Frith teaches at Mills.

[A Lark Ascending]

In the age of...

...Henry Cow did...

Some details of HC here:

http://musictravellers.blogspot.com/2007/0...w-concerts.html

[7/4]

...and a nice history lesson!

Here's the Trouser Press on Fred Frith and Henry Cow.

Edited September 30, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

from the Messiaen thread:

I recall hearing Turangalila for the first time in a Prom concert way back in 1976 or 77, sat behind the orchestra with all the percussion in front of my nose. It was thrilling and I still really like the piece.

I got curious about Messiaen after hearing his name dropped - and then hearing a fair bit of his style cannibalised - by the avant-rock band Henry Cow. Anyone familiar with 'In Praise of Learning' will recognise his fingerprints in the organ sections of 'Living in the Heart of the Beast'.

...and now check this out: Henry Cow on MySpace.

Edited October 1, 2008 by 7/4

[7/4]

check it out, the first three Henry Cow albums had socks on the cover:

Henry Cow - Legend

Henry Cow - Unrest

Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning

[A Lark Ascending]

check it out, the first three Henry Cow albums had socks on the cover:

Henry Cow - Legend

Henry Cow - Unrest

Henry Cow - In Praise of Learning

Those socks fascinated my younger sister, even though she cared not a jot for the music.

There's a great passage in Jonathan Coe's 70s set novel 'The Rotters' Club' about two teenagers pondering Henry Cow and trying to appear intellectual about them.

[7/4]

There's a great passage in Jonathan Coe's 70s set novel 'The Rotters' Club' about two teenagers pondering Henry Cow and trying to appear intellectual about them.

hmm...Hatfield and the North had an album called The Rotters' Club

[A Lark Ascending]

There's a great passage in Jonathan Coe's 70s set novel 'The Rotters' Club' about two teenagers pondering Henry Cow and trying to appear intellectual about them.

hmm...Hatfield and the North had an album called The Rotters' Club

Yes, the book is named after that.

Jonathan Coe is a big Canterbury fan. He wrote some lyrics for a Theo Travis album a few years back which were sung by Richard Sinclair from Hatfield/Caravan.

I strongly recommend the book - at times I felt it was mirroring my youth. There's a marvellous moment half way through where the experimentalism of early 70s rock is swept aside by punk; used as a metaphor for the end of benign Labour Party welfare state socialism, swept aside by predatory free-market Thatcherism.

[A Lark Ascending]

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4?

I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box).

I don't care for the more 'noise' related things.

Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

[bigtiny]

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4?

I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box).

I don't care for the more 'noise' related things.

Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

There's a documentary that came out a couple of years ago on Evelynn Glennie, the Scottish (I think, or is she Irish....?) percussionist who is deaf. Frith did a lot of the music and there are several scenes of the two of them improvising together. I really enjoyed it. I can't remember the name of the film. And there's also "Step Across the Border" a documentary about Frith himself from 10 or so years ago.

bigtiny

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks, bigtiny. I've noticed that disc with Glennie (yes, she is Scottish - amazing how she has become a top musician without being able to hear). Might be one to experiment with.

[7/4]

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4?

I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box).

I don't care for the more 'noise' related things.

Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

If you're already familiar with Henry Cow, the Art Bears, Speechless, Gravity...I'd say those are the essentials and there's a hell of a lot out there. I'll give this some thought, since I have bunch of them.

The Quartets CD with string and guitar quartets is a favorite. There's a 2nd guitar quartet CD - Up Beat - that deserves another spin around here, I don't remember liking it as much.

More later...

[7/4]

Bev, have you heard Desperate Straights by Slapp Happy & Henry Cow? I think I need to get a copy...

.

[7/4]

The first I've had a while; the second I got from e-music today. One of the things that has kept me at a distance from Frith's post Henry Cow music has been its fragmented nature. More collage than continuous music. 'Allies' is very pleasing because it really flows.

I'll keep that in mind.

[A Lark Ascending]

Bev, have you heard Desperate Straights by Slapp Happy & Henry Cow? I think I need to get a copy...

An excellent disc - quite short with mainly short songs. I got to know it through a friend's copy when it first came out ('74?, '75?), bought my own a few years later. It was originally pressed as a 45 rpm 12 inch!

I'll look into the Frith Quartet disc - if he is playing guitar I'm interested. I'm not sure I want pure string quartet.

[7/4]

Fred Frith - Freedom in Fragments

Here's a recent one I really like, Saxophone quartets w/ROVA.

[7/4]

Fred Frith - Chris Cutler- Tim Hodgkinson (@ The Stone)

[Adam]

Any recommendations for Fred's own records, 7/4?

I have a few (Speechless, Gravity, Aliens, Traffic Continues + the Art Bears box).

I don't care for the more 'noise' related things.

Especially interested in hearing a disc of more recent music.

There's a documentary that came out a couple of years ago on Evelynn Glennie, the Scottish (I think, or is she Irish....?) percussionist who is deaf. Frith did a lot of the music and there are several scenes of the two of them improvising together. I really enjoyed it. I can't remember the name of the film. And there's also "Step Across the Border" a documentary about Frith himself from 10 or so years ago.

bigtiny

'Step Across the Border" is available on Winter + Winter, and it's fantastic.