National Health

[bertrand]

There's a video of this band on the show listed above playing a song called 'The Collapso' on youtube.

Who is the guy in the cape who starts off by speaking/singing while kneeling on the ground? Great tune, but his facial expressions annoy me.

He's the bassist, so I guess it's John Greaves.

Bertrand.

Edited September 4, 2011 by bertrand

[GA Russell]

What is the show listed above you are referring to? Do you have a link?

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, it's John Greaves.

He joined the band for their second album.

Looks like he was brought in to provide a bit of visual stimulus - National Health were swimming against the tide trying to play tricksy prog-jazz-rock in the world of punk and new wave. [i'm jesting - Greaves is a marvellous bass player with a nice voice]

I remember them as an ocean of sanity in a musical world I'd ceased to understand.

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6x9gjzJha4

Edited September 4, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[GA Russell]

Thanks Bev! I had all (Was it only two?) of National Health's albums back in the day, and I got another from Cuneiform about ten years ago. Fond memories!

[Head Man]

Yes, it's John Greaves.

He joined the band for their second album.

Looks like he was brought in to provide a bit of visual stimulus - National Health were swimming against the tide trying to play tricksy prog-jazz-rock in the world of punk and new wave. [i'm jesting - Greaves is a marvellous bass player with a nice voice]

I remember them as an ocean of sanity in a musical world I'd ceased to understand.

Link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P6x9gjzJha4

Ooooh....and presented by the yummy Annie Nightingale. That takes me back...

[A Lark Ascending]

Thanks Bev! I had all (Was it only two?) of National Health's albums back in the day, and I got another from Cuneiform about ten years ago. Fond memories!

There was a third in the early 80s in memory of Alan Gowen who died.

Also a thing gathering together various stray bits and pieces that came out in the 90s.

The Cuneiform would be the live one from the Greaves line-up. Much edgier than the studio albums.

I have a short book written by Dave Stewart describing his time from Egg to National Health. It sounds as if it must have been really grim trying to make a living with music that just didn't fit the Zeitgeist.

I was at their first concert at the London School of Economics c. 1975/6. Mont Campbell was with them on bass and Bill Bruford as a second drummer. Fabulous concert. I assumed it was another step towards the musical future. Little did I know what was fermenting in the pubs only a few miles away!

[sidewinder]

Ooooh....and presented by the yummy Annie Nightingale. That takes me back...

No kidding. Amazing that she still presents shows on Radio 1 - a real music enthusiast (not that I'm into the stuff she plays these days though).

[A Lark Ascending]

There was a good BBC4 programme about her a while back. Like with Peel I'd long lost track with her musical preferences but her enthusiasm and determination to champion what she thought was wonderful shone through.

Don't recall being particularly smitten by her as 'a lady' (to use the parlance of the day) at the time.

Edited September 4, 2011 by A Lark Ascending

[Jazzjet]

Thanks Bev! I had all (Was it only two?) of National Health's albums back in the day, and I got another from Cuneiform about ten years ago. Fond memories!

There was a third in the early 80s in memory of Alan Gowen who died.

Also a thing gathering together various stray bits and pieces that came out in the 90s.

The Cuneiform would be the live one from the Greaves line-up. Much edgier than the studio albums.

I have a short book written by Dave Stewart describing his time from Egg to National Health. It sounds as if it must have been really grim trying to make a living with music that just didn't fit the Zeitgeist.

I was at their first concert at the London School of Economics c. 1975/6. Mont Campbell was with them on bass and Bill Bruford as a second drummer. Fabulous concert. I assumed it was another step towards the musical future. Little did I know what was fermenting in the pubs only a few miles away!

I've also got a few live boots of theirs. Covent Garden from 1976, London School of Economics ( Feb 1976 ) - possibly the concert you saw, and an album of unreleased demos from Pathways Studio ( October 1975 ).

[A Lark Ascending]

I've also got a few live boots of theirs. Covent Garden from 1976, London School of Economics ( Feb 1976 ) - possibly the concert you saw, and an album of unreleased demos from Pathways Studio ( October 1975 ).

Gosh! That LSE WAS the one I went to! (I came up from Reading. I can never quite recall as I also saw Henry Cow there around the same time - that must have been the Autumn '75 trip).

Pity I can't get beyond the first paragraph of this without paying silly money:

http://www.rocksbackpages.com/article.html?ArticleID=10227

[GA Russell]

Yes, I remembered that DS al Coda release after I went to bed! ESPN used a track from that as their theme music to their boxing matches in the late 80s.

I'm jealous that you got to see Henry Cow and National Health!

I lived in Pittsburgh in the 70s, and it was easier to find the import records of the Canterbury groups in the record shops than it was to find jazz.

[A Lark Ascending]

Yes, I remembered that DS al Coda release after I went to bed! ESPN used a track from that as their theme music to their boxing matches in the late 80s.

I'm jealous that you got to see Henry Cow and National Health!

I lived in Pittsburgh in the 70s, and it was easier to find the import records of the Canterbury groups in the record shops than it was to find jazz.

Henry Cow 5 times! Easily my most obsessive gig following. You can hear me clapping on the track with Robert Wyatt on the 'Concerts' album.

Only saw Hatfield once, National Health that one time. Caravan a couple of times. Never caught the Soft Machine.

Oh, and I was at the Kevin Ayers/Nico/John Cale/Eno jamboree at 'The Rainbow' that produced:

Though I've never heard the album. Hope my clapping was up to scratch.

[GA Russell]

Don't rub it in!

[alankin]

Hatfield & the North (first NY performance)

Edited September 5, 2011 by alankin

[sidewinder]

Oh, and I was at the Kevin Ayers/Nico/John Cale/Eno jamboree at 'The Rainbow' that produced:

Anyone catch that Nico performance of 'Chelsea Girls' recorded at the Chelsea Hotel NYC and shown on the Beeb as an archive repeat the other night? Stunningly good 'Arena' documentary about the Chelsea Hotel from 1981.

Wish Arena did programmes as good as that these days.

Edited September 5, 2011 by sidewinder

[A Lark Ascending]

I always loved Henry Cow's stage decor. At a time when the big prog-rock bands were getting into hugely expensive stadium set, Henry Cow had:

Can't see a moth eaten sofa there but that was a prop I recall.

Also found this photo from around the time of that London gig - it says it was taken in Italy (where they had a big following):