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The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow

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The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow
A black and white photograph of a road with mountains in the background; on the road is Henry Cow's touring bus coloured yellow; at the top of the image over the sky are the letters "Henry Cow" in yellow reflecting on the clouds
Box set by
Released24 November 2019 (2019-11-24)[1][better source needed]
Recorded1971–1978
Genre
Length975:40 (excluding bonus CD)
LabelRecommended (UK)
ProducerHenry Cow
Henry Cow chronology
The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set
(2009)
The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow
(2019)

The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow (subtitled 50th Anniversary Box) is a seventeen-CD plus one-DVD box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow; it was released by RēR Megacorp in November 2019. The box set comprises the previously released 2006 Henry Cow Box (excluding the bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract") and the 2009 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (including the bonus CD: A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities), totalling over sixteen hours. A bonus CD: Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978 was given to advance subscribers of the 2019 Box Redux, and contains newly recovered and previously unreleased recordings, plus the contents of the 2006 box set bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract". The 2019 Box Redux plus the Ex Box bonus CD contains all the officially released studio and live recordings of Henry Cow, excluding "Bellycan" as released on the 1991 East Side Digital version of Legend,[a] and the complete version of "The Glove" from the 1991 East Side Digital version of Unrest.

The Henry Cow Box Redux was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the formation of Henry Cow. Included in the box set are three 60-page booklets: Book 1: The Studio Volumes 1–7; Book 2: The Road Volumes 8–12; and Book 3: The Road Volumes 13–17. All the studio CDs were remastered by Bob Drake. RēR Megacorp also released the Ex Box bonus CD as a free-standing album.

In December 2022, a supplemental CD was released, Volume 20: Glastonbury and Elsewhere containing unreleased material uncovered after the release of the Redux box set in 2019.

Reception

[edit]

A review of The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow in Moors Magazine called Henry Cow "one of the most fascinating and best British bands ever".[2] It described their music as having "the mentality of free jazz and the discipline of the intelligent rock of Zappa".[2] It was always "exciting" and "surprising" music and just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The reviewer concluded that "[t]his box is an absolute must for lovers of intelligent jazz rock."[2]

Reviewing the box set in the British progressive rock magazine, Prog, Mike Barnes called Henry Cow "one of the most exploratory groups of the 70s".[3] He praised their studio albums in the box, from the "dazzling" Canterbury-influenced debut, Legend, to the "concise, chamber ensemble feel" of Western Culture. The remainder of the collection, their live recordings, completes the Henry Cow story. He said the band's improvisations were "rare in progressive rock", but felt that while much of their music was "extraordinary", not all of it worked.[3] For example, Barnes described the Trondheim concert as "desultory instrumental conversations", and Tim Hodgkinson's "severe, serialist 16-minute" "Erk Gah" on the DVD in Verey "a very tough nut to crack".[3] But Barnes complemented the performance in Bremen of Fred Frith's "New Suite", and the concert in Halsteren where the band played with themes from Hodgkinson's "Living in the Heart of the Beast".[3]

Roger Trenwith wrote in The Progressive Aspect that this box set "messes with your preconceptions of compositional construction and recording techniques".[4] He said Henry Cow's music "is not ... easy listening", but it is "hugely imaginative, often intentionally humorous, more than occasionally terrifying, and always interesting".[4] He complimented Bob Drake on his remastering of the band's studio albums, adding that their "clarity ... is stunning". Trenwith stated that Henry Cow's studio work illustrates how varied their music was and how it progressed from one album to the next. He called In Praise of Learning "frighteningly good", but felt that Western Culture was "an academic exercise [that] is quite satisfying, but ... lack[ing] something". Of the live recordings, Trenwith listed the Bremen CD as the highlight, with its "thrilling display of quality chamber rock" in "New Suite", and the "Der Kunst Der Orgel" improvisation that he felt is "less ethereal, and ... more involving" than the Trondheim set.[4] Trenwith concluded that the three booklets are full of interesting material and "are worthy of a review themselves".[4]

Contents

[edit]

Source: Box set and Bonus CD liner notes.[5][6]

Volume 1: Leg End

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Nirvana for Mice"Fred Frith4:56
2."Amygdala"Tim Hodgkinson6:57
3."Teenbeat Introduction"Henry Cow4:32
4."Teenbeat"Frith, John Greaves6:47
5."silence – end of side 1" 0:15
6."Extract from 'With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star'"Frith3:37
7."Teenbeat Reprise"Frith5:04
8."The Tenth Chaffinch"Henry Cow6:04
9."Nine Funerals of the Citizen King"Hodgkinson5:34
Total length:43:53

Track notes

[edit]
  • Leg End was originally released on LP in 1973 as The Henry Cow Legend[7]
  • In the box set liner notes, "Teenbeat" is incorrectly credited to Henry Cow[7]
  • In the box set liner notes, "Extract from 'With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star'" is incorrectly credited to Frith and Greaves[7]
  • The bonus track "Bellycan" that appears on the 1991 East Side Digital CD release of Legend is an extract/out-take from Henry Cow's 1973 set on Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall, which is included in Volume 6–7: Concerts[8][9]

Volume 2: Unrest

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Bittern Storm over Ulm"Fred Frith2:19
2."Half Asleep; Half Awake"John Greaves7:59
3."Ruins"Frith12:11
4."silence – end of side 1" 0:15
5."Solemn Music"Frith1:11
6."Linguaphonie"Henry Cow5:31
7."Upon Entering the Hotel Adlon"Henry Cow3:04
8."Arcades"Henry Cow1:58
9."Deluge"Henry Cow5:25
Total length:37:57

Track notes

[edit]
  • The bonus tracks "The Glove" and "Torch Fire" that appear on the 1991 East Side Digital CD release of Unrest are included on the Cow Cabinet of Curiosities and Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978 bonus CDs respectively,[10] although only an excerpted version of "The Glove" is included.

Volume 3: Desperate Straights

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Some Questions about Hats"Anthony Moore, Peter Blegvad1:51
2."The Owl"Moore2:17
3."A Worm Is at Work"Moore, Blegvad1:52
4."Bad Alchemy"John Greaves, Blegvad3:06
5."Europa"Moore, Blegvad2:48
6."Desperate Straights"Moore4:14
7."Riding Tigers"Blegvad1:43
8."silence – end of side 1" 0:15
9."Apes in Capes"Moore2:16
10."Strayed"Blegvad1:54
11."Giants"Moore, Blegvad1:57
12."Excerpt from The Messiah"George Frideric Handel, arr. Blegvad1:49
13."In the Sickbay"Dagmar Krause, Blegvad2:09
14."Caucasian Lullaby"Chris Cutler, Moore8:25
Total length:36:43

Track notes

[edit]
  • In the box set liner notes "Excerpt from The Messiah" is credited to Handel and Blegvad[11]

Volume 4: In Praise of Learning

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."War"Anthony Moore, Peter Blegvad2:31
2."Living in the Heart of the Beast"Tim Hodgkinson16:12
3."silence – end of side 1" 0:15
4."Beginning: The Long March"Henry Cow6:00
5."Beautiful as the Moon; Terrible as an Army with Banners"Chris Cutler, Fred Frith7:02
6."Morning Star"Henry Cow6:03
Total length:38:06

Track notes

[edit]
  • On the LP and CD releases of In Praise of Learning, "Beginning: The Long March" and "Morning Star" are credited to Henry Cow and Slapp Happy[12]
  • The bonus track "Lovers of Gold" that appears on the 1991 East Side Digital CD release of In Praise of Learning is included on the Cow Cabinet of Curiosities bonus CD[13]

Volume 5: Western Culture

[edit]

Track list

[edit]

History & Prospects
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Industry"Tim Hodgkinson6:51
2."The Decay of Cities"Hodgkinson6:49
3."On the Raft"Hodgkinson3:58
4."silence – end of side 1" 0:15

Day by Day
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
5."Falling Away"Lindsay Cooper7:30
6."Gretel's Tale"Cooper3:52
7."Look Back"Cooper1:13
8."Half the Sky"Cooper, Hodgkinson6:37
Total length:36:14

Track notes

[edit]
  • The bonus tracks "Viva Pa Ubu", "Look Back (alt)" and "Slice" that appear on the CD releases of Western Culture are included on the Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978 bonus CD[14]

Volume 6 and 7: Concerts

[edit]

Track list

[edit]

Concerts 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beautiful as the Moon, Terrible as an Army with Banners"Chris Cutler, Fred Frith5:40
2."Nirvana for Mice"Frith5:30
3."The Ottawa Song"Cutler, Frith4:15
4."Gloria Gloom"Robert Wyatt, Bill MacCormick4:13
5."Beautiful as the Moon (Reprise)"Cutler, Frith3:03
6."Bad Alchemy"John Greaves, Peter Blegvad2:54
7."Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road"Wyatt5:47
8."Ruins"Frith16:24
9."Groningen"Tim Hodgkinson, Henry Cow8:53
10."Groningen Again"Henry Cow7:26
Total length:64:27
Concerts 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Oslo 1"Henry Cow5:37
2."Oslo 2"Henry Cow3:15
3."Oslo 3"Henry Cow3:23
4."Oslo 4"Henry Cow3:00
5."Oslo 5"Henry Cow3:00
6."Oslo 6"Henry Cow1:44
7."Oslo 7"Henry Cow5:54
8."Oslo 8"Henry Cow3:55
9."Off the Map"
  •   "Solo Piano"
  •   "Trio"
Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
Hodgkinson
Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
8:22
10."Café Royal" (solo guitar)Frith3:20
11."Keeping Warm in Winter" / "Sweet Heart of Mine"Frith, Greaves / Henry Cow9:56
12."Udine"Henry Cow9:39
Total length:60:20

Volume 8: Beginnings

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Pre-Teenbeat I"Fred Frith1:44
2."Pre-Teenbeat II"Frith1:28
3."Rapt in a Blanket"Frith5:06
4."Came to See You"Frith6:43
5."Amygdala extract (pre-Legend demo)"Tim Hodgkinson3:35
6."Teenbeat"Frith10:19
7."Citizen King"Hodgkinson5:21
8."Nirvana for Moles"Frith4:09

With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Introduction"Frith0:46
10."Invocation"Frith2:08
11."Demi-Lune Jaune"Frith2:10
12."Three Little Steps"Frith2:13
13."Red Riff"Frith1:50
14."Chorale Flautando"Frith1:51
15."Cycling over the Cliff"Frith4:08
16."First Light"Frith0:51

Guider Tells of Silent Airborne Machine
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
17."Olwyn Grainger"Chris Cutler, Frith, John Greaves, Hodgkinson2:24
18."Betty McGowan"Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Geoff Leigh6:12
19."Lottie Hare"Greaves1:24
Total length:64:26

Volume 9: 1974–5

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Introduction"Lindsay Cooper1:52
2."Ruins I"Fred Frith6:35
3."Half Asleep, Half Awake"John Greaves4:11
4."Ruins II"Frith0:59
5."Heron Shower over Hamburg"Frith2:29
6."Nix" 0:06

Halsteren (Hodgkinson, Frith, Greaves, Cutler)
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
7."Halsteren 1" 1:08
8."Solo 1"Tim Hodgkinson1:08
9."Solo Extension 1" 2:21
10."Halsteren 2" 1:24
11."Extension 1" 0:17
12."Halsteren 3" 0:52
13."First Suspension" 4:28
14."Extension 2" 2:58
15."Extension 3" 1:19
16."Solo 2"Frith1:20
17."Solo Extension 2" 2:32
18."Halsteren 4" 0:17
19."Second Suspension" 2:34
20."Extension 4" 1:58
21."Solo 3" 0:49
22."Solo Extension 3"Greaves3:17
23."Halsteren 5" 1:21

Living in the Heart of the Beast
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
24."Living in the Heart of the Beast"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
  6.   "Part 6"
  7.   "Part 7"
  8.   "Part 8"
  9.   "Part 9"
Hodgkinson13:46
Total length:60:21

Volume 10: Hamburg

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Fair as the Moon"Chris Cutler, Fred Frith6:01
2."Nirvana for Rabbits"Frith4:48
3."Ottawa Song"Cutler, Frith3:41
4."Twilight Bridge"Lindsay Cooper, Cutler, Frith, John Greaves, Tim Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause2:04
5."Gloria Gloom"Robert Wyatt, Bill MacCormick2:17
6."Hamburg 1"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause4:15
7."Hamburg 2"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause3:27
8."Red Noise 10"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause3:16
9."Hamburg 3"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause5:30
10."Hamburg 4"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause2:40
11."Hamburg 5"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause5:25
12."Terrible as an Army with Banners"Cutler, Frith3:34
13."A Heart"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause9:03
14."Little Red Riding Hood Hit the Road"Wyatt5:12
15."We Did It Again"Kevin Ayers6:31
Total length:67:51

Volume 11–12: Trondheim

[edit]

Track list

[edit]

Trondheim 1
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Trondheim I"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
  6.   "Part 6"
  7.   "Part 7"
  8.   "Part 8"
  9.   "Part 9"
  10.   "Part 10"
Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson48:25
Total length:48:25
Trondheim 2
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Trondheim II"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
  6.   "Part 6"
Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson31:54
7."The March"Frith arr. Henry Cow6:25
Total length:38:19

Volume 13: Stockholm & Göteborg

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Stockholm 1"Georgina Born, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson6:38
2."Erk Gah"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
Hodgkinson16:46
7."A Bridge to Ruins"Hodgkinson5:08
8."Ottawa Song"Cutler, Frith3:27
9."Göteborg 1"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
Cooper, Cutler, Frith, John Greaves, Hodgkinson16:53
12."No More Songs"Phil Ochs arr. Frith3:35
13."Stockholm 2"Born, Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause6:13
14."March"Frith4:15
Total length:63:23

Track notes

[edit]
  • The CD track listing incorrectly credits Greaves as appearing on "Göteborg 1"; this error is noted in the liner notes (see Stockholm & Göteborg for details)

Volume 14: Later and Post-Virgin

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Joan"Chris Cutler, Fred Frith5:26
2."Teenbeat 2"Frith8:05
3."Would You Prefer Us to Lie?"Cutler, John Greaves4:28
4."Untitled Piece"Lindsay Cooper11:31
5."Chaumont 1"Georgina Born, Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Tim Hodgkinson9:01
6."Chaumont 2"Cooper, Hodgkinson2:14
7."March"Frith7:00
8."Brain Storm over Barnsley"Frith3:23
9."Teenbeat 3"Frith6:45
10."Post-Teen Auditorium Invasion"Cooper, Hodgkinson, Geoff Leigh, Annemarie Roelofs3:56
11."Bucket Waltz"Born, Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson, Leigh, Roelofs4:26
12."On Suicide"Bertolt Brecht, Hanns Eisler3:42
Total length:74:04

Volume 15: Bremen

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Armed Maniac/Things We Forgot"Georgina Born, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson11:55

New Suite
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
2."Van Fleet"Frith1:49
3."Viva Pa Ubu instrumental extract"Hodgkinson4:35
4."The Big Tune Begins"Frith0:45
5."The Big Tune Continues"Frith2:11
6."The Big Tune Ends"Frith1:30
7."March"Frith3:46

Die Kunst Der Orgel
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
8."Bremen"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
Born, Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson34:25
13."Erk Gah instrumental extract"
13   "Part 1"
14   "Part 2"
Hodgkinson13:04
Total length:74:07

Volume 16: Late

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Joy of Sax" 3:50
2."Jackie-ing"Thelonious Monk arr. Mike Westbrook1:15
3."Untitled 2"Lindsay Cooper1:32
4."The Herring People"Fred Frith2:07
5."RIO"
  1.   "Part 1"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
Georgina Born, Cooper, Chris Cutler, Frith, Tim Hodgkinson17:09
9."Half the Sky"Cooper5:05
10."Virgins of Illinois"trad.2:13
11."Viva Pa Ubu"Hodgkinson2:18
Total length:35:33

Volume 17: Vevey (DVD)

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beautiful As ..."Chris Cutler, Fred Frith6:50
2."Vevey 1"Georgina Born, Lindsay Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause8:49
3."Terrible As ..."Cutler, Frith2:19
4.Untitled (Tim speaks) 1:04
5."No More Songs"Phil Ochs arr. Frith3:48
6."LITHOTB"Hodgkinson16:57
7."Vevey 2"Born, Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson, Krause13:51
8."March"Frith2:42
9."Erk Gah"Hodgkinson18:28
Total length:75:16

Volume 18: A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities

[edit]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Pre Virgin Demo 1"mostly Fred Frith3.55
2."Pre Virgin Demo 2"mostly Tim Hodgkinson1:02
3."Unidentified Improvisation 1"Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Frith, John Greaves, Hodgkinson1:30
4."Unidentified Improvisation 2"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Dagmar Krause5:37
5."Unidentified late composition"probably Cooper2:04
6."Exploded Amygdala/Teen Introduction"Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Geoff Leigh3:37
7."Lovers of Gold"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause6:29
8."Hamburg 6"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause5:33
9."Ruins extract"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause8:24
10."Hamburg 7"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson, Krause9:44
11."Half the Sky"Cooper5:03
12."Extract from The Glove"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson2:19
Total length:56:15

Bonus CD: Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978

[edit]

This is a 250-copy limited edition CD given to subscribers of the Box Redux, although RēR Megacorp also sold the disk as a free-standing album. The CD was compiled by Chris Cutler and mastered by Bob Drake at Studio Midi-Pyrenees in France in October 2019. It comprises previously unreleased recordings, bonus tracks that appeared on reissues of some of Henry Cow's studio albums, plus the two tracks by the Orckestra that were released on the bonus CD-single, "Unreleased Orckestra Extract" that was given to subscribers of the 2006 Henry Cow Box.[6]

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Poglith Drives a Vauxhall Viva"Tim Hodgkinson11.05
2."Amygdala"Hodgkinson6:55
3."9 Funerals of the Citizen King"Hodgkinson5:26
4."Nirvana for Mice"Fred Frith3:06
5."Free"Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Frith, John Greaves, Hodgkinson3:22
6."Fugue"Frith2:15
7."Teenbeat Extract"Frith, Greaves3:41
8."Sundsvall, or Helsinki"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Hodgkinson6:15
9."Torchfire"Cooper, Cutler, Frith, Greaves, Hodgkinson4:48
10.UntitledFrith3:39
11."Would You Prefer Us to Lie"Cutler, Greaves7:58
12."Viva Pa Ubu"Hodgkinson4:21
13."Slice"Cooper0:36
14."Look Back, Alt. Version"Cooper1:18
15."Erk Gah Extract (Instrumental Version)"Hodgkinson3:34
16."Drones"Henry Cow2:32
17."Living in the Heart of the Beast (Instrumental Version) Extract"Hodgkinson6:13
Total length:77:04

Personnel

[edit]
Production
[edit]
  • Chris Cutler – compilation
  • Bob Drake – mastering
  • Tim Schwartz – design

Track notes

[edit]

Source: Bonus CD liner notes.[6]

  • Track 1: A demo recorded in 1971 in Cambridge and features Henry Cow's second drummer, Sean Jenkins;[b] it was sent to John Peel's Rockertunity Knocks competition, which resulted in the composition being performed by Henry Cow on the John Peel Show on 4 May 1971 in London.[15][17]
  • Tracks 2–3: Remixed versions of "Amygdala" (with Cooper playing bassoon) and "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" from Henry Cow's first album, Legend by Hodgkinson at Cold Storage Studios in London in 1990; previously released in 1991 on the East Side Digital CD reissue of Legend.
  • Tracks 4–7: Taken from a cassette recording of a concert at the Theatre Royal in Sheffield on 9 June 1974 while on tour with Captain Beefheart; "Free" is a bridge, while "Fugue" is an extract from Frith's "With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star".
  • Track 8: Taken from a cassette recording made during Henry Cow's May 1976 tour of Scandinavia where as a quartet of Cooper, Cutler, Frith and Hodgkinson they improvised their performance in the dark; another recording from the tour in Trondheim was released in The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set#Volume 4–5: Trondheim.
  • Track 9: An outtake from recordings for side two of Unrest; previously released as a bonus track in 1991 on the East Side Digital's CD reissue of Unrest.
  • Tracks 10–11: Taken from a cassette recording of an Orckestra concert in Europe in March–May 1978; previously released on a bonus mini-CD, "Unreleased Orckestra Extract" that was given to subscribers of the 2006 Henry Cow Box.
  • Tracks 12–14: Outtakes from Henry Cow's recordings at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in January 1978 ("Viva Pa Ubu") and July–August 1978 ("Slice", "Look Back, Alt Version");[c] previously released in 2001 and 2002 on the Recommend and East Side Digital CD reissues of Western Culture respectively.[14]
  • Tracks 15–17: Taken from a cassette recording of a concert at the Teatro Olimpico in Parma, Italy on 20 February 1977.

Volume 20: Glastonbury and Elsewhere

[edit]

Released in December 2022 as a supplement to The Henry Cow Box Redux, it contains additional unreleased material uncovered after the release of the box set in 2019.[18] Cutler stated in the liner notes that these recordings "are not hi fidelity", but in some instances are the only surviving recordings to feature these Henry Cow lineups".[18]

Glastonbury and Elsewhere was released in two forms, as a standalone digipak, and in a sleeve designed to fit into the Redux box.

Lindsay Cooper is credited playing on "Half Asleep, Half Awake" but as the song was recorded at the Manor in November 1973 during Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall recordings Geoff Leigh was still playing with the band instead.

Track list

[edit]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Poglith Drives a Vauxhall Viva"Tim Hodgkinson16.56
2."Half Asleep, Half Awake"John Greaves1:50
3."The Road to Ruins"Georgina Born, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson11:00
4."The Lions of Desire, with Phil Minton"Frith, Chaplin, traditional, Mike Westbrook17:44
5.UntitledFrith, Thelonious Monk13:03
Total length:60:47

Personnel

[edit]

Source: Box set liner notes.[18]

  • Tim Hodgkinson – saxophone (track 1), alto saxophone (tracks 2–5), organ (tracks 1–3, 5), tapes (tracks 3, 5)
  • Fred Frith – electric guitar (tracks 1–5), bass guitar (track 4), tapes (tracks 3, 5), viola (track 4), xylophone (track 4)
  • Georgie Born – bass guitar (tracks 3, 5), cello (track 5)
  • John Greaves – bass guitar (tracks 1–2)
  • Lindsay Cooper – bassoon (tracks 3, 5), recorder (tracks 3, 5), oboe (track 2), tapes (tracks 3, 5)
  • Chris Cutler – drums (tracks 2–5), liner notes
  • Martin Ditcham – drums (track 1)
  • Phil Minton – voice (track 4), trumpet (track 4)

Track notes

[edit]

Source: Box set liner notes.[18]

  • Track 1: Recorded live by John Lundsten at the Glastonbury Fayre in June 1971;[d] the earliest and only known live recording of the Henry Cow lineup at the time (Martin Ditcham, Fred Frith, John Greaves and Tim Hodgkinson)
  • Track 2: Recorded at The Manor, Oxfordshire in November 1973; extract of a studio session recorded by a film crew
  • Track 3: Recorded live at Chaumont, Salles de Fetes, France in November 1976; additional extracts from the Chaumont concert (see Volume 14: Later and Post-Virgin); this improvisation runs into Frith's "Ruins"
  • Track 4: Recorded live somewhere in France in April 1978 with Phil Minton;[e] Minton (from the Mike Westbrook Brass Band) had joined Frith, Hodgkinson and Cutler (all that remained of Henry Cow at the time), and calling themselves "The Lions of Desire", they performed in Spain and France in April 1978;[17] includes extracts from Frith's "Ruins" and Westbrook's "Mourn not the Dead", "Lady Howard's Coach" and "Virgin of Illinois"; this is the only known recording from this lineup
  • Track 5: Recorded live in Bilbao, Teatro S. Vincente, Spain in November 1977; includes extracts from Frith's "Teenbeat", two untitled Frith compositions, and Thelonious Monk's "Jackie-ing"

Box artwork

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  • Graphic design – Tim Schwartz[19]
  • Bus photo – Sula Goschen[19]
  • "Henry Cow" lettering – derived from the "Henry Cow" lettering used in a 1973 newspaper advert created by Ray Smith for Legend[20]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ "Bellycan" is an extract from Henry Cow's set on Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1973); the full Greasy Truckers set is included in Volume 6 and 7: Concerts of the Redux box set.
  2. ^ a b The demo recording of "Poglith Drives a Vauxhall Viva" did not feature Martin Ditcham on drums as the "Ex Box" liner notes state,[6] but Henry Cow's previous drummer, Sean Jenkins.[15][16][17]
  3. ^ The "Ex Box" liner notes incorrectly state that "Slice" and "Look Back, Alt Version" were recorded at Sunrise Studios in January 1978.[6] They were recorded at Sunrise Studios in July–August 1978.[14]
  4. ^ "Poglith Drives a Vauxhall Viva" was recorded in June 1971, not 1972 as the Glastonbury and Elsewhere liner notes state;[18] Martin Ditcham (on drums) was only with Henry Cow between May and September 1971.[17]
  5. ^ "The Lions of Desire, with Phil Minton" was recorded in April 1978,[17] not 1977 as the Glastonbury and Elsewhere liner notes state.[18]

References

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  1. ^ "The Henry Cow Box Redux". Bandcamp. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "henry cow – cow box redux – 50th anniversary box". Moors Magazine (in Dutch). Retrieved 10 April 2020.
  3. ^ a b c d Barnes, Mike (January 2020). "Studio, Demos and Live Recordings, plus DVD of Prime Cow". Prog. No. 105. p. 108. ISSN 2050-2745.
  4. ^ a b c d Trenwith, Roger (16 November 2019). "Henry Cow – Cow Box Redux". The Progressive Aspect. Retrieved 11 April 2020.
  5. ^ Cutler, Chris (2019). The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow (Box set liner notes). Henry Cow. London: Recommended Records.
  6. ^ a b c d e Cutler, Chris (2019). Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978 (CD liner notes). Henry Cow. London: Recommended Records.
  7. ^ a b c Virgin Records (1973). Legend (LP liner notes). Henry Cow.
  8. ^ East Side Digital Records (1991). Legend (CD liner notes). Henry Cow.
  9. ^ East Side Digital Records (1995). Concerts (CD liner notes). Henry Cow.
  10. ^ East Side Digital Records (1991). Unrest (CD liner notes). Henry Cow.
  11. ^ Virgin Records (1975). Desperate Straights (LP liner notes). Henry Cow.
  12. ^ Virgin Records (1975). In Praise of Learning (LP liner notes). Henry Cow.
  13. ^ East Side Digital Records (1991). In Praise of Learning (CD liner notes). Henry Cow.
  14. ^ a b c Recommended Records (2001). Western Culture (CD liner notes). Henry Cow.
  15. ^ a b Piekut 2019, p. 49.
  16. ^ Ansell, Kenneth (April 1975). "Dissecting the Cow". ZigZag. Archived from the original on 4 August 2008. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d e "Henry Cow Chronology". Calyx: The Canterbury Music Website. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  18. ^ a b c d e f Cutler, Chris (2022). Volume 20: Glastonbury and Elsewhere (CD liner notes). Henry Cow. London: Recommended Records.
  19. ^ a b Cutler 2019a, p. 58.
  20. ^ Clark, Philip (April 2008). "The Primer: Henry Cow". The Wire. No. 290. p. 42. ISSN 0952-0686.

Works cited

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