Henry Cow

Henry Cow was a rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Tim Hodgkinson and Fred Frith. One wonders if the name came from Henry Cowell.

Overview and history

The band went through a succession of styles and extra members until drummer Chris Cutler joined in 1971. They formed a core group of Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler and John Greaves. The band moved to London and began an aggressive rehearsal schedule.

Around that time, they started to organise concerts under the name of The Cabaret Voltaire, which included an evening of music, performance art, cooking and some theatre. Henry Cow played each concert then followed by the invited guests.

In early 1973, Henry Cow started a second series as The Explorers Club with a broad list of invitees: Derek Bailey, Lol Coxhill, Ivor Cutler, Ron Geesin, The Scratch Orchestra, David Toop, Paul Burwell, and Christine Jeffries, as well as D.J. Perry and Ray Smith. They also acquired Geoff Leigh on woodwinds. During this series Virgin Records offered them a contract. After some deliberation, they signed to Virgin Records.

Very quickly, they recorded their first LP, Leg End at the Manor. Shortly thereafter, they were on tour with Faust. They began supplying music for an unusual version of Shakespeare's The Tempest. From this came some of the music for their next record Unrest.

Around this time Geoff Leigh quit the band, and was replaced by bassoonist Lindsay Cooper. With hardly any time to rehearse, and Lindsay having had all four wisdom teeth extracted - they recorded Unrest.

The recording session brought out a lot of tensions in the band, but the results were considered extremely worthwhile, and they were soon on tour again with Captain Beefheart. Finding the tour less than fulfilling they sat down, regrouped, and analysed their situation as a band. Lindsay was asked to leave the band, and they began working on material for the next record, In Praise of Learning.

They entered negotiations with the group Slapp Happy and soon the two bands merged. Lindsay Cooper was invited back and after much discussion, the unified band emerged as a sextet, and recorded In Praise of Learning at the Manor in 1975.

From this record, Henry Cow began to play to very large audiences, and struck up a relationship with the Italian Communist Party; they began a series of semiannual concerts in Italy. In March 1976, John Greaves left the band. They looked for a replacement, but none worked out immediately, so they played a Scandanavian tour as a quartet of Tim, Fred, Lindsay and Chris - Dagmar was in Hamburg and rather ill. The concert series was rather radical in its content and this helped mix up and invigorate their musical practice.

At this time, they released a live double LP, Concerts, and brought on a new bass player and cellist - Georgie Born.

At this point, they were also involved in setting up Music for Socialism, in London, and the May Festival. They then tried to organise a small tour, which failed and lost them money.

Shortly thereafter, they were able to get out of their contract with Virgin Records, and looked forward to recording their next LP.

However, Dagmar's health, which wasn't good and had only worsened, was such that she couldn't tour and she left the group. There were a number of internal disagreements about the music to be recorded. Dagmar said she would like to record with them, assuming her health would permit it. Chris and Fred came up with the idea of doing shorter "songs" but the rest of the band objected. These songs were recorded, however, and became tracks for the first Art Bears LP. More material was added to the rest and released as Henry Cow's final record, Western Civilisation.

Henry Cow basically disbanded at that point, but not before they organised a number of important concerts, especially the first Rock in Opposition Festival in London,which included Univers Zero (Belgium), Etron Fou Leloublan (France), Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden) and Stormy Six (Italy). The festival was intended as a challenge to the British Rock Chauvinism that Cutler and others felt was a deadening influence in progressive music.

After several more concerts with a shifting line up they played their last in the Piazza del Duomo, Milan on July 25th, 1978, and Henry Cow ceased to exist.

The Music

Their music incorporated elements of jazz, rock, classical music, and the avant-garde, often veering from extremely complex scored pieces to total free improvisation. Dagmar's vocals added another dimension to their sound, giving it a dramatic almost Brechtian flair. While it is a decided "acquired taste", there is much to recommend it, for as it is often dissonant and challenging listening, it is also quite often rich and exciting, and gives more insights upon repeated listenings.

The Personnel

A number of people passed through Henry Cow over the years:

Peter Blegvad - Guitar

Georgie Born - Cello, Bass

Lindsay Cooper - Bassoon, Reeds

Chris Cutler - Drums, Percussion

Fred Frith - Guitar, Violin, Bass, Piano

John Greaves - Bass, Piano

Tim Hogkinson - Keyboards, Reeds

Dagmar Krause - Vocals

Geoff Leigh - Flute, Reeds

Anthony Moore - Keyboards

The Recordings

All of their records have been re-released on CD, often with extra tracks not found on the original LPs. The Original LP track listing follow.

Legend

LP Virgin 1973 ; CD East Side Digital 1991

Side One:

1. Nirvana For Mice

2. Amygdala

3. Teenbeat (Introduction)

4. Teenbeat

Side Two:

1. Nirvana (Reprise)

2. With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star

3. Teenbeat (Reprise)

4. The Tenth Chaffinch

5. Nine Funerals of the Citizen King

Unrest

LP Virgin 1974

Side One:

1. Bittern Storm over Ülm

2. Half Asleep/Half Awake

3. Ruins

Side Two:

1. Solemn Music

2. Linguaphonie

3. Upon entering the Hotel Adlon

4. Arcades

5. Deluge

In Praise Of Learning

as Henry Cow/Slapp Happy

LP Virgin 1975 ; CD East Side Digital

Side One:

1. War

2. Living in the Heart of the Beast

Side Two:

1. Beginning: The Long March

2. Beautiful as the Moon - Terrible as an Army with Banners

3. Morning Star

Concerts

Double LP Caroline 1977

Side One:

1. Beautiful as the Moon...

2. Nirvana For Mice

3. Ottawa Song

4. Gloria Gloom

5. ...Terrible as an Army with Banners

Side Two:

1. Bad Alchemy

2. Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road

3. Ruins

Side Three:

1. Oslo

Side Four:

1. Groningen

2. Udine

3. Groningen Again

Please note: many of the details in this article are from interviews with, and an online memoir by Chris Cutler.