Search - Henry Cow :: Leg End

Needs your close listening and attention

J. Gustavson | Travelling | 04/26/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This debut album by HC is in my opinion the most demanding than the rest of their works. It is also the one HC album that I discover a new thing with every time I listen to it, even I listened to it unnumerable times over the years. I am happy then for this ReR release which gives the most adequate and splendid representation of the old original.



As for the ground and pillars of HC I do not fall into the line of other reviewers here. Being aware of that HC attracted most of its listerners from the prog secene at the time, its roots is not to be found only in progmusic. According to Cutler the average prog bands were not an inspiration to them, including Crimson and Giant. Soft Machine is named though, and at times you will hear small echoes of that, they also used to play some Soft and Mole covers at live performances. Roots is to be found as well as much in contemporary avant garde compositional music such as for instance Schoenberg, Cowell and Stockhausen and in modern jazz etc. In fact HC had a very wide range of inspiration and were not as narrow in their approach as the typical prog bands, including the canterbury scene. In HC both new classical music, jazz, blues, and rock meets, but without fusing in a predictable way and still remaining their very own signature. In this way HC is unique and have made music that will be such, "new" and original, as well as musically progressive, in the true sense of the word, for many many more years to come. A classical band!"

Holy Cow!

Paul Ess. | Holywell, N.Wales,UK. | 05/16/2008

(4 out of 5 stars)

"This reminds me of those 70's detective tv movies, where the weird and wacky soundtrack jived and jostled all over the place; then Peter Falk would solve the most unlikely of murders, besieged it seemed, by belligerent superiors and zany camera angles.



The celluloid connection is important in my little world. If music is 'cinematic' then it goes up a notch in my estimation. If it's vast and complex (like Thomas Leer) or dynamic and sexy (like Dollar) the stars on this antiquated review points system are dripping atop each other like so many clicking poker chips.



Music should be about surprises, about little sound-deceits that play quick tricks with the ear. Startle the brain, stimulate, give pleasure (so much music is designed to do the opposite), be fun!

I love surprises. Count those stars and you'll see just how much 'Leg End' is the desired artifact. I spend a lot of time seeking out this type of stuff. Challenging-in-a-good-sense. Talented people who don't think banging things constitutes 'art', and scoff derisorily at the simpletons who do. (And there's load's of 'them')



I can't work out whether Henry Cow are snobs looking down their noses, or lads having a laugh.

Either's fine.

The music at the end of whatever process they're employing is outstanding in every sense - not the only validation they achieve. A deserved vindication.



I'm not as converse with some of this stuff as I'd like to think. It's a misnomer of sorts, this reviewing thing. There's only so much to say, only so much emotion energized by the surging brass and blistering percussion.



I'm staggered as to how good this is. From a sympathetic position anyway, I got myself further and further embroiled in it with each delirious spin. What kind of people make a marvelous music like this, then call themselves Henry Cow?

A decent vorticist would be in raptures.



Is it rock or jazz or what I hear you ask, there is no defining answer to that. If you need to ask, you may also need to ask if Henry Cow are really for you.

Too radical? Too revolutionary? Too unpredictable....



And fun(ny!). I've decided Henry Cow are neither snobs nor lay-a-bouts, they occupy a middle ground, bound to other musics only by huge swathes of time and distance. On the middle, but pushed so far forward as to become existential.

A music which throbs with this much originality, warmth and humour doesn't belong with the plebs and charlatans you usually find festering under the 'experimental' umbrella. (more like a toadstool actually, chortle!)



And the socks? Your guess is as good as mine on that one. Something profound about the cosmos or a laundry reminder maybe.

Nice pattern though...(!)"

Paging Mr. Cow

Strobe Lights And Blown Speakers | Louisville | 02/19/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"An excellent dose of 70s avant-prog, obviously influenced by King Crimson. Non-derivative, but not as ambitious as their later work. The guitar tone is absolutely searing. Not quite as wonderful as the Henry Cow that was to be, but excellent nonetheless and essential the the collection of anyone into prog or avant-rock."