Henry Cow discography

Last updated

Henry Cow discography
Studio albums5
Live albums2
Box sets4
Other albums7

The Henry Cow discography is a list of officially released recordings by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. [lower-alpha 1] During their period of activity from 1968 to 1978, they released six albums, including two with German/English avant-pop trio Slapp Happy, and one double live album. The album Hopes and Fears (1978) was credited to the Art Bears but has been described as "the lost Henry Cow album". [3] Hopes and Fears was originally recorded as a Henry Cow album, but when some of the band members were unhappy about the predominance of song-oriented material over instrumentals, it was released under the Art Bears name.

Contents

In 2006 Recommended Records, founded by Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler. released a 7-CD box set, the Henry Cow Box comprising CD remasters of the original six albums. In 2009, to mark the anniversary of the formation of Henry Cow, Recommended Records released a 9-CD plus one DVD box set, The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set that contained previously unreleased recordings made between 1972 and 1978. The DVD, a 75-minute video of Henry Cow performing in Vevey, Switzerland in August 1976, is the only known video recording of the band. [4]

In 2019, to mark Henry Cow's 50th anniversary, Recommended Records released The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow, an 17-CD plus one DVD box set containing all officially released recordings of the band.

Studio albums

YearTitleFormatLabelReleasedNotes
1973 Legend * [lower-alpha 2] LP Virgin (UK)September 1973
1974 Unrest *LPVirgin (UK)May 1974
1975 Desperate Straights *LPVirgin (UK)March 1975Collaborative album with Slapp Happy.
In Praise of Learning *LPVirgin (UK)May 1975Collaborative album with Slapp Happy.
1979 Western Culture *LPBroadcast (UK)1979

Live albums

YearTitleFormatLabelReleasedNotes
1976 Concerts *2xLPCompendium (Norway)1976
2008 Stockholm & Göteborg CD Recommended (UK)September 2008Part of The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set , released separately in advance of the box set's release.

Box sets

YearTitleFormatLabelReleasedNotes
1991 The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box 3xCD East Side Digital (US)1991Contains re-mixed versions of Henry Cow's three albums released on Virgin Records, including four previously unreleased bonus tracks, a 24 page booklet and a Henry Cow fold-out family tree.
2006 Henry Cow Box 7xCD Recommended (UK)December 2006Contains the six original Henry Cow albums released between 1973 and 1979; Concerts includes Henry Cow's Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall set; bonus mini CD by the Orckestra given to advance subscribers of the box set.
2009 The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set
  • The Road: Volumes 1–5
    • Vol. 1: Beginnings
    • Vol. 2: 1974–5
    • Vol. 3: Hamburg
    • Vol. 4–5: Trondheim (2xCD)
  • The Road: Volumes 6–10
  • Bonus CD: A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities
10xCD + 1xDVDRecommended (UK)January 2009Contains previously unreleased and mostly live recordings made between 1972 and 1978; bonus CD given to advance subscribers of the box set.

In March 2017 Volumes 1 to 5 and 7 to 10, and the bonus CD released by Recommended as freestanding albums; Volume 6 previously released separately in September 2008.

2019 The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow [5]
  • Vol. 1: Leg End
  • Vol. 2: Unrest
  • Vol. 3: Desperate Straights
  • Vol. 4: In Praise of Learning
  • Vol. 5: Western Culture
  • Vol. 6–7: Concerts (2xCD)
  • Vol. 8: Beginnings
  • Vol. 9: 1974–5
  • Vol. 10: Hamburg
  • Vol. 11–12: Trondheim (2xCD)
  • Vol. 13: Stockholm & Goteborg
  • Vol. 14: Later and Post-Virgin
  • Vol. 15: Bremen
  • Vol. 16: Late
  • Vol. 17: Vevey 1976 (DVD)
  • Vol. 18: A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities
  • Bonus CD: Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978
  • Vol. 20: Glastonbury and Elsewhere*
19xCD + 1xDVDRecommended (UK)October 2019Contains the contents of the 2006 and 2009 box sets (excluding the 2006 bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract", and including the 2009 bonus CD: A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities), plus an extra bonus CD: Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978, comprising newly recovered and previously unreleased recordings given to advance subscribers of the 2019 box set.

The 2006 bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract" appears as two tracks ("Untitled" and "Would You Prefer Us To Lie") on the 2019 bonus CD: Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978.

* Vol. 20 was released in December 2022 and is a supplement to The Henry Cow Box Redux; it contains additional unreleased material uncovered after the release of the box set in 2019.

Other albums

Albums with, or by, other artists containing previously unreleased Henry Cow tracks.

YearTitleFormatLabelReleasedNotes
1973Various artists:
Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall
2xLP Caroline (UK)1973Four tracks by Henry Cow; later released on the CD reissues of Concerts .
1974Atlantic April LP Sampler (US)LP Atlantic (US)April 1974One track by Henry Cow: "Nirvana for Mice" from Legend
1975Various artists:
V
2xLP Virgin 1975One track by Henry Cow: "A Worm Is at Work" from Desperate Straights , incorrectly credited to Henry Cow [lower-alpha 3]
1978 Art Bears:
Hopes and Fears
LP Recommended (UK)May 1978Nine tracks by Henry Cow; originally intended to be a Henry Cow album, but released under the name of Art Bears.
1982Various artists:
Recommended Records Sampler
2xLPRecommended (UK)May 1982Two tracks by Henry Cow: "Slice" (a Western Culture outtake) and "Viva Pa Ubu" (a Hopes and Fears outtake); later released as bonus tracks on the 2001 CD reissue of Western Culture.
1984Various artists:
The Last Nightingale
LPRecommended (UK)November 1984One track by Henry Cow: "Bittern Storm Revisited" (a remix of "Bittern Storm over Ülm" from Unrest ).
1990 Fred Frith:
Gravity
CD RecRec Music (Switzerland)1990Three tracks by Henry Cow: "Waking Against Sleep" (a Western Culture outtake not released anywhere else), [lower-alpha 4] plus "Terrain" and "Moeris Dancing", both from Hopes and Fears, but credited here to Henry Cow.

Keys

   *  – The highlighted albums are the six definitive albums Henry Cow made during their existence.

Footnotes

  1. Over ten bootleg recordings of Henry Cow music have been released. [1] [2] Later, many of these recordings were cleaned up and released on The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set .
  2. Legend is also known as The Henry Cow Legend and Leg End.
  3. "A Worm Is at Work" from Desperate Straights should be credited to Slapp Happy/Henry Cow
  4. It has been reported that "Waking Against Sleep" on this reissue of Gravity may be the same recording as "The Herring People" on The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set . See the song notes and this talk page.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Art Bears</span> English avant-rock group

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Cow</span> English avant-rock group

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Dagmar Krause is a German singer, best known for her work with avant-rock groups including Slapp Happy, Henry Cow, and Art Bears. She is also noted for her coverage of songs by Bertolt Brecht, Kurt Weill and Hanns Eisler. Her unusual singing style makes her voice instantly recognisable and has defined the sound of many of the bands with whom she has worked.

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<i>Legend</i> (Henry Cow album) 1973 studio album by Henry Cow

The Henry Cow Legend is the debut album of British avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios over three weeks in May and June 1973, mixed in July 1973, and released in September 1973.

<i>Unrest</i> (Henry Cow album) 1974 studio album by Henry Cow

Unrest is an album by British avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in February and March 1974. It was their second album and was released in May 1974. It was their first album including oboe and bassoon player Lindsay Cooper, who replaced saxophonist Geoff Leigh. American critic Glenn Kenny said Cooper's presence on the album grounded the band in European art music.

<i>In Praise of Learning</i> 1975 studio album by Henry Cow with Slapp Happy

In Praise of Learning is a studio album by British avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in February and March 1975, and released in May 1975. On this album, Henry Cow had expanded to include members of Slapp Happy, who had merged with the group after the two had collaborated on Desperate Straights in 1974. The merger ended after recording In Praise of Learning when Peter Blegvad and Anthony Moore from Slapp Happy left the group.

<i>Concerts</i> (Henry Cow album) 1976 live album by Henry Cow

Concerts is a live double album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at concerts in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975. Sides one and two of the LP record consist of composed material while sides three and four contain improvised pieces.

<i>Western Culture</i> (album) 1979 studio album by Henry Cow

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<i>Hopes and Fears</i> (Art Bears album) 1978 studio album by Art Bears

Hopes and Fears is the debut album by the English avant-rock group Art Bears. It comprises tracks by Henry Cow, Art Bears's predecessor, recorded at Sunrise Studios, Kirchberg in Switzerland in January 1978, and tracks by Art Bears, recorded at Kaleidophon Studios in London in March 1978.

<i>Henry Cow Box</i> 2006 box set by Henry Cow

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<i>Stockholm & Göteborg</i> 2008 live album by Henry Cow

Volume 6: Stockholm & Göteborg is a live album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, and is disc 6 of the 10-disc 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set. It was released in September 2008 by RēR Megacorp as a free-standing album in advance of the box set release in January 2009.

<i>The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set</i> 2009 box set by Henry Cow

The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set is a nine-CD plus one-DVD limited edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, and was released by RēR Megacorp in January 2009. It consists of almost 10 hours of previously unreleased recordings made between 1972 and 1978 from concerts, radio broadcasts, one-off projects, events and the studio. Included are new compositions, over four hours of free improvisation, and live performances of some of Henry Cow's original LP repertoire.

"Erk Gah" is a song written by Tim Hodgkinson for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. "Erk Gah" was performed live by the band between 1976 and 1978, but was never recorded in the studio. Three live performances of "Erk Gah" were later released in volumes 6, 8 and 10 of The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set in January 2009; Volume 6 was released in advance of the box set in September 2008. In 1993, 15 years after Henry Cow split up, Hodgkinson recorded the composition under the title "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine" and released it on his second solo album, Each in Our Own Thoughts (1994).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Orckestra</span> English avant-garde jazz and rock group

The Orckestra were a 12-piece English avant-garde jazz and avant-rock ensemble formed in March 1977 with the merger of avant-rock group Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong. They gave two performances in London in March and June 1977, and then embarked on two tours of Europe between September 1977 and May 1978, where they performed in Italy, France and Sweden.

<i>The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow</i> 2019 box set by Henry Cow

The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow 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 and the 2009 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set, 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, and the complete version of "The Glove" from the 1991 East Side Digital version of Unrest.

References

  1. Ramond, Michel; Roussel, Patrice; Vuilleumier, Stephane. "Discography of Fred Frith". New York Downtown Scene and Other Miscellaneous Discographies. Archived from the original on 19 June 2019. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  2. "Special feature: Henry Cow's bootlegs". Sonic Asymmetry. 27 July 2008. Retrieved 12 February 2018.
  3. Temple, Alex. "Art Bears, Hopes and Fears". Progweed. Retrieved 21 May 2009.
  4. The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set DVD liner notes.
  5. Trenwith, Roger (16 November 2019). "Henry Cow – Cow Box Redux". The Progressive Aspect. Retrieved 23 November 2019.