| Legend | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | August 31, 1973 [1] | |||
| Recorded | 12–17 May; 10–14 June 1973 | |||
| Studio | The Manor, Oxfordshire, England | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 43:33 | |||
| Label | Virgin (UK) | |||
| Producer | Henry Cow | |||
| Henry Cow chronology | ||||
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The Henry Cow Legend (often referred to as Legend or Leg End [lower-alpha 1] ) 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. [1]
With the exception of "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King", which the whole group sings, and background voices on "Nirvana for Mice" ("Sweet mystery of life I will remember"), "Teenbeat" and "The Tenth Chaffinch", this is an instrumental album. The jazzy Canterbury sound on some of the pieces shows Henry Cow's beginnings, although they quickly moved on to establish their own unique sound. [3]
With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star is a Fred Frith composition that was commissioned by the Cambridge Contemporary Dance Group under Liebe Klug, and was named after a painting by Paul Klee ("Avec la demi-lune jaune et l'étoile bleue"). [4] Only an extract appears on this album, but the full 16-minute version of the suite is included in The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009). Parts of "Teenbeat" began in With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star and parts of it were later incorporated into "Ruins" on Unrest (1974). [5] "Nirvana for Mice" was originally called "Nirvana for Moles" during Legend rehearsals, and later became "Nirvana for Rabbits" when performed live in Hamburg in March 1976. [6]
Frith said that he used "chance methods" to compose "Nirvana for Mice" after reading works by American composer John Cage. [7] King Crimson guitarist/vocalist Jakko Jakszyk remarked that in "Nirvana":
... there's a whole section in the middle where it goes into 21/8 and stays there. [Henry Cow] keep messing around with the bottom measure. They keep flipping from 5/8 and 5/4. But, it doesn't sound like the fusion stuff that was starting to happen ... This music sounded terribly organic. And when you stripped it back that was when you'd realize how complicated it was. [7]
The album cover art work was by artist Ray Smith and was the first of three of his "paint socks" to feature on Henry Cow's albums. [lower-alpha 2] Smith had appeared with the band at several of their early 1970s concerts, [9] performing a variety of activities, including ironing, reading text and miming with glove puppets. [7] He suggested a woven sock on Legend's front cover, and insisted that the band's name should not appear there. Chris Cutler said in a 2011 interview that Smith continued the theme on Henry Cow's next two albums, with the sock changing "to suit the temper of the music". [10]
In his book Prog Rock FAQ, Will Romano wrote that Legend "might [have] the most unusual and slightly amusing cover featuring a sock." [11] Smith created it with a pastry bag that he used to squeeze out long strips of acrylic paint, which, once dry, he wove together to produce the sock. [12] He explained that the sock has no connection to the music, "It's an independent object". [11] Smith described the picture of the sock on the album cover as "clear, fresh and optimistic" which "suggest[s] something electrical". [11]
Smith also produced a cover for Henry Cow's final album, Western Culture , but it was not used. The design illustrated an industrial city viewed from above with the text "Henry Cow" appearing in its streets. [13]
In 1991 East Side Digital Records issued a remixed version (by Tim Hodgkinson, May/August 1990) of Legend on CD. Fred Frith collaborated with Hodgkinson on the remixes of "Nirvana for Mice" and "Teenbeat." The CD included a bonus track, "Bellycan", which was an outtake from Henry Cow's Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall recording session in November 1973. On the remix of "Amygdala", Lindsay Cooper, who was not yet a member of the group at the time of the LP recording, played bassoon (recorded August 1990) and replaced Geoff Leigh's saxophone, which Hodgkinson felt was "too jazzy". [14] In addition to this, there were other radical mix changes (for instance, the closing vocals of "Nirvana for Mice" were mixed prominently in the original vinyl mix but are barely audible on the CD). The remixed versions of "Amygdala" and "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" were later reissued on the 2019 Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow bonus CD, Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978.
In 1998 Recommended Records and East Side Digital reissued Legend on CD with the original mixing restored and the bonus track omitted. With the original master tape having been lost, this CD edition was transferred from a mint condition Japanese vinyl copy. [15] [ better source needed ]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [16] |
| Christgau's Record Guide | B [17] |
| Tom Hull – on the Web | B+ (  ) [18] |
In a review at AllMusic, Mike DeGagne called Leg End a "busy musical trip" that produces some complicated yet interesting progressive rock. [16] He said that while the "eclectic, avant garde-styled jazz movements" appear directionless, closer listening reveals some "first-rate instrumental fusion", although, DeGagne added, "a little too abstract at times". [16]
Music journalist Robert Christgau said the music on The Henry Cow Legend is composed to stimulate improvisation, and is "more flexible" than King Crimson's, and "more stringently conceived" than Soft Machine's. [17] He added that as often happens with this approach, "not everything works", but "you can listen to what few lyrics there are without getting sick". [17]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nirvana for Mice" | Fred Frith | 4:53 |
| 2. | "Amygdala" | Tim Hodgkinson | 6:47 |
| 3. | "Teenbeat Introduction" | Henry Cow | 4:32 |
| 4. | "Teenbeat" | Frith, John Greaves | 6:57 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5. | "Extract from 'With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star'" | Frith | 3:37 |
| 6. | "Teenbeat Reprise" | Frith | 5:07 |
| 7. | "The Tenth Chaffinch" | Henry Cow | 6:06 |
| 8. | "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" | Hodgkinson | 5:34 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Nirvana for Mice" | Frith | 4:53 |
| 2. | "Amygdala" | Hodgkinson | 6:47 |
| 3. | "Teenbeat Introduction" | Henry Cow | 4:32 |
| 4. | "Teenbeat" | Frith, Greaves | 6:57 |
| 5. | "Nirvana for Mice (Reprise)" | Frith | 1:11 |
| 6. | "Extract from 'With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star'" | Frith | 2:26 |
| 7. | "Teenbeat Reprise" | Frith | 5:07 |
| 8. | "The Tenth Chaffinch" | Henry Cow | 6:06 |
| 9. | "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" | Hodgkinson | 5:34 |
| 10. | "Bellycan" | Henry Cow | 3:19 |
1991 CD release notes
Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, bassist John Greaves, and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members alongside Frith and Hodgkinson.
Chris Cutler is an English percussionist, composer, lyricist and music theorist. Best known for his work with English avant-rock group Henry Cow, Cutler was also a member and drummer of other bands, including Art Bears, News from Babel, Pere Ubu and (briefly) Gong/Mothergong. He has collaborated with many musicians and groups, including Fred Frith, Lindsay Cooper, Zeena Parkins, Peter Blegvad, Telectu and The Residents, and has appeared on over 100 recordings. Cutler's career spans over four decades and he still performs actively throughout the world.
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.
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.
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.
Western Culture is a studio album by English avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Sunrise Studios in Kirchberg, Switzerland in January and July–August 1978. It was their last album and was released on Henry Cow's own private label, Broadcast, in 1979. Later editions appeared on Interzone in the US and Celluloid in France. Only the UK Broadcast pressing used the custom label artwork design.
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.
Henry Cow Box is a seven-CD limited edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in December 2006 by Recommended Records and comprises the six original albums Henry Cow released between 1973 and 1979, including those recorded with Slapp Happy. A bonus 3" CD-single was given to advance subscribers of the box set which contains previously unreleased material taken from live performances in Europe by the Orckestra, a merger of Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong in 1977. The two bonus CD Orckestra tracks were later reissued on the 2019 Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow bonus CD, Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978.
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.
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 experimental 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 the song would later be released on the live album Stockholm & Göteborg in 2008 and the compilation The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set in 2009. In 1993, fifteen years after Henry Cow disbanded, Hodgkinson recorded the composition under the title "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine" for his solo album Each in Our Own Thoughts (1994), featuring former Henry Cow members Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, and Dagmar Krause.
"Living in the Heart of the Beast" is a 1975 song written by Tim Hodgkinson for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in 1975 by Henry Cow with Slapp Happy, who had recently merged with Henry Cow after the two groups had recorded a collaborative album, Desperate Straights the previous year. The song was released on In Praise of Learning in May 1975 by Virgin Records. The song's title is a quote from the nineteenth-century Cuban poet and liberation fighter José Martí. "Living in the Heart of the Beast" was the first of two "epic" compositions Hodgkinson wrote for Henry Cow, the second being "Erk Gah" (1976), later known as "Hold to the Zero Burn, Imagine".
The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box is a three-CD limited-edition box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was released in 1991 by Recommended Records and East Side Digital Records, and contains three albums Henry Cow made for Virgin Records between 1973 and 1975: Legend, Unrest and In Praise of Learning. Included in the box set is a 24-page souvenir booklet and a Henry Cow fold-out family tree.
Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem is a 2019 book by American academic Benjamin Piekut. It is a biography and analysis of the English experimental rock group Henry Cow and their turbulent existence between 1968 and 1978. The book is Piekut's second and was published in September 2019 in the United States by Duke University Press in both hard- and soft-cover.
"War" (originally entitled "War (Is Energy Enslaved)") is a 1975 song composed by Anthony Moore with lyrics by Peter Blegvad for the English avant-pop group Slapp Happy. It was recorded in November 1974 by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow for their collaborative album, Desperate Straights, but was only released in May 1975 on their second collaborative album, Henry Cow's In Praise of Learning.
"Ruins" is a 1974 instrumental composed by Fred Frith for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in February and March 1974 by Henry Cow, and released on their May 1974 album, Unrest by Virgin Records.
"Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners" is a 1975 song composed by Fred Frith with lyrics by Chris Cutler for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in February and March 1975 by Henry Cow and Slapp Happy, and released in May 1975 on their collaborative album, In Praise of Learning by Virgin Records.
"Nine Funerals of the Citizen King" is a 1973 song written by Tim Hodgkinson for the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. It was recorded in May and June 1973 by Henry Cow, and released in September 1973 on their debut album, Legend by Virgin Records.
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.
"Teenbeat" is a 1973 suite of three instrumentals, "Teenbeat Introduction", "Teenbeat" and "Teenbeat Reprise", by the English avant-rock group Henry Cow. The three pieces were composed by Henry Cow, Fred Frith and John Greaves, and Fred Frith respectively. They were recorded in May and June 1973, and released on Henry Cow's debut album, Legend by Virgin Records in September 1973.
| Studio albums |
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| Box sets | |||
| Songs | |||
| Related articles | |||
