Henry Cow Box

Henry Cow Box
Box set by Henry Cow
Released	December 2006 (2006-12)
Recorded	1973–1978
Genre	Avant-rock
Length	329:47
Label	Recommended (UK)
Producer	Henry Cow and others
Henry Cow chronology
The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box (1991) Henry Cow Box (2006) Stockholm & Göteborg (2008)

Henry Cow Box is a seven-CD limited edition^{[nb 1]} 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 CDs featured here are the 1998 to 2006 reissues by Recommended Records and contain the original LP mixes. (Remixed versions of Legend, Unrest and In Praise of Learning were issued in 1991 by East Side Digital.) Concerts and Western Culture include the bonus tracks present on their respective CD reissues. The box set's album covers are CD-sized cardboard replicas of the original LP covers.

Cover art

The box cover art work is one of artist Ray Smith's "paint socks" that adorned three of Henry Cow's albums. Smith was an old friend of the band from Cambridge who had worked with them on two dance projects and had often supported them in performance art at concerts. Smith came up with the idea of the woven sock and insisted that the band's name should not appear on the front cover. As Cutler later explained, in a 2011 interview, the idea was extended through the whole album series, with the sock changing "to suit the temper of the music".^[1]

Track lists

Disc 1: Legend

Contains all the tracks (the US/Japanese vinyl mixes) from the Henry Cow LP, Legend (1973).

Disc 2: Unrest

Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow LP, Unrest (1974).

Disc 3: Desperate Straights

Contains all the tracks from the Slapp Happy/Henry Cow LP, Desperate Straights (1975).

Disc 4: In Praise of Learning

Contains all the tracks (the original mixes) from the Henry Cow/Slapp Happy LP, In Praise of Learning (1975).

Discs 5 and 6: Concerts

Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow double LP (with Robert Wyatt), Concerts (1976), plus the Henry Cow tracks on the double LP, Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1974).

Disc 7: Western Culture

Contains all the tracks from the Henry Cow LP, Western Culture (1979).

Bonus 3" CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract"

Contains previously unreleased material taken from live performances in Europe by the Orckestra in April 1978. Given to advance subscribers of the box set.

Personnel

Henry Cow

• Fred Frith – guitars, violin, viola, xylophone, piano, voice
• Tim Hodgkinson – organ, piano, alto saxophone, clarinet, Hawaiian guitar, voice
• John Greaves – bass guitar, piano, voice
• Chris Cutler – drums, piano, voice
• Geoff Leigh – saxophones, flute, clarinet, recorder, voice
• Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, flute, oboe, soprano saxophone, sopranino recorder, piano, voice
• Dagmar Krause – voice, piano
• Georgie Born – bass guitar

Slapp Happy

• Dagmar Krause – voice
• Peter Blegvad – guitar, voice, clarinet
• Anthony Moore – piano, electronics and tapework

The Orckestra

• Henry Cow
  • Fred Frith – guitar
  • Tim Hodgkinson – organ, alto saxophone
  • Chris Cutler – drums
  • Lindsay Cooper – bassoon
  • Dagmar Krause – vocals
  • Georgie Born – bass guitar
• Mike Westbrook Brass Band
  • Mike Westbrook – piano
  • Kate Westbrook – euphonium
  • Dave Chambers – soprano saxophone
  • Paul Rutherford – trombone
  • Phil Minton – vocals, trumpet
• Frankie Armstrong – vocals

See also

• The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009)

Footnotes

References

External links

• Fred Frith discography