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Concerts (Henry Cow album)

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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.

The album includes Henry Cow's last John Peel Session, recorded in September 1975 and extracts from a concert with Robert Wyatt at the New London Theatre in May 1975. "Groningen" (recorded in September 1974) is part of an instrumental suite where the band improvised around fragments of an early version of Tim Hodgkinson's "Living in the Heart of the Beast" from In Praise of Learning (1975). Another performance of this suite (in full) later appeared in Halsteren on Volume 2: 1974–5 of The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009).

CD reissues of the album include Henry Cow's tracks on Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1974), a double LP of an October 1973 Dingwalls concert, featuring Camel, Henry Cow, Global Village Trucking Company and Gong.

Concert venues and dates

Composed material

The composed material (with the exception of "Ottawa Song") originally appeared on the following albums:

CD reissues

In 1995, East Side Digital reissued Concerts as a double CD with four extra tracks. The extra tracks came from Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1974), a double LP of an October 1973 concert performed by Camel, Henry Cow, Global Village Trucking Company and Gong, each band contributing to one side of the double album. Henry Cow's contribution, however, was actually recorded a week later at The Manor Studios because a power failure at the event had delayed the start of the concert and a 2am curfew reduced Henry Cow's set (billed last) to ten minutes. At the Manor, Henry Cow improvised their Greasy Truckers set to tape and mixed the tracks in a single session.[4] An outtake from this recording session, "Bellycan" was released on the 1991 CD-release of Legend.[5]

In October 2006, Recommended Records released a remastered version of Concerts, which included the Greasy Truckers set, on a double CD. The original dynamics of "Oslo" were restored, which had been compromised to fit it onto side three of the double LP.[6] The remastering was done by Bob Drake in March 2006. An accompanying booklet included an 1977 interview with Henry Cow in Sweden, and a seven-day extract from the November/December 1977 Road Diary by Chris Cutler.

Track listing

Original LP release

Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners"Frith, Cutler 
2."Nirvana for Mice"Frith 
3."Ottawa Song"Frith, Cutler 
4."Gloria Gloom"Wyatt, MacCormick 
5."Beautiful as the Moon (Reprise)"Frith, Cutler 
Total length:22:50
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Bad Alchemy"Greaves, Blegvad 
7."Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road"Wyatt 
8."Ruins"Frith 
Total length:25:36
Side three
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
9."Oslo"Henry Cow 
Total length:29:02
Side four
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
10."Groningen"Hodgkinson, Henry Cow 
11."Udine"Henry Cow 
12."Groningen Again"Henry Cow 
Total length:26:15

Double CD 2006 reissue

CD one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners"Frith, Cutler5:41
2."Nirvana for Mice"Frith5:30
3."Ottawa Song"Frith, Cutler4:16
4."Gloria Gloom"Wyatt, MacCormick4:14
5."Beautiful as the Moon (Reprise)"Frith, Cutler3:11
6."Bad Alchemy"Greaves, Blegvad2:55
7."Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road"Wyatt5:50
8."Ruins"Frith16:29
9."Groningen"Hodgkinson, Henry Cow8:54
10."Groningen Again"Henry Cow7:27
Total length:64:27
CD two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Oslo"
  2.   "Part 2"
  3.   "Part 3"
  4.   "Part 4"
  5.   "Part 5"
  6.   "Part 6"
  7.   "Part 7"
  8.   "Part 8"
Henry Cow5:38
3:16
3:24
3:01
3:00
1:45
4:55
4:01
9."Off the Map"
  •   "Solo Piano"
  •   "Trio"
Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
Hodgkinson
Hodgkinson, Cutler, Frith
* 8:23
10."Café Royal" (solo guitar)Frith* 3:20
11."Keeping Warm in Winter"Frith, Greaves* 1:00
12."Sweet Heart of Mine"Henry Cow* 8:58
13."Udine"Henry Cow9:39
Total length:60:19

* CD releases only, Henry Cow's set on Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hall (1974).

Singles

  • "In Concerto" (1977, 33⅓ rpm 7" single, Gong, Italy) – included with issue 4/4 of the Italian magazine, Gong
    1. "Beautiful as the Moon – Terrible as an Army with Banners" (Frith, Cutler)
    2. "Udine" (Henry Cow)

Personnel

Henry Cow
Guest musician
  • Robert Wyatt – vocals ("Bad Alchemy" and "Little Red Riding Hood Hits the Road")
Production
  • Henry Cow – producers
  • Maggie Thomas – cover art
  • David Vorhaus – original LP mastering (Kaleidophon, London)
  • Bob Drake – CD remastering (Studio Midi Pyrenees, France)

See also

References

  1. ^ Anderson, Rick. "Concerts". AllMusic. Retrieved 14 June 2010.
  2. ^ Jones, Nic. "Concerts". All About Jazz. Retrieved 24 November 2015.
  3. ^ "Peel Sessions: Henry Cow". BBC Radio 1. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
  4. ^ Cutler 2006, p. 6.
  5. ^ Ramond, Michel; Roussel, Patrice; Vuilleumier, Stephane. "Discography of Fred Frith". New York Downtown Scene and Other Miscellaneous Discographies. Retrieved 29 May 2016.
  6. ^ Cutler 2006, p. 2.
Works cited
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