Henry Cow "Road" Boxes

The previous thread on these two boxes is locked so I started this one. Do you own these? What do you think of 'em? These are probably my fave box sets ever and are certainly my most listened to. It's quite amazing how magnificent the sound quality is, especially considering many of the sources.

The DVD of the Switzerland concert is also a mind-blower. This is my fave HC line-up ... 3 women/3 men. Georgie is such a fantastic bass player. And Fred outdoes himself on guitar and piano.

The written stuff, the completely improvised stuff, and the prowess of every band member is something wonderful to behold.

Have never regretted shelling out the bucks for this set.

 

Great box sets.

 

Which line-up/era do you tend to gravitate toward? Any line-up with Lindsay Cooper (R.I.P.) is always my first choice.

 

I'm a fan of the full-on Henry Cow/Slapp Happy conglomeration, as I'm more of a fan of the latter, especially Daggi, and Blegvad's work with John Greaves. I don't have the boxes, but I've seen the live footage of ...Heart Of The Beast more times than I care to mention on YouTube, and it's just mesmerising.

I was lucky enough to see the Lindsay Cooper memorial gig just under two years ago, and that was a joy to experience them back together, even without Georgie.

 

I bought both plus an empty third box to house the studio albums that I already had. (Together they form the band name). An exemplary archival release. Wonderful music, a great selection, great sound, no overlapping with previous releases, informative booklets... and it fits on the cd shelf! No regrets here.

 

Incidentally, I also own the 1250-only 'The Virgin Years' box on ESD from '91. 'Legend' and 'In Praise' are vastly different (remix, some re-recording) and have bonus tracks that can't be found elsewhere.

 

and a quick mention for the booklets, which are also fantastic

 

For me these are one of the best boxed live archival releases ever. They reveal a breathtaking diversity of styles the band pursued during their rather short career.

A favourite disc/period? I guess I do not have one. First two volumes are a lovely variant of Canterburian prog, the first documenting the early period still with folkish traces heard and the second with fully expanded prog forms and jazzy improvisations. Then the entire Hamburg '76 gig on the 3rd disc is a stunner, a live document of the progressive rock at its very best that would easily merit a separate release. The volume 4&5 double in a trimmed down lineup without the singer is arguably the best free-improv session ever produced by a rock ensemble. Definitely it is not for the faint-hearted, but really well-worth an effort to break into it.

The second box starts with an excellent mix of improvisations and songs from Stockholm and Göteborg dates (1976/77), which nicely complement very nicely the original Concerts program. The poignant rendition of Phil Ochs' No More Songs is a highlight here. Then we reach 7th volume with a mishmash of shorter live material, mostly from 1977, filled with the band's signature progressive rock and another moving song Would You Prefer Us to Lie? Next comes Bremen 1978, with four long suites that for me are the pinnacle of the second instalment - adventurous edgy progressive rock by the band in full flight. The material performed on the last volume #9 anticipates stylistically the final chapter closed by Western Culture, in a fully developed avant-rock idiom, while the accompanying DVD disc with Vevey '76 performance rounds up this fabulous release.

 

Excellent capsule review of these superb sets! Should compel others to check 'em out. I trust there are still some available. Now I just need to somehow get hold of the 3rd box for my other HC CDs.

 

They are still in print, possibly the cheapest at the source where the price includes the shipping:

ReR Megacorp HENRY COW: 40th ANNIVERSARY BOX SET - VOL 1 - 5 CDs , box, book »
ReR Megacorp HENRY COW: THE 40th ANNIVERSARY HENRY COW BOX SET - VOL 2 - 4 CDs, DVD, box, book »

 

Thanks for this thread. If I was ever aware that these sets existed, I had forgotten it long ago. Must have something to do with the fact that they came out when I had one-year-old twins at home.

 

I have those. Many fans hate them but I enjoy some aspects, especially Lindsay Cooper's bassoon on "Amygdala" from Legend which I thinks fits the piece better than Geoff Leigh's sax on the original album.

 

I'll have to give this one another listen. I've definitely been in the "hate" camp since this CD first came out, but maybe I've recovered enough by now to give it a listen with fresh ears.

Ironically, just over the weekend I was digging through some crap on my desk and uncovered a still-sealed padded mailer. Turned out it had an opened copy of the Skeleton Crew CD in it. Looks like I have some Frith-related listening ahead of me...

 

Yes I have these boxes. Haven't listened for a while. I guess the line-up I most wish I'd seen was the Unrest time with John Greaves and Lindsay Cooper, but I enjoy it all.

 

I'm still very confused as to why there are two full boxes and one empty box when they could/should have put all of it in one single box. What was the point of 'Volume One' and 'Volume Two'? And why do each of the individual discs have their own seperate bar codes if they weren't intended to be sold seperately? Why was the DVD tacked on to the end of the last box instead of being placed in chonological order like everything else? Why did the eleventh bonus disc only include one and a half of the bonus tracks from the (now OOP) ESD reissues?

I love the music (well, maybe not Frith's two early songs on the first disc, but everything else) but the packaging is distinctly odd.

My favorite period? Probably the short time when Georgie Born was with them. (77-78)

 

I think so too, but it might be nostalgia on my part; the box was the first Cow I bought, it was only years later that I finally heard the Geoff Leigh version, first on the original lp and then on the 'original mix' cd.

 

You really do need the old ESD CDs. The remix of 'In Praise Of Learning' has some great stuff that wasn't on the original mix and the bonus tracks on the other two are, if not essential, then, at least, essential-adjacent.

 

To be honest, I love all of them.

 

Legend. Can't understand why Tim Hodgkinson had that part re-recorded. Stands out like a sore thumb now. And overall never liked liked this version of Legend. The original is so good. I begin to think it was only remixed because they could not find/get hold of the original mix down master.

Learning. The original of this LP was always a muddy mix, I thought. I think the opening and closing improv pieces on side 2 (Beginning... and Morning Star ) benefit a lot from the remix here. Beautiful As The Moon sounds good too, except for those weird extra horn parts added which, again, do not fit at all well into the overall texture of that track, imo.

One of the good things about the ESD box is the missing material from the Greasy Trucker's studio improv recordings. Bellycan, which can be added to the version of Greasy Trucker tracks on the Concerts CD

I really like the Box 1 of the Cow set. Especially CD 1.

I wish the track Hieronymo's Mad Again was available in better condition than the bootlegs. And where is the Rockortunity Knocks tape?

 

I gravitate towards the Legend line-up. And Unrest. The compositions and the sound on the first 2 albums are what hold me. I'm not keen on Dagmar's contributions - especially on the improv works. She was more at home on the Art Bears material which feels like it was written for her.

 

On a related note (this is the most relevant 'open' thread I can find), Slapp Happy are doing a two day residency at Cafe Oto in London, with Faust (not specified which band) backing them. 10th and 11th Feb.

 

The box set volumes are finally available as separate releases, for those who are still hesitating to dip their toes in the water:

Search - Wayside Music »

 

One can never have too much HC. The boxes are essential, no question.

 

I'm told there is going to be one complete box issued later this year containing all the previous boxes

 

Technically all three boxes, two live and one studio, were designed to form a superbox when put one by one: