Recorded 1973–1978 Producer Henry Cow and others Release date 2006 Genre Experimental rock | Length 329:47 Artist Henry Cow Label Recommended Records | |
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Released December 2006 (2006-12) Henry Cow Box
(2006) Stockholm & Göteborg
(2008) Similar Henry Cow albums, Experimental rock albums | ||
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.
Contents
- Cover art
- Disc 1 Legend
- Disc 2 Unrest
- Disc 3 Desperate Straights
- Disc 4 In Praise of Learning
- Discs 5 and 6 Concerts
- Disc 7 Western Culture
- Bonus 3 CD single Unreleased Orckestra Extract
- Henry Cow
- Slapp Happy
- The Orckestra
- Songs
- References
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".
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.
Henry Cow
Slapp Happy
The Orckestra
Songs
Nirvana for Mice4:53
Amygdala6:47
Teenbeat Introduction4:32