Henry Cow
Henry Cow were one of the best known and most widely traveled English bands of the progressive era (though only a cult favorite in the U.S. and actually more popular in Continental Europe than in their home country), and their music has aged amazingly well over the ensuing decades due to the group's diverse influences and uncompromising creativity.
Henry Cow were one of the best known and most widely traveled English bands of the progressive era (though only a cult favorite in the U.S. and actually more popular in Continental Europe than in their home country), and their music has aged amazingly well over the ensuing decades due to the group's diverse influences and uncompromising creativity.
Leg End (LP)
2010 limited audiophile re-issue in an edition of 1000 copies on 180g virgin vinyl on ReR Megacorp of the landmark first album by the quintesential British art-rock/RIO band, originally eleased in 1973. NWW list.
Unrest (LP)
2010 limited audiophile re-issue in an edition of 1000 copies on 180g virgin vinyl on ReR Megacorp of the second album by the quintesential British art-rock/RIO band, originally released in 1974. NWW list.
In Praise Of Learning (LP)
1979 US re-issue on Red Records of the third album, in collaboration with Slapp Happy, by the quintesential British art-rock/RIO band, originally released in 1975. NWW list.
In Praise Of Learning (LP)
2011 limited audiophile re-issue in an edition of 1000 copies on 180g virgin vinyl on ReR Megacorp of the third album, in collaboration with Slapp Happy, by the quintesential British art-rock/RIO band, originally released in 1975. NWW list.
Concerts (2LP)
Original French edition on LTM of the 1976 double live album by the quintesential British art-rock/RIO band, with recordings at various locations made in 1974 and 1975 and featuring Robert Wyatt as occasional guest. NWW list.
Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt, Lindsay Cooper, Chris Cutler, Tim Hodgkinson, Bill Gilonis, Adrian Mitchell
The Last Nightingale (LP)Original and only edition of the 1984 compilation of exclusive tracks released by Rē Records in a limited edition of 2500 copies pressed to raise money for the UK Coal Miners and never re-issued on either LP or CD.
Complete Studio Albums Box Set
The complete and essential discography of one of the most uncompromising and intellectually rigorous bands to emerge from the Canterbury scene - finally available again in pristine Japanese mini-LP sleeve editions with remasters on high-quality SHM-CD!
Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson formed Henry Cow while students at Cambridge University in 1968, and what followed was a decade of radical, politically charged, absolutely brilliant music that drew equally from free improvisation, contemporary class…
Then Again
November 1978. Henry Cow disbands after a decade of music that redefined the boundaries of experimental rock. November 2022. Four founding members return to the stage. Not to look back - but to improvise the present. Fred Frith (guitar, violin, electronics), Tim Hodgkinson (keyboards, saxophone, lap steel, electronics), Chris Cutler (drums, percussion), John Greaves (bass, vocals): the original core reunited under the name Henry Now. The key is in the name - as Clive Bell noted in The Wire, this…
Unrest
* Remastered repress. Comes with printed inner sleeve. * Two records in one, hinged at the exact moment a rock band decided to dismantle itself in the studio and see what was left. Unrest was the second album by Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin's Manor studios across February and March 1974 and released that May. It was the first to feature Lindsay Cooper, whose bassoon, oboe and recorder replaced the saxophone of the departed Geoff Leigh, completing the line-up of Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, John …
Western Culture
*2025 warehouse found* On vinyl, this is a reissue of the final Henry Cow record, originally released in 1979 after the group had officially disbanded. The LP features guest appearances by Irene Schweitzer and Anne-Marie Roeloffs. Following their split with Virgin, the group's history became complicated; bass player John Greaves left, and after a dispute in the recording studio, what was intended as the next Henry Cow album mutated into the Art Bears' much respected Hopes and Fears. In 1978 the …
Glastonbury And Elsewhere
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 repress* Henry Cow is not only a key group on the Canterbury scene, but later organised Rock In Opposition and is a key figure in avant-rock worldwide. This album is a compilation of previously unreleased live performances at all five venues from their 1972 Glastonbury festival to their 1977 show in Bilbao, Spain. Special Japanese paper-jacket and SHM-CD release!
In Praise of Learning
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 repress* This album was recorded at about the same time as Desperate Straights, the album that combined with Slap Happy and was recorded under a joint name. With the addition of Dubmar, there are more vocal numbers and the ensemble is as brilliant as on the previous album. The album is a good blend of the interest in improvisation shown on the previous album. Long-awaited encore…
Leg End
*Comes in a CD-sized papersleeve album replica (gatefold), with obi-strip and insert of notes mostly in Japanese..2024 repress* Debut album released in 1973 by Henry Cow, one of Canterbury's most important bands, formed around Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson, who were students at Cambridge University. It was signed to Virgin and recorded at Manor Studios. The songs had reached maturity in their earlier shows, and the studio work was highly accomplished, with intelligent, avant-garde songs produced…
The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow
**17 CDs, 1 DVD and 250 pages of histories, chronology, testimony and commentaries by the band, sundry contemporary documents, and rare photographs – in a sturdy box.** This collection brings together in an inexpensive and definitive edition the full contents of all earlier releases, with the addition of a further 60pp booklet of newly unearthed, or commissioned, band commentaries, pictures and other documents prepared specifically for this box - as well as re-mastered versions of all the studio…
Stockholm & Göteborg
* Remastered repress. Comes with printed inner sleeve. * For thirty years this music existed only on Swedish radio tapes. Then it surfaced, and the missing years came into focus. Stockholm & Göteborg collects previously unreleased Henry Cow concert recordings made by Sveriges Radio, captured in Gothenburg in May 1976 and Stockholm in May 1977, with one piece from Hamburg in March 1976. Originally released in 2008 as the sixth volume of the 40th Anniversary box and offered as a standalone album, …
Concerts
Remastered repress. Comes with printed inner sleeve. Concerts is a live double album by Henry Cow, drawn from performances in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975, originally issued in 1976. It arrived at a hinge point in the band's history, after Virgin had lost interest in releasing further studio records and before the group made its final move toward independence. The first two sides hold composed material; the second two give space, for the first…
Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem
In its open improvisations, lapidary lyrics, errant melodies, and relentless pursuit of spontaneity, the British experimental band Henry Cow pushed rock music to its limits.Its rotating personnel, sprung from rock, free jazz, and orchestral worlds, synthesized a distinct sound that troubled genre lines, and with this musical diversity came a mixed politics, including Maoism, communism, feminism, and Italian Marxism.In Henry Cow: The World Is a Problem, Benjamin Piekut tells the band’s story —fro…
Desperate Straights
Desperate Straights was the first result of the historical meeting between Slapp Happy, the German/English Avant-Pop band and the apparently incompatible Henry Cow. Recorded at Virgin Record's Manor Studios in 1974 and properly re-mastered by Bob Drake, Desperate Straights stands as a real piece of Art from another time. A full set of great songs, including gems like "Bad Alchemy" and "Apes in Capes", arranged and performed by an amazing collective featuring Dagmar Krause's unique voice, Peter B…
The Road: Volumes 1-5
2015 Restock. There are bands whose finest work allows its roots full exposure while burying them. Henry Cow was one of these, emerging at a time of widespread upheaval and making bold new statements and fashioning order of the resultant chaos. The label has a history of producing similarly fine compendiums, most notably from groups such as Faust, Art Bears and This Heat, but the Cow set is a more ambitious project, befitting the band’s complex style and legacy. With roots deep in the mult…
The Road: Volumes 6-10
Volume 2 of the definitive collection of unreleased recordings, unrecorded compositions, one-off events, radio and concert recordings. These four CDs and one DVD cover the period from 1976 to 1978 and include the legendary Stockholm and Bremen radio concerts, many otherwise unrecorded late compositions, and the only known video ever made of the band (a complete 75 minute concert from 1976). With a substantial 60-page book of information, unpublished photographs, documents, recollections and subs…