Customer Reviews

Western Culture (Dlx)

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

...the way only Henry Cow could do it.

After Henry Cow's _In Praise of Learning_, the situation in the band was getting a little divisive. Lindsay Cooper and Tom Hodgkinson wanted to compose longer instrumental pieces, while Chris Cutler and Fred Frith wanted to focus on more song-oriented music. Unfortunately, they couldn't come to an agreement so Frith, Cutler, and Dagmar Krause released their song-based material as the first Art Bears album, _Hopes and Fears_, while Hodgkinson and Cooper's work was released as the final Henry Cow album, _Western Culture_.

And let me tell you, it's fookin' brilliant. _Western Culture_ is pretty much entirely composed, with only sporadic glimpses of the band's previous affinities towards improvisation. Hodgkinson and Cooper each compose one side of the album (1 and 2, respectively -- BUT, they both wrote "1/2 the Sky"), and while they are distinctly different, it all ties together nicely because of the consistent harmonic quality and dense, tight arrangements. Best of all, this music, while very strange and complex, is also very moving and evocative, all the while deploying twisted, angular melodies, intense textural colors, dissonant harmonic language, and shifty motivic processes. This is also the most 'classical' sounding of their catalogue, probably because of the emphasis on wind instruments. Hodgkinson's pieces are gritty and atonal, complex and energetic. The organ outburst opening "Industry" takes off with Cutler's drumming unpredictably shifting accents. "The Decay of Cities" begins quite beautifully, with an unusually tuned acoustic guitar and melancholy trombone extending into catchy, danceable melodies, then strains of clattering noise split by a four-note arpeggio played on different instruments, then to scratching violin, and eventually resolving itself with the a rearrangement of the early motif. Cooper's pieces embrace Eastern European folk traditions with astute modernism, like Stravinsky, although some of the most revelatory moments bring out jazz idioms, like the percussive avant-jazz piano in "Gretel's Tale" or the chirping free saxophone over falling, dense, slowly-moving organ chords on "1/2 the Sky", which creates a very ominous sound. Cooper also provides "Look Back", a short, melancholy chamber piece for strings, woodwinds, and bass guitar, and in contrast to the album's prickly music, this is quite lyrical and beautiful (wish it was longer...). "Falling Away" is an aggressive rocker with an intricate folk melody and a churning rhythmic undercurrent. The music deconstructs in the middle, building towards its joyous apogee with its return to main melody at the end -- one of my favorite Henry Cow moments. Chris Cutler's drumming is at its finest here.

Definitely check this one out. This is Henry Cow's swansong, a tremendously rewarding album that still ranks as one of the most compositionally sophisticated 'rock' albums ever. This is one of those albums that I could listen to every day for the rest of my life and not get bored of it. It is intellectually satisfying, eminently listenable (in MY opinion, anyway; looks like some of the other reviewers disagree), and gives me a feeling like no other CD.

Henry Cow, of indescribable sonic manifestations and fairly obvoius leftist political leanings have recorded the soundtrack for the industrial revolution's theoretic suicide. This is the sound of what a handful a ridiculously talented hippies thought our future would come to. Too bad nobody is playing rock (and this is rock) anywhere near this precisely anymore.

This purely instrumental album is fairly prototypical henry cow (the non-vocals brand), yet, in my opinion, is the best written and performed of any of their recordings. It starts out with one of the most bombastic HC songs recorded (especially for the non-vocal era, they tend to rock it out a little more consistently on later/con vox recodings.), but for the most part, the tension in this album is communcated through compositional inference, rather than volume.

If you're like me, you find the sweet spot of this album comes in the second half, where the songs seems to take better advantage of the band as a whole, and feature some fairly awe inspiring interplay.

If you like your rock abstract, and played with fairly devious technical sensibilities this is it. If you want vocals, or something to seduce your partner to, you might wanna look elsewhere. Unless you wanna bump uglies in 13/8.

This has been my favorite album for many years. It combines acoustic instruments and electronics in a way that may seem dissonant and unstructured at first listen, but is actually very carefully crafted and meticulously performed. The recording is also excellent, with many subtle details in texture and spatial imaging that reward repeated listening at high volume.

This is the only album by Henry Cow I've listened to, but I'm already in love. If you listen to it on;y once it'll probably put you off, but only because it's so far removed from anything that other, more popular progressive rock bands like King Crimson and Pink Floyd were doing at the time. A direct comparison would of course be useless. Others will call this album pretentious, heartless, overly technical, masturbatory, and any other lazy insult they can dig up from the mud. Don't listen to them. Don't buy into the cynical punk dogma that advanced musicianship and pure self-expression are mutually exclusive. Yes this album sounds completely alien at first; yes its angular melodies, dissonances, and rhythmic and structural irregularities seem deliberately designed to frustrate pop (and pop-prog); yes it's different. But it's honest, and sometimes honesty means doing someone no one else wants to do. (Never, ever mistake idiosyncratic creativity for elitism. If anything is a sin, that is.) If you just open your mind for a minute, which many rock listeners are loathe to do unfortunately, you'll discover the secret: this album is FUNKY. This is foot-tapping, head-bobbing, get-up-and-move music. This is empowering. If anyone tells you any different, they haven't seen the light. Show them that light. Amen.

This album is brilliant. The people who made this album are brilliant. Everyone who likes this album is brilliant. I wish I could give it 1000 stars, because it is SO brilliant.

Oops, I accidentally submitted a review for a Jimmy Buffett greatest hits album for Henry Cow's Western Culture. Funny story- my internet connection is *so* slow at the moment, I actually forgot what musician I was writing a review for when the page finally loaded 10 minutes later and the screen to type up my review finally appeared. lol. Goes to show dial-up connection is a thing of the past.

Anyway, Western Culture is a fantastic experimental journey through your mind. It's a real funny thing though- the way this band writes music constantly challenges the listener and gives me VERY odd feelings when I listen to it. Odd enough to make me think about one thing one minute, and then something *completely* different the next. For example-

One instrumental passage in one of the songs on side two reminds me of that time, 20 years ago, when I went down the street to a neighbors house and helped them move stuff around, and then, seemingly in the BLINK of an eye, the song changes into something else and I'm thinking about that time my mom took me to the doctors and I almost died when my body temperature was 106 and the doctor didn't even realize that.

I don't know if the doctor wanted to see me die, or just hated kids, but that's beside the point. The POINT is that Henry Cow writes music in a way where one complex musical passage can shift your emotions around in your head and make you feel all weird inside. I love this bands music. Western Culture is a very very good album.

Although previous works by this band could be more appreciated by 'prog' music fans, to me this is like the final accomplished sound/concept they were looking for. The sound each member in the band has is finally 'THE sound' individually(sometimes played in a virtuoso manner) and as a whole in the band. In other words, a completely original band sound and concept. You can hear,for example, that Frith is a much better player at this stage, has a completely original sound in perfect harmony with the other instruments, and a very idiosyncratic way of playing his guitar.

On top of that, for any RIO, Canterbury Prog, Zappa or 20th century music lover, this is a dream come true! The compositions are top notch. Creative and well executed. So if you are into plain rock, straight pop or other 'simple' kind of music, (more rhythm based music) stay away. The music of Henry Cow is music that HAS Melody , HAS Harmony and ROCKS, but it has other things too which might be complex to some one who has not been exposed to the genres mentioned previously. Give it a try with open ears and you will see this has much more groove than people say it lacks.

Why the 'almost did not happen' title? Well, this album got recorded when members of the bands were already in other projects (such as Art Bears) thus the absence of vocals and only 2 composers contribute to the whole album.

For me, this is the most focused and cohesive Henry Cow album yet. Not much filler here, this one is far more composed than their previous works.

The final chapter to the band (unless there's more in the vault, Chris Cutler), the Cow, in their own style piece well-formed themes and rhythmic variations into a seamless work of art. Im gushing here, because this is the album I would have liked to create, to summarize the jarring inequities of Western Culture.

If you like earlier HCow, without the long improvs and dangling cacaphony, this is the piece for you. This one seems totally composed. And for once, the final mix is elegant. You can actually hear a balance in tones and colors.

For those just starting to listen to this band...this is the place.

Apparently not interested in re-treading the same ground over and over again "to earn their pensions", this 1978 album would be Henry Cow's last before disbanding later in 1978.

The core musicians on this album include excellent drummer and bandleader Chris Cutler (who also plays electrified drums, "noise", piano, and trumpet); Lindsay Cooper (bassoon, oboe, soprano saxophone, and soprano recorder); Tim Hodgkinson (organ, alto saxophone, clarinet, and Hawaiian guitar); and Fred Frith (electric and acoustic guitars, electric bass, banjo, and soprano saxophone). Other musicians that play on the album include Georgie Born (electric bass); Anne-Marie Roelofs (trombone and violin); and Irene Schweitzer (piano).

The seven tracks on the album are divided into two larger works including History and Prospects (Tracks 1-3) and Day by Day (Tracks 4-7). The three additional tracks include one taken from the Dagmar Krause (vocalist) period (Viva pa Ubu), an alternate take of Look Back, and an outtake from the 1978 Western Culture sessions. The three additional tracks are excellent.

Like all of their albums, the music on Western Culture is highly disciplined yet is almost anarchic at points. This strain of progressive rock is also extremely complex, atonal, jagged, and at times, quite abrasive - yet buried in there are moments of calm and deep reflection. I personally find the combination pretty exciting. Along with standard rock instruments (including incredible drumming by Chris Cutler) woodwinds are featured prominently, and the arrangements are dense and angular. In general, the compositions are essentially a whirlwind of sound that fuses elements of "post-war" classical, jazz, free jazz, and rock.

All in all, this is not a listening experience for the faint of heart. This is extremely challenging music that is also extremely rewarding. Highly recommended along with Unrest (1974) and In Praise of Learning (1975).

This last studio recording with Henry Cow deserves far more attention then it usually gets. The arrangements are absolutely awesome. For the untamed ear it may sound quite much like the earlier HC albums like "Leg End" or "Unrest", but the close sensible ear will hear that Western Culture has actually evolved quite far from these as to structure and composition. It is almost "classical" (in the sense of Schoenberg at his best, Wolff, and even the chamber pieces of Hindemith) in its density and at points its even get there literally. This is really an outstanding piece of Henry Cow way ahead of its time but also with classical roots that brings you the timeless universality that makes it ever dynamic.