Henry Cow
Leg End

4.0
excellent

Review

by Kusuriuri USER (8 Reviews)
May 4th, 2016 | 20 replies

Release Date: 1973 | Tracklist

To anyone in-the-know with the once-bustling Canterbury Scene, Henry Cow remain one of the scene's most treasured anomalies and require no introduction as such. For those who aren't, you will find them familiar if you're in any way shape or form knowledgable about the so-called "Rock In Oposition" scene which thrived through out the 1970s. You may also be aware of them if you're connected with the "Avant-Prog" style (Essentially Progressive rock but with Avant-Garde/Free Jazz and modern classical as influences as opposed to the older, more standard [For lack of a better word] versions of those genres). Whether or not you are familiar with them from any of those is irrelvant, but it speaks of how far a band is willing to unravel their creativity that they can be easily associated with so many scenes; Henry Cow was arguably the most immediately unique spawn of all of the scenes I mentioned previously, and to me, they are a showcase of what "Progressive" Rock is really about - No bounds, no limits, and genre tags are completely irrelevant. This statement grows truer and truer the further you explore their discog, but on Legend (or Leg End), the band proves that even when they're playing a lighter version of what would be themselves later, their imagination is still leagues ahead of the rest.

Henry Cow's sound here is perhaps the easiest to describe in their discography. Simply put, you have an ensemble of twisted but surprisingly charming Jazz melodies (Including the horns) unravelling over a hefty dose of atonality and dissonance taken straight from the works of the likes of Béla Bartók, all covered up with the Zappa-esque whimsy that was common among many rock British "Underground" rock outfits from the time. If you've been immediately turned off from the record and this review by the previous statement linking this to Zappa's campiness, don't fret; While it was and still is hardly a novel concept to drench your music with that kind of humor, Henry Cow make it work by contrasting most of their peers (And in a lot of occasions, Zappa himself) by never letting it turn into their identity or main flare - By all means, the real spectacle here is in the band members themselves. None of the band members are slouches; These are some seriously talented people at their craft, and while they could inexcusably fall under the much maligned "Wank" territory, Henry Cow are among the few that not only don't care, not only embrace it, but use it to their advantage - It's hard to imagine how some of these compositions, especially some of the looser ones found particularly around the middle of the record, could've ever been done without musicians as maddeningly skilled as they are.

If you go back to the beginning of the previous paragraph, you might notice that I mentioned a few things this resembled, but in no case did I mention "Rock" - It's certainly no stretch to classify it as that, especially given that the band is the de facto leader of the aformentioned "Rock In Oposition" movement, but I feel describing them as that implies the wrong things as much of this could've easily been played with other non-rock instruments. No matter what you think of rock, it's in many ways a limiting label (Or rather, more limiting than most others, as every label has its own set of unwritten rules). But then you have moments like the first 3 minutes or so of "Teenbeat (Reprise)", where we are immediately greeted by a fuzzy, soaring guitar solo that is difficult to think where could've it sounded better if not in the trusty electric guitar. And the refusal to being pigeon holed in any overly specific way doesn't end there; Though not quite as much as the work found later, the band nontheless applies as substancial dose of improvisation their way. Take for example, the introduction to "Teenbeat" - Slow, meandearing in its somewhat dark, but weirdly charming atmosphere (I say weirdly charming, because as dark as they may get here, the sense of humor and light-heartedness that permeates the other tracks continues to shine through in much of their playing and prevents the album from ever falling into the abyss), with the band members only contributing if they see fit, only coming close to the kind of jams we were being fed with for about 1 minute. Though it can be hard to notice because all of the band members are so in-tune together, improvisation can be found all over the record and it's a testament to the band's flawless chemistry and individual skill that, even at its most messy it still feels painstakingly constructed. And then why not mention the choir line that dominates the album's closer, "Nine Funerals Of The Citizen King", for good measure?

So once we take all of this into account, what exactly could we define Henry Cow as? Rock? Jazz? Free improvisation? Ambient? Choral? The truth is most likely somewhere in the middle as it quite often is, but whatever the answer is is irrelevant, because this only accentuates why to me (And if you let me reiterate my previous statement on the first paragraph), this band gets what "Progressive", especially rock kind, is really about - Genres don't matter. No matter how insane or bizarre your idea may be, if you have enough conviction and a fair amount of ability, you can make it work. Henry Cow fearlessly drifts in and around modern musical concepts with ease and constantly assaults the ear in a way that's always challenging but rarely unlistenable, with plenty of beauty to behold and plenty of bits to nod along and hum to.

As a jam and an intellectual experience (no matter how pretentious the very idea may be), very few albums can reach the balance Legend could. A beacon of creativity, packed with energy nearly unmatched by any of their progressive adversaries, Henry Cow's Legend is a worthy addition to any prog enthusiast's collection. Do not pass up on it, no matter what your take on any of the styles that gave it birth is; You might find yourself just as surprised as I was at how much you enjoy it.

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