1974 UK ORIG HENRY COW UNREST 2nd Lp PROG PSYCH GEM

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                                                  ***  ATTENTION! **

~ 1974 UK ORIGINAL "VIRGIN" RECORDS ~

         THE SECOND ALBUM BY:

        HENRY COW

          UNREST 

      UK - black and white VIRGIN RECORDS - V2011     

RARE...original 1974 British original in laminated gatefold sleeve on the BLACK & WHITE first press Virgin label....

Unrest is the second studio album from avant garde rock act Henry Cow...

Here we get the classically-trained Lindsay Cooper(bassoon, oboe) replacing Geoff Leigh. Perhaps the greatest lesbian bassoonist in rock music. Tim Hodgkinson, in addition to clarinet and sax, plays keyboards. Now when we say 'keyboards' we really mean piano and a cool '60s-era electronic organ. He must have been one of the few prog keyboardists to never touch a synth, Mellotron, Rhodes or Hammond. Henry Cow in general were more about improv/composition than about trying to be hip with new gadgets. John Greaves uses a fuzz-box on his bass occasionally, and Frith uses some wah-wah, but that's about it. Frith is credited with "stereo guitar" on "Bitter Storm Over Ulm" (supposedly loosely based on a Yardbirds song). What this band liked doing was recording instruments at different speeds. In fact, the whole second half of the album was improvs recorded this way along with tape-splicing.

It is hard enough trying to describe the composed pieces on side 1, let alone the chaos that is side 2. Here you get jazz, classical, avant-garde and psychedelic rock all mixed together. Most of the musicians are multi-instrumentalists so it's hard to say exactly who is playing what, although Cutler does all the drumming. There are no lyrics or vocals except for a few of both on side 2(I'll get to that). "Ruins" is one of the best songs in all of progdom. The violin part Frith plays near the end is breathtaking, and the rhythm section backing him up makes it even more so. Supposedly Mike Oldfield had something to do with the mixing on this song. Unlike LegEnd and the follow-up In Praise..., this album was never re-mixed.

What was side 2 ("Solemn Music" to "Deluge") were all improvisations that were tampered with. Varispeeding and tape-splicing were used to make these improvs into something that sounded radically different to what was originally recorded. Warning: this stuff is an acquired taste and will not appeal to everyone. But we likes it. On "Linguaphonie" you can hear the members say things in French. "Deluge" is the closest to sounding like a composed piece. It begins with a little drums and a simple bassline which gets repeated casually. Slowly you hear what sounds like violins and bassoons growing in volume until it drowns out the drums and bass. At the very end you hear what sounds like something recorded at a rehearsal: somebody playing piano and singing some lyrics which are hard to make out. We assume this is Greaves, but we're not sure. It's actually a nice way to end the album.

1. Bittern Storm Over Ulm (2:44)
2. Half Asleep; Half Awake (7:39)
3. Ruins (12:00)
4. Solemn Music (1:09)
5. Linquaphonie (5:58)
6. Upon Entering The Hotel Adlon (2:56)
7. Arcades (1:50)
8. Deluge (5:52)

CONDITION: The cover is laminated gatefold and clean VG++ with only a small razor mark along BACK cover pocket and minor spider web like creasing at bottom right corner...otherwise EXCELLENT...no split saeams, no bends, no writing....

The vinyl is all glossy clean and clear M- ... looks and plays outstanding...with 2 clean labels... 

                keeper copy!

SEE: SELLERS OTher items for more & more of similar cool sounds for "head" people...

EFFICIENT/CAREFUL GRADING

All imperfections are noted both cover & record