Biography
The progressive rock movement produced numerous acts that achieved arena-level commercial success—Pink Floyd and Genesis among them—alongside many others that faded rapidly from view. One of the most prominent and extensively touring English outfits of that period was Henry Cow, a cult favorite in the United States yet more widely embraced across Continental Europe than at home. Their recordings have retained striking freshness across subsequent decades, owing to an eclectic array of touchstones that included Oliver Messiaen, Kurt Weill, Frank Zappa, and Soft Machine, combined with an unyielding inventive drive. Operating essentially as a collective, the band maintained a shifting group identity that evolved with each release as personnel entered and departed. Such fluidity contributed to ongoing creative energy, reinforced by a committed central trio whose political engagement and commitment to improvisation balanced the structural complexity they brought as principal composers.
Keyboards and reeds were handled by Tim Hodgkinson, drums by Chris Cutler, and an array of instruments—chiefly guitar—by Fred Frith; these three participated in every Henry Cow album issued from 1973 through 1978. Additional key contributors encompassed double reedist Lindsay Cooper, bassist John Greaves, bassist and cellist Georgie Born, and German vocalist Dagmar Krause. The latter, already a participant in Slapp Happy alongside Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad, first recorded with Henry Cow on the 1975 Virgin collaboration In Praise of Learning—the third “sock cover” release following Leg End (1973) and Unrest (1974)—which also marked the ensemble’s most explicit political stance. That same year saw Desperate Straights, issued under the reversed billing Slapp Happy/Henry Cow. Krause subsequently joined Frith and Cutler in the Art Bears project and later released bilingual interpretations of Brecht and Weill material. The collective sound forged by these musicians proved so fluid and audacious that direct imitators remained scarce, even as the fusion of spontaneity, elaborate architecture, intellectual inquiry, and wit influenced artists on both sides of the Atlantic and outlasted the progressive label itself. In 1978 Henry Cow played a pivotal role in forming the Rock in Opposition alliance, initially uniting Etron Fou Leloublan from France, Samla Mammas Manna from Sweden, Stormy Six from Italy, and Univers Zero from Belgium—the last of which remained active as of 2010. Though never mainstream, RIO-associated artists and the broader “RIO sound” have continued to generate reverberations within twenty-first-century avant-garde rock.
Following Henry Cow’s dissolution, its core members pursued divergent paths: Cutler joined Pere Ubu in the late 1980s, collaborated across Europe with both rock-oriented and improvising groups, and presented solo performances on his amplified drum kit; Hodgkinson participated in the post-punk band the Work, concentrated on avant-garde contemporary composition, and improvised on clarinet, tabletop guitar, and electronics within various ensembles, notably the Konk Pack trio with Thomas Lehn and Roger Turner; and Frith became an active figure in New York’s downtown scene, including a tenure as bassist in John Zorn’s Naked City from 1988 to 1993, before joining academia as Professor of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, while composing, recording, and performing across a wide spectrum that ranged from Tzadik soundtracks and an improvising duo with Zorn to the song-driven rock of the Cosa Brava quintet, also featuring Zeena Parkins and Carla Kihlstedt. Despite these varied pursuits, Cutler, Hodgkinson, and Frith did not reconvene as a performing unit except for a December 2006 appearance at the Stone in New York City.
Among other alumni, John Greaves sustained an active career as soloist, bandmember, and collaborator, working and recording with Peter Blegvad—including the 1977 cult favorite Kew. Rhone.—and with National Health on Of Queues & Cures (1979) and D.S. al Coda (1982), while issuing several song-centered albums that found particular resonance in France, where he has resided since the mid-1980s. Lindsay Cooper—whose bassoon lent the group a distinctive timbre upon joining after original reedist Geoff Leigh’s departure prior to Unrest, and who composed the side-two suite “Day by Day” for Western Culture (1979)—produced a series of politically and socially engaged recordings, frequently with a feminist perspective. These encompassed the film scores Rags (1981) and The Gold Diggers (1983), the latter starring Julie Christie and marking Sally Potter’s feature directorial debut with Orlando; the live album Oh Moscow (1991); and Sahara Dust (1992), a meditation on the 1990–1991 Gulf War created with Australian singer and writer Robyn Archer. Cooper also performed and recorded with ensembles such as the Mike Westbrook Orchestra, David Thomas & the Pedestrians, and News from Babel. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she continued performing for years without public disclosure; by the late 1990s, however, she had to withdraw from music, and her condition deteriorated markedly by the end of the 2000s. She succumbed to complications from the illness in September 2013.
Numerous recordings by former Henry Cow members and other RIO practitioners have reached global audiences through Recommended Records, the distribution network established by Cutler. For devotees, the definitive archival collection arrived in January 2009 via ReR with the simultaneous release of The Road, Vols. 1–5 and Vols. 6–10—two box sets marking the fortieth anniversary of the band’s formation. Together comprising nine CDs, one DVD, and two sixty-page booklets, the sets present concert recordings and additional archival documents spanning Henry Cow’s history from 1972 to 1978.
Keyboards and reeds were handled by Tim Hodgkinson, drums by Chris Cutler, and an array of instruments—chiefly guitar—by Fred Frith; these three participated in every Henry Cow album issued from 1973 through 1978. Additional key contributors encompassed double reedist Lindsay Cooper, bassist John Greaves, bassist and cellist Georgie Born, and German vocalist Dagmar Krause. The latter, already a participant in Slapp Happy alongside Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad, first recorded with Henry Cow on the 1975 Virgin collaboration In Praise of Learning—the third “sock cover” release following Leg End (1973) and Unrest (1974)—which also marked the ensemble’s most explicit political stance. That same year saw Desperate Straights, issued under the reversed billing Slapp Happy/Henry Cow. Krause subsequently joined Frith and Cutler in the Art Bears project and later released bilingual interpretations of Brecht and Weill material. The collective sound forged by these musicians proved so fluid and audacious that direct imitators remained scarce, even as the fusion of spontaneity, elaborate architecture, intellectual inquiry, and wit influenced artists on both sides of the Atlantic and outlasted the progressive label itself. In 1978 Henry Cow played a pivotal role in forming the Rock in Opposition alliance, initially uniting Etron Fou Leloublan from France, Samla Mammas Manna from Sweden, Stormy Six from Italy, and Univers Zero from Belgium—the last of which remained active as of 2010. Though never mainstream, RIO-associated artists and the broader “RIO sound” have continued to generate reverberations within twenty-first-century avant-garde rock.
Following Henry Cow’s dissolution, its core members pursued divergent paths: Cutler joined Pere Ubu in the late 1980s, collaborated across Europe with both rock-oriented and improvising groups, and presented solo performances on his amplified drum kit; Hodgkinson participated in the post-punk band the Work, concentrated on avant-garde contemporary composition, and improvised on clarinet, tabletop guitar, and electronics within various ensembles, notably the Konk Pack trio with Thomas Lehn and Roger Turner; and Frith became an active figure in New York’s downtown scene, including a tenure as bassist in John Zorn’s Naked City from 1988 to 1993, before joining academia as Professor of Composition at Mills College in Oakland, California, while composing, recording, and performing across a wide spectrum that ranged from Tzadik soundtracks and an improvising duo with Zorn to the song-driven rock of the Cosa Brava quintet, also featuring Zeena Parkins and Carla Kihlstedt. Despite these varied pursuits, Cutler, Hodgkinson, and Frith did not reconvene as a performing unit except for a December 2006 appearance at the Stone in New York City.
Among other alumni, John Greaves sustained an active career as soloist, bandmember, and collaborator, working and recording with Peter Blegvad—including the 1977 cult favorite Kew. Rhone.—and with National Health on Of Queues & Cures (1979) and D.S. al Coda (1982), while issuing several song-centered albums that found particular resonance in France, where he has resided since the mid-1980s. Lindsay Cooper—whose bassoon lent the group a distinctive timbre upon joining after original reedist Geoff Leigh’s departure prior to Unrest, and who composed the side-two suite “Day by Day” for Western Culture (1979)—produced a series of politically and socially engaged recordings, frequently with a feminist perspective. These encompassed the film scores Rags (1981) and The Gold Diggers (1983), the latter starring Julie Christie and marking Sally Potter’s feature directorial debut with Orlando; the live album Oh Moscow (1991); and Sahara Dust (1992), a meditation on the 1990–1991 Gulf War created with Australian singer and writer Robyn Archer. Cooper also performed and recorded with ensembles such as the Mike Westbrook Orchestra, David Thomas & the Pedestrians, and News from Babel. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, she continued performing for years without public disclosure; by the late 1990s, however, she had to withdraw from music, and her condition deteriorated markedly by the end of the 2000s. She succumbed to complications from the illness in September 2013.
Numerous recordings by former Henry Cow members and other RIO practitioners have reached global audiences through Recommended Records, the distribution network established by Cutler. For devotees, the definitive archival collection arrived in January 2009 via ReR with the simultaneous release of The Road, Vols. 1–5 and Vols. 6–10—two box sets marking the fortieth anniversary of the band’s formation. Together comprising nine CDs, one DVD, and two sixty-page booklets, the sets present concert recordings and additional archival documents spanning Henry Cow’s history from 1972 to 1978.
Singles