THE HENRY COW LEGEND [AKA: LEGEND OR LEG END]

HENRY COW's debut is an eclectic blend of SOFT MACHINE and Frank Zappa with a dash of Rio / Avant thrown in the mix. Lots of wind instruments are used. And check out the lineup: Geoff Leigh, Tim Hodgkinson, John Greaves, Fred Frith and Chris Cutler.

"Nirvana For Mice" opens with horns, drums and bass and it sounds amazing. I wish the whole song sounded like that, although the change a minute in is still good but with less melody and some dissonant sax. "Amygdala" features some flute before a minute and then the tempo picks up 1 1/2 minutes in. The drums and sax stand out before it calms back down with piano. The tempo continues to change. "Teenbeat Introduction" features some dissonant sax with light drums that come and go. It blends into "Teenbeat" which is both intense and crazy to begin with. Intricate sounds follow then a swinging sound 2 minutes in. It's followed quickly by a collage of beautiful sounds. Violin 3 minutes in with clarinat to end it. "Extract From "With The Yellow Half-Moon And Blue Star"" includes a good guitar melody for a minute. Some guest pixiphone on this one as well. I have no idea what that is either. A great sound before 3 minutes. "Teenbeat Reprise" is my favourite song on here. An uptempo song with some fantastic guitar, drums and bass on it. The guitar gets quite aggressive. "The Tenth Chaffinch" has a spooky organ and synth intro with dissonant sounds coming in with no real melody. An experimental song with some cool percussion after 5 minutes. "Nine Funerals Of The Citizen King" actually has vocals ! This song reminds me of early SOFT MACHINE or Barrett era FLOYD. Violin 2 minutes in. A dramatic horn / drum section a minute later. Vocals return after that.

Just a great album that I highly recommend.