COMPLETE

For some reason, back when their records were originally released, I had a very difficult time locating National Health's albums. And I wanted them badly. A local college radio station gave them frequent airplay. So it wasn't until this CD came out that I actually owned anything by what I think is the best Caterbury band ever.

This collection includes the first three albums, plus an excerpt from an early recording of the band, featuring Bill Bruford on drums.

The music starts out as classic Canterbury, with some fusion mixed in. But it's with the second album that the band transcends pure Canterbury, and heads in the direction Dave Stewart will explore in Bruford's fusion group. In fact, Of Queues and Cures rivals many of the best fusion albums of the seventies.

The best songs are The Collapso, The Mahavishnu Orchestra-like Dreams Wide Awake, The Apocalypso, and Portrait Of A Shrinking Man, the last of which is vaguely reminiscent of some of Zappa's fusion works.

So I'd rate this 4.5 stars, rounded up.