Progarchives, the progressive rock ultimate discography
Henry Cow - Unrest CD (album) cover

UNREST

Henry Cow

 

RIO/Avant-Prog

3.50 | 193 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

The Quiet One
Prog Reviewer
3 stars Half Great; Half Crap

Legend was a very mature debut album with slight Canterbury leanings that were right up my alley, the sophomore effort, however, just seems to delve further in what I considered Legend's few flaws. These few flaws that Henry Cow's debut had were the pure experimental and free jazz parts that make no sense to me. Though, I did title this review "Half Great.." for a reason.

That reason is the opener, which is, unfortunately, short but really enjoyable if you've enjoyed the quirkiness but still listenable stuff from Legend. Then there's 'Half Asleep; Half Awake', another tune I really like, some really fine piano playing, and the brass althrough is splendid.

The third track, 'Ruins', begins strong with Henry Cow's complexity at full steam, though after that it gets very avant-garde, nothing really interesting, the ocassional xylophone on that mid-section reminds me of Koenjihyakkei. So, half-great.

'Deluge' and 'Solemn Music' are the last tracks that I would consider listenable from Unrest, though not great by any means. The rest of the album is annoying, most of it I wouldn't consider music.

Damn Henry Cow! This could have been another fantastic album, but no, they decided to write 26 minutes of music, which only 16 minutes of those are really worthwhile, and 14 minutes of nothing.

3 stars: if you liked Legend, you should get this, if only for the worthy half.

The Quiet One | 3/5 |

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Forum user
Forum password

Share this HENRY COW review

Social review comments () BETA







Review related links

Copyright Prog Archives, All rights reserved. | Legal Notice | Privacy Policy | Advertise | RSS + syndications

Other sites in the MAC network: JazzMusicArchives.com — jazz music reviews and archives | MetalMusicArchives.com — metal music reviews and archives

Donate monthly and keep PA fast-loading and ad-free forever.