COMPLETE

National Health's music seems like a farewell to a lost age. At the end of the 70's, when progressive rock has been stifled to death by the greedy music industry, NH (along with U.K. and perhaps one or two others) was the only remaining true progressive band and have put together all that was great about the music of the past decade into their two studio albums. Intricate compositions, complex arrangements, impossible meters, delicate interludes, tight, focused soloing, elements of Canterbury, Symphonic, Classical and Fusion are all happily coexist on these recordings. Supplemented by a delightlul female three-part chorus and wind instruments, the recordings often have the feel of chamber music and a certain playful surrealism. I like to think of NH as the highest evolution of the Canterbury style.

No serious progressive rock collector should be without these essential recordings, which along with U.K.'s two releases, close out the decade on a positive note.