Unrest (Henry Cow album)

Unrest
Studio album by Henry Cow
Released	May 1974 (1974-05)
Recorded	February–March 1974
Studio	The Manor, Oxfordshire, England
Genre	Avant-rock, avant-garde jazz
Length	40:08
Label	Virgin (UK)
Producer	Henry Cow
Henry Cow chronology
Legend (1973) Unrest (1974) Desperate Straights (1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Robert Christgau	A−[2]

Unrest is an album by British avant-rock group Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in February and March 1974. It was their second album and was released in May 1974. It was their first album including oboe and bassoon player Lindsay Cooper, who replaced saxophonist Geoff Leigh.

The album was dedicated to Robert Wyatt and Uli Trepte.

Content

When Henry Cow began recording Unrest, they found they did not have enough composed material to fill the LP. Because of studio time constraints, they were forced to "improvise" and developed a "studio composition" process that involved improvising to tape, tape manipulation, loops, layering and overdubbing. The balance of the LP (tracks 2 to 5 on side 2) were "composed" in this manner.^[3][4] On parts of "Ruins" and "Linguaphonie", the bassoon, alto saxophone, drums and voice were recorded at half or double speed.^[3]

The Fred Frith composition "Bittern Storm over Ülm" was a "perversion" of one of his favourite Yardbirds songs, "Got to Hurry" (1965) into which he added bars, beats and half-beats. For "Ruins", Frith used Fibonacci numbers to establish beat and harmony, after reading about Hungarian composer Béla Bartók's use of the Fibonacci series.^[5] "Solemn Music" was from Henry Cow's music for John Chadwick's play, The Tempest, and is the only piece from that suite to be released.^[3]

The vocal/piano piece at the end of "Deluge" is sung and played by John Greaves.

Cover art

The album cover art work was by artist Ray Smith and was the second of the three "paint socks" to feature on Henry Cow's albums. Smith was an old friend of the band from Cambridge who had worked with them on two dance projects and had often supported them in performance art at concerts. Smith came up with the idea of the woven sock and insisted that the band's name should not appear on the front cover. As Cutler later explained, in a 2011 interview, the idea was extended through the whole album series, with the sock changing "to suit the temper of the music".^[6]

CD reissues

In 1991 East Side Digital issued Unrest on CD with two extra tracks, "The Glove" and "Torchfire" (derived from raw material recorded during the Unrest sessions).^[7]

In 1999 Recommended Records and East Side Digital issued a remastered version of Unrest on CD with the bonus tracks omitted. All versions of the album (LP and CD) utilize the same mix.

LP reissues

In 2010 Recommended Records released a 180gr. vinyl, limited (1000 copies) edition (RERVHC2LP) of Unrest, mastered from the 1999 CD edition.

Track listing

All music composed by Henry Cow except where noted.

Personnel

Henry Cow

• Tim Hodgkinson – organ, piano, alto saxophone, clarinet
• Fred Frith – stereo guitar, violin, xylophone, piano
• John Greaves – bass guitar, piano, voice
• Chris Cutler – drums
• Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, oboe, recorder, voice

Production

• Phil Becque – recording engineer, mixing engineer (side 1)
• Andy Morris – recording engineer
• Mike Oldfield – recording engineer (part of "Ruins")
• Henry Cow – mixing engineers (side 2), producers
• Ray Smith – cover art
• Matt Murman – remastered 1999 CD reissue

See also

• The Virgin Years – Souvenir Box (1991)
• Henry Cow Box (2006)

References

Works cited

• Cutler, Chris, ed. (2009). The Road: Volumes 1–5 (book from The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set). Recommended Records.