Unrest

Lindsay Cooper, previously with the folk band Comus, replaced Geoff Leigh for Henry Cow's second album, Unrest, released in May 1974, again for Virgin Records. The opener, "Bittern Storm Over Ulm," is somehow based on The Yardbirds' "Got to Hurry." Nevermind the how, it is one of the most listenable tracks on the album; "Half Asleep; Half Awake" is introduced by a somber piano, but as it unfolds with the band playing, it reveals a delightfully melodic tune, though one turned sideways once the improvisation begins. Inspired by Béla Bartók's use of Fibonacci sequences, the 12-minute "Ruins" is a monster track, at least the first four minutes of it. The second side turns to improvisation and studio trickery as a lack of material and pressure for the album's completion mounted (similar to Neu!'s debacle on their second album). Chris Cutler lets loose on "Upon Entering the Hotel Adion," while a plaintive tune barely surfaces from the chaos of "Deluge." The album cover again depicted a paint sock; the artist Ray Smith was a friend of the band from their days in Cambridge. There's little doubt that the members of Henry Cow were some of the most talented musicians of the progressive genre, but unfortunately the avant-garde of their oeuvre had little to do with rock ‘n' roll, at least to this listener's ears. Henry Cow would then collaborate with the similarly-minded Slapp Happy.