Henry Cow - Terrible as an army with banners

[Pighood]

Love the Cow, hate their politics.

[roymack1]

NO

[brennanyoung]

Funny, it's a (dubious) piece of Marxist dogma that events are dictated by history. I agree that HC couldn't have happened before or since, but they walked the talk: HC was a true collective, with lighting/sound guys paid as much as musicians, and they deliberate rejected the music business, so that today they're a real insider-tip. And... outdated? Well, Marxism is coming back into fashion (to some extent) because neo-liberalism has revealed itself to be a total failure. (Financial crisis etc.)

[LittleDrummerBoy234]

interesting that georgie born sits as if she has a cello but is playing electric bass



[BernardMontmartre]

@LittleDrummerBoy234

her bass is actually tuned as a cello

[Perkuterr]

La gestuelle de Chris Cutler est unique en son genre - Souplesse et musicalité...

[briansandwith]

Great band! Awesome footage.

[sludgefingers]

The anarchist's Abba.

[Darrylizer1]

Such a shame about Lindsey Cooper but she's still composing. I saw Chris Cutler several years ago at an art space in DC and he was amazing as always.

[silviadecarlini]

Incredibile, attualissimi ancora oggi, creatività sfrenata, grande musica, mi riportano agli "anni migliori della nostra generazione", ma con lo sguardo sempre rivolto al futuro

[fafo58]

fantastic, what else to say, this is amazing

[prepostero]

This is so so so good!!

[Hyardacil]

I discovered this ages ago.

Didn't like it.

Started listening to contemporary classical music and atonal music.

Came back.

Now I LOVE IT

[wboyers]

Chris Cutler has played stunningly with David Thomas and the Pedestrians et al---just brilliant!

[odujejnas]

若いしみんなうまいし、いいですね！ライブは。

[antonjjok]

alltough an overall great piece, the last 3 minutes clearly show the quality gap between their improvisational skills and their structured music.

[jamespeter2u]

Chris Cutler is one of the most underrated drummers in rock history: he's always elegant, fleet, fluid, imaginative and dramatic. What's great about all the ex members of Henry Cow though, is that none of them have disgraced themselves since; all - with the sad exception of the incapacitated Lyndsay Cooper, and the retired Georgie Born - are still performing wildly original, fierce and challenging music.

[saintdel]

I can't believe I actually like this stuff. It gets into my brain and won't let go.

[ziggystardust414]

こんなものが観れるなんて・・・　感動としか言いようが無い・・・

[gcviolin2]

ah auahau aauuhaahua!!!!! hmmmm ah aha 'yeaeayeayeayyyy yyyyayayyyayyaayss hm ysy aha# plaes pleased hmam uh yeh oh yas ys de de dde dah yas hum ayaas ohososhohsooshoshs hum ta thank you yes lovely

[gcviolin2]

ahgaahhagahhagha

hm]

[brookwoodt]

Notice how everybody is seated except Dagmar. Just like musicians in any orchestra. And Dagmar stands like any singer in a choir would to facilitate breathing and projecting the voice. They were about making and performing music - not putting on a rock show.

[brookwoodt]

Wow. This is great footage. Concerts is the only album I bought of theirs way back in 78 but it's still one of the most challenging and mind-blowing records I have. I've always admired this band, their music and their creative vision.

[jstoyanoff]

This really does restore one's faith in the power of creative musicianship, no???

[MarsNova]

The Cow on YouTube?!?

Hath Hell frozen over?

[12347771]

"let Ends Begin"................93

[garygomesg]

Is that the Chris Cutler aerobic workout?

[garygomesg]

This is wonderful. I LIKED the piano sound at the beginning. Jeez people, get over the need for perfect acoustics!

[threeby8887]

This is a better version than the Concerts version.

And it is interesting to finally see some video of the band.

[MikeAdupont]

its official....I now have crushes on all the henry cow girls!

[threeby8887]

Hate to tell ya, at least one is a lesbian.

Seriously, Cooper came out many years ago. I don't know about Born (the bassist), and I think Krause is straight.

[jendralpargiyo]

What??

Lindsay is a lesbian?

ohhh...........

Yeah, I think Krause is pretty straight since she's married to a Man (Anthony moore)

[lexo30]

Georgie (now Georgina) Born doesn't even play music anymore, as far as I know. Her most recent work was a book: a large and apparently painstakingly-researched academic critique of the decline of the BBC. It's supposed to be really good.

[FiddlerNick]

Lovely to see this band again after so many years. That bass and percussion combination kicking into the theme (at 7.00 ish) always sends shivers down my spine

[Nic33rd]

Those last 3 seconds were rather depressing.

[lexo30]

There's something so heroic about the sight of these ragged-looking musicians, three women and three men, standing and sitting in a muddy field in Switzerland in the middle of the night, doing this defiantly uncommercial music.

[Nic33rd]

Excellently put! I couldn't agree more!

[lexo30]

Thank you. I didn't discover Henry Cow until the early 90s, when I was in my early 20s, but they seemed to fill a need that I'd never known I had...

[paramind]

@lexo30 If it was bad, there wouldn't be anything heroic about it. You can get a lot of people with little

talent and self-development doing "uncommercial" music. I think you should qualify your statement =)

[lexo30]

@paramind Duly noted, but I'm not going to. :)

[BennyGaberMusic]

@lexo30 It's punk man!

[CarolSuemoo]

@lexo30 "defiantly uncommercial" and timeless music.

[lexo30]

@CarolSuemoo If by 'timeless' you mean 'great', I agree with you; but it wouldn't be a word I would use to describe Henry Cow's music if I wanted to give people a sense of what it's like. Only in the late 60s/early 70s could a band like this have formed, got a record deal and become famous. Nowadays, such a band could form and release its own stuff, but it'd never become famous outside of a certain niche. Before the late 60s, this band would neither have got together nor got a record deal.

[CarolSuemoo]

@lexo30 Yes, Great in their creative efforts but I think I also mean timeless in outside of my ideas of time - somewhat abstract sounds, possible in other ages, realms, galaxies...

[lexo30]

@CarolSuemoo Really? Maybe you're right, but I wonder if the Cow would have liked the idea that their music sounded that cosmic, or whatever. From what I've read of them they were doggedly political.

[CarolSuemoo]

@lexo30 Yes, so I've heard (marxists etc), but I have trouble hearing that in their music (other than lyrics) - from today's perspective (neo-libertarian), such sentiment seems cute, trite, and outdated (very youthful and naive - but horribly embarrassing in historic reality), although I can imagine they took it (and probably still do) very seriously. Anyways, I guess I'm trying to say it puts me in the moment....

[yannisfrier]

merci, superbe !

[Rhaaboudin]

Ah p'tting! ça fait du bien de revoir Cutler essayer de choper les mouches; un des plus meilleurs morceaux de ces extraterrestres; on savait vivre, à l'époque, et quelle(s) musique(s)! je revois encore leur vieux camion pourri, les tripes à l'air sur le parking de l'amphi Descartes à Poitiers, avant un concert de folie; merci Bernard (private joke inside)

[bobgreen623]

Really very good indeed, love the way it builds. With the Cow, you could never see the joins between the totally improvised and the composed parts. Elsewhere on Youtube is an absolutely beautiful piece called 'A Little Prayer' played by Fred Frith and Evelyn Glennie, it's well worth checking out.

[yarbur]

One of my all time fave bands .

What a joy to see. Fred Tim ,Chris , etc. Great explorers of music.

[TCMO99]

This is unbelievably great. Henry Cow are truly musical pioneers and have been for a long time. I admire these musicians so very much.

[howmanyofthereareme]

This piece boils, simmers, and then boils again. A prelude to the European Parliamentary Elections that will keep the wicker men and women in a state of insomnia until June 09.

[howmanyofthereareme]

I started a contribution while listening to the track in real time. I found myself thinking about Low Latent Inhibition and its contribution to improvised music. At 5000 words I was told I had gone to far. Oh well Hey Ho!

[echoes707]

very nice great video *******************

[Pighood]

I see someone got their 40th Anniversary Box Set.

[escrotolito]

impresionante

[cutandpaste]

Thank you for posting this. This is INCREDIBLE.

[rdevicsaint]

Phenomenal clip, what an amazing group they were, groundbreaking in so many ways.

[LordSatanOBoogie]

wow this is great video