Henry Cow

Featuring: Robert Wyatt

condition (records/cover): EX+ / EX 

Gatefold sleeve.

Concerts (1976) is the Henry Cow double LP that captured the touring band at the height of their improvisatory powers. Recorded at concerts in London, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway between September 1974 and October 1975, the album was originally issued by Compendium in Norway and Caroline in the UK (CAD 3001/3002). Sides one and two contain composed material (including the band's last John Peel Session, recorded August 1975, and extracts from a New London Theatre concert with Robert Wyatt in May 1975). Sides three and four contain pure group improvisation: a long Italian "Groningen" set and the "Oslo" suite from late 1975.

The line-up across the album shifts: Fred Frith, Tim Hodgkinson, John Greaves (replaced by Georgina Born on later sessions), Chris Cutler, Lindsay Cooper, with Dagmar Krause on the Wyatt-augmented New London tracks. "Beautiful As The Moon, Terrible As An Army With Banners" appears in a live version different from the In Praise Of Learning studio cut. "Nirvana For Mice" returns from Leg End. "Ottawa Song" is a Wyatt-Cow improvisation. The improvised side three and side four capture the band's free-form practice as no studio session could.

The pressing on offer is the LTM double-LP reissue catalogued LM 1011 / LM 1012, a European 1980s edition (the same plates were used for the Broadcast Records 1984 pressing on BC 2). Not the 1976 Caroline/Compendium first issue, but the version most widely available across European markets in the 1980s.