Henry Cow's 'In Praise Of Learning' (1975), is a unique synthesis of expressionism, electronics, rock-cabaret and the avant-garde. Two expressive moments of the band emerge: the first dedicated to Zappa and Wyatt and the second developed through a trial of uncertainty characterized by long pauses in free improvisation. These elements come together with the cold, hard voice of Dagmar Krause. The overall effect is an unsettling and hostile 'Brechtian' atmosphere and severe expressive tension and mystery.
The albums centrepiece and masterwork is the long jam 'Living In The Heart Of The Beast' which consists of alternating vocal and instrumental improvisations. Nowhere other than perhaps with Stereolab's 'Ping-Pong' has the political vanguard of Marxism and the call to arms been expressed with such lyrical conviction:
"Now is the time to begin to go forward - advance from despair. The darkness of solitary men - who are chained in a market they cannot control - in the name of freedom that hangs like a pall on our cities. And their towers of silence we shall destroy.
Now is the time to begin to determine directions. Refuse to admit the existence of destiny's rule. We shall seize from all heroes and merchants our labour, our lives and our practice of history: this our choice, defines the truth of all that we do.
Seize on the words that oppose us with alien force: they're enslaved by the power of capital's kings who reduce them to coinage and hollow exchange in the struggle to hold us, they're bitterly outlasting.....Time to sweep them down from power - deeds renew words.
Dare to take sides in the fight for freedom that is common cause - let us all be as strong and as resolute. We're in the midst of a universe turning in turmoil: of classes and armies of thought making war - their contradictions clash and echo through time."
King Krule (Peckham, 2016)
From
£0.99 GBP
Below the Waste
£14.99 GBP
Songs Of A Lost World
£29.99 GBP
Remote Echoes
£19.99 GBP
Carnival Of Light
£27.99 GBP
Europe Live Recordings 2022
£19.99 GBP
Henry's Dream
£24.99 GBP
Bark Your Head Off, Dog
£19.99 GBP
Life Is Yours
£23.99 GBP
Blue Banisters
£34.99 GBP
The Lion's Roar
£21.99 GBP
God's Favorite Customer
£19.99 GBP
Closing Time
£8.99 GBP
Dead Can Dance
£19.99 GBP
Citizen Of Glass
£24.99 GBP
English Graffiti
£19.99 GBP
The Magic Gang (Yellow Vinyl)
£27.99 GBP
Door, Door
£19.99 GBP
The Courage Of Others
£17.99 GBP
Cowboys And Aliens
£14.99 GBP
No Singles
£17.99 GBP
The Age Of Quarrel
£27.99 GBP
Hyperspace
£18.99 GBP
The Doldrums
£19.99 GBP
Trailer Park
£29.99 GBP
'Til The Stream Runs Dry
£16.99 GBP
So That You Might Hear Me
£14.99 GBP
No Man's Land
£14.99 GBP
(Watch My Moves)
£19.99 GBP
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
£29.99 GBP
Yol
£22.99 GBP
The Apple Drop
£14.99 GBP
Paradise Discotheque
£21.99 GBP
Amen and Goodbye
£17.99 GBP
Beat The Devil's Tattoo (LRS 2021)
£26.99 GBP
Head Carrier
£19.99 GBP
What's It Like Over There?
£17.99 GBP
Silver Dollar Moments
£19.99 GBP
Fetch The Bolt Cutters
£31.99 GBP
Queen Of Denmark
£22.99 GBP
Freaks, Faggots, Drunks & Junkies
£19.99 GBP
The Ballad of Darren
£27.99 GBP
A Woman A Man Walked By
£21.99 GBP