Desperate Straights

Desperate Straights
Studio album by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow
Released	March 1975
Recorded	November 1974, The Manor, Oxfordshire, England
Genre	Avant-rock
Length	36:06
Label	Virgin (UK)
Producer	Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Simon Heyworth
Slapp Happy chronology
Slapp Happy (1974) Desperate Straights (1975) In Praise of Learning (1975)
Henry Cow chronology
Unrest (1974) Desperate Straights (1975) In Praise of Learning (1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Piero Scaruffi	(7/10)[2]
Pitchfork Media	(8.2/10)[3]

Desperate Straights is an album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in November 1974. It was the first of two collaborative albums by the two groups and was released in March 1975.

Almost all of the album comprises Slapp Happy composed material and it is for this reason that it is generally regarded as a Slapp Happy album with backing by Henry Cow. The music is an unusual blend of avant-garde music and nostalgic pop, and the success of this collaboration led to the two bands merging. The lyrics of the song "A Worm is at Work" refers to the song "War", which was recorded during the same sessions as this album, but was released later on In Praise of Learning, the second Henry Cow/Slapp Happy album.

Track listing

Side one

1. "Some Questions about Hats" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:49
2. "The Owl" (Moore) – 2:14
3. "A Worm is at Work" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:52
4. "Bad Alchemy" (Greaves, Blegvad) – 3:06
5. "Europa" (Moore, Blegvad) – 2:48
6. "Desperate Straights" (Moore) – 4:14
7. "Riding Tigers" (Blegvad) – 1:43

Side two

1. "Apes in Capes" (Moore) – 2:14
2. "Strayed" (Blegvad) – 1:53
3. "Giants" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:57
4. "Excerpt from The Messiah" (Handel, Blegvad) – 1:48
5. "In the Sickbay" (Krause, Blegvad) – 2:08
6. "Caucasian Lullaby" (Cutler, Moore) – 8:20

Personnel

• Dagmar Krause (credited as "Dagmar") – voice, Wurlitzer ("In the Sickbay")
• Peter Blegvad – guitar, voice
• Anthony Moore – piano
• Tim Hodgkinson – clarinet, piano
• Fred Frith – guitar, violin
• John Greaves – bass guitar, piano
• Chris Cutler – drums, etc

Guests

• Geoff Leigh – flute
• Pierre Moerlen – percussion ("Europa")
• Mont Campbell – french horn
• Mongezi Feza – trumpet
• Nick Evans – trombone
• Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, oboe

Sound and art work

• Slapp Happy – producer
• Henry Cow – producer
• Simon Heyworth – producer
• Peter Blegvad – cover art
• Bob Drake – remastered 2004 CD reissue

CD reissues

• In 1993 Virgin Records reissued Desperate Straights together with Slapp Happy's Casablanca Moon on a single CD.
• In 2004 Recommended Records issued a remastered version of Desperate Straights on CD by itself.

See also

• Henry Cow Box (2006)

References

1. ^ Mills, Ted. "Desperate Straights". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/album/r49506. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
2. ^ Scaruffi, Piero. "Henry Cow". The History of Rock Music. http://www.scaruffi.com/vol3/henrycow.html. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 
3. ^ Leone, Dominique. "Desperate Straights". Pitchfork Media. http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/22312-desperate-straights-with-henry-cow. Retrieved 2011-06-15. 

External links

• Peter Blegvad discography
• Fred Frith discography