Henry Cow – ‘In Praise of Learning’: Britain’s most revolutionary album?
As the psychedelic exploration of the 1960s gave way to the experimental nature of progressive rock in the early 1970s, a blossoming avant-garde scene arose. Characterised by innovative ideas surrounding music production, ruthless experimentation, and copious amounts of mind-altering drugs, the ’70s avant-garde rock scene remains one of music’s most interesting periods.
Of course, no discussion about 1970s rock music can be complete without mentioning the punk rock revolution of 1976. The advent of punk created a new ground zero for music in general, inspiring an entire generation to embrace experimental and DIY music making. While pioneering groups like Throbbing Gristle would personify this post-punk avant-garde scene, one of Britain’s most revolutionary avant-rock records was released before the popularising of punk rock, Henry Cow’s 1975 masterpiece In Praise of Learning.
Formed by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson in 1968 while studying at the University of Cambridge, Henry Cow were committed to musical experimentation and a staunch sense of anti-commercialism. Transcending the labels of progressive rock and psychedelia, Henry Cow quickly established themselves as one of Britain’s strangest and most original groups. In Praise of Learning is their fourth studio album and their second since merging with the German avant-pop outfit Slapp Happy.
While the Cambridge band had always been pretty out there, this album saw them at their most politically conscious. Throughout the record, Henry Cow espouses their strong left-wing values, particularly focused on a sense of anti-commercialism and anti-capitalism. For instance, the album’s standout track, ‘Living In the Heart of the Beast’, expresses the group’s disenfranchisement with living under an oppressive capitalist regime, finding themselves yearning for some sort of revolution, with political or cultural.
Preaching the joys of left-wing politics was something that later came to define radical punk groups like Crass, who were seen as revolutionary and trailblazing. However, in the musical landscape of 1975, Henry Cow’s stunning indictment of capitalism in the UK was nothing short of radical.
Interestingly, the political tirade of ‘Living In the Heart of the Beast’ almost never occurred. Originally, the track was penned as an instrumental before Slapp Happy’s songwriter, Peter Blegvad, was asked to provide lyrics. Blegvad then produced two verses detailing a woman throwing raisins at a pile of bones, an effort which reportedly got him thrown out of the band. In a 1996 interview with Hearsay, Blegvad recalled, “Tim Hodgkinson said, ‘I’m sorry, this is not at all what we want’, and he wrote reams of this political tirade. I admired his passion and application, but it left me cold.”
Regardless of Blegvad’s misguided efforts to provide lyrics to the track, In Praise of Learning as a whole album remains among Britain’s most revolutionary releases. Both in terms of the experimental sounds and the hard-leaning left-wing politics with which the tracks were imbued, audiences in 1975 had never heard anything remotely similar to what Henry Cow were purporting.
