Desperate Straights

by Slapp Happy & Henry Cow

Desperate Straights cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: 21 February 1975
  • Label: Virgin
  • Country: Germany
  • Length: 1:13:21
  • Community rating: 3.99/5 from 7 ratings

Artists on this release: Henry Cow

Album Notes & Community Reviews

Joining forces for a collaborative marvel, the accessible eccentricity of Slapp Happy perfectly collided with the intense avant-garde rigidity of Henry Cow. 'Desperate Straights' is a wonderfully quirky, remarkably playful progressive pop album, anchoring deeply surreal, highly poetic cabaret storytelling within fiercely complex, shifting avant-prog structures.

Genres

Descriptors: uncommon-time-signatures, complex, avant-garde, progressive, eccentric, experimental, vocal, chamber, genre-blending

Tracklist

  1. Casablanca Moon (2:49)
  2. Me And Parvati (3:25)
  3. Half Way There (3:18)
  4. Michaelangelo (2:36)
  5. Dawn (3:21)
  6. Mr. Rainbow (3:52)
  7. The Secret (3:31)
  8. A Little Something (4:35)
  9. The Drum (3:35)
  10. Haiku (3:05)
  11. Slow Moon's Rose (2:55)
  12. Some Questions About Hats (1:49)
  13. The Owl (2:14)
  14. A Worm Is At Work (1:52)
  15. Bad Alchemy (3:06)
  16. Europa (2:48)
  17. Desperate Straights (4:14)
  18. Riding Tigers (1:43)
  19. Apes In Capes (2:14)
  20. Strayed (1:53)
  21. Giants (1:57)
  22. Extract From The Messiah (1:48)
  23. In The Sickbay (2:08)
  24. Caucasian Lullaby (8:20)

Credits

  • Slapp Happy - primary artist, arranged by, producer, arranger
  • Henry Cow - primary artist, arranged by, producer, arranger
  • Simon Heyworth - arranged by, producer, arranger
  • John Greaves - bass, piano, written-by
  • Tim Hodgkinson - clarinet, piano
  • Peter Blegvad - cover, lithography, guitar, voice, written-by, vocal
  • Chris Cutler - drums, written-by, membranophone
  • Geoff Leigh - guest [assisted by], flute
  • Muchsin Campbell - guest [assisted by], french horn, French horn guest
  • Lindsay Cooper - guest [assisted by], oboe, bassoon, bassoon oboe
  • Nick Evans - guest [assisted by], trombone, guest trombone
  • Mongezi Feza - guest [assisted by], trumpet, guest trumpet
  • Fred Frith - guitar, violin, guitar violin
  • Anthony Moore - piano, written-by
  • Dagmar Krause - voice, organ [wurlitzer], written-by, vocal
  • Pierre Moerlen - guest [assisted by], percussion
  • Georg Friedrich H盲ndel - written-by

More from Slapp Happy & Henry Cow: full discography