Slapp Happy & Henry Cow - Desperate Straights (1975)

There can't be many instances of an entire band merging with another, but that's what happened back in 1974 when eccentric avant popsters Slapp Happy joined avant prog heroes Henry Cow. And (of course) Henry Cow joined Slapp Happy. A rather gnomic press release from the time suggested that "both groups, though different, were the same'. Mmmm....

Slapp Happy (Peter Blegvad, Anthony Moore, Dagmar Krause) had already recorded one album for Virgin, and their charmingly quirky brand of surrealist pop had Mr Branson and his chums thinking they may have had a commercially viable band on their books. A merger with one of the most musically and politically radical bands of the time (also on Virgin) wasn't likely to enhance their earning potential much, but this was the seventies after all.

"Desperate Straights" was recorded before the merger became 'official'. Though the bulk of the material was composed by Blegvad and Moore, the results do feel like a genuine halfway house between the music of the two groups. Despite their reputation for being a difficult proposition, Henry Cow were keen to experiment with more conventional songs. Similarly Blegvad and Moore's avant-garde tendencies were given more room than they had been on their last Virgin effort.

A surprising team up at the time of its release (1975), "Desperate Straights" is a surprisingly melodic album, light on the art school angst and heavy on the playfulness, which one would hardly expect from such determined socialists as these. But here it is: "Some Questions About Hats" sounds like a Kurt Weill outtake, "A Worm Is at Work" gallops along with a sweet tune. Dagmar Krause remains restrained and not given to flights of horrible fancy. "Strayed" is reminiscient of Kevin Ayers's brand of art rock, and most of the songs clock in under two minutes. But never fear: the album ends on the eight minute "Caucasian Lullaby," a minimal woodwind piece that suddenly bursts into one last jab of Krausian despair.      

(Thanks to allmusic.com and bbc.co.uk!)

Tracklist:                           

Some Questions About Hats	1:53
The Owl	2:17
A Worm Is At Work	1:52
Bad Alchemy	3:06
Europa	2:48
Desperate Straights	4:14
Riding Tigers	2:02
Apes In Capes	2:16
Strayed	1:54
Giants	1:57
Excerpt From The Messiah	1:49
In The Sickbay	2:09
Caucasian Lullaby	8:25

Slapp Happy & Henry Cow - Desperate Straights (1975)
(256 kbps, cover art included)