The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow
The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow (subtitled 50th Anniversary Box) is a seventeen-CD plus one-DVD box set by English avant-rock group Henry Cow; it was released by RēR Megacorp in November 2019. The box set comprises the previously released 2006 "Henry Cow Box" (excluding the bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract") and the 2009 "40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set" (including the bonus CD: "A Cow Cabinet of Curiosities"), totalling over sixteen hours. A bonus CD: "Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978" was given to advance  subscribers of the 2019 "Box Redux", and contains newly recovered and previously unreleased recordings, plus the contents of the 2006 box set bonus CD-single: "Unreleased Orckestra Extract". The 2019 "Box Redux" plus the "Ex Box" bonus CD contains all the officially released studio and live recordings of Henry Cow, excluding "Bellycan" as released on the 1991 East Side Digital version of "Legend", and the complete version of "The Glove" from the 1991 East Side Digital version of "Unrest". "The Henry Cow Box Redux" was released to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the formation of Henry Cow. Included in  the box set are three 60-page booklets: "Book 1: The Studio Volumes 1–7"; "Book 2: The Road Volumes 8–12"; and "Book 3: The Road Volumes 13–17". All the studio CDs were remastered by Bob Drake. RēR Megacorp also released the "Ex Box" bonus CD as a free-standing album. Reception. A review of "The Henry Cow Box Redux: The Complete Henry Cow" in "Moors Magazine" called Henry Cow "one of the most fascinating and best British bands ever". It described their music as having "the mentality of free jazz and the discipline of the intelligent rock of Zappa". It  was always "exciting" and "surprising" music and just as relevant today as it was 50 years ago. The reviewer concluded that "[t]his box is an absolute must for lovers of intelligent jazz rock." Reviewing the box set in the British progressive rock magazine, "Prog", Mike Barnes called Henry Cow "one of the most exploratory groups of the 70s". He praised their studio albums in the box, from the "dazzling" Canterbury-influenced debut, "Legend", to the "concise, chamber ensemble feel" of "Western Culture". The remainder of the collection, their live recordings, completes the Henry Cow story. He said the band's  improvisations were "rare in progressive rock", but felt that while much of their music was "extraordinary", not all of it worked. For example, Barnes described the as "desultory instrumental conversations", and Tim Hodgkinson's "severe, serialist 16-minute" "Erk Gah" on the "a very tough nut to crack". But Barnes complemented the performance in of Fred Frith's "New Suite", and the concert in where the band played with themes from Hodgkinson's "Living in the Heart of the Beast". Roger Trenwith wrote in "The Progressive Aspect" that this box set "messes with your preconceptions of compositional construction and recording  techniques". He said Henry Cow's music "is not ... easy listening", but it is "hugely imaginative, often intentionally humorous, more than occasionally terrifying, and always interesting". He complimented Bob Drake on his remastering of the band's studio albums, adding that their "clarity ... is stunning". Trenwith stated that Henry Cow's studio work illustrates how varied their music was and how it progressed from one album to the next. He called "In Praise of Learning" "frighteningly good", but felt that "Western Culture" was "an academic exercise [that] is quite satisfying, but ... lack[ing] something". Of the live recordings, Trenwith listed the  Bremen CD as the highlight, with its "thrilling display of quality chamber rock" in "New Suite", and the "Der Kunst Der Orgel" improvisation that he felt is "less ethereal, and ... more involving" than the "Trondheim" set. Trenwith concluded that the three booklets are full of interesting material and "are worthy of a review themselves". Contents. Source: Box set and Bonus CD liner notes. Bonus CD: "Ex Box – Collected Fragments 1971–1978". This is a 250-copy limited edition CD given to subscribers of the "Box Redux", although RēR Megacorp also sold the disk as a free-standing album. The CD was  compiled by Chris Cutler and mastered by Bob Drake at Studio Midi-Pyrenees in France in October 2019. It comprises previously unreleased recordings, bonus tracks that appeared on reissues of some of Henry Cow's studio albums, plus the two tracks by the Orckestra that were released on the bonus CD-single, "Unreleased Orckestra Extract" that was given to subscribers of the 2006 "Henry Cow Box". Track notes. Source: Bonus CD liner notes.