Desperate Straights

Desperate Straights
Studio album by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow
Released	February 1975
Recorded	November 1974
Studio	The Manor, Oxfordshire, England
Genre	Avant-rock, art pop, cabaret
Length	36:06
Label	Virgin (UK)
Producer	Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Simon Heyworth
Slapp Happy chronology
Henry Cow chronology

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Pitchfork Media	8.2/10^[2]

Desperate Straights is a collaborative studio album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow. It was recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in November 1974, and released in February 1975. It was Slapp Happy's second album for Virgin, and they had invited Henry Cow to record with them.

The album is a blend of avant-garde music and nostalgic pop, and the success of this collaboration led to the two bands merging and recording In Praise of Learning in 1975. The lyrics of the song "A Worm Is at Work" refers to the song "War", which was recorded during the Desperate Straights sessions as "War Is Energy Enslaved", but was released later on In Praise of Learning.^[3]

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.

Track listing

Side one
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
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
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
8.	"Apes in Capes"	Moore	2:14
9.	"Strayed"	Blegvad	1:53
10.	"Giants"	Moore, Blegvad	1:57
11.	"Excerpt from The Messiah"	Handel, arr. Blegvad	1:48
12.	"In the Sickbay"	Krause, Blegvad	2:08
13.	"Caucasian Lullaby"	Cutler, Moore	8:20

Personnel

Slapp Happy

Dagmar Krause (credited as "Dagmar") – voice, Wurlitzer ("In the Sickbay")
Peter Blegvad – guitar, voice
Anthony Moore – piano

Henry Cow

Tim Hodgkinson – clarinet, piano ("Caucasian Lullaby")
Fred Frith – guitar, violin
John Greaves – bass guitar, piano ("Bad Alchemy")
Chris Cutler – drums, etc.

Additional musicians

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

Production

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

References

↑ Mills, Ted. "Desperate Straights". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 June 2011.
↑ Leone, Dominique. "Desperate Straights". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
↑ MacDonald, Ian (7 June 1975). "Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning". New Musical Express. Retrieved 11 June 2018. – via Rock's Backpages (subscription required)

External links

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[allmusic-1] Mills, Ted. "Desperate Straights". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 June 2011.

[Pitchfork-2] Leone, Dominique. "Desperate Straights". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 23 July 2012.

[MacDonald-3] MacDonald, Ian (7 June 1975). "Henry Cow: In Praise of Learning". New Musical Express. Retrieved 11 June 2018. – via Rock's Backpages (subscription required)