This was a gig I never thought I'd see as Henry Cow had sworn never to perform again, News From Babel had never performed live let alone doing a show now, but since Lindsay Cooper's death last year many of her collaborators decided to get together and pay tribute with one very unexpected show at the Barbican as part of The London Jazz Festival which means this show is a Serious production who have put on most of the shows I've seen by the various ex members of Henry Cow over the years that weren't put on by the London Musicians Collective.
As expected the Barbican is packed for this show and the fact that they are only playing music composed by Lindsay Cooper obviously limits the music they can play at this show and also with the nature of the music seemingly no two songs has the same instrumentation and the line-up varies throughout the night although it does have 4 distinct bands they are all based around the core group of Chris Cutler on drums, Fred Frith Guitars and Bass for all but 3 songs of the night, John Greaves Bass and vocals, with Alfred Harth on Saxophones, Clarinet and trumpet, Tim Hodgkinson on Keyboards Saxophone and clarinet as well as Michel Berkmans on Bassoon, Oboe and English Horn, Dagmar Krause and Sally Potter and Phil Minton on Vocals, Zeena Parkins on Harp and Keyboards, Anne-Marie Roelofs on Violin and Trombone and Veryan Weston Keyboards.
The show opens with Henry Cow performing Half The Sky they get about 20 seconds in when Chris Cutler stops them and they have a bit of a conflab before re-starting the tune this time they got all the way though this restrained piece of almost chamber jazz my notes are a mess as it was so this is mainly from memory it was nice but it was also rather quiet and while I could see Fred Frith I wasn't certain I could hear him as his playing was so restrained especially sat next to John Greaves who was most expressive throughout the night as he pulled the notes out of his bass.
Gretels Tale was next and also had a false start that hinted at the fact the band seemed to be a bit under-rehearsed and as it like most of the Henry Cow material came from the second side of Western Culture I have to wonder why they weren't played in order, still this had some really nice Bassoon parts and I was finally managing to pick out the sound of Fred Friths guitar against the jazzy inflections of the Keyboards as well as some nice trombone. After the song someone shouted out for More Bassoon yes why not. Look Back had Chris Cutler doing his best to lead the band from the rear and while it sounded good it was far too quiet so much so that several people looked round at the noise my camera made when turned on, it should not have been audible above the music.
Falling Away was I think the tune that featured Fred Frith playing his guitar with a paint brush that added a nice texture as the trombone and clarinet got going and filled the air with a sense of tense foreboding and at the same time calm at the way they sounded almost pedestrian rather than like The Pedestrians. Slice felt like it was the end of an era more than an ear and had some lovely clarinet on it.
At this point as they transformed from Henry Cow into News From Babel more musician's came out and Zeena Parkins moved over to the Harp and I think Sally Potter sang Moss which was a piano and Harp led tune that Sally sang and as it broke down and slowed down it came to a conclusion sounding like a slow thunderstorm that Chris Cutlers cymbals had a god bit of involvement in it was very atmospheric. The Dagmar Krause came out to a big cheer and just as she stepped up to sing Black Gold Zeena Parkins threw in the towel quite literally throwing it onto the stage in front of her harp and halting the band and after a discussion as to what was wrong they started Black Moss again and it sounded very cool and had that almost Brechtian feel to it that you'd expect unlike Dragon At the Core that almost sounds like a dance rap tune with Zeena's harp sounding not unlike the backing on many current tunes by the likes of Nicky Minaj which was quite a surprise but it's funky in a way I wasn't expecting and sounds far more current than anything else in tonight's show.
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Waited/Justice is much slower piano and harp led song with Dagmar sharing vocals with was it Phil Minton who was very expressive and the sort of singer who really isn't a singer more a character. Late Evening and Victory both come on more like soundscapes than anything they are ok and a good end to the first half but it feels like something's missing, most of the half time chats I have are with friends who want it to be louder, wilder, more improvised and also tighter.
The second half starts with Music For Films the band Lindsay put together to make soundtracks and has Sally Potter singing on most of the songs and she is joined by John Greaves and Phil Minton at various points. Womens Wrongs is an angry song sung over a really nice almost sea shanty played on Bassoon, Violin and Piano it's beguiling and also shows up how much Sally sounds like Dagmar or is it the other way round. Lots of Larks is playful and has the first skronking sax solo of the night.
They get much more Brechtian for General Strike that has the sort of worker's rights lyrics that sound at odds with this City Of London corporation venue and being played at a gig with all sorts of corporate sponsorship or it's just a cool juxtaposition of the revolution being consumed by the enemy it sought to target. Iceland is chilly as the name suggests and I think was the tune with the long violin solo in it that got the biggest cheer of the night. Empire song brings back more of the woodwind and they battle it out over Chris Cutlers bedrock drum flourishes and Fred Friths subtle adornments.
As She Breathes that closes the Music For Films section is another showcase for the woodwind and brass sections.
The final part of the evening is Oh Moscow and it was performed as the song cycle that it is and with the current talk of a new cold war the timing is near perfect for a piece looking at life in the midst of a cold war. John Greaves vocals on England Descending are very expressive and he is full of angst that isn't reflected in the Brecht like backing that is the first song to not feature Fred Frith of the night. That is followed by On German Soil that has some very earnest lyrics coupled with some woodwind mania and some Jazzy breaks.
Lovers is as close to a love song as this lot will ever get before the stage fills with a few more people for Oh Moscow that has vocals from Sally Potter John Greaves and Phil Minton together it's stirring and full throttle before they calm things down on Forgotten Fruit that seems like the strangest of songs to close a concert with as it closes with almost a damp squib rather than a crescendo.
Still they get a standing ovation and loud cheers that bring the entire band back out for curtain calls and an encore that sees everyone involved in another song whose name I don't know but has some cool brass on it and the show finishes with Dagmar having the last couple of lines. This has been a good show but not a great one as something seemed to be lacking somewhere, be it under rehearsal or the limitations of the song choices. Still great to see all these people playing together again even if it's just for one night.
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