HENRY COW -

 In Praise Of Learning 1975 UK VIRGIN 1st PRESS 

Vinyl: EX+/NM.  I'm very happy to be able to present this progressive gem in this wonderful condition. Probably barely played, if at all!! The vinyl has not any marks , not any hairlines and remarkably barely any retraction traces. The audio is simply sublime played on my Technics deck with Linn Sondek cartridge and through my Rotel amp and B&W speakers.  This vinyl sounds out of this world, a majestic album that showed that really went largely under the radar. Why ...? 

   I played this through in full and thoroughly enjoyed it, indeed my most intensive listen for this week with some very unusual song structures and progressions, it reminded me of Caravan and National Health. I was even tempted to keep this as it will be very hard to find this again, it is indeed mega rare now in this kind of condition. Needless to say NO jumps, clicks or ticks or anything untoward. This must be the best copy in existence and will be an object worthy of investment as the album is indeed mega rare. 

 Sleeve:  EX++.  Indeed a great archive condition single laminated sleeve without any damage, tears etc.  It has beautiful rich colours and not any creasing.  It sits superbly flat and has a sharp crisp opening. Beautiful sharp edges without any storage wear, the spine is fully legible and bold. The winner will be very pleased indeed!!  No marks, no seam splits or tears, no writing.  This is an upgrade for most psych and prog collectors. When will this come around again ...??

 A drastic, dramatic and difficult album to grasp, being both controversial lyrically and musically. "War" should seriously gain some radio play as it is the finest short song in the RIO movement ever penned, and probably the only Henry Cow composition with a proper hook. Wonderful sense of timing, catchy melody and menacing lyrics almost spitted out by Dagmar Krause, the result works fantastically. The real treat here however is the 15 minute "Living in the Heart of the Beast", a fabulous composition of avantrock, with one of the most powerful and dramatic conclusions I've ever heard in a song. The complexity of the piece alone rivals anything by King Crimson, paving it's way though a myriad of unique images and soundscapes.

Side two of the original vinyl consist of two sound collage pieces, which are enjoyable enough but are mostly for for people of particular interest (me personally find them both very interesting, "The Long March" being one of Cow's most thrilling collages), while "Terrible as an Army With Banners" displays the band at it's most beautiful and moody. Yet again very powerful music and the most "normal" piece of music here. I consider this album one of the RIO essential though it might be not a good one to start with, at least not for newbies. A real octopus of an album. 5/5 (review from progarchives.com)

Though there are rarely ever any problems with my items, I always try my very best to describe everything exactly!  PLEASE REMEMBER to contact me FIRST,  if you have any problems at all, before you leave feedback and star ratings, so I get a chance to turn any negative experience into a positive one!  I can always happily sort anything out for you, if you let me know you have a problem!  This way no one has to leave Negative/Neutral feedback - and we both walk away happy! Similarly with the amount of stars, anything less than a full 5 * rating is effectively detrimental to a seller's rating as lower ratings will incur higher Final Value Fees  and lower priority in the bidlists eventually making it unattractive to list items on Ebay at all. I know of at least one major previous Ebay seller who has decided not to list via Ebay again. Please do NOT bid if you cannot give me at least 1 chance to sort everything out to your FULL satisfaction in the unlikely event of a problem.  Thanks again!!

This an excellent investment opportunity!!! Any questions please ask me and I will try to answer soon.