The progressive rock genre spawned many groups that became top-grossing
arena acts -- Pink Floyd and Genesis are two -- as well as many who
progressed right into obscurity.
Henry Cow were one of the best
known and most widely traveled English bands of the progressive era
(though only a cult favorite in the U.S. and actually more popular in
Continental Europe than in their home country), and their music has aged
amazingly well over the ensuing decades due to the group's diverse
influences (Oliver Messiaen, Kurt Weill, Frank Zappa, and Soft Machine
were a few) and uncompromising creativity. Henry Cow functioned more or
less as a collective, with a true group identity that changed from album
to album as members came and went. This turnover was one factor in
their consistent vitality; another was the dedicated core of the band, a
serious, politicized trio whose interest in improvisation served to
leaven the complexity they supplied as primary writers.
