National Health 'Complete'
Ask someone to name
the great 'progressive' (lets not go into what the term means
right now) rock bands of the 70's (may as well make that great
progressive rock bands period) and you'll very likely get the
usual suspects, Genesis, Yes, ELP plus possibly, Jethro Tull,
Caravan, Van Der Graaf Generator and Camel. Very rarely, if ever
will you hear mention of the more jazz inclined of the British
bands, Soft Machine, Hatfield and the North and National
Health and of course the Anglo-French wizards Gong. In
some senses however these bands created music which was often
more 'progressive' than that of the better known bands. I guess
that people have their own comfort zone within the rock continuum
stretching from say Status Quo to Weather Report and that for
many, bands such as National Health and the
Hatfields are just a little to left field. Add to this that fact
that National Health didn't really commence operations until 1975,
a time when the 'business' was moving away from long haired guys
playing complex music towards prats with a pair of record decks
or a propensity to expressing their emotions by spitting at each
other and it's not that surprising that they are not better known.
Rant over.
I have had a couple of National Health albums
knocking around for many years now but as is often the case it
takes a sparkling CD release like this to re-kindle interest.
One interesting fact that I have learned whilst surfing the net
for information on the band is that at one time the line up
included Steve Hillage and Bill Bruford albeit as temporary
members. I won't go into the band history as it has already been
covered at a number sites on the web (see links) and of course
when you buy this release you will be able to read Dave Stewart's
splendid notes in the booklet. The band was the brainchild of the
aforesaid Mr Stewart (keyboards with Egg, Hatfield and the North,
Bruford, Hillage's 'Fish Rising') not of the Eurythmics) and Alan
Gowan (also keyboards - Gilgamesh) who originally intended to
create a rock orchestra with 2 keyboard players, 2 guitarists,
bass, drums and 3 vocalists. for much of it's working life
however the band consisted of Dave Stewart, Phil Miller (also of
the Hatfields and the only person to stay for the whole life of
the band)on guitar, Pip Pyle (Hatfields, Gong) on drums, Amanda
Parsons on vocals and either Neil Murray (later of Whitesnake and
Black Sabbath!) or John Greaves on Bass. Effectively for much of
the time this was Hatfield and the North minus Richard Sinclair (who
at the time was riding a rather less interesting Camel).
Back -
Murray, Miller, Parsons
Front - Gowan, Stewart, Bruford
The main lifetime of the band stretched from 1975 until 1980 with Dave Stewart leaving in the final year to be replaced by Alan Gowan who re-joined the band. During this time two albums 'National Health' and 'Of Queues & Cures' were recorded and release on the Charly Label. In 1981 Alan sadly died of leukemeia and the band re-formed to record and release a third album mainly of his material, 'DS Al Coda' released in 1981. 'Complete' captures all three albums in their entirety plus an early recording of the Mont Campell (another early member on bass) composition 'Paracelscus' featuring Hillage and Bruford and a Dave Stewart track 'Apocalypso' re-recorded mainly with programming in 1990. As these two extra tracks indicate 'Complete' actually isn't but thankfully there is another release available, 'Missing Pieces', which I gather collects more of the early material together. At the time of writing a live album entitled 'Playtime' featuring the later Gowan, Miller, Pyle, Greaves line up is about to be released. These guys are probably selling more now than they have ever done.
National Health - Of Queues & Cures - DS al Coda
Missing Pieces - Complete - Playtime
So, what about the
music…
Well it's often complex but rarely deliberately dissonant like
Zappa can be sometimes and never in that 'clever for the sake of
being clever' mode that triggers headaches (at least in me it
does), quite English and pastoral without being obvious or twee,
and sometimes powerful without ever being rock as it is normally
recognised. The fact that unlike most rock music this stuff was
composed and written down should give you some clue, the tunes
often develop like classical pieces with none of the usual verse,
chorus, twiddly bit, repeat etc structures typical of most so
called 'progressive' rock (which usually isn't).
As you would expect (even if Alan wasn't playing with the band
live at the time of the second album he appears on the recording)
there are lots of keyboards, nice analogue ones, piano, Rhodes,
Moog, Hammond (often with that typically Canterbury fuzzed sound).
Phil Miller's smooth fuzzed guitar playing is a times reminiscent
of Steve Hackett's sound although not his playing or selection of
notes (which does though occasionally remind me of Hillage's
playing around this time). Amanda Pearson's ethereal vocals soar
above the band (though not on that many tunes) and Pyle, Murray
and Greaves drive the whole think along in a lovely understated
jazz-rock sort of way which is totally unlike the 'listen to me I'm
the best / fastest etc' exploits of US players in this field (I'm
thinking of Mahavishnu and the Corea bands here). Pyle in
particular is wonderful. I must also mention Jimmy Hastings (Caravan)
contributions on woodwind to the first two albums.
Personally I like the two 70's albums best as to these ears
'DS Al Coda' is a little spoilt in places by the rather
electronic 1980's soundscape, the music remains excellent though.
Strange how 1970's albums still sound great when re-mastered
whilst 1908's material has you wincing at the drum and
synthesiser sounds. I guess that's why so many bands these days
once again favour analogue keyboards.
Simplistically one could describe its as a mixture of rock, jazz
and classical forms but frankly it's just wonderful, beautiful
and most of all original music played by a rock band. Just to
help you get a fix there are occasional hints of very early
Genesis or Caravan but overall it's generally more complex and
usually rather more jazzy. A real exuberance and simple love of
music shines through in the composition and playing. Listening to
these albums again in all their re-mastered splendour is really a
joy and I can thoroughly recommend them to anyone interested in
truly original and innovative rock music.
Stewart, Murray, Miller, Pyle
Where are they now….
Dave Stewart has seemingly renounced this style of music and
following stints with Bruford and his own unfortunately named 'Rapid
Eye Movement' (REM!) in the early 1980's has concentrated on
turning out occasional albums of intelligent with pop with
sometime fellow NH internee Barbara Gaskin ('It's My Party' etc).
Phil Miller still composes and plays music albeit with slightly
more jazzy leanings and can be found playing live with his band 'In
Cahoots' which also features Pip, Soft Machine luminary Elton
Dean and the astounding bass player Fred Thelonious Baker. Check
them out if they play your area.
As well as 'In Cahoots' Pip seems to being playing in various
jazz ensembles and even reprised his early 70's role in Gong
sometime in the early 1990's.
As for the others I am sure that perusal of the various web sites
dedicated to the so called 'Canterbury' scene will turn up some
information.
Miller, Stewart, Greaves, Pyle
What's next…
Well, I have just ordered the two Hatfield and the North CD's so
watch this space for a feature on another great but little known
band.
David Weston February 2001
Dem 'ol useful links
http://perso.club-internet.fr/calyx/
http://www.weasels.demon.co.uk/Resources/MusicRes/Canterbury/NatHealth/NatHistory.html
http://www.room34.com/nh/index.html
http://perso.infonie.fr/twing/National/National.htm
Dave Stewarts home page - http://www.davebarb.demon.co.uk/index.html