Henry Fool

Introduction

Henry Fool are:

Tim Bowness - guitar & vocals
Peter Chivers - bass
Fudge Smith - drums
Mike Bearpack - guitar
Stephen Bennett - keyboards
Myke Clifford - flute & sax

To quote the web page "Henry Fool's music is a distinctive combination of 60's/70's Progressive influences (Gabriel-era Genesis/Pink Floyd/Soft Machine), contemporary textural experiments (Rain Tree Crow/Passengers) and hard-hitting group improvisations (King Crimson/Radiohead/Tortoise)."

Henry Fool
by Henry Fool

Released 2001
Label: Cyclops
Catalogue: CYCL 103

[ Reviewed September 2002 ]

I came across this album on the Burning Shed label web site www.burningshed.com although it's in fact released on the progressive Cyclops label www.gft-cyclops.co.uk. I already have the excellent Flowermouth by No-Man (Bowness & Steven Wilson), and reading the web site blurb (above) thought it would be worth a go.

The album is a varied collection of tracks, about a 50:50 ratio of slow songs and instrumentals, these range from jazzy twiddling about to serious rock pieces. The tracks are mostly only a few minutes long themselves but some nice themes are repeated. The songs are sung by Bowness who is an acquired taste. He doesn't so much sing the words as breathe them, and this type of 'singing' sounds to me as if anyone could do it. Although it fits in well with the style of the music here, I occasionally find myself gritting my teeth and wishing he would engage his vocal chords for once and let himself go. While I'm on the subject he sometimes uses a voice effect so that he sounds as if he's on the end of a telephone. Please Tim, on the two albums I have of you, it's already over-used.

New paragraph. If you're still with this then despite what I've so far said, the music is very good indeed. For a start off, there are large doses of mellotron giving you that nostalgic early 70's feel. The combination of instruments also includes rugged bass, heavily-reverbed guitar, David Torn-like guitar and light smatterings of saxophone. There is definitely an early King Crimson sound although this music has more of a meandering contemplative style. Some of the instrumentals have a weirdness and jamming quality about them that they could almost be KC improvs. At times they seem to have trouble knowing how to end tracks as there are a few abrupt stops, but it's a pretty minor problem.

The album is well recorded and the cymbals sound especially fresh. I do feel though that the drumming could've been a fair bit more adventurous in places. How much this is due to the drummer and how much due to the musical direction we'll never know. The man-of-the-match award goes to Peter Chivers on bass for some lovely playing. If you like this sort of music then I recommend the fantastic album Hex by Bark Psychosis on the 3rd Stone label. At the moment I think that Hex is superior to this album but time will tell, it may be because I heard Hex first.

Tracks:

1. Friday Brown 1:13
2. Bass Pig 2:57
3. Poppy Q 2:42
4. Lateshow a/Midnight days 2:17
5. Lateshow b/Blindman one 1:12
6. Lateshow c/Poppy Z 2:58
7. Lateshow d/Blindman two 2:03
8. Lateshow e/Grounded 4:37
9. The laughter that turned to ice 3:45
10. Jazz monkey 3:03
11. Judy on the brink 3:17
12. The David Warner wish list 3:47
13. Heartattack 3:45
14. The mellow moods of Malcolm McDowell 6:55
15. Dreamer's Song 4:10
16. Tuesday Weld 2:59

total time 51:41

Tracks:
1.	Friday Brown	1:13
2.	Bass Pig	2:57
3.	Poppy Q	2:42
4.	Lateshow a/Midnight days	2:17
5.	Lateshow b/Blindman one	1:12
6.	Lateshow c/Poppy Z	2:58
7.	Lateshow d/Blindman two	2:03
8.	Lateshow e/Grounded	4:37
9.	The laughter that turned to ice	3:45
10.	Jazz monkey	3:03
11.	Judy on the brink	3:17
12.	The David Warner wish list	3:47
13.	Heartattack	3:45
14.	The mellow moods of Malcolm McDowell	6:55
15.	Dreamer's Song	4:10
16.	Tuesday Weld	2:59
	total time	51:41

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Henry Fool

Introduction

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Henry Fool
by Henry Fool