National Health
『Complete』
CD: East Side Digital
ESD 80402/412 (1990) [2CD]
「One of the most interesting but lesser known of the bands that belonged to the British progressive rock scene of the mid to late 70's was National Health. Made up of a core of musicians, most of whom played together in an earlier progressive band, Hatfield the North, National Health recorded three albums over the course of six years. Their music, Largely instrumental, is characterized by shifting complex time signatures and virtuoso playing. This two disc set is packed to capacity with over 79 minutes of music per disc, including all three albums.」
NATIONAL HEALTH
COMPLETE
Disc One
1. PARACELSUS (Excerpt) (Mont Campbell) 1:41
Previously unreleased. Recorded 17 February, 1976 for radio broadcast
Phil Miller: Guitar (left speaker)
Steve Hillage: Guitar (right speaker)
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric Piano (left speaker)
Alan Gowen: Electric Piano (right speaker)
Mont Campbell: Bass
Bill Bruford: Drums
2. TENEMOS ROADS (Dave Stewart) 14:32
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
Neil Murray: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums, Cowbell, Tambourine & Gong
~
John Mitchell: Percussion
Alan Gowen: Moog, Electric Piano
Amanda Parsons: Vocals
Jimmy Hastings: Flute, Bass Clarinet
3. BRUJO (Alan Gowen) 10:13
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
Neil Murray: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums, Glockenspiel, Finger Cymbals, Shaker, Bells
~
John Mitchell: Temple Blocks, Guiro
Alan Gowen: Moog, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Amanda Parsons: Vocals
Jimmy Hastings: Flute
4. BOROGOVES (Dave Stewart) (Excerpt from Part Two) 4:12
5. (Part One) 6:29
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano, Clavinet
Phil Miller: Guitar
Neil Murray: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums
~
John Mitchell: Congas
Alan Gowen: Moogs, Electric Piano
Amanda Parsons: Vocals
Jimmy Hastings: Clarinet, Flute
6. ELEPHANTS (Alan Gowen/Dave Stewart) 14:32
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
Neil Murray: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums, Glockenspiel, Pixiephone
~
Alan Gowen: Moog, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Amanda Parsons: Vocals
Jimmy Hastings: Flute
7. THE BRYDEN 2-STEP (for Amphibians) Part 1 (Dave Stewart) 8:52
6 a.m. one morning, 4 musicians, all passion spent, sprawl over the console. But for Mike Dunne, a glimmer of consciousness is stirred by the sound of a wren greeting the dawn. The keen ornithologist lurches wild-eyed to the door and seizing a microphone, gives chase. 10 minutes later he emerges, mud-splattered, breathless, birdsong taped for the intro to this piece. Another triumph for the Mobile Mobile.
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
John Greaves: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums
~
Georgie Born: Cellos
Paul Nieman: Trombones
Phil Minton: Trumpet
8. THE COLLAPSO (Dave Stewart) 6:16
A Caribbean cacophony for limbo-lovers. ("Not bad for a white band" - Selwyn Baptiste). Smashed glass courtesy of Tony Andrew's greenhouse.
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
John Greaves: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums, Breakage
~
Selwyn Baptiste: Steel Drums
9. SQUARER FOR MAUD (John Greaves) 11:30
1. Maud is a computer programmed to measure numinosity. She appears in "Amateur" no. 1 - a pamphlet published by Amateur Enterprises in N.Y.C. Blegvad's narrative is an extract from the same. 2. An alternative title is 'Claret and Etiquette for J." 3. After Georgie Born's contribution to this piece we asked her to join the group, which she did.
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric & Acoustic Piano, Minimoog
Phil Miller: Guitar
John Greaves: Bass, Piano Innards
Pip Pyle: Drums, Percussion, handclaps
~
Georgie Born: Cellos
Jimmy Hastings: Clarinets, Bass Clarinet
Keith Thompson: Oboe
Peter Blegvad: Voice
Disc Two
1. DREAMS WIDE AWAKE (Phil Miller) 8:48
"Phil made the mistake of asking me to go a bit mad on the organ solo at the beginning of the number. This remark was like a red flag to a bull, with my volume control set hard over on '10' and lashing out at every foot pedal within my reach, I commenced a Gengis Khan-like attack on my organ. Smashing my arms down on the keys, I ripped out valves, wires, and strings of components from the Hammond's interior while the rest of the band and engineers watched aghast. In the shocked silence at the end of the take, I knew I'd gone too far... but by some oversight the solo remains." -D.S.
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric Piano, Minimoog
Phil Miller: Guitar
John Greaves: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums
~
Rick Biddulph: Bass on 6/4 organ solo
2. BINOCULARS (Pip Pyle) 11:43
Pip's contribution to the record is a song about telecommunications and boredom. It is dedicated to his three children, hardened videots who watch the T.V. 4 a.m. test card with fierce concentration, ignoring their parents' attempts to persuade them to eat or sleep. Further information on this track can be gleaned from Pip, who'll be happy to discuss it (or anything) over a drink.
Dave Stewart: Organ, Electric Piano
Phil Miller: Guitar
John Greaves: Bass, Crooning
Pip Pyle: Drums
~
Jimmy Hastings: Flute, Clarinets
Paul Nieman: Trombones
Phil Minton: Trumpets
Keith Thompson: Oboe
3. PHLÂKATÖN (Pip Pyle) 0:08
At last on record, Pip's grudging acknowledgment of the commercial need for a drum solo. ("Go down a storm in the States" etc.)
4. THE BRYDEN 2-STEP (for Amphibians) (Part 2) (Dave Stewart) 5:31
Line-up as Part One- written specially for the 'Come Dancing' three-legged 2-step finals, 1968. Adapted for the Processional March of Horace Savage's statues, Dalston Carnival (1984).
5. THE APOCALYPSO (Dave Stewart) 6:32
Previously unreleased.
Dave Stewart: Keyboards, Sound F/X, Drums & Percussion Programming
Phil Miller: Guitars
Dave Reed: Additional Percussion Programming
Drums and percussion score by Pip Pyle
Recorded January, February, 1990 at Mr. Russell Studios
6. PORTRAIT OF A SHRINKING MAN (Alan Gowen) 5:33
(Personnel for tracks 6-14:)
Phil Miller: Guitars
Dave Stewart: Keyboards
John Greaves: Bass
Pip Pyle: Drums, Electric Drums
~
Ted Emmett: Trumpet [#6]
Annie Whitehead: Trombone [#6]
Amanda Parsons: Backing Vocals [#12]
Barbara Gaskin: Backing Vocals [#12]
Jimmy Hastings: Flute [#8, 11, 14]
Elton Dean: Saxello [#6, 9]
Richard Sinclair: Vocals [#8]
7. T.N.T.F.X (Alan Gowen) 3:12
8. BLACK HAT (Alan Gowen) 4:51
9. I FEEL A NIGHT COMING ON (Alan Gowen) 6:35
10. ARRIVING TWICE (Alan Gowen) 2:17
11. SHINING WATER (Alan Gowen) 8:50
12. TALES OF A DAMSON KNIGHT (Alan Gowen) 1:53
13. FLANAGAN'S PEOPLE (Alan Gowen) 5:20
14. TOAD OF TOAD HALL (Alan Gowen) 7:25
Credits and Acknowledgements:
Tracks 2 - 6 of Disc One are from the album NATIONAL HEALTH,
licensed from Healthy Music, copyright 1977.
Recorded at the Point, Victoria, London 1977 on the Mobile Mobile.
Engineered by Mike Dunne, Paul Northfield and Brian Gaynor.
Mixed by National Health and Paul Northfield.
Produced by National Health.
Intro to ELEPHANTS recorded live at the M.L.T.S., Tiel, Holland, 14/2/77.
Synthi Hi-Fi and mixing by Nick Levitt.
Recorded (Teac 2-track) by Mike Ruysbroek, Tape edited by Pip Pyle.
Sleeve designed by Kevin Burke.
Photography by Laurie Lewis.
Tracks 7 - 9 of Disc One and 1 - 4 of Disc Two are from the album OF QUEUES AND CURES, licensed from Charly Records International Aps, courtesy of Healthy Music, copyright 1978.
Recorded in July 1978 at Ridge Farm (near Dorking, Surrey) on the Mobile Mobile, a 24-track transportable studio. Engineered by Mike Dunne and Brian Gaylor. All the equipment, including the desk and monitors, was set up in the same room, except for the drums, which were put in a nearby Nissen hut. Thanks to Benj Lefevre for this brilliant suggestion.
Produced by the Health & Mike Dunne.
Sleeve Design Jill P. Mumford.
Front Photo by Brian Rule.
Group Shot by Laurie Lewis.
Tracks 6 - 14, Disc Two are from the album D.S. AL CODA, licensed from Jean Pierre Weiller-Letourneur (Europa Records), courtesy of National Health and Celia Welcomme, copyright 1982.
"This record is a dedication to Alan Gowen who died on May 17th 1981. All the music is written by him during the period 1979-81 except *Arriving Twice* which was written previously and recorded on Gilgamesh's first album (Caroline 1975) and *TNTFX* which is to be found on their second album *Another Fine Tune You've Got Me Into* (Charly 1978). *Flanagan's People* and *Shining Water* had been played twice during this period. *Portrait Of A Shrinking Man*, *Tales Of A Damson Knight* and *Black Hat* were rehearsed but never performed in public. After his departure from National Health Alan rewote and expanded some of the pieces for a larger instrumentation. However, the familiarity gained from rehearsing these tunes in their earlier forms lessened the problems of feel and interpretation when dealing with the second draft. It is fortunate that the scores were almost complete and that very little except for the odd finishing touch was required to bring the pieces to a workable point." - Phil Miller
Engineered by Nick Bradford.
Produced by National Health and Nick Bradford.
Executive Producer: Jean Pierre Weiller-Letourneur.
Recorded at Matrix, 35 Little Russell St., London W1 Oct/Nov 1981.
compilation (C) 1990 East Side Digital
◆本CDについて◆
2枚組用ジュエルケース（24mm厚）。ブックレット（全36頁）にトラックリスト＆クレジット、歌詞（「Tenemos Roads」「Binoculars」）、Dave Stewartによる回想録「National Health - The Inside Story」（Oct. '89）、写真図版（モノクロ）10点。
ナショナル・ヘルス全集。1st『National Health』（1978年）、2nd『Of Queues and Cures』（同）、3rd『D.S. Al Coda』（1982年）および未発表曲2曲――モント・キャンベル（元エッグ）、スティーヴ・ヒレッジ（元ゴング）、ビル・ブルーフォード（元キング・クリムゾン）が参加した初期形態での1976年録音「Paracelsus (Excerpt)」と、デイヴ・スチュワートのキーボードとフィル・ミラーのギター（ドラムは打ち込み）による1990年の新録「The Apocalypso」――を収録。「Paracelsus」完全版は1996年にリリースされた本CDの補遺編ともいうべきデモ音源集『Missing Pieces』に収録されています。
ハットフィールド＆ザ・ノースの抒情的かつアヴァンギャルドなカンタベリー・ミュージックのDNAを受け継ぎつつも、「Squarer fo Maud」（スラップ・ハッピーのピーター・ブレグヴァドが声で、ヘンリー・カウのジョージー・ボーンがチェロで参加）のややパラノイアックでヘヴィーなパートなどはユニヴェル・ゼロ（Zeuhlミュージック）に通じるものがあります。
デイヴ・スチュワートのライナーノーツによれば「Tenemous Roads」はE・R・エディスン『邪龍ウロボロス』にインスパイアされたそうです。
さらにデイヴ・スチュワートのライナーノーツによると、バンド名の由来はデイヴがかけていた丸メガネがNational Health Service（国民保険サービス）が廉価で配布していたメガネに似ていたからだそうです。
★★★★★
Squarer for Maud
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