Desperate Straights

Studio album by Slapp Happy with Henry Cow

Released

February 1975

Recorded

November 1974
Oxfordshire, England

Genre

Avant-rock, art pop, cabaret

Length

36:06

Label

Virgin (UK)

Producer

Slapp Happy, Henry Cow and Simon Heyworth

Slapp Happy chronology

Slapp Happy
(1974)

Desperate Straights
(1975)

In Praise of Learning
(1975)

Henry Cow chronology

Unrest
(1974)

Desperate Straights
(1975)

In Praise of Learning
(1975)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	^[1]
Pitchfork Media	8.2/10^[2]

Desperate Straights is an album by British avant-rock groups Slapp Happy and Henry Cow, recorded at Virgin Records' Manor studios in November 1974. It was the first of two collaborative albums by the two groups and was released in February 1975.

Almost all of the album comprises Slapp Happy composed material and it is for this reason that it is generally regarded as a Slapp Happy album with backing by Henry Cow. The music is an unusual blend of avant-garde music and nostalgic pop, and the success of this collaboration led to the two bands merging. The lyrics of the song "A Worm is at Work" refers to the song "War", which was recorded during the same sessions as this album, but was released later on In Praise of Learning, the second Henry Cow/Slapp Happy album.

Track listing

Side one

"Some Questions about Hats" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:49
"The Owl" (Moore) – 2:14
"A Worm is at Work" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:52
"Bad Alchemy" (Greaves, Blegvad) – 3:06
"Europa" (Moore, Blegvad) – 2:48
"Desperate Straights" (Moore) – 4:14
"Riding Tigers" (Blegvad) – 1:43

Side two

"Apes in Capes" (Moore) – 2:14
"Strayed" (Blegvad) – 1:53
"Giants" (Moore, Blegvad) – 1:57
"Excerpt from The Messiah" (Handel, arr. Blegvad) – 1:48
"In the Sickbay" (Krause, Blegvad) – 2:08
"Caucasian Lullaby" (Cutler, Moore) – 8:20

Personnel

Dagmar Krause (credited as "Dagmar") – voice, Wurlitzer ("In the Sickbay")
Peter Blegvad – guitar, voice
Anthony Moore – piano
Tim Hodgkinson – clarinet, piano ("Caucasian Lullaby")
Fred Frith – guitar, violin
John Greaves – bass guitar, piano ("Bad Alchemy")
Chris Cutler – drums, etc.

Guests

Geoff Leigh – flute
Pierre Moerlen – percussion ("Europa")
Mont Campbell – French horn
Mongezi Feza – trumpet
Nick Evans – trombone
Lindsay Cooper – bassoon, oboe

Sound and art work

Slapp Happy – producer
Henry Cow – producer
Simon Heyworth – producer
Peter Blegvad – cover art
Bob Drake – remastered 2004 CD reissue

CD reissues

In 1993 Virgin Records reissued Desperate Straights together with Slapp Happy's Casablanca Moon on a single CD.
In 2004 Recommended Records issued a remastered version of Desperate Straights on CD by itself.