Of Queues and Cures
| Of Queues and Cures | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | December 1978 | |||
| Recorded | July 1978 at Ridge Farm Studio | |||
| Genre | Jazz fusion, progressive rock, avant-garde jazz, psychedelic rock, art rock | |||
| Length | 52:02 | |||
| Label | Charly Records, Esoteric Recordings (reissue) | |||
| Producer | Mike Dunne | |||
| National Health chronology | ||||
| ||||
Of Queues and Cures (also identified as Of Queues & Cures) is the second album recorded by the progressive rock and jazz fusion group National Health, one of the last representatives of the artistically prolific Canterbury scene.
Reception
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [1] |
The editors of AllMusic awarded the album 41⁄2 stars, and reviewer Dave Lynch praised the album's "complexity and quirkiness," writing: "Of Queues and Cures is one of the last and finest examples of the instrumental Canterbury sound on record during the 1970s."[1]
John Kelman of All About Jazz stated that "there's a strength about the new line-up that makes its short-lived duration all the more unfortunate," and praised "The Bryden Two-Step (For Amphibians), Pt. 1," noting: "Episodic in construction, with more things going for its nine minutes than most entire albums have, it's brighter, more committed and more powerfully played than... anything on the group's first effort."[2]
In his book 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die, Tom Moon listed the album as a suggested follow-up to Robert Wyatt's Rock Bottom.[3]
Track listing
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "The Bryden Two-Step (For Amphibians), Pt. 1" | Dave Stewart | 8:54 |
| 2. | "The Collapso" | Stewart | 6:19 |
| 3. | "Squarer for Maud" | John Greaves | 11:51 |
| 4. | "Dreams Wide Awake" | Phil Miller | 8:50 |
| 5. | "Binoculars" | Pip Pyle | 11:45 |
| 6. | "Phlâkatön" | Pyle | 0:09 |
| 7. | "The Bryden Two-Step (For Amphibians), Pt. 2" | Stewart | 5:31 |
| 8. | "Paracelsus (Excerpt)" (Bonus Track) | ||
| 9. | "The Apocalypso" (Bonus Track) |
Personnel
- Dave Stewart - organ and electric piano (tracks 1-5, 7), piano (tracks 1-3, 7), minimoog (tracks 3-5, 7)
- Phil Miller - electric guitar (tracks 1-5, 7)
- John Greaves - bass guitar (tracks 1-5, 7), piano innards (track 3), crooning (track 5)
- Pip Pyle - drums (tracks 1-5, 7), breakage (track 2), percussion (track 3), handclaps (track 3)
Also:
- Selwyn Baptiste - steel drums (track 2)
- Rick Biddulph - bass guitar during 6/4 organ solo (track 4)
- Peter Blegvad - spoken word excerpt (track 3)
- Georgie Born - cellos (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7)
- Mike Dunne - engineer, producer
- Brian Gaylor - engineer
- Jimmy Hastings - clarinets (tracks 3, 5), bass clarinet (track 3), flute (track 5)
- Phil Minton - trumpet (track 1), trumpets (track 5)
- Paul Nieman - trombones (tracks 1, 5)
- Keith Thompson - oboe (tracks 3, 5)
References
- ^ a b Dave Lynch AllMusic review.
- ^ Kelman, John (30 July 2009). "National Health: National Health / Of Queues and Cures". All About Jazz. Retrieved 28 March 2013.
- ^ Moon, Tom (2008). 1,000 Recordings to Hear Before You Die. Workman. p. 875.
