Biography All Music Guide Wikipedia
Group Members: Patrick Moraz and Bill Bruford, Bill Bruford's Earthworks, Bill Bruford and Michael Borstlap, Bill Bruford, David Palmer, Phil Miller, Shortwave, John Greaves & Peter Blegvad, John Greaves, John Greaves & Pip Pyle, John Greeves, Neil Murray, Pip Pyle, Alan Gowen
All Music Guide:
National Health is one of those rare English progressive bands whose classic mid-'70s output still sounds fresh today. Their sound prospered on imaginative linear musicality, often in a jazzy format that emphasized extended instrumental solos. In keeping with the collaborative spirit of the times, National Health had an ever-changing lineup, sharing members with other influential groups like Hatfield and the North, Henry Cow, Matching Mole, and others. After a pair of 1978 releases, National Health and Of Queues and Cures, the group issued 1982's D.S. Al Coda and then fell silent. The overview Complete appeared in 1990; Missing Pieces, a collection of outtakes, followed in 1996. in 2000, Cuneiform issued a live album, Playtime which was recorded at two different shows in 1979 and sequenced and mastered in 2000 by Phil Miller and Pip Pyle as a tribute to their late bandmate, Alan Gowen, who had died of leukemia in May 1981.
Wikipedia:
National Health were a progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band included members of keyboardist Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band Gilgamesh, the band also included guitarists Phil Miller and Phil Lee and bassist Mont Campbell as original members. The band was named after Stewart's National Health glasses. Bill Bruford (previously of Yes and King Crimson) was the initial drummer but was soon replaced by Pip Pyle. Campbell was replaced by Neil Murray and then John Greaves.
A frequently changing line-up, they toured extensively and released their first album, National Health in 1977. Although it was created during the rise of Punk, the album is characterised by lengthy, mostly instrumental compositions. Their second record Of Queues and Cures, which included Peter Blegvad (recitation on "Squarer For Maud") and Georgie Born (cello), is currently held as the fourth best record ever (of 53,000 candidate records) on the Gnosis website. After the May 1981 death of Gowen, remaining members reconvened to record the album D.S. Al Coda, a set of compositions by Gowen, most previously unrecorded. The original albums and additional archival material have subsequently been released on CD.
The intro of National Health's 'Binoculars' was used as a sample on American rock band Deftones' Black Moon.
