National Health is the first album recorded by the progressive rock and jazz fusion group National Health, one of the last representatives of the artistically prolific Canterbury scene.
Critical reception In a retrospective review, All About Jazz wrote that "revisiting the disc over 30 years later reveals a strength in composition, improvisation and orchestration/arrangement that makes it another high point in the careers of everyone involved." In his History of Progressive Rock, Paul Stump said that National Health "retains an askew charm, dominated by a wheezy, rough-and-reedy sound at odds with the amniotic sybaritism of most Progressive production jobs at the time." He opined that despite the album having been criticized for "excessive compositional rigour", the elaborate and inventive compositions actually enabled the soloists to be more adventurous. The Billboard Guide to Progressive Music called the album "easily the best of [National Health's] three releases."
Track listing
Personnel Phil Miller – electric guitar Dave Stewart – acoustic piano, electric piano, organ (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5), Clavinet (track 3) Pip Pyle – drums, glockenspiel (tracks 2, 5), pixiphone (track 5), gong (track 1), cowbell (track 1), tambourine (track 1), finger cymbals (track 2), shakers (track 2), bells (track 2) Neil Murray – fretless bass guitar with Alan Gowen – acoustic piano (tracks 2, 5), electric piano, Moog synthesizer Jimmy Hastings – flute (tracks 1–3, 5), clarinet (tracks 3, 4), bass clarinet (track 1) John Mitchell – percussion (track 1), güiro (track 2), temple block (track 2), conga (track 3) Amanda Parsons – vocals (tracks 1, 2, 4, 5)
References
External links National Health at Progarchives Biography at Calyx Club Discography Gnosis website