National Health - Of Queues And Cures (1978)

Year: December 1978 (CD 2009)
Label: Esoteric Recordings (UK), ECLEC2130
Style: Progressive Rock, Instrumental, Jazz Fusion
Country: Canterbury, England
Time: 53:21
Format: Flac Tracks 16/44,1 kHz
Size: 328 Mb

With John Greaves replacing the departing Neil Murray, and neither Gowen or Parsons involved, Of Queues and Cures may be a more collective effort- -Stewart contributes three of the album's seven tracks, Pyle two (well, sort of; more of that in a moment) and one each by Miller and Greaves—but it's still dominated by Stewart's powerful playing and unmistakable harmonic construction. Opening with "The Bryden 2-Step (for Amphibians) (Part One)"—which possesses such a strong melody that Stewart would reprise it two years later in "Land's End" from Bruford's swan song, Gradually Going Tornado (Winterfold, 1980), that would also prove to be Stewart's final progressive gasp for three decades—there's a strength about the new line-up that makes its short-lived duration all the more unfortunate. 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. And while Greaves has spoken about uncertainty and lack of confidence in joining the group and tackling National Health's knotty compositions, he's a perfect fit; as capable as Murray at navigating its rough waters while being an even more melodic soloist, as he proves on the opening track's fade-out.
Stewart's "Collapso," a track revisited by Stewart in 1990 for Complete's "The Apocalypso," introduces a new texture to the group: Selwyn Baptiste's steel drums. But this is no calypso tune; in fact, there's no hint of the Caribbean to be found anywhere, as yet another challenging context with an unforgettable melody leads into even greater contrapuntal complexity. Given, at this point, that American bassist Jaco Pastorius was using steel drums in his own group, it's hard to say if that was an influence on Stewart's choice to bring the texture into National Health. But regardless, it's a different space, as the song evolves into an unrelenting, high velocity passage that sets up a visceral fuzz bass solo from Greaves before returning to its theme to close.
(full version: allaboutjazz.com/national-health-national-health-of-queues-and-cures-by-john-kelman)

01. The Bryden 2-Step (for Amphibians) Part 1 (08:54)
02. The Collapso (06:19)
03. Squarer For Maud (11:51)
04. Dreams Wide Awake (08:50)
05. Binoculars (11:45)
06. Phlakaton (00:09)
07. The Bryden 2-Step (for Amphibians) Part 2 (05:31)

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