National Health were an English

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. In ...

band associated with the

Canterbury scene The Canterbury scene (or Canterbury sound) was a musical scene centred on the town of Canterbury, Kent, England during the late 1960s and early 1970s. Associated with progressive rock, the term describes a loosely-defined, improvisational styl ...

. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart's band

Hatfield and the North Hatfield and the North were an experimental Canterbury scene rock band that lasted from October 1972 to June 1975, with some reunions thereafter. Career In mid 1972 the band grew out of a line-up of ex-members of blues/jazz/rock band Del ...

and

Alan Gowen Alan Gowen (19 August 1947 – 17 May 1981) was an English fusion/progressive rock keyboardist, best known for his work in Gilgamesh and National Health. History Gowen was born in North Hampstead, northwest London. He joined Assagai in 1971 ...

's band

Gilgamesh sux, , label=none , image = Hero lion Dur-Sharrukin Louvre AO19862.jpg , alt = , caption = Possible representation of Gilgamesh as Master of Animals, grasping a lion in his left arm and snake in his right hand, in an Assy ...

, including guitarists

Phil Miller Philip Paul Miller (22 January 1949 – 18 October 2017) was an English progressive rock/jazz guitarist and a central part of the Canterbury scene. He was born in Barnet, Hertfordshire. Self-taught on guitar, Miller formed his first band, De ...

and

Phil Lee Phillip Robert Lee (born 8 April 1943, London, England) is an English jazz guitarist. Lee studied guitar with Ike Isaacs as a teenager and was a member of the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, including for their performance at the 1960 Antibes Jaz ...

and bassist

Mont Campbell Hugo Martin Montgomery "Dirk" Campbell (born 30 December 1950, previously known as Mont Campbell) is a British multi-instrumentalist, composer and energy company executive. Campbell was born in the British military hospital in Ismailia, Egypt, ...

as original members. The band was named after Stewart's

National Health National Health were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart (keyboardist), Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band ...

spectacles.

Bill Bruford William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English former drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording ...

(previously of Yes and

King Crimson King Crimson are a progressive rock band formed in 1968 in London, England. The band draws inspiration from a wide variety of music, incorporating elements of classical, jazz, folk, heavy metal, gamelan, industrial, electronic, experime ...

) was the initial drummer, but was soon replaced by

Pip Pyle Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the progressive rock Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield a ...

. Campbell was replaced by Neil Murray and then

John Greaves John Greaves (1602 – 8 October 1652) was an English mathematician, astronomer and antiquarian. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, he was elected a Fellow of Merton College in 1624. He studied Persian and Arabic, acquired a number of old ...

. Alan Gowen stopped performing with the group after their first album, but returned for their final tours, replacing Dave Stewart, who resigned after their second album. Guitarist Phil Miller was National Health's only constant member. With a frequently changing line-up, they toured extensively and released their first album, ''

'', in 1978. Although it was created during the rise of punk rock, the album is characterized by lengthy, mostly instrumental compositions. Their second record, '' Of Queues and Cures'', which included

Henry Cow Henry Cow were an English experimental rock group, founded at the University of Cambridge in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler, b ...

associates

Peter Blegvad Peter Blegvad (born August 14, 1951) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, writer, and cartoonist. He was a founding member of German/English avant-pop band Slapp Happy, which later merged briefly with Henry Cow, and has released many so ...

(recitation on "Squarer For Maud") and

Georgie Born Georgina Emma Mary Born, is a British academic, anthropologist, musicologist and musician. As a musician she is known as Georgie Born and for her work in Henry Cow and with Lindsay Cooper. Background Born was born in Wheatley, Oxfordshir ...

(cello), is held as one of the "best records ever" on the Gnosis website. National Health disbanded after its release. After the May 1981 death of Gowen, Stewart assembled all the surviving former members 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 Deftones is an American alternative metal band formed in Sacramento, California in 1988. They were formed by Chino Moreno (vocals, guitar), Stephen Carpenter (guitar), Abe Cunningham (drums), and Dominic Garcia (bass). During their first f ...

' "Black Moon".

Line-ups

Discography

Studio albums

* ''

'' (1978) * '' Of Queues and Cures'' (1978) * '' D.S. Al Coda'' (1982)

Other releases

* ''Complete'' (1990; all three studio albums plus bonus tracks) * ''Missing Pieces'' (1996; archival material) * ''Playtime'' (2001; live recordings from 1979) * ''Dreams Wide Awake'' (2005; selected tracks from the first two studio albums)

Filmography

* 2015: '' Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales'' (DVD)

References

External links

Biography
a
Calyx
{{Authority control Canterbury scene English progressive rock groups Jazz fusion ensembles Musical groups established in 1975 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 1975 establishments in England 1980 disestablishments in England