Western Culture

Western Culture is the fifth album of Henry Cow and the final recording of the band. Sessions for this album began in January 1978, but a few days after the sessions, half of the band declared that most of the material recorded was not suited to Henry Cow and refused to release it. Only 3 tracks (Half The Sky, Viva Pa Ubu and Slice) were kept for the group's repertoire and a future album, but the rest was finally released as Hopes And Fears (UK 1978) (opens in a new tab). This major disagrement on what Henry Cow should be marked the end of the group, who decided, and officially declared, that they will break up by the end of 1978, after completing a farewell 8-months tour and recording a final studio album.
Between January and July 1978, Henry Cow was "a dead band touring", experiencing lots of difficulties and even personnel changes. Sessions for the album took place at the end of July 1978 and ended on August 8th, after which all band's members went their own way.
The album Western Culture wasn't released until the early autumn of 1979. The band had set up their own record label Broadcast Records to press and distribute the album. It was released by Celluloid in France and Interzone in the US.
Coming as the final document of a band that had ceased to exist one year earlier, it was not widely reviewed, and was unfavorably compared to the contemporaneously released effort of Winter Songs (UK 1979) (opens in a new tab), by 3 ex-Henry Cow members.