"In many rather short tracks we hear in Henry Fool many a well-known prog musician. Foremost among these are Fudge Smith (Pendragon) and Tim Bowness (No-Man). Fudge Smith probably brought in LaHost's Steve Bennet and we have a few unknown factors to complete the package.

The Music:
Opening with a short and moody tune, the name No-Man comes to mind immediately. Dark somberings with moody keys and a moody atmospheric guitar. The guitar is darker and more hectic on Bass Pig. In addition the bass presence is also quite strong. The overall impression is one of noisiness, with a loud and clear production. The drums set in, in a slow plodding fashion and the tune continues with plenty of keyboards, quite melodic and including it seems a mellotron. Hmm. An Anekdoten/King Crimson reference is certainly in place here. The third track is also a rather short one and quite Canterbury in outset, mostly due to the jazziness of the keys. The keyboards solo is a meandering one.

The next five tracks together form the song Lateshow. The soothing lazy vocals of Bowness can be heard here for the first time. His recognizable voice points the finger at No-Man immediately. In a way the music affects me like an impressionist painting: simmering, hazy, vague. We move right into Blindman One on which we hear saxophone and keyboards. Poppy Z has a bit of a Japan rhythm in the beginning, but turns out to be quite a pacy tune with some distorted keyboards, a tribal groove and a fleeting sax. Interesting. A nod in the direction of say Soft Machine with plenty of experimentation. Not what you might expect. Blindman Two brings us back to the moodiness of before. The easy-goingness of the music extends into the dreamy Grounded, which reintroduces the vocals of the first part, but with a bit more orchestration.

No-Man again in The Laughter That Turned To Ice, slow moving with subtle acoustic guitar and accidental tones from the sax. The easy-going jazziness returns in Jazz Monkey, a soothing tune notwithstanding the rolls on the drums. The sound is warm, because of the use of the Fender Rhodes.

Judy On The Brink is one of those melodic vocal miniatures, fragile and riddled with mellotron, The David Warner Wish List is a combination of meandering jazzrock with blurpy atmospherics. Almost like a live improvisation getting more and more active throughout the song. Not for everyone this. Like King Crimson but jazzier.

Heartattack is another pastoral vocal track, but one which becomes slightly more up-beat later with the drumming of Fudge and a brimming organ. It is striking that most of these, on the outside similar sounding songs, turn out to be quite recognizable after only a few listens.

Laid back jazziness reigns on The Mellow Moods Of Malcolm McDowell, but with a modern sound and plenty of atmospherics on for instance guitar. Dreamer's Song is an intimate vocal track with a choice selection of synths, piano, mellotron, organ and electric piano. Tuesday Weld is an instrumental closer with a Twin Peaks mood, a tune in which the instrumentalists seem to continually hold themselves back.

Conclusion:
Notwithstanding the many names coined, Henry Fool has plenty to offer and is more original than it might seem at first. Of course, the vocal tracks seem much like No-Man, but the band offers a lot on top of that: listen to the Anekdoten/King Crimson like first three tracks, in which the band shows that soothing pop songs full of atmospherics are not all they are after. In addition the beautiful, intimate soft side, the band included a harder edge to keep it interesting without sounding artificial. Quite a feat."