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- Artist: Slapp Happy/Henry Cow
- Rating:
- Release Date: 1975
- Type: Lyrics are included with the album
- Genre: Rock
Review
A surprising team up at the time of its release (1975), Desperate Straights is a surprisingly melodic album, light on the art school angst and heavy on the playfulness, which one would hardly expect from such determined socialists as these. But here it is: "Some Questions About Hats" sounds like a Kurt Weill outtake, "A Worm Is at Work" gallops along with a sweet tune. Dagmar Krause remains restrained and not given to flights of horrible fancy. "Strayed" is reminiscient of Kevin Ayers's brand of art rock, and most of the songs clock in under two minutes. But never fear: the album ends on the eight minute "Caucasian Lullaby," a minimal woodwind piece that suddenly bursts into one last jab of Krausian despair. ~ Ted Mills, All Music GuideTracks
| Track Title | Composers | Performers | Time |
| Some Questions About Hats | Peter Blegvad, Anthony Moore | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (1:53) |
| The Owl | Anthony Moore | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (2:17) |
| A Worm Is at Work | Anthony Moore, Peter Blegvad | Henry Cow, Slapp Happy | (1:52) |
| Bad Alchemy | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (3:06) | |
| Europa | Peter Blegvad, Anthony Moore | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (2:48) |
| Desperate Straights | Anthony Moore | Henry Cow, Slapp Happy | (4:14) |
| Riding Tigers | Peter Blegvad | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (2:02) |
| Apes in Capes | Anthony Moore | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (2:16) |
| Strayed | Peter Blegvad | Henry Cow, Slapp Happy | (1:54) |
| Giants | Peter Blegvad, Anthony Moore | Henry Cow, Slapp Happy | (1:57) |
| Excerpt from the Messiah | George Frederick Handel, Peter Blegvad | Henry Cow, Slapp Happy | (1:49) |
| In the Sickbay | Peter Blegvad, Dagmar Krause | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (2:09) |
| Caucasian Lullaby | Chris Cutler, Anthony Moore | Slapp Happy, Henry Cow | (8:25) |
