With the exception of "Nine Funerals of the Citizen King", which the whole group sings, and background voices on "Nirvana for Mice", "Teenbeat" and "The Tenth Chaffinch", this is an instrumental album. The jazzy Canterbury sound on some of the pieces shows Henry Cow's beginnings, although they quickly moved on to establish their own unique sound. With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star is a Fred Frith composition that was commissioned by the Cambridge Contemporary Dance Group under Liebe Klug, and was named after a painting by Paul Klee. Only an extract appears on this album, but the full 16-minute version of the suite is included in The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set. Parts of "Teenbeat" began in With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star and parts of it were later incorporated into "Ruins" on Unrest. "Nirvana for Mice" was originally called "Nirvana for Moles" during Legend rehearsals, and later became "Nirvana for Rabbits" when performed live in Hamburg in March 1976. Frith said that he used "chance methods" to compose "Nirvana for Mice" after reading works by American composer John Cage. King Crimson guitarist/vocalist Jakko Jakszyk remarked that in "Nirvana":
... there's a whole section in the middle where it goes into 21/8 and stays there. keep messing around with the bottom measure. They keep flipping from 5/8 and 5/4. But, it doesn't sound like the fusion stuff that was starting to happen... This music sounded terribly organic. And when you stripped it back that was when you'd realize how complicated it was.
Cover art
The album cover art work was by artist Ray Smith and was the first of three of his "paint socks" to feature on Henry Cow's albums. Smith had appeared with the band at several of their early 1970s concerts, performing a variety of activities, including ironing, reading text and miming with glove puppets. He suggested a woven sock on Legends front cover, and insisted that the band's name should not appear there. Chris Cutler said in a 2011 interview that Smith continued the theme on Henry Cow's next two albums, with the sock changing "to suit the temper of the music". In his book Prog Rock FAQ, Will Romano wrote that Legend "might the most unusual and slightly amusing cover featuring a sock." Smith created it with a pastry bag that he used to squeeze out long strips of acrylic paint, which, once dry, he wove together to produce the sock. He explained that the sock has no connection to the music, "It's an independent object". Smith described the picture of the sock on the album cover as "clear, fresh and optimistic" which "suggest something electrical". Smith also produced a cover for Henry Cow's final album, Western Culture, but it was not used. The design illustrated an industrial city viewed from above with the text "Henry Cow" appearing in its streets.
CD reissues
In 1991 East Side Digital Records issued a remixed version of Legend on CD. Fred Frith collaborated with Hodgkinson on the remixes of "Nirvana for Mice" and "Teenbeat." The CD included a bonus track, "Bellycan", which was an outtake from Henry Cow's Greasy Truckers Live at Dingwalls Dance Hallrecording session in November 1973. On the remix of "Amygdala", Lindsay Cooper, who was not yet a member of the group at the time of the LP recording, played bassoon and replaced Geoff Leigh's saxophone, which Hodgkinson felt was "too jazzy". In addition to this, there were other radical mix changes. In 1998 Recommended Records and East Side Digital reissued Legend on CD with the original mixing restored and the bonus track omitted. With the original master tape having been lost, this CD edition was transferred from a mint condition Japanese vinyl copy.
Reception
In a review at AllMusic, Mike DeGagne called Leg End a "busy musical trip" that produces some complicated yet interesting progressive rock. He said that while the "eclectic, avant garde-styled jazz movements" appear directionless, closer listening reveals some "first-rate instrumental fusion", although, DeGagne added, "a little too abstract at times". Music journalist Robert Christgau said the music on The Henry Cow Legend is composed to stimulate improvisation, and is "more flexible" than King Crimson's, and "more stringently conceived" than Soft Machine's. He added that as often happens with this approach, "not everything works", but "you can listen to what few lyrics there are without getting sick".
