National Health was a progressive rock band that was associated with the Canterbury scene. The band was founded in 1975 and included keyboardist Dave Stewart and members of the North and Alan Gowen bands Gilgamesh and Hatfield. It also had guitarists Phil Miller and Phil Lee, and bassist Mont Campbell. Stewart was the original name of Stewart’s National Health glasses. Pip Pyle, who was previously of Yes and King Crimson, was the first drummer. John Greaves and Neil Murray replaced Campbell. They were a constantly changing group that toured extensively and recorded their first album, National Health, in 1977. The album was recorded during the rise and fall of Punk. It is characterized by long, mostly instrumental compositions. Their second album, Of Queues and Cures (which featured Peter Blegvad’s recitation of “Squarer for Maud”) and Georgie Born’s cello playing), is currently ranked as the fourth-best record ever (out of 53,000 candidate records) by the Gnosis website. The remaining members regrouped to record D.S. after Gowen’s death in May 1981. Al Coda is a collection of Gowen’s most unrecorded compositions. On CD, the original albums as well as additional archival material were released. from http://en.wikipedia.org
