Desperate Straights

Slapp Happy's second album for Virgin, made when they invited Henry Cow to record with them, recorded in November 1974 and released in February 1975. Its success led to the two groups merging and making In Praise of Learning. Europa and War were first recorded by Slapp Happy with session musicians in May 1974 and remained unreleased, so both were redone with Henry Cow for this record, although War was held back for the next album. The lyrics of A Worm Is at Work refer to War, and those of Europa relate to William Blake's Europe a Prophecy.

Most songs are by Anthony Moore and Peter Blegvad, with Bad Alchemy by John Greaves and Blegvad, In the Sickbay by Dagmar Krause and Blegvad, Caucasian Lullaby by Moore and Cutler, and an excerpt from Handel's Messiah. Reviewing a 2004 reissue in Pitchfork, Dominique Leone wrote that Moore and Blegvad's songwriting steals the show and that the instrumentation favours soft piano, violin, French horn and Cutler's brushed cymbals. He heard Caucasian Lullaby as recalling both Brian Eno's early ambient records and Henry Cow's live improvisations. Ted Mills of AllMusic found it surprisingly melodic, and Pete Erskine in the NME in April 1975 called it an extended lament intended to awaken the wearers of rose-tinted spectacles.

Virgin reissued it in 1993 on one CD with Slapp Happy's Casablanca Moon, and Recommended Records issued a remastered CD by Bob Drake in 2004.