National Health were an English progressive rock band associated with the Canterbury scene. Founded in 1975, the band featured members of keyboardist Dave Stewart's band Hatfield and the North and Alan Gowen's band Gilgamesh, including guitarists Phil Miller and Phil Lee and bassist Mont Campbell as original members.

After the May 1981 death of Gowen, the Queues lineup of Stewart, Miller, Greaves and Pyle reunited to record the album D.S. Al Coda, a set of compositions by Gowen, most previously unrecorded. The original albums and additional archival material have subsequently been released on CD.

The intro of National Health's "Binoculars" was used as a sample on American rock band Deftones' "Black Moon".

Line-ups

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! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| July – September 1975

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| October – December 1975

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| December 1975 – January 1976

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| January – March 1976

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  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Phil Lee – guitar
  • Mont Campbell – bass
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals

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  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Phil Lee – guitar
  • Mont Campbell – bass
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • Bill Bruford – drums, percussion

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Mont Campbell – bass
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • Richard Burgess – drums, percussion

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Mont Campbell – bass
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • Steve Hillage – guitar
  • Bill Bruford – drums, percussion

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! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| March – June 1976

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| July 1976 – January 1977

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| January – March 1977

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| March 1977 – January 1978

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  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Mont Campbell – bass
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • John Mitchell – drums, percussion

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • Bill Bruford – drums percussion
  • Neil Murray – bass

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Amanda Parsons – vocals
  • Neil Murray – bass
  • Pip Pyle – drums, percussion

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Neil Murray – bass
  • Pip Pyle – drums, percussion

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! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| January – September 1978

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| September – October 1978

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| January 1979 – March 1980

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| March 1980 – October 1981

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  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Pip Pyle – drums, percussion
  • John Greaves – bass

| valign=top |

  • Dave Stewart – keyboards
  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Pip Pyle – drums, percussion
  • John Greaves – bass
  • Georgie Born – cello
  • Lindsay Cooper – bassoon

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  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Pip Pyle – drums, percussion
  • John Greaves – bass
  • Alan Gowen – keyboards

Dave Stewart took part in a performance of "The Collapso" on BBC's The Old Grey Whistle Test in January 1979, before being replaced by Alan Gowen.

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Disbanded

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! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| October – November 1981

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| November 1981 – August 1983

! style="vertical-align:top; background:#e7ebee; width:25%;"| August 1983

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  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Pip Pyle – drums
  • John Greaves – bass
  • Dave Stewart – keyboards

| valign=top |

Disbanded

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  • Phil Miller – guitar
  • Pip Pyle – drums
  • John Greaves – bass
  • Dave Stewart – keyboards

;Guests

  • Elton Dean – saxophone
  • Jimmy Hastings – flute
  • Barbara Gaskin – vocals

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Discography

Studio albums

  • National Health (1978)
  • Of Queues and Cures (1978)
  • D.S. Al Coda (1982)

Other releases

  • Complete (1990; all three studio albums plus bonus tracks)
  • Missing Pieces (1996; archival material)
  • Playtime (2001; live recordings from 1979)
  • Dreams Wide Awake (2005; all tracks from the first two studio albums)

Filmography

  • 2015: Romantic Warriors III: Canterbury Tales (DVD)

References

  • Biography at Calyx
  • Discography