The box set was expected to be ready before the end of 2008 to coincide with the 40th anniversary of the formation of Henry Cow, but the discovery of additional material delayed its release.

With a wellspring of unreleased material, an impressive editing and mastering job that's made even audience cassette recordings sound crystal clear ... [this] is the set die-hard fans have been waiting for.

[3] He said that it "present[s] for the first time a complete picture of Henry Cow, from the rehearsal-intensive compositions to the ever-important improvisations, through all incarnations of the band and including both highs and lows.

"[4] A reviewer at Dusted Magazine stated that the compilation "fills in many missing historical and compositional links" and that it is a "fitting monument to one of the most interesting and eclectic groups to come out of the 1970s.

He found it interesting that the anthology tracks the development of some of the band's composed pieces, from early demos to studio recordings to subsequent live performances.

But Leimer added, "unlike those more typical historical recoveries, the earliest incarnations of Henry Cow’s work arrive with a completeness and presence that does not diminish in comparison to later live or studio manifestations of the 'same' piece".

[13] With the Yellow Half-Moon and Blue Star is a Frith composition that was commissioned by the Cambridge Contemporary Dance Group under Liebe Klug, and was named after a painting by Paul Klee (Avec la demi-lune jaune et l'étoile bleue).

Guider Tells of Silent Airborne Machine is a suite with three parts, "Olwyn Grainger" and "Betty McGowan" by the group and "Lottie Hare" ("a neo-classical miniature"[2]) by John Greaves.

Its inspiration came from a news item that appeared on 23 August 1971 in The Times about a group of Girl Guide leaders, Olwyn Grainger, Lottie Hare and Betty McGowan who had reported witnessing a UFO.

Halsteren concert organiser Jan Smagge recounts in the box set booklets an anecdote where the band were approached by several people during an interval and asked whether they could play any songs by Mud, a contemporary mainstream pop act.

It is the first live recording of the completed vocal version of the composition, and is sung by Dagmar Krause, her first public appearance with the band,[2] with Wyatt accompanying her in the closing verses.

Recordings from Henry Cow's March 1976 NDR Jazz Workshop in Hamburg, Germany, plus two songs with Robert Wyatt from concerts in Paris and Rome in May and June 1975, respectively.

The 80-minute improvisation ... demonstrates the kind of intuitive push-and-pull that could only come from musicians not just spending a great deal of time playing together, but also living together, with a potent ability to sometimes shift ambience and color at the drop of a dime.

[2] "On Suicide" is longer than the Art Bears version and ends with a cello solo by Georgie Born; the Brecht/Eisler song, arranged by Fred Frith, had been suggested to the group by Anthony Moore.

Prior to Henry Cow's recording session at Sunrise in Switzerland in January 1978, Cutler rewrote the lyrics of the two songs, but once again there were objections from factions within the group.

Dagmar Krause, however, supported the new lyrics and both songs were recorded by Henry Cow with the revised texts, only to be released later by Art Bears on Hopes and Fears as a result of further disagreements with the group.

[28] "Untitled Piece" was a work-in-progress by Lindsay Cooper that was only performed a few times by Henry Cow,[29] and foreshadowed some of her work that appeared later on her 1998 solo album A View From the Bridge.

"[2] "Post-Teen Auditorium Invasion" and "Bucket Waltz" are from a concert in Amsterdam that feature guests Annemarie Roelofs and ex-Henry Cow member Geoff Leigh.

"Joy of Sax" is a saxophone trio of Lindsay Cooper, Tim Hodgkinson and David Chambers from the Orckestra, which was a merger of Henry Cow, the Mike Westbrook Brass Band and folk singer Frankie Armstrong that took place in 1977.

[33] It was later recorded by Henry Cow during the July and August 1978 Western Culture sessions, but was only released for the first time, as "Waking Against Sleep", on the 1990 CD re-issue of Frith's solo album, Gravity (1980).

Henry Cow initiated the movement and the other inaugural members, who also performed at the concert, were Stormy Six (Italy), Samla Mammas Manna (Sweden), Univers Zero (Belgium) and Etron Fou Leloublan (France).

[36] Piekut noted that the recording of "Virgins of Illinois" on this disc is not the complete piece as it was performed live – it stops before the song's main tune begins.

François Couture at AllMusic described the multi-camera work on the DVD as "pretty good" and the editing "dated", but added that "seeing the band in action, both navigating through its most complex material and engaging in collective improvisation, is quite an experience.