Live performances of this piece were released on Henry Cow's "Road" box set under different names ("Heron Shower over Hamburg" in London in April 1974, and "Brain Storm over Barnsley" in Amsterdam in December 1977).

[19] He described Unrest as "a kind of mood cycle" that starts with "optimism, working through arid wastes that suggest hopelessness and dejection ... and ending on a note of hope with the sound of an orchestra tuning up".

He noted that on "Bittern Storm Over Ulm", which was based on the Yardbirds' "Got to Hurry", "they break the piece down, almost like beboppers" instead of "quoting sixteen bars with two or three instruments, thus insuring their listeners another lazy identification".

[12] He called "Bittern Storm Over Ulm" a "brilliant demolition" of "Got to Hurry" by the Yardbirds, and liked the "stately" "Solemn Music" with its "atonal but pretty counterpoint between Frith and Cooper".

[12] Anderson felt that the improvised material is "more spotty", but was impressed by "Deluge" and the way it demonstrated how well the group could negotiate the "fine ... line ... between bracing free atonality and mindless cacophony".

[12] A staff reviewer on Sputnikmusic gave the album a perfect score, writing that it "consistently progresses through unexpected levels of musicianship and creativity but never gets lost in its own mire.

"[17] American critic Glenn Kenny wrote in Trouser Press that side one of Unrest comprises "some of the most full-bodied music Cow ever put on record.

These are tricksy compositions painted in soft autumnal shades – dancing oboes on 'Half Asleep / Half Awake', lowing horns on 'Ruins (Part 2)’, Fred Frith’s birdsong impressions on 'Torch Fire'.

With some seriously top-drawer players (Tim Hodgkinson, Chris Cutler, the unimpeachable Fred Frith), it’s a pamphlet’s width away from muso territory, but always stays just on the right side of indulgent.