The Canterbury scene thread

[Knotted]

Hatfield and the North were a supergroup formed of musicians from Matching Mole, Caravan, Gong and Egg. Headed by Richard Sinclair from Caravan, they had a similar sound to Caravan but with a lighter jazzier touch. Their two albums are both well worth checking out. Here's their side long epic.


Incidentally this is the only one of these groups that I have ever seen live. They were pretty good.

 

[Threshers_Flail]

I know nothing but I love this.

 

[Knotted]

National Health were a more instrumental prog rock continuity Hatfield and the North without Richard Sinclair.

 

[ska invita]

okay ive given wilde flowers a fair crack of the whip. a bit trad, but theres an edge.
i guess the acid kicked in hence soft machine...
giving album #1 a try
curiously it was recorded in NYC and released in the US - especially for a debut album. I guess the UK was "in" ? From what i can see it didint get a uk release till 1976, and then with a different name and cover? Bit weird that

The Soft Machine - The Soft Machine

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for The Soft Machine by The Soft Machine. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

i also see they had that turny cover which Led Zep did for Led Zep III - bit of a blatant rip off by Zep if you ask me, down to the band members faces poping up in the cut outs

 

[Knotted]

Keyboard player Alan Gowen was running a band called Gilgamesh parallel to all these other bands, swapping members with them. Here's some jazz of odd rhythm:

 

[Knotted]

Soft Heap were Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean, Alan Gowen and Pip Pyle. And were continuity mid period Soft Machine.

 

[killer b]

The cover of the second Matching Mole LP is amazing

 

[Knotted]

And that's about it I think apart from various solo stuff. A lot people will know something of Robert Wyatt's solo career which he embarked on after breaking his back. His first album (excluding the Soft Machine era End of an Ear) is something of a masterpiece.


And the followup is brilliant as well.

 

[killer b]

I have a relatively recent Robert Wyatt album that's fabulous

(actually not that recent, 1997 - nearly a quarter of a century. )

 

[killer b]

the music on little red record is great too - this one with an extended synth intro from Eno is really nice

 

[Knotted]

The highlight is Gloria Gloom IMO.

 

[Knotted]

Henry Cow were related, Robert Wyatt joined them on tour and they helped found the Ottawa Music Company musicion's collective with Dave Stewart, Here's their cover of Gloria Gloom:

 

[The39thStep]

Always like this Robert Wyatt song from his Matching Mole days

 

[The39thStep]

okay ive given wilde flowers a fair crack of the whip. a bit trad, but theres an edge.
i guess the acid kicked in hence soft machine...
giving album #1 a try
curiously it was recorded in NYC and released in the US - especially for a debut album. I guess the UK was "in" ? From what i can see it didint get a uk release till 1976, and then with a different name and cover? Bit weird that

The Soft Machine - The Soft Machine

Explore songs, recommendations, and other album details for The Soft Machine by The Soft Machine. Compare different versions and buy them all on Discogs.

www.discogs.com

i also see they had that turny cover which Led Zep did for Led Zep III - bit of a blatant rip off if you ask me, down to the band members faces poping up in the cut outs

You kep mentioning acid but I'm not sure it was the main drug of choice for most of these bands in inspring or contributing to their music tbh.

 

[editor]

Still love this album

 

[Knotted]

Hugh Hopper's album 1984 is something to behold. Can't find much of it on youtube, but it has long sonic experiments on the bass as well as some (of its time) jazz rock group efforts.

 

[belboid]

You kep mentioning acid but I'm not sure it was the main drug of choice for most of these bands in inspring or contributing to their music tbh.

It really was. Don’t forget it was legal till 1966

 

[Knotted]

This 2004 Brian Hopper album updates the Canterbury sound a bit:

 

[The39thStep]

It really was. Don’t forget it was legal till 1966

Didnt know that but still not convinced tbh
edit I've always associated it more with mid to late 60s stuff especially psychodelia , I'm sure it was used but I'm not convinced it has much bearing on the end product

 

[ska invita]

Didnt know that but still not convinced tbh

its only cos i used to take acid that i can relate to it tbh - its pure lsd music. id bet my life on it

 

[belboid]

Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers were mad for it. Stalinist Robert Wyatt didn’t dig it.

 

[The39thStep]

its only cos i used to take acid that i can relate to it tbh - its pure lsd music. id bet my life on it

I'm a bit pissed so I might be quibbling but its quite possible to produce music that acid heads like without it being a main influence for the composers

 

[The39thStep]

Daevid Allen and Kevin Ayers were mad for it. Stalinist Robert Wyatt didn’t dig it.

I agree with you on Allen and Ayers , personally I think Wyatt had the right line on it though.

 

[Knotted]

Caravan on German TV

 

[ska invita]

I'm a bit pissed so I might be quibbling but its quite possible to produce music that acid heads like without it being a main influence for the composers

Its possible, but i listened to that first album today and it felt very acid fragile to me. Similar to that King Crimson from 1969....

I dont know man, they were making some fairly standard music one year as the Flowers, next thing theyve gone full space cadet explorers - and feeling it too - comes across like a classic acid light switch moment to me

i mean even the beatles were taking acid. id be surprised if many of the psych bands werent tbh

quick google

The New Statesman's unlikely role in the progressive rock movement of the 1960s

"Painter/musician badly needs rent cheap."

www.newstatesman.com

" It was there that Allen met her son, Robert Wyatt ..........They experimented with LSD throughout the early Sixties, and continued to play together alongside a number of other Kent-based musicians, including Hopper, Kevin Ayers, and Mike Ratledge. "

Daevid Allen Obituary - Charles Marlow

Now is the happiest time of your life – remembering Daevid Allen in Deia When I first started coming to Deia around 20 years ago, I would listen to the stories of the late 1960s and 70s in the village, those times of ragged, inspired art and lunacy, and be frankly envious. These were the … Continued

www.charlesmarlow.com

Daevid and Gilli met flautist Didier Malherbe, who was working as a goat-herder for poet Robert Graves and reputedly living in a cave. They adopted the name Gong, inspired by an LSD vision Daevid had in the Tramontana mountains above Deia, and released an album called Magick Brother, Mystick Sister.
classic story

eta; oi who edited my thread title

 

[belboid]

I'm a bit pissed so I might be quibbling but its quite possible to produce music that acid heads like without it being a main influence for the composers

there is a good discussion around that that deserves a proper airing. but probably best when i am under the influence of none of them

 

[krtek a houby]

Steve Hillage made his mark on the Canterbury Scene too, teaming up with David Stewart to form Khan.

Hillage later cropping up on one of The Orb albums, iirc

 

[Sprocket.]

Hillage later cropping up on one of The Orb albums, iirc

An outstanding guitarist.

 

[JimW]

There was a line in Young Ones spinoff Neil's Book of the Dead that went:
We're not into rape and pillage, we like wholefood and Steve Hillage.

Does Robyn Hitchcock feature anywhere in the scene?

 

[ska invita]

love this photo - Gong in some incarnation