I love Caravan’s first three album’s. Found this great video from their Land of Pink and Grey line up. Soft Machine’s first couple of albums are right up my street too. Anyone got anymore Canterbury Scene recommendations?
Canterbury Scene Tunes
by 126 Comments
Brazen name drop alert: I recently made buddies with Richard Sinclair and his partner Heather. They live quite near me. Lovely chap, bit eccentric in an endearing way. Here he is, playing a bass/guitar contraption in the boot of his car look:
brilliant. I always love his bass playing and he has a great English singing voice. Along with Dave’s keyboards they epitomize the Canterbury Sound really.
Oh, yesss….and then there’s something like this….
Love Caravan. Still good to this day.
I don’t think we need to hear any more about love caravans, eh @h-p-saucecraft
Bought loads of Cantebury related stuff a couple of years ago (mostly from recommendations/guidance on here).
I find I need to be in the right mood to listen, it’s not a “normal” listening state for me
Hatfield & The North – Share It
And another good ‘un
Caravan – The Dog The Dog He’s At it Again
https://youtu.be/313zsTyVcsg
For a modern take with some Canterbury influences, try PAUW or Syd Arthur.
The Canterbury sound oughta be on The National Health.
Arf!
🙂
….and on that note….
Liking this sort of stuff will mean you end up with Egg on your face.
Not ‘arf!!
How polite!
…and, on a related but different note…..
Great choice – much more Cantabulary.
That’s what you would end up saying instead of Canterbury Constabulary. While pissed.
Boilk!
I’ve seen them live a few times but only the recent lineup. The first time they had Doug Boyle on lead guitar, unknown to me at the time, and I was sitting right in front of him. What an amazing player. It takes a lot for a player to impress me as I’ve seen it all, but he blew my socks off. Helpfully there’s a clip of them on YouTube focussing one one of his solos – quite brilliant. I love the interplay with Geoff at the end, too. @bartleby check this out…
Gorgeous. His melodicism brings to mind the wonderful work of Andy Latimer in the early days of Camel; not usually considered a Canterbury band (particularly as they came from Surrey!) but gosh they were ploughing a very similar furrow. The Snow Goose is a masterclass in melody and fluidity.
Indeed. I saw Camel with @feedback_file a couple of years ago which is basically Andy Latimer plus, but they were terrific and he is an amazing player, as you say, fiery and melodic at once. I remember them doing extracts from the Snow Goose on OGWT. Fab.
In this context, Canterbury is a state of mind, rather than a geographical entity…..on that basis, Camel are definitely a Canterbury band….
Also Richard Sinclair (and Dave later) joined Caravan for the quite superb “Rain Dances” so there is some cross breeding going on.
Arguably, Gong could be included – again, geographical location notwithstanding….
A connection to the other “Canterbury” bands via drummer Pip Pyle, who as well as playing with Gong also played with Hatfield & The North and National Health later.
He was asked by Robert Wyatt to play on a track of Daevid Allen’s solo album “Banana Moon” and was recruited to join Gong soon after. Previously he’d been in Delivery with brothers Phil and Steve Miller, who later founded Hatfield & The North along with Caravan’s Richard Sinclair.
Phil Miller and Dave Sinclair had been in Matching Mole with Wyatt and Steve Miller had replaced Dave Sinclair for a while in Caravan. Steve was later to leave and be replaced by Dave Sinclair and he in turn was eventually replaced by Dave Stewart, who had been a member of Uriel with Steve Hillage until his departure to university, when the rest of the band became Egg.
Musicians musical chairs.
Love this…
https://youtu.be/zrjNQGvdIVo
….and this….
I’ve seen Caravan a few times over the last six years and they’re wonderful live. All great musicians and they have this sense of English pastoral whimsy which is nice.
Check out Pye Hastings’ solo album which is good too.
Hey thanks for steer. Didn’t know Pye had done that.
Glad to be of help – if you’re going to get it buy it from the Caravan website as it’s only a tenner there (and well worth it too) as opposed to £31 from the tax dodgers.
They will be at Cropredy this year. That almost persuaded me to skip the last few days of Sidmouth.
I too thought it might tempt me but, suppose it isn’t, imagine the disappointment. I will have to stick with my Reading ‘Rocks’ 76 memories, where they were terrific, playing much the same live segment as on the early Caravan ‘best of’, Canterbury Tales. Highly commended
I’m going to have to catch up with this lot – when I saw them play live there was usually a 19 at the start of the year, followed by a 7. They turned up pretty much every year while I was at University, and were always a guarantee of a good evening’s musical enjoyment. The last time was when they had just broadcast a BBC In Concert gig on the radio – around the time of the Blind Dog album, or the one after it Better By Far, when the Burchill – Parsons gang were holed up in the NME sending out missives about dinosaurs and ranting about the irrelevance of musicians who could actually play their instruments. Thankfully, Pye and co. have kept the flag flying and rendered the former enfants terrible redundant and forgotten while the band plays on.
They’re regularly on your and well worth a look.
Tour not your. Fucking autocorrect.
The boy Hillage was in Khan, before a-Gonging.
Brilliant bonkers track
So was Dave Stewart….if Caravan are one big branch on the Canterbury family tree, then surely the other big branch is “bands with Dave Stewart on keyboards”….
…and that loops us back to a comment on a Beatles thread about four years ahead of this one…pataphysics, eh? Wow!
Ooh I love this thread already – big fan of all things Canterbury (musically). I think its been one of the most underrated music ‘scenes’ and often overlooked. Very original and (IMHO) has lasted better than much of the other prog related music – maybe because at the heart of it was always strong melodies and witty, intelligent lyrics. My favourite album is the first one by Hatfield and the North but just this week I was playing a Kevin Ayers compilation and this track is a beauty – backed by his old band Soft Machine
…and, talking of the Softs, this is a very “Canterbury” version of Moon in June….the conversational vocal just makes it very special…
I suspect his music has not aged so very well, but I was and still am an enormous fan of Kevin Ayers and the Whole World.
Kevin’s songs combined with Lol Coxhill’s sax always hit the spot very nicely for me, Not to mention David Bedford and Mike Oldfield!
Ayers never really pushed his career but in many ways I think he deserves as many plaudits as Syd Barrett. His pursuit of wine , women and song (very much in that order ) vs drugged out suicide maybe just doesn’t sit as well in the ‘rock legend’ story. His early albums – Joy of a Toy and Whatevershebringswesing are certainly very creative – whilst his later output was somewhat uninspired.
Referring back to the Definitive Albums thread – I think that honour must go to Land of Grey And Pink although its not my favourite Canterbury record or even my favourite Caravan album (For Girls Who Grow Plump of course). If any man could give a synth a soul and a heartbeat it would David Sinclair and here he does it in spades. Of course the tune is from Softs 3 so a double helping of Canterbury magic.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r2ARJ3vfiQ
No, with respect, the best album is “If I Could do it All Over Again…” And this is the definitive Canterbury Scene track. It has The Riff,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcxS-HU2qH0
Yes, I agree, this is THE Caravan album for me, much as I also love ITLOGAP, this pips it.
I wonder whether any Afterword members have ever met a golf girl, selling cups of tea?
I can’t imagine that a golf girl would be too impressed by my long irons, either duffed horribly or shanked into the nearest water hazard.
Henry Cow are probably a bit too angular to fit in with most people’s “Canterbury” definition, particularly if your best example is Caravan…but the Henry Cow/ Slapp Happy conjoined band is certainly whimsical enough to shoehorn them in…
This may be of interest to you? courtesy of a Jonathon Coe tweet.
Thanks for that, @BigJimBob – I have to admit that the price looks a bit scary, given my financial microclimate at the moment…..
Think that is an advanced cost? Surely the paperback Ed is gonna be cheaper?
Hope so….
Still twenty or so sovs, but likely worth saving up for. I speak as a Cow fan who even owns all of the boxed sets from a year or two back that go for stupid money these days!
I was the other purchaser, @Vulpes-Vulpes !!
Did you buy the This Heat box as well?
@fitterstoke
No, I didn’t.
*pauses, looks suspiciously at fitter*
Should I have? A new name to me. Do tell more….
*twitches nervously*
Good as they are, I’d say that This Heat is getting quite a way off the Canterbury piste.
The only direct connections are Charles Hayward’s brief and seemingly unrecorded tenure among Gong’s cast of thousands and his collaborations with Hugh Hopper in 2007 and 2008. Anything else is at a remove, such as post- Henry Cow collaborations with Fred Frith.
Personally, I think lumping Henry Cow in with the Canterbury Scene is a bit of a stretch too.
I have read that one in paperback and liked it, but they were something of a “Cambridge” band, weren’t they?
Not geographically linked but Henry Cow fit right in
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0km6tAEmLVw
I’m glad you agree, Doc – I don’t detect much love for the Cow around these parts, compared with, say, Caravan….
They don’t have much on Spotify or didn’t last time I looked and what that had was a bit lacking in the melody department which is always Caravan’s strong suit.
I love Henry Cow, plus a bit of Slapp Happy. The rest of the bands on this thread, much less so. I’ve tried hard with Soft Machine because solo Wyatt is a thing of beauty but they never really clicked. Caravan I find sweet but a bit dull. Hatfield And The North pass me by. Oh well.
I think being exposed to Henry Cow in my teens gave me a way in to full on atonal jazz later in life.
If you like Wyatt’s solo albums then the first two albums and the early live stuff, plus “Moon In June” off Third, is probably as far as you need go with Soft Machine. After that there’s rather a lot of hardcore jazz-rock noodling. Matching Mole were a decent blend of Wyatt’s tunefulness and jazz-rock, I think. Certainly harder-edged than Caravan.
I’m relieved to note that my opinion has remained unchanged these last three years.
Would you say that your view has, in fact, hardened?
I say, steady on.
Another tangentially Cantabular bunch here:
I’m not a Progger (apart from King Crimson) and not a Jazzer (apart from a bit of electric Miles and some recent stuff) but I’m quite fascinated by the Canterbury stuff – have a fair few Softs, Hatfield, Wyatt/Matching Mole, National Health and Ayers records and things like Henry Cow – what I like about this stuff is that I don’t really understand it, but it has a strange allure to me – I like the sheer weirdness of it – something about music you can’t quite fathom but enjoy hearing is completely intoxicating for me. I can also join the dots from this to bands like This Heat – and also to the likes of Scritti Politti (Wyatt plays on ‘The Sweetest Girl’) – and that extends into newer bands now like Grumbling Fur and These New Puritans.
I was tee’d up for this music in the 90s via bands like Ultramarine, who make ambient/electronic music, principally their albums ‘Every Man and Woman is A Star’ and ‘United Kingdoms’ – which sample Ayers, Softs etc and Wyatt sings on some of their stuff – and also listening to Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci who were massive Softs/Ayers fans (and did a cover of Why Are We Sleeping, Matching Mole’s ‘O Caroline’ in Welsh as well as a song called Kevin Ayers)
Ooooh, an Ultramarine mention – I have those too, and they are great, as are Gorky’s.
I think there is also a link from the Canterbury set to the Chicago post rock scene – Tortoise, Jim ORourke etc. Also to 90s bands like High Llamas and Stereolab.
Definitely Stereolab, especially the work with Simon Johns on bass and his own spin off band, Imitation Electric Piano.
Simples, Canterbury is THAT organ sound, defiantly seldom Hammond.
Farfisa!
Some Canterbury-inspired music from sunny Glasgow…
All this thread needs is Moose telling us what The Afterword is, again.
The Afterword… as you see…
It doesn’t.
And you can’t.
I won’t.
And it don’t.
It hasn’t.
It isn’t.
It even ain’t.
And it shouldn’t….
It couldn’t.
Eh?
Well, quite.
Arzachel was a one-off album by a moonlighting Egg with Steve Hillage.
I was also going to suggest Geoff Leigh and Charles Hayward’s Radar Favourites (1974 sessions issued in 2010) but it is not on Youtube.
A moonlighting egg. Too much, man.
Thanks for the tip, @Pessoa – now off to seek out Radar Favourites!
And I have only just noticed this thread is 3 years old, which is a bit uncanny.
I blame Moose…
It’s all the rage!
I feel as if I need a guide to this stuff. It’s always seemed like something I should be interested in, but “the Canterbury scene’ just seems a bit wide and formless to know where to start. I’ve dabbled in Kevin Ayers and Robert Wyatt (due to their Mike Oldfield connections) and a bit of Steve Hillage (I love Rainbow Dome Musick) and Caravan. But I dunno, I’m missing something or maybe I don’t have the right ears on.
Are Camel part of this “scene” (I like The Snow Goose)? Or Roy Harper?
I suppose a good start would be to make a playlist based on the youtube links above! Probably just answered my own question there…
Camel – yes
Roy Harper – no
Soft Machine – yes
T.Rex – no
Caravan – absolutely, yes
Hillage/Gong – yes
Hatfields / National Health / Egg – oh, yes
Robert Wyatt / Matching Mole – yes
…and that’s just for starters…
Geoffrey Chaucer – Yes
John Cooper Clarke – No
Thomas Becket – Yes
Jack Hackett – No
The Summoner’s Tale – yes
Ten Summoners Tales – No
(even if you go for a walk in fields of gold)
Justin Welby -yes
Justin Bieber – no
Robert Wyatt – yes
Tessa Wyatt – no
Mike Ratledge – yes
Patricia Routledge – No
Hatfield and The North – yes
Aylesbury (A41) – No
Dave Stewart – yes
Dave Stewart – no
Hugh Hopper – yes
Dennis Hopper – no
Daevid Allen – Yes
Dave Allen – No
Pye Hastings – yes
Ted Hastings – no
Henry Cow – yes
Henry Cooper – no
Joy of a Toy – yes
Joy of Sex – no
Pip Pyle – yes
Artimus Pyle – no
Matching Mole – yes
Adrian Mole – no
Phil Miller – yes
Windy Miller – no
John Greaves – yes
Jimmy Greaves – no
Camel – yes
B&H – no
The National Health – yes
BUPA – no
Why Are We Sleeping – yes
While You Were Sleeping – no
Dondestan – yes
Don Estelle – no
Caravan – yes
Trailer Tent – no
Barbara Gaskin – yes
Barbara Windsor – no
In the Land of the Grey and Pink – Yes
In the Land of Make Believe – No
Geoffrey Richardson – Yes
Jeffrey Dahmer – No.
Sweet Caroline -No!
Caroline, no – No!
O Caroline – Yes!
Edmundo Ros – Yes!
Sigur Ros – No!
Jimmy Savile – No!
Jimmy Somerville – No!
Jimmy Osmond – No!
Jimmy Krankie – No!
Jimmy Clitheroe – Noe!
Frankie Howerd – Nay and thrice Nay.
2 Unlimited – No No No No No No No No No No No No
Yer man from The Vicar of Dibley – No No No No No No No No No Yes
Edith Piaf – non, Je ne regrette rien
I feel as if someone by now should really have done a box set / best of called ‘The Canterbury Tales’. A missed opportunity there.
Can’t tell you much I admire you, Arthur, for ignoring all the frivolous flapdoodle your original query brought forth.
The Canterbury Wails would be a good title.
frivolous flapdoodle – Yes
serious seriousness – No
Sorry it”s what we do.
Hope you find something Arthur.
Found a Spotify playlist and will post my thoughts this afternoon once I listen to it a bit while working…
Okay, just for fun, here’s my little excursion into Canterbury based on the randomness of a Spotify playlist called “The Sound of the Canterbury Scene”… I’ve just listened to these and jotted down a few thoughts as I go about my day… I don’t think I had heard any of them until now…
(1) She Loves to Hurt – The Wilde Flowers: A bit weedy and unremarkable.
(2) Signed Curtain – Matching Mole: Nice piano and pleasant melody, but those lyrics are doing my head in a bit. Robert Wyatt, isn’t it? Yeah I like this though.
(3) Spiral Staircase – Supersister: Trippy, dreamy, lyrics a bit twee maybe… gnomes and cups of tea…
(4) Wise Man In Your Heart – Daevid Allen: Hypnotic, almost like jazz funk but with hippy vocals (maybe that’s the basic Canterbury formula, is it?)
(5) A Visit to Newport Hospital – Egg: A bit more proggy… time signature changes and jazz chords ahoy… hippy vocals again… and ooh some nice fuzz lead guitar… would that be Steve Hillage?
(6) The Drum – Slapp Happy: Ah, digging these Incredible String Band vibes, this is right up my street. Crazy flute sounds and bongos, yeah!
(7) Croma – Alphataurus: Nah, too “wacky” sounding, a bit comical, like a spoof spy movie… but wait, once it hits its stride after that comedy intro it’s quite a glorious and striding instrumental…
(8) Thinking Thoughts – Daevid Allen and Kramer: Not bad, but is Daevid Allen just Syd Barrett using a different name? Sounds like Syd to me.
(9) Golf Girl – Caravan: I like this. Starting to get the whole vibe now: it’s basically the whimsy of psychedelia, but strapped onto a more tight and muscular musical backing. But not portentous or serious enough to be prog.
(10) The Bryden 2-Step (For Amphibians) Part One – National Health: The slow intro is gorgeous, but it all gets a bit too widdly for me once it gets going.
(11) Leave it Open – Pierre Moerlen’s Gong: Sounds very much like the live sound of post-1978 Mike Oldfield, which isn’t surprising given the Pierre Moerlen connection. It’s all right, but a bit clinical. I’m guessing this is now the late 70s rather than early 70s. Very clean sounding and a bit muzak-y (especially when the slap bass starts getting cocky). I miss the hippy stuff. 19 minutes long? I’m bailing early.
I have no idea if that is a representative selection or not. But the impression I am getting is that the “Canterbury sound” was very much about the kind of trippy, bohemian, psychedelic sound of England 1967 gradually morphing into a more elaborate (and more show-offy) prog/jazz/funk sound. There is a sweet spot in the middle there, I’m sure, but it seems hard to pinpoint. What I miss is a truly great vocalist to tie it all together, and I’d like more gentle pastoral bits and less elaborate wig-out bits.
In fact, my original response to Arthur’s query wasn’t intended to be frivolous…
See also
Ha ha! I enjoyed the frippery and fflewder flam – I should have added a little smiley emoji to register my appreciation.
Might interest:
“Today on “Classic FM,” Another trip through the Canterbury scene of Progressive Rock, and extended to 90 minutes! Music supplied by National Health, Hatfield & The North, Egg, Gong, Daevid Allen, Robert Wyatt, Soft Machine, Matching Mole, Henry Cow, Gilgamesh, Alan Gowen, Hugh Hopper, Kevin Ayers, Mont Campbell, Richard Sinclair, Quiet Sun and more! “Classic FM” is heard via http://WWW.RTDS.CA Wednesdays in the live stream 9a/3p/9p (& 3a Thurs) ET; 6a/noon/6p Pacific; 2p/8p/2a (& 8a Thurs) UK TIME, OR 12 years of “Classic FM’s” 42 year history are ON DEMAND anytime you want them, —no time zone necessary!”
Many thanks, @Gary – I don’t routinely listen to Classic FM, so I would certainly have missed this…