On The Road To Canterbury

Introduction

I am often confused by some artists who are part of the Canterbury scene and others who are not. This is the Wiki article on the scene.

This is my first piece on the scene, if you want to check that out for more Canterburyness.

Caravan - "Golf Girl" from "In The Land Of Grey And Pink"

We kick off with Caravan, who are probably the archetypal definitive Canterbury band.

I think this song is lovely with a sense of surreal humour. I love the artwork on the album, and it inspired me to write a short story based on it that you can read here:

The cover was designed by Anne-Marie Anderson, an artist who worked in the art department for Decca Records and created a Tolkien-influenced fantasy landscape that drew inspiration from the band's title track.

And there is this article on the cover:

Robert Wyatt - "I'm A Believer"

A hit single from Robert with a cover of the Monkees song, featuring probably the greatest ever musical lineup for a band on Top Of The Pops.

However, annoyingly, the BBC were not happy about him appearing in his wheelchair. This is taken from the YouTube video thread

The greatest version (of a great song) performed by a true icon. This is just so inspiring. Robert was told to perform in a wicker basket chair by the BBC TOTP producer as the show had a family audience who 'didn't want to see people in wheelchairs'.

He told them to eff off and, in return, was later told he'd never appear on the show again. He did - with 'Shipbuilding'. And people say it was better in the old days - maybe for music.

The band:

Robert Wyatt with Mike Oldfield (left) and Julie Tippetts (right); middle-distance (l/r) Gary Windo, Laurie Allan, Mongezi Feza; (back l/r) Dave Stewart, and Nick Mason.

Steve Hillage - "Salmon Song" from "Fish Rising"

I think "Fish Rising" is my favourite Steve Hillage Album and the main riff for "Salmon Song" still sounds as good as it did when I first bought the album in the seventies. Obviously, there is a lot of influence from his time with Gong, full of mad, magical, mystic lyrics and sounds.

Hatfield And The North - "Fitter Stokes Has A Bath" from "The Rotters Club"

Hatfield and The North are one of the only two bands I know named after road signs, the other being Kilburn And The High Roads (Ian Dury's first major band). For me, they sound like a slightly skewed and off-kilter Caravan, that is not a putdown, just the way they sound to me, and you know I love Caravan.

Hugh Hopper and Richard Sinclair - "When We Were Young" from "Somewhere In France"

This is a very gentle tune that I found when looking for "Minipax" from "1984". The guitar sounds like Fred Frith, but I may be wrong on that. This is an article about some musical acquisitions, which included "1984" and features "Miniluv" from the album:

Soft Machine - "Hazard Profile (Pt 1)" from "Bundles"

I'll close this with a later-period Soft Machine piece composed by Karl Jenkins.

By the time of Bundles, most of Soft Machine's members had previously been part of the jazz-rock band Nucleus, the exception being keyboardist Mike Ratledge, who at this point was the only remaining original member of Soft Machine. Guitarist Allan Holdsworth's prominent contributions set the album apart from previous Soft Machine recordings, which rarely featured guitar.

I love Holdsworth's guitar on this, and the difference in the speed between the keyboards and other instruments.

Conclusion

Thank you for reading, and I hope you have found something that you enjoyed.