It's Canterbury Scene Week!

Paedantic Basterd · 02-19-2012, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

The Canterbury scene is largely defined by a set of musicians and bands with intertwined memberships. These are not tied by very strong musical similarities, but a certain whimsicality, touches of psychedelia, rather abstruse lyrics, and a use of improvisation derived from jazz are common elements in their work.[1] “The real essence of 'Canterbury Sound' is the tension between complicated harmonies, extended improvisations, and the sincere desire to write catchy pop songs.” “In the very best Canterbury music...the musically silly and the musically serious are juxtaposed in an amusing and endearing way.” [3]
There is variation within the scene, for example from pop/rock like early Soft Machine and much Caravan to avant-garde composed pieces as with early National Health to improvised jazz as with later Soft Machine or In Cahoots. Didier Malherbe (of Gong) has defined the scene as having "certain chord changes, in particular the use of minor second chords, certain harmonic combinations, and a great clarity in the aesthetics, and a way of improvising that is very different from what is done in jazz."[4]
There is debate about the existence and definition of the scene. Dave Stewart has complained at the nomenclature as he and many other musicians identified with the Canterbury scene never had anything to do with Canterbury, the place. The former Soft Machine bassist Hugh Hopper, who lived in Whitstable, near Canterbury, said: "I think it's a rather artificial label, a journalistic thing... I don't mind it, but people like Robert [Wyatt], he in fact hates that idea, because he was born somewhere else and just happened to go to school here. In the time when the Wilde Flowers started we hardly ever worked in Canterbury. It wasn't until Robert and Daevid went to London to start Soft Machine that anything happened at all. They weren't really a Canterbury band [...] if it helps people understand or listen to more music then it is fine." [4]
Hopper's family, however, lived in the city and the Wilde Flowers did play many of their early gigs in Canterbury, notably at the Beehive Club, in Dover Street, and the city's various colleges. It was at a Students Union-organised event at Canterbury Technical College that Soft Machine gigged with Pink Floyd - twice, before and after Floyd were signed to a record deal.
And it was in a house in Whitstable (within the Canterbury City Council area) that Caravan went into rehearsal for some months before moving to London and a recording contract.

Canterbury scene - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RYM's top Canterbury albums

Now, where's Tore at?

Howard the Duck · 02-19-2012, 07:08 AM

this is one of my fave Canterbury songs:-

more to follow later

Sneer · 02-19-2012, 11:32 AM

I'm a bit of a Soft Machine fanboy:

I'm by no means a Canterbury expert, but dang some good stuff has emanated from the scene.

Guybrush · 02-19-2012, 12:38 PM

Of course, in my life, every week is Canterbury week

Quote:

Originally Posted by Howard the Duck

this is one of my fave Canterbury songs:-

more to follow later

Ahh, this is one of my favorite National Health songs and one of my overall favorite songs from the scene ever (although there are many of those). Yet another brilliant composition from Dave Stewart who I really think was at his peak in the late 70s before he left that sort of thing to do pop with Barbara Gaskin.

Tenemos Roads is quite ambitious and I love the vocals by Amanda Parsons. I personally asked Dave (on FB) what the background for this song was and he replied writing that the title and the inspiration came from the book The Worm Ourboros .. Although in his mind, Tenemos Roads was a some place out in space and not on planet earth!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sneer

Arzachel has an interesting story. As you may know, this is an early incarnation of the band Uriel which evolved into Egg after Steve Hillage had left and they were advised to change their name.

It was basically put together in a matter of days to cash in on the psychedelic trend at the time. Later on, the album became a collectors item due to it's rarity value. From Dave Stewart :

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Stewart on Arzachel

What happened with Arzachel was this : we – the members of Egg, that is – knew a guy who had a demo studio in Gerrard Street, Soho. This chap, Peter Wicker, knew a foreign gentleman called Zack, who had a record label and was anxious to release some of this “psychedelic” music which was currently fashionable. We knew how to play this psychedelic stuff, having spent many happy hours at the Middle Earth Club listening to bands like Love Sculpture and Sam Gopal Dream. A deal was struck. We were to record an album in an afternoon – hey, no problem! – in exchange for a pitifully small amount of money that, at the time, seemed enormous. As we had just signed an exclusive deal with Decca, we thought it would be advisable to use a different name, so we settled on “Arzachel“, the name of a crater on the moon that Mont spotted on an astrological poster on the wall of his toilets. We also called in our old mate Steve Hillage to play guitar, sing and generally make things even more psychedelic. We rehearsed for a day, then whipped out the album in about eight hours. On side 2, most of the stuff was improvised, and we ended up banging away on a final chord for about five minutes, all of us watching the hands of the studio clock. As soon as it reached quarter past, we knew we’d recorded enough material for an album, and brought the piece – entitled “Metempsychosis”, yeah! – to a merciful halt…

As for my own favorites from the scene, they've all been posted before, but I guess I can start off with Hatfield and the North's Fitter Stoke Has a Bath which was first released as a B-side to their only single "Let's Eat (Real Soon)" and later also appeared on their second album Rotters' Club.

The song is sort of autobiographical and was written by late drummer Pip Pyle. Fitter Stoke was the name of his daughter's imaginary friend. Pamela ("making cups of tea and washing clothes") was his girlfriend at the time (I believe) and the mother of his children. Actually, before she was with Pip, she was with Robert Wyatt .. And Pip was with Alfreda Benge who is married with Robert today. Yes, they traded girlfriends.

I slightly prefer this early version to the one found on Rotters' Club.

Sneer · 02-19-2012, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tore

Arzachel has an interesting story. As you may know, this is an early incarnation of the band Uriel which evolved into Egg after Steve Hillage had left and they were advised to change their name.

It was basically put together in a matter of days to cash in on the psychedelic trend at the time. Later on, the album became a collectors item due to it's rarity value. From Dave Stewart :

Brilliant. I knew they became Uriel, but I wasn't aware of that back story. Speaks volumes really, I adore the late-60s psychedelic sound, so it's no surprise I love an album that was recorded to essentially rip-off and exploit the scene!

Guybrush · 02-19-2012, 04:41 PM

In rememberance of the late Whitney Houston, it might be worth mentioning here that her first recorded performance as a lead singer on an album was a cover of Hugh Hopper's (Soft Machine, Wilde Flowers, Isotope and more) song Memories

The song itself dates back to Wilde Flowers days (mid 60s), so Hugh wasn't very old when he wrote this.

The band is Material, but the lead singer is the unmistakable Whitney.

edit :

Some added info; Material's One Down album was released in 1982.

Guybrush · 02-21-2012, 05:23 PM

Man, this thread is not exactly bustling with activity. Oh well

Those who like National Health are probably familiar with their tasty debut and brilliant second album, but there's a lot more out there. Their third album, DS Al Coda, was a tribute album to keyboardist Alan Gowen who died from leukemia in 1981 (I believe) and features his compositions only. It was made after the band had broken up, but they basically got together to do this one record to his memory. It's slightly 80ish compared to the first two albums, but it still has some really nice songs on it. The opening track, Portrait of a Shrinking Man, is one of my favourites.

It's a pretty funky track with some very nice sax by Elton Dean. The shrikning man is of course Alan Gowen.

An archival release of previously unreleased material called Missing Pieces also turned out to be quite a treasure trove of tunes from this band. The recordings and compositions are very good and have some added interest in that most (if not all) are from very early line-ups of the band, featuring early band members Dirk Campbell (bass, compositions) and Bill Bruford.

Here are a couple of favourites from Missing Pieces. I'll start with Clocks and Clouds which is a nice song with vocals by our dead Amanda Parsons.

There aren't that many NH songs with sung vocals, but all of them are great

I'm also very fond of Agrippa whichis a Dirk Campbell composition. Dirk (previously Mont, but changed his name) is a very interesting and perhaps somewhat underrated musician from the Canterbury Scene. He certainly had a knack for intricate compositions and was a huge influence on fellow band mate and composer Dave Stewart. The two actually share birthdays, both year and date.

Enough National Health trivia for today, I guess.

Anteater · 02-21-2012, 06:18 PM

It's hard to go wrong with National Health and Camel as far as Canterbury anything goes. Almost makes one wish to travel back in time so you could see them all live in their primes.

Personally, I've seen a lot of great Canterbury Scene influence in a lot of modern bands, with a few in particular like Argos and Amoeba Split whom are unbelievably evocative in their homage to the scene.

Guybrush · 02-23-2012, 02:24 AM

^Nice songs

I'm familiar with Amoeba Split as they contacted me about writing about their album on Polite Force. I was hoping they'd offer to send me a copy of their album for reviewal, but that never came up. Instead, they just asked to have it entered into the releases part of the site which is more like album fact sheets. I should still get a review for that.

An album I'm quite fond of at the moment is the previously mentioned Dirk Campbell's Music From a Walled Garden from 2009. In the late 70s, he retreated from the music business, but kept pursuing musical interests, just more privately. In 1996 came his first solo release, Music From a Round Tower. Then, a few years ago, he was in the Prog Rock Britannia documentary from BBC I believe it was and that inspired him to do a follow up album, which is the one I'm enjoying at the moment. During his exile, he's done a lot of research into ethnic instruments as it features a lot of exotic instrumentation. This is mixed with (imo) really good compositions for an interesting blend of world music and the more composed rock background he comes from with bands like Egg and National Health. Altogether, rock does not describe it, though, so world music may actually be a better term.

Highly recommended

I'd post a sample from youtube, but I guess the album's a bit too obscure as it seems noone's uploaded a bit. There's a good chance Dirk wouldn't like it if he found a song on youtube, so out of respect, I don't want to upload anything.

Instead, I can post a couple of favourites from Matching Mole.

I love Robert Wyatt's fine example of minimalist songwriting here, basically just singing about where he's at in the song up until the very end.

This song seems to be a favourite with Robert Wyatt, Richard Sinclair and writer Phil Miller. It's basically a drunken criticism of God and makes for an interesting song, both musically and lyrically.

Guybrush · 02-23-2012, 02:25 AM

^Nice songs

I'm familiar with Amoeba Split as they contacted me about writing about their album on Polite Force. I was hoping they'd offer to send me a copy of their album for reviewal, but that never came up. Instead, they just asked to have it entered into the releases part of the site which is more like album fact sheets. I should still get a review for that.

An album I'm quite fond of at the moment is the previously mentioned Dirk Campbell's Music From a Walled Garden from 2009. In the late 70s, he retreated from the music business, but kept pursuing musical interests, just more privately. In 1996 came his first solo release, Music From a Round Tower. Then, a few years ago, he was in the Prog Rock Britannia documentary from BBC I believe it was and that inspired him to do a follow up album, which is the one I'm enjoying at the moment. During his exile, he's done a lot of research into ethnic instruments as it features a lot of exotic instrumentation. This is mixed with (imo) really good compositions for an interesting blend of world music and the more composed rock background he comes from with bands like Egg and National Health. Altogether, rock does not describe it, though, so world music may actually be a better term.

Highly recommended

I'd post a sample from youtube, but I guess the album's a bit too obscure as it seems noone's uploaded a bit. There's a good chance Dirk wouldn't like it if he found his stuff on youtube, so out of respect, I won't upload anything.

Instead, I can post a couple of favourites from Matching Mole.

I love Robert Wyatt's fine example of minimalist songwriting here, basically just singing about where he's at in the song up until the very end.

This song seems to be an old favourite with Robert Wyatt, Richard Sinclair and writer Phil Miller as several recorded versions exist. It's basically a drunken criticism of God and makes for an interesting song, both musically and lyrically.

02-19-2012, 11:32 AM	#3 (permalink)
Sneer Let it drip Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 5,430	I'm a bit of a Soft Machine fanboy: I'm by no means a Canterbury expert, but dang some good stuff has emanated from the scene. __________________ LastFM Sneer's Emporium of Sound Fright Team radio show

02-19-2012, 04:41 PM	#6 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	In rememberance of the late Whitney Houston, it might be worth mentioning here that her first recorded performance as a lead singer on an album was a cover of Hugh Hopper's (Soft Machine, Wilde Flowers, Isotope and more) song Memories The song itself dates back to Wilde Flowers days (mid 60s), so Hugh wasn't very old when he wrote this. The band is Material, but the lead singer is the unmistakable Whitney. edit : Some added info; Material's One Down album was released in 1982. __________________ Something Completely Different

02-21-2012, 05:23 PM	#7 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	Man, this thread is not exactly bustling with activity. Oh well Those who like National Health are probably familiar with their tasty debut and brilliant second album, but there's a lot more out there. Their third album, DS Al Coda, was a tribute album to keyboardist Alan Gowen who died from leukemia in 1981 (I believe) and features his compositions only. It was made after the band had broken up, but they basically got together to do this one record to his memory. It's slightly 80ish compared to the first two albums, but it still has some really nice songs on it. The opening track, Portrait of a Shrinking Man, is one of my favourites. It's a pretty funky track with some very nice sax by Elton Dean. The shrikning man is of course Alan Gowen. An archival release of previously unreleased material called Missing Pieces also turned out to be quite a treasure trove of tunes from this band. The recordings and compositions are very good and have some added interest in that most (if not all) are from very early line-ups of the band, featuring early band members Dirk Campbell (bass, compositions) and Bill Bruford. Here are a couple of favourites from Missing Pieces. I'll start with Clocks and Clouds which is a nice song with vocals by our dead Amanda Parsons. There aren't that many NH songs with sung vocals, but all of them are great I'm also very fond of Agrippa whichis a Dirk Campbell composition. Dirk (previously Mont, but changed his name) is a very interesting and perhaps somewhat underrated musician from the Canterbury Scene. He certainly had a knack for intricate compositions and was a huge influence on fellow band mate and composer Dave Stewart. The two actually share birthdays, both year and date. Enough National Health trivia for today, I guess. __________________ Something Completely Different

02-23-2012, 02:24 AM	#9 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	^Nice songs I'm familiar with Amoeba Split as they contacted me about writing about their album on Polite Force. I was hoping they'd offer to send me a copy of their album for reviewal, but that never came up. Instead, they just asked to have it entered into the releases part of the site which is more like album fact sheets. I should still get a review for that. An album I'm quite fond of at the moment is the previously mentioned Dirk Campbell's Music From a Walled Garden from 2009. In the late 70s, he retreated from the music business, but kept pursuing musical interests, just more privately. In 1996 came his first solo release, Music From a Round Tower. Then, a few years ago, he was in the Prog Rock Britannia documentary from BBC I believe it was and that inspired him to do a follow up album, which is the one I'm enjoying at the moment. During his exile, he's done a lot of research into ethnic instruments as it features a lot of exotic instrumentation. This is mixed with (imo) really good compositions for an interesting blend of world music and the more composed rock background he comes from with bands like Egg and National Health. Altogether, rock does not describe it, though, so world music may actually be a better term. Highly recommended I'd post a sample from youtube, but I guess the album's a bit too obscure as it seems noone's uploaded a bit. There's a good chance Dirk wouldn't like it if he found a song on youtube, so out of respect, I don't want to upload anything. Instead, I can post a couple of favourites from Matching Mole. I love Robert Wyatt's fine example of minimalist songwriting here, basically just singing about where he's at in the song up until the very end. This song seems to be a favourite with Robert Wyatt, Richard Sinclair and writer Phil Miller. It's basically a drunken criticism of God and makes for an interesting song, both musically and lyrically. __________________ Something Completely Different

02-23-2012, 02:25 AM	#10 (permalink)
Guybrush Juicious Maximus III Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: Scabb Island Posts: 6,525	^Nice songs I'm familiar with Amoeba Split as they contacted me about writing about their album on Polite Force. I was hoping they'd offer to send me a copy of their album for reviewal, but that never came up. Instead, they just asked to have it entered into the releases part of the site which is more like album fact sheets. I should still get a review for that. An album I'm quite fond of at the moment is the previously mentioned Dirk Campbell's Music From a Walled Garden from 2009. In the late 70s, he retreated from the music business, but kept pursuing musical interests, just more privately. In 1996 came his first solo release, Music From a Round Tower. Then, a few years ago, he was in the Prog Rock Britannia documentary from BBC I believe it was and that inspired him to do a follow up album, which is the one I'm enjoying at the moment. During his exile, he's done a lot of research into ethnic instruments as it features a lot of exotic instrumentation. This is mixed with (imo) really good compositions for an interesting blend of world music and the more composed rock background he comes from with bands like Egg and National Health. Altogether, rock does not describe it, though, so world music may actually be a better term. Highly recommended I'd post a sample from youtube, but I guess the album's a bit too obscure as it seems noone's uploaded a bit. There's a good chance Dirk wouldn't like it if he found his stuff on youtube, so out of respect, I won't upload anything. Instead, I can post a couple of favourites from Matching Mole. I love Robert Wyatt's fine example of minimalist songwriting here, basically just singing about where he's at in the song up until the very end. This song seems to be an old favourite with Robert Wyatt, Richard Sinclair and writer Phil Miller as several recorded versions exist. It's basically a drunken criticism of God and makes for an interesting song, both musically and lyrically. __________________ Something Completely Different