Definitely one of the best Canterbury albums of all time (alongside Caravan's
In The Land Of Grey and Pink and National Health's debut). I agree about the vocal performances in particular, but what really strikes me about this debut is how each track segues flawlessly into the one after it. Just goes to show you how great Sinclair and the rest were at conceptualizing their compositions.
Another interesting thing - Hatfield's sophomore release
The Rotters' Club ended up inspiring a really awesome novel back in 2001. Here's a link for the curious-
The Rotters' Club (novel) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia