THE CANTERBURY SCENE

Canterbury music scene originated in the Canterbury area of Kent (UK) in the 1960's. It was a very vibrant scene, out of which come a lot of musicians, many of whom are still active today: Robert Wyatt and Hugh Hopper (Soft Machine), Richard Sinclair (Caravan), David Allen (Soft Machine and Gong), Steve Hillage (Gong), Kevin Ayers, Dave Stewart and Phil Miller (Hatfield & The North), Mike Oldfield, Chris Cutler, John Greaves, Fred Frith (Henry Cow) and many others. The prototypical Canterbury band was the the Wilde Flowers, from whom emerged the Soft Machine and Caravan, Kevin Ayers and Gong. Meanwhile in London, a band called Uriel was formed whose ashes spawned Egg and Khan. About the same time Delivery was also formed in the London area soon to break-up. The break-up of some of these bands and personal departures led to the next generation of Canterbury bands which included Matching Mole and later Hatfield & The North. 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 - all of Hatfield & The North and Matching Mole, early Soft Machine (with Robert Wyatt), early Caravan (pre-Cunning Stunts), and early Gong (pre-Shamal) - the musically silly and the musically serious are juxtaposed in an amusing and endearing way. Probably Soft Machine loose all their 'charm' when Robert Wyatt stopped singing (and eventually left). Much the same can be said of the various post-Allen and post-Hillage editions of Gong in which Pierre Moerlen was the prime mover. As great as the post-Wyatt Soft Machine music was a lot of the humor and silliness was gone. Another well-known aspect of the 'Canterbury Scene' is the circular nature of personnel changes in the various groups. Without going into gory detail, it always seems that the same players were turning up in each others' bands. This phenomenon explains why there is a 'Canterbury Sound' at all. After all, musicians are the ones making the sounds!

Similar scenes have emerged in France (Komintern, Zao, Heldon, Art Zoyd, Lard Free, Etron Fou Leloublan, Potemkine, Magma, Urban Sax, Weidorje…) and Belgium (Univers Zero) to much the same effect. In contrast, Daevid Allen's 'New York Gong' albums bear absolutely no resemblance whatsoever to Canterbury music. This is a great example of the importance of this rotating cast of musicians to the 'Canterbury Sound'. Of course, there are always exceptions & so there are some very Canterbury-sounding (...but also very original-sounding) bands from Japan & Italy. Another peculiar aspect of the 'Canterbury Sound', and the tendency towards complex structures and lengthy improvisations, is the use of the vocals, delivered in very 'British' manner, with absolutely no attempt to ape American blues and pop singers. The lyrics betray a strong sense of the absurd (pataphysical humour from the Alfred Jarry's play 'King Ubu'). If they are 'about' anything, they're often hilarious and concerned with private jokes and/or various aspects of British domestic life. Hatfield & The North's lyrics about 'life as a pop star' from the first album are utterly hilarious!

While a number of these bands were adopting jazz improvisation into their sound, the ever changing Soft Machine had been actively exploring Jazz with jazz-trained musicians from the London school. In particular with members of the Keith Tippett Group (Centipede) from whom Elton Dean joined the band. As the Soft Machine veered towards jazz-rock, their personal changed again eventually bringing in John Marshall, Karl Jenkins, Roy Babbington & Alan Holdsworth, all of whom had at one time played in Britain's other premier jazz-rock outfit, Ian Carr's Nucleus. Virgin records was formed in the early 70's and proved to be a good label for Canterbury musicians signing up Mike Oldfield and David Bedford both former members of Kevin Ayers' Whole World as well as Gong, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield and The North which comprised former members of Egg, Matching Mole, Gong, and Caravan and later Steve Hillage. Also signed to the label were Henry Cow and Slapphappy, members of whom later collaborating with Canterbury musicians forming a new generation of bands: Art Bears, News From Babel and Cassiber. Among these were National Health and Gilgamesh which basically redefined the Canterbury sound as well as explorations into more improvised jazz by Hugh Hopper & Elton Dean in Soft Heap. Richard Sinclair on leaving the Hatfields joined Camel a more straight-ahead progressive band while Henry Cow and Slapphappy merged before breaking up to form the Art Bears and the John Greaves and Peter Blegvad collaborations. Of the early the Soft Machine members, David Allen is till active performing solo and with former Gong members. Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean are probably the most prolific still playing together and with a variety of other musicians as well. Robert Wyatt has released a new album during the 1998 (Shleep) and his back catalogue is currently being re-released. Gong reformed for a 25th Anniversary tour and live double CD in 1995. Caravan with Pye Hastings, Richard Coughlan and Dave Sinclair are still active and touring. Many previously unobtainable vinyl releases are now being re-released on CD. Former Delivery (another important musician is the amazing saxophonist Lol Coxhill, founder member of Delivery with Phil and Steve Miller and Pip Pyle), Matching Mole, Hatfield & the North & National Health guitarist Phil Miller now has his own band In Cahoots which from time to time has featured Hugh Hopper, Elton Dean and Pip Pyle.