MAGIC BUS

Canterbury is back! Wonderful, wonderful fare from Devon's Paul Evans and friends. Nobody but nobody has so well captured the CARAVAN 1970-72 sound so well! And yet the songs are each pure and original (with a few borrowed riffs here and there). Excellent musical composition. Wonderfully quirky, hippyish lyrics and happy-go-lucky singing with outstanding contributions from guitars and flutes. Hailing from "transition town" Totnes, Devonshire, UK, Paul has gathered around him a dedicated crew of accomplished musicians who all have one thing in common: they feel that the spirit of the late 1960s and early 1970s--especially the musical spirit of the San Francisco psychedelic rock scene and the Canterbury spirit of SOFT MACHINE and CARAVAN--is still alive and that they are merely expressing themselves in that same spirit.

The album opens with the, "City of Sand" (7:26) (/15)

2. "Magic Bus" (4:51) (8.75/10)

3. "Gods of the Mountain" (7:06) with an awesome GRATEFUL DEAD/SANTANA/STEVEN STILLS-like extended guitar solo to close out the final two minutes. (13.25/15)

4. "Tucan Pyramid" (5:17) BEATLES and CARAVAN immediately come to mind here--mandolin, vocals, Throw in a little late 60s ROD ARGENT-like blues-psychedelia ("I'm a Man" organ) and Paul Kantner guitar and you have the makings of a classic duelling instrumental jam in the second half. (8.75/10)

5. "Holy Road" (4:58) flutes and gently picked multiple acoustic guitars, swooning multi-voiced harmonized vocals, and you have another 1960s classic. Could be THE BEATLES ("Blackbird"), INCREDIBLE STRING BAND, or the STARLAND VOCAL BAND. Gorgeous. (9/10)

6. "Milky Way" (7:06) is very much a piece that ably strings together a collage of happy-go-lucky hippy folk themes from the late 1960s and early 70s. God, this makes me nostalgic! Blasts into an electric rant of JETHRO TULL's "Living in the Past" in the second minute before coming back to centre. Then it moves off into another, more rocking tangent, before returning for some hippy psych vocals. Finishes with some JC Superstar-like themes. (8.75/10)

7. "Back to the Garden" (10:53) (/20)