TALES OF CANTERBURY - THE WILDE FLOWERS STORY

The Canterbury Sound is a special subgenre, little but very interesting. Its mixture of jazz and pop made a soft and easy listened form of progressive rock. The genre originated from this band "The Wilde Flowers" which existed in the sixties but never released anything then. This is a collection of demoes which is very insteresting for every prog lover. Afterwards members of this band formed Soft Machine and Caravan.

Musicians on the record are Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, Brian Hopper, Kevin Ayers, Richard Coughlan, Grahan Flight, Richard Sinclair and Pye Hastings. The three tracks 17, 18 and 19 is actually with another band "Zobe" with Dave Lawrence, Bob Gilleson and John Lawrence.

I think this collection is underrated. You have to think about how early this was. Well many tracks feels a bit too simple and amateurish but other tracks are very fine and romantic. I like the lightness of the music and that it's the opposite of over produced music. "Impotence" is a typical Canterbury song with a soft pop melody in a jazzy landscape(8/10) and the romantic little "Memories"(7/10) or the little blues thing with wind instrument "Parchman Farm"(7/10) would I also recommend. "It's what I feel" with (I think) Richard Sinclair on vocals is very nice(7/10) as well as the lovely "She loves to hurt" which is more professional than others(7/10). The three Zobe songs are different from the others and I would recommend a closer listening also to them.

Many of the tracks aren't timeless gems and should perhaps just be heard as references but over all I think this album is pleasant and appealing. If you don't have enough spirit to hear it all I recommend "Impotence", "It's what I feel", "She loves to hurt" and "Memories". I consider the album an interesting start of wonderful bands. Three stars!