TO CANTERBURY AND BEYOND: A TRIBUTE TO THE CANTERBURY SCENE

How did this 2018 re-release fly under all of our radars?--especially those of us who LOVE Canterbury Scene/Canterbury Style music. For the most part, the artists contributing to this tribute album have chosen to approach these "classic" Canterbury songs with great respect, even reverence, despite still adding their own twists and sound and instrumental palettes to their versions. And, though there are artists here I am not familiar with, there were enough familiar names to pique my interest. And am I glad I checked it out! From ZOO LUNAIRE's perfect opener, Gong's "The Isle of Everywhere" from their 1974 classic Radio Gnome Invisible, Part III: You , into several other classics by originally recorded by Hatfield and the North, National Health, and Caravan, we've got a veritable "greatest hits" album going here. PATRICK FORGAS does an amazing job with Soft Machine' "Echec naturel." Fabio Zuffanti's HOSTSONATEN crew does a kind of Massive Attack version of Robert Wyatt's "Sea Song." It's good! Then ASHQUELON QUILT does a remarkable update of "Dedicated to You (but you weren't listening)." Solo artist DAVID BAGSBY takes on the challenge of covering Bruford's "Hell's Bells" using a 100% synthesizer approach (not too well, but just having the item included in this collection was a big point of excitement for me; not everybody includes Bruford [or Camel, for that matter] in the Canterbury fold as I do) which, I guess, gives more of a nod to Dave Stewart than Bill, Jeff, or Allan. THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD's incredibly faithful rendering of one of my all-time favorites, Egg's "Wring Out the Ground (Loosely Now)" is another highlight for me, but then the band TILION does an acoustic version of one of the sub-genre's masterpieces, Caravan's "Can't Be Long Now / Françoise / for Richard / Warlock"--the whole thing! More Robert Wyatt, Soft Machine, and Caravan are spiced with not one but two Camel songs ("Sasquatch" [GREAT!] and "Unevensong" [awesome!]) as well as one from Fred Frith!

All in all, this is an awesomely pleasing "greatest hits" album that I would think that any Canterbury lover would trample his own mother/brother in order to get to hear. Check it out! It's wonderful! No, they're not perfect or as good as the originals, but, again, done very respectfully.