Canterbury Band/Artist

Man Erg wrote: [QUOTE=Hammar] I believe that Pete Frame had nightmares over his Canterbury family tree. Family plantation more-like!

I'm not surprised but he has had at least 4 goes at it. The original (I recently discovered) was including in that fine underground magazine Zig Zag in 1973 (to complement an interview/piece about Kevin Ayers), then with some additions in the Soft Machine Triple Echo 3 LP box set, and then in the Rock Family Trees books - how many editions to date?

Did you see the Channel 4,  Rock Family Trees series, which covered progressive rock - that was so clearly mega-complicated that King Crimson was totally omitted?

Man Erg wrote: Easy Livin wrote: Caravan by a country mile for me. Weren't Camel also considered to be Canterbury? Aaah! Caramel. Yes,but sort of by default once Richard sinclair had joined them on their 5th album.They were latterly joined by other members of Caravan and hence the nickname 'Caramel.'

Members of the two bands did of course work together on a more "formal" basis as Mirage, performing songs by both bands plus some Pete Bardens solo material.

Dick Heath wrote: ...while omitting Gong....

There will always be discussions about who that shall be included under the Canterbury-umbrella. For some reason I've never included Gong. Guess it's because of the influence from other parts of the music world than the distinct Canterbury sound and the presence of foreign musicians. I would rather include Picchio dal Pozzo... One of my favourite "Canterbury"-bands.

Man Erg wrote: Dick Heath wrote: Please can somebody justify Isotope and Daryl Way's Wolf in this list, while omitting Gong (marks 1 and mark 2), Egg, and the various Elton Dean and Phil Miller projects, Steve Hillage (blimey he studied at  University of Kent at Canterbury for a short while before joining Gong)- and original Canterbury band Wilde Flowers? (And then there is all those projects Lol Coxhill and the late Steve Miller were involved - btw I don't mean the Texan Steve Miller). However, I'm please to see you haven't included Allan Holdsworth or Bill Bruford - as some have (like the Canterbury fanzine Facelift for a start) Isotope included Hugh Hopper and Daryl Way's Wolf included John Etheridge both members of Soft Machine at one time or another.

Goodness you open so a huge can of worms, by inclusion bands who are not normally recognised as Canterbury but had past or future members of a Canterbury band - while omitting obvious Canterbury bands.  So why omit Hugh's name from the list, when he has produced a fine set of albums under his own names in the last 30 years, or Hugh with Stomu Yamashta Band (also with Gary Boyle) or Caveman Hughscore? And think of the number of musician both common to Nucleus and Soft Machine. And how about Etheridge's Zappatistas - Zappa meets canterbury. And so on. 

oliverstoned wrote: And do you know DEDALUS, also italian, which is closed to soft Machine(fourth/fifht period?) Excellent. dedalus (1972)

Absolutely. Too, French band Moving Gelatine Plates, certainly sounded like the Softs (around Third), reflecting that the French were far better appreciating the Softs (and other Canterbury bands) than the English. Still true today with the excellent French jazz tribute group  Polysofts. But then Canterbury is less than 50 miles from France.

One point Theo Travis made in a recent interview, which has direct relevance to spotting a Canterbury band, with a vocalist, is the manner in which the lyrics are sung. Travis, talking about Robert Wyatt and Richard Sinclair, made the observation is that they sing with English accents, while so many other English born and bred singers affect an American accent. John Peel in the early 70's called this the 'school of anti-singing', specifically referring to Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers (although Ayers can sound  American wrt to his inflections and stresses in lyrics). If you want to hear this difference, listen to Hugh Hopper's Dedicated To You But You Weren't Listening, as sung by Wyatt on Soft Machine Volume 2 and Eliane DeFlaco  on Caveman Hughscore.

If you consider Gong as part of canterbury, you should include the first "real"

Gong album with the french poet dashiell hedayat: Obsolete