THE UNCERTAINTY PRINCIPLE

The sole fully-developed album by Volare proves - as fellow US band The Muffins did with Manna/Mirage - that you didn't need to be an artist with a personal connection to the extended Wilde Flowers/Soft Machine/Caravan/Uriel/Gong family of bands to produce top-quality Canterbury material. With a sound reminiscent of the best works of Hatfield and the North and National Health - with some more modern-sounding interjections from synthesiser wiz Patrick Strawser - the band produce a very credible effort which will enchant all fans of the subgenre.

It's a genuine shame that we haven't heard more from these gentlemen (aside from Memoirs, a collection of pre-Uncertainty material), because in recent years it seems the only Canterbury releases have been archival stuff from the glory days of the subgenre and the occasional new release from an old hand. I can't be alone in hoping that the distinctive Canterbury take on fusion won't die out as its founders retire from the music scene one by one; albums like The Uncertainty Principle make me think a revival is entirely possible, and prove that there's talent there equal to the challenge. It's a crying shame it didn't spark a Canterbury revival at the time.