Some Canterbury Tales

Introduction

I recently joined a Facebook group, "The Canterbury Scene", and they are extremely engaging and have been very welcoming when I have posted there, so I thought I would make a playlist of some of my favourite songs by Canterbury-related artists. You can check the group out here:

I am currently watching this film of the band Caravan on Amazon Prime if you have access to that:

I won't feature all the bands on this list but all are worth tracking down it you like what you hear here.

But now we continue with my choices of some Canterbury-related songs and tales. These are not in chronological (or any logical) order, but they are songs that have just come to mind.

Matching Mole - "O Caroline" from the eponymous album

I always love the story that Matching Mole's name came from the French for Soft Machine was "Machine Molle", although Google returns "Machine Douce", but this song is an absolute beauty and a great way to start this playlist.

Henry Cow - "Beautiful as the Moon; Terrible as an Army with Banners" from "In Praise Of Learning"

One of their albums was called "Legend", referencing the plastic sock on the cover as used for this album. I loved this song for the title alone, much of the music is extremely complex, but wonderful to listen to with Dagmar Krause on vocals.

This is not easy listening, but it is a great listen.

Soft Machine - "Joy Of A Toy" from their eponymous album

From the band's debut this features Kevin Ayers, Robert Wyatt and Mike Ratledge but is an instrumental despite crediting lyricists.

Kevin Ayers - "Joy Of A Toy (Continued)" from "Joy Of A Toy"

Kevin took is Soft Machine instrumental and continued it with words (well la la la la) for this jolly title track for his solo album.

Quiet Sun - "Sol Caliente" from "Mainstream"

A tenuous Canterbury connection but some brilliant music.

Having originated from a Dulwich College band by the name of Pooh and the Ostrich Feather, Quiet Sun was formed in 1970 after MacCormick had made friends with Robert Wyatt, the son of a friend of his mother's. The band integrated jazz elements and sparkling keyboard sounds into their complex music, in many ways similar to contemporaries Soft Machine.

Quiet Sun split up in 1972, Manzanera to Roxy Music, MacCormick to Matching Mole, Hayward to This Heat, and Jarrett began to teach mathematics.

Caravan - "Memory Lain, Hugh/Headloss" from "Girls That Grow Plump In The Night"

Caravan, along with Soft Machine, are probably the archetypal Canterbury bands. Their sound is sort of mostly pleasant progressive, and this is a brilliant example of their sound.

Gong - Eat That Phonebook (Coda) from "Angel's Egg (Part II of the Radio Gnome Invisible Trilogy)"

I was originally tempted to use a video with the original "Angel's Egg" album cover (which is a bit naughty) but I thought that some people may complain, though you can check it out here.

Daevid Allen and Steve Hillage were integral parts of the Canterbury scene in various bands. I love the saxophone riff on this piece by Didier Malherbe (Bloomdido Bad De Grasse).

Khan - "Hollow Stone" from "Space Shanty"

Steve Hillage and Dave Stewart were in many Canterbury bands, and this was one of them. I have the album in my collection, as I do with all the music on this playlist.

There are sections of this song that remind me very much of Genesis, with the guitar and keyboards.

This is the final song on this playlist, and I hope you have found something new, and something you like and will explore further.