Hatfield andThe North - Hatfield and The North [1973]

Maybe the best band in the Canterbury scene. This band that comes to mind when mentioning this style of music. Taken from a prog archives review i find this to be the most satisfying description of their music.
A Canterburian supergroup made from members of Matching Mole (guitarist Phil Miller), Egg & Khan (keyboardist Dave Stewart), Caravan and later Camel(bassist Richard Sinclair) and GonG (drummer Pip Pyle) - and amazingly enough no-one from Soft Machine- Hatfield (for short) certainly made two of the most transcendental albums in the genre, starting with the self-titled debut in 73. A concept album in the sense that many songs (from short ones lasting one minute to long compositions) are tied together having a unique flow.You may not notice the track changes.
Describing Hatfield's music is rather difficult other than saying it fits the Canterbury mould that we know today without sounding like any other band in that category. It's definitely not rock music anymore (like Gong or Caravan), it's not Jazz (through the bossa nova) either, but to call it jazz-rock is only partly satisfying because applicable only 15% (roughly) of the time. Mostly instrumental, but when sung it is either stunning or completely silly lyrics, often courtesy of drummer Pip Pyle (humour-wise, Hatfield is typically Canterburian), the quartet is simply amazing with mastery of their respective instruments and the numerous tempo changes and tricky time sigs are simply head-twisting and can be a bit of a repellent for the normal attention span.. There are some remains from Caravan, sometimes from Egg or Gong, but you mostly have to look at the future National Health to have an idea of what they sound like. Little wonder since three of the four Hatfield will be involved in NH. To make matters worse, the album is filled with short unpredictable songs that generally don't respect any rules and end up melting into each other, much like the superb Wyatt-conscious Calyx leads directly into album-climax Homerton. Another strong track is Shaving Is Boring, which grabs a space rock (ala GonG) repetitive rhythms and Caravan soundscapes (the organ theme seems from Grey & Pink) and later on Bossa Nochance is a clear wink at Caravan's rhythms.

Studio Album, released in 1973

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. The Stubbs effect (0:23)
2. Big jobs(Poo Poo extract)(0:36)
3. Going up to people and tinkling (2:25)
4. Calix (2:45)
5. Son of "there's no place like Homerton" (10:10)
6. Aigrette (1:38)
7. Rifferama (2:56)
8. Fol de rol (3:07)
9. Shaving is boring (8:45)
10. Licks for the ladies (2:37)
11. Bossa nochance (0:40)
12. Big jobs No 2 (By Poo and the Wee Wees) (2:14)
13. Lobster in cleavage probe (3:57)
14. Gigantic land-crabs in Earth takeover bid(3:21)
15. The other stubbs effect (0:38)
Bonus tracks on Cd:
16. Let's Eat (Real Soon)
17. Fitter Stoke Has a Bath

Total Time: 46:11

Line-up / Musicians

- Phil Miller / guitars
- Pip Pyle / drums
- Richard Sinclair / bass, vocals
- Dave Stewart / organ, piano
- Jeremy Baines / pixiephone
- Barbara Gaskin / backing vocals
- Geoff Leigh / saxophones, flute
- Amanda Parsons / backing vocals
- Ann Rosenthal / backing vocals
- Robert Wyatt / vocals (4)

Enjoy it

Listen to the first 3 tracks

Calyx and Son Of There's No Place Like Homerton