Canterbury Tales
I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist it - it's even the title of compilation by quintessential Canterbury band Caravan - but my musings on the album titled The Wilde Flowers could only have one title.
It probably hasn't escaped your notice that Mr NineFeetUnderground is quite a fan of the Canterbury sound / scene (is it a 'sound' or is it a 'scene'?) - both past and present, so it should also come as no surprise that the release (or strictly should that be "modified re-release"?) of an album by the band who are the progenitors of almost every original Canterbury band should arouse some interest.
[Aside: Even if it has escaped your notice I'm still writing about the album anyway. So there.]
I'm not going to witter on about whether or not the Canterbury sound is a lazy music journo invention or indeed whether every band that spawned, directly or indirectly, from the metaphoric loins of The Wilde Flowers actually conforms to some notional common "sound" or even attempt to define what exactly makes a band's music belong to this so-called sound. Nope. I am not.
I will mention, just in case you don't know, that The Wilde Flowers - a rag-tag changing collection of musicians - included in its ranks (though not necessarily at the same time) founder members of bands like Soft Machine, Caravan, Hatfield and the North and Matching Mole. I'll also mention that in spite of all the famous descendants the band itself never released an album. Players who passed through The Wilde Flowers include Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Pye Hastings, Brian and Hugh Hopper, Mike Ratledge and David and Richard Sinclair.
So, if the names of those bands and musicians don't create any stirrings amongst the many thousands of neurons that are lighting up in your brain as you read this, then this is probably the point at which you should retire to a safe distance. If you are reading this sentence then clearly some level of interest remains, allowing me to lay out some thoughts on the album.
Fanatics will probably know that this is not the first time this album (or half of it at least) has been released, however this is allegedly re-mastered (can't comment on that as I don't have the original) and includes a second CD of tracks previously unreleased, at least as part of a single collection.
My first impressions of this collection were that it was a disappointing bunch of r'n'b songs which could have been recorded by pretty much any fledgling band in the early- to late-sixties. Yeah, sure, there are recognisable songs that became part of the repertoire of Soft Machine, Caravan and Daevid Allen but, at least on first hearing, these shine out like nuggets in a sea of dreck.
Of course first impressions are often flawed and subsequent listens have lent a more positive view, though I would still say you do need to be a Canterbury sound nut to feel this is money well spent.
Music comes first for me, however I do like a nice bit of packaging and this is always enhanced by a good booklet - in this case the extensive notes by Brian Hopper are really interesting and accompanied by some historic photos.
Apart from the r'n'b there's a fair helping of Jazz too, though clearly modern Jazz rather than the traditional style. The Jazz leanings tend to leave the overall impression that whilst the band eventually led to the formation of Soft Machine, Caravan et al the non-r'n'b numbers seem to point more towards the future Soft Machine sound than Caravan's.
The highlights for me are the versions of 'Memories' - especially the final version on CD1 featuring Mike Ratledge on piano, 'Slow Walkin' Talk', 'It's what I Feel (A Certain Kind)', and 'No Game When you Lose'. 'No Game When You Lose' features a great guitar riff and the vocals of Robert Wyatt, who features extensively on vocals (though not always!) throughout.
There are a couple of songs recorded by Brian Hopper and Robert Wyatt which are anachronisms on this album having been recorded in 2003. Both of these are good, especially the Indian-flavoured re-working of Soft Machine favourite 'Hope for Happiness'.
A tantalising near-miss is the recording of Caravan in 1968 - the year of their formation - performing 'Where But For Caravan Would I'. Some great stuff here - Pye on vocals, David Sinclair's keyboard playing - but seemingly recorded using mikes placed in tin cans and inserted where the sun doesn't shine. A curio but you just wish someone had bothered to set up the recording equipment a bit better, though I guess at the time they probably didn't think this would ever see the light of day!
If you want to try before you buy, the entire album is on Spotify...
Here's my favourite version of 'Memories' on YouTube, though this is from the earlier release not this one...
If you are a Canterbury sound / scene nutter like me, you may also be interested in this DVD, 'Romantic Warriors III - Canterbury Tales'
Fanatics will probably know that this is not the first time this album (or half of it at least) has been released, however this is allegedly re-mastered (can't comment on that as I don't have the original) and includes a second CD of tracks previously unreleased, at least as part of a single collection.
My first impressions of this collection were that it was a disappointing bunch of r'n'b songs which could have been recorded by pretty much any fledgling band in the early- to late-sixties. Yeah, sure, there are recognisable songs that became part of the repertoire of Soft Machine, Caravan and Daevid Allen but, at least on first hearing, these shine out like nuggets in a sea of dreck.
Of course first impressions are often flawed and subsequent listens have lent a more positive view, though I would still say you do need to be a Canterbury sound nut to feel this is money well spent.
Music comes first for me, however I do like a nice bit of packaging and this is always enhanced by a good booklet - in this case the extensive notes by Brian Hopper are really interesting and accompanied by some historic photos.
Apart from the r'n'b there's a fair helping of Jazz too, though clearly modern Jazz rather than the traditional style. The Jazz leanings tend to leave the overall impression that whilst the band eventually led to the formation of Soft Machine, Caravan et al the non-r'n'b numbers seem to point more towards the future Soft Machine sound than Caravan's.
The highlights for me are the versions of 'Memories' - especially the final version on CD1 featuring Mike Ratledge on piano, 'Slow Walkin' Talk', 'It's what I Feel (A Certain Kind)', and 'No Game When you Lose'. 'No Game When You Lose' features a great guitar riff and the vocals of Robert Wyatt, who features extensively on vocals (though not always!) throughout.
There are a couple of songs recorded by Brian Hopper and Robert Wyatt which are anachronisms on this album having been recorded in 2003. Both of these are good, especially the Indian-flavoured re-working of Soft Machine favourite 'Hope for Happiness'.
A tantalising near-miss is the recording of Caravan in 1968 - the year of their formation - performing 'Where But For Caravan Would I'. Some great stuff here - Pye on vocals, David Sinclair's keyboard playing - but seemingly recorded using mikes placed in tin cans and inserted where the sun doesn't shine. A curio but you just wish someone had bothered to set up the recording equipment a bit better, though I guess at the time they probably didn't think this would ever see the light of day!
If you want to try before you buy, the entire album is on Spotify...
Here's my favourite version of 'Memories' on YouTube, though this is from the earlier release not this one...
If you are a Canterbury sound / scene nutter like me, you may also be interested in this DVD, 'Romantic Warriors III - Canterbury Tales'
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