Some more Brit Prog, and we have got to the Canterbury Scene, a group of bands that formed in or around Canterbury with interchanging sets of musicians. Caravan are the best known, and have already had a show of their own. Some quotes about the scene
‘In the very best Canterbury music…the musically silly and the musically serious are juxtaposed in an amusing and endearing way.’
‘But the Canterbury school seems to me uniquely capable of making purely musical jokes without parody, without insult to other musicians or listeners, without vitiating musical or intellectual ideals.’
‘A tendency towards instrumental improvisation, and the way they sing – a uniquely English lyrical and vocal content’
We will take a chronological walk through the scene, beginning with the ur-group, the one that started it all. This was The Wilde Flowers, active from 1964-69, whose members would go on to form Caravan and Soft Machine, both bands that were both successful and influential, and go on to other bands as well.
Of the Wilde Flowers, Richard Coughlan once said ‘We only had a few tunes, so how do you make them last a bit longer? What do jazz musicians do? Ah, I know, they improvise…. So a simple tune becomes a 10 minute event….’
Preshow
| Title | Artists | Album | Year | |
| 101 | Winter Wine | Caravan | In the Land of Grey and Pink | 1971 |
| 102 | Here Am I | Caravan | Blind Dog At St.Dunstan’s | 1976 |
| 103 | Tell Me | Camel | Rain Dances | 1977 |
| 104 | Highways of the Sun | Camel | Rain Dances | 1977 |
The Show
| 201 | Impotence (version one) | The Wilde Flowers | Best Of: Tales Of Canterbury | 1967 |
| 202 | Be All Right / Chance Of A Lifetime | Caravan | For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night | 1973 |
| 203 | Let’s Eat (Real Soon) | Hatfield And The North | Hatfield & The North | 1973 |
| 204 | Mandrake | Gong | Shamal | 1975 |
| 205 | Share It | Hatfield And The North | The Rotters’ Club | 1975 |
| 206 | Hazard Profile Part 5 | Soft Machine | Bundles | 1975 |
| 207 | Land Of The Bag Snake | Soft Machine | Bundles | 1975 |
| 208 | Chiefs And Indians | Caravan | Blind Dog At St.Dunstan’s | 1976 |
| 209 | Esnuria | Gong | Gazeuse! | 1976 |
| 210 | Metrognome | Camel | Rain Dances | 1977 |
| 211 | One of These Days I’ll Get an Early Night | Camel | Rain Dances | 1977 |
| 212 | Behind You | Caravan | Better by Far | 1977 |
| 213 | Crosscurrents | Gong | Downwind | 1979 |
| 214 | What You Know | Gong | Downwind | 1979 |
| 215 | Keepin’ up De Fences | Caravan | The Album | 1980 |
| 216 | Portrait of a Shrinking Man | National Health | D.S. al Coda | 1981 |
| 217 | Black Hat | National Health | D.S. al Coda | 1981 |
| 218 | Panoramania | Soft Machine | Land Of Cockayne | 1981 |
| 219 | Cloak And Dagger Man | Camel | Stationary Traveller | 1984 |
| 220 | West Berlin | Camel | Stationary Traveller | 1984 |
| 221 | Dodgy Boat | Allan Holdsworth | Wardenclyffe Tower | 1992 |
Postshow
| 301 | Skylines | Camel | Rain Dances | 1977 |
| 302 | Heavy Tune | Gong | Expresso II | 1978 |
| 303 | Sly Monkey | Soft Machine | Land Of Cockayne | 1981 |
| 304 | The Sixteen Men of Tain | Allan Holdsworth | The Sixteen Men of Tain | 2000 |