To me Hatfield and the North is the peak of Fusion. They’re not trying to be Herbie, they’re not trying to be Miles Davis. They have laid back songs, they have goofy songs. They’re not taking themselves too seriously, but at the same time it is quite obvious that they are super proficient at everything they play. I love it
Canterbury Scene at his best. We loved their sound, and Soft Machine, and Camel, and Caravan, and... although we were teenagers. Something went wrong, I cannot relate to today's music, it seems brainless, superficial, empty. Thanks guys to make my life better!
I am afraid tha the organ sound IS dated, but, who cares? That sound played a role in the Canterbury scene, and therefore in music. It served a purpose, and we also love it, not in the same way that the Hammond sound spread, but we love it. Dave Stewart is an impressive player, always appreciated him, in Egg, National Health, Brufford...
@@georgesonm1774 You may be well right. The fact is that Dave Sinclair, Mike Ratledge and Dave Stewart all used that sound. It is only a guess, but I can imagine them sharing and exchanging information on the sounds that could be produced. Sometimes I wish I was old enough and British enough to have been there. Don't misunderstand me, being Portuguese is a blessing and a curse, I love it!
@@joseandrade632 I've been hearing this kind of tone creep it's way back into modern psychedelic rock/indie rock. Check out the song "Bones" by a modern band called Crumb. Really cool how they use it in a modern context.
Richard Sinclair proving that you don't have to sing with an American accent. Lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely lovely.
Richard Sinclair has a melodic and lyrical voice, he sounds like an angel. He changed all the band in which he played. Camel never sounded like when RS was there, unfortunately for two albums only, three if we include the live album. They are as brilliant as Camel's best.
I don’t think any of them sang with an American accent! Pie Hastings didn’t sing with an American accent. Robert Wyatt did not sing with an American accent either
@@blaumausfrau Peter Bardens did until Andrew Latimer got a hold of him....Jon Anderson...whoever sang lead on 'Lucky Man' and '21st Century Schizoid Man' (was Wetton in KC in that time?).
This is a godsend.. when everyone else in high school was listening to Led Zeppelin and Fleetwood Mac.. I was digging into the Canterbury Scene and now I am really appreciating all the vinyl that I collected during that time because this stuff is timeless. Thank you for posting!
Me too! Melancholia, All H&TN’s songs make up for the soundtrack of my high school years (together with Egg, Soft Machine, Robert Wyatt, Henry Cow…) Never gets tired. Carrying in my musical memory. Thank you kindly.
Tuve la fortuna acá en Chile de conocer y disfrutar a Hatfield and the North, Caravan, Camel, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, UK, etc. cuando salian en Inglaterra a la venta sus lps, acá le llegaban a un amigo de infancia, hijo de un diplomático de carrera , por valija diplomática y los escuchabamos en largas sesiones con otros amigos. Mientras en el colegio, mis compañeros solo sabian de Led Zep, Santana, Doors y alguno más por ahí que tocaban en la radio, solo en programas especiales, no masivamente. Fuí un afortunado.
It's late 1975 and I go into a record shop in central Johannesburg, South Africa. I'm 19. Thumbing through the album tray "latest releases" I come across a single copy of Rotters Club. I ignore it and continue flipping through the records. Three months later I return to find that sole copy of Rotters Club in the "Sale" bin. Sticker price - 25cents (around 20p at the time). So I buy it. Never looked back... one of the best deals I ever made. (Still have it...)
I remember a day when Pip Pyle came to my home with a friend of mine then we had a drink with a good bottle of white wine It was a shiny day, Pip was a very gentle and simple man, RIP Pip, I love you and all your good passed friends, specialy Phil Miller and Hug Hopper all together you will not be forgotten, your music is so delightful.
Richard Sinclair is an awesome bass player with the voice of an angel…and what a marvellous band the Hatfields were. The Rotters Club remains in my top ten albums ever. Thank you for posting this gem RIP Pip and Phil.
@@MrMjp58 Oh great, I have always loved Camel, all their albums are exceptional, but with Richard on bass and vocals the album became more special, I think he was also on "I can see your house from here" album too, I love the Englishness of his voice, so distinctive. Thanks for the reply, cheers and keep safe.
The band were wonderful, but to my mind the really special thing - which could never be duplicated anywhere else - was Richard Sinclair's vocals. Anyway, we must thank them all for creating so much special beauty for the universe.
Beautiful, immediately takes me back to that time, when music was so exciting, and a joy to discover. Imaginative, melodic and powerful. A time of hope, belief in a better future. Where did it go?
I saw Dave Sinclair live once, playing keyboards for Bill Bruford's band, along with Alan Holdsworth on guitar and Jeff Berlin on bass. One of the best shows I've ever seen.
We actually have Jimi Hendrix to thank for that organ sound. While on tour with soft machine in 1968, Hendrix suggested to Ratledge that he should try using a fuzz pedal on his organ and the rest is history
It's a shame Stewart never had the desire to rekindle some occasional magic with the other three over the decades. That always gave me the impression that he never really thought much of the product this amazing band created initially; or that he just didn't enjoy it enough to be bothered having some fun with the boys one last time. I guess we'll just never know. RIP Pip & Phil
There are many fantastic keyboard players but no one like Dave Stewart in the Canterbury scene. His sound is so unique and instantly recognizable. This performance is like an academic lecture of musicality and technical mastery. Fantastic upload, thank you!
Sounds to me as if Dave Stewart learned everything he knows from Caravan's Dave Sinclair, so there was at least ONE like him in the Canterbury scene... :-)
@@theclarkey100 every musician on the planet “learned everything he knows” from musicians that came before them. every single one. you’re point is very silly. don’t compare, JUST LISTEN
@@jamiepastman5594 Your 'point' is just pompous and irrelevant in the context of my reply being to PrinceEnki2112's statement that Dave Stewart's sound was "unique and instantly recognisable" :-)
i’ve been a professional successful full time musician for 40 years. played and recorded with many bands i’m sure you idolize. i don’t say who i am here because actually i’m the opposite of pompous but you’d know if i did. how bout you Pat, what’s your experience level that makes you so sure of yourself? a spotify account?
Listening to this makes me glad Richard Sinclair left Caravan. Not because he was bad but the opposite. I'm glad he left to create this equally amazing music that may not have been as good without him.
This is excellent. Being more of a Yes/Genesis type fan at the time I totally overlooked bands like Caravan, Hatfield, Soft Machine, Matching Mole, etc. Mistake of course, but the upside is that I have the pleasure, 50 years or so on, of exploring and enjoying them now, when there is so little contemporary music that interests me.
The approach by the Canterbury bands especially Hatfield and Soft Machine was so radically different from those bands that I honestly feel strange calling them "prog rock" sometimes. They really were a style of their own.
@@N0rmad I agree, that categorisation seems dated now, but at the time the progressive rock label encompassed a much wider field of musical styles. Also, the difference is marked by how those bands diverged: Yes and Genesis towards pop and the Canterbury bands (for the most part) towards jazz and even jazz/funk.
@@MsMarcow Thanks, Marco. I found the album Crac! I am listening now. It's very eclectic! It will take a few listens to absorb, but I've already heard some great sounds. Which album would you most recommend?
I picked up Rotters Club at a second hand record stall in Burgess Hill Market in the early 80s. It quite literally changed my life, introducing me to the whole Canterbury scene. As a musician it blew my mind that people could do this. Richard Sinclair is simply not of this world, Pip Pyle is such an outstanding, tasteful drummer. Phil Miller is so underrated and Dave Stewart re-wrote how keyboards should sound. (Dave Stewart writes in Sound on Sound magazine and his reviews always make me laugh!)
So easy to slip into their beautiful world. Wonderful music. So much jazz spirit. Ever wished you could get time machine tickets for past concerts? I would go here, King Crimson, the Barclays with their Orchestra. And Miles, Coltrane, Art Pepper......
This is one American who's ALWAYS appreciated how English Richard has always been (and remains). To his credit he's never tried impersonating Jackie Wilson or Ray Charles. Very lovely indeed.
Definitely a knockout live performance. And 'Fitter Stoke has a bath' absolutely superb jazz number. But for me the "problem" is just that word jazz... I prefer prog over jazz and therefore I like more bands like National Health and Egg than Hatfield & the North considering the Canterbury scene.
‘Jazz’ not in the purist term, only due to Soft Machine, also. .’prog rock’ (blues based like Tempest, Greenslade), (art rock like G. Giant, Yes, K. Crimson), (avant-garde like Gong, Hawkwind), but jazz falls into fusion, (Passport, Brand X). .Henry Cow though jazzy is the definitive ‘prog rock’. It’s just how Canterbury bands utilized jazz in their own style.
Dave Stewart used to write a monthly column in Keyboard Magazine which I read for a few years around 1990. Dave is a funny guy and I loved the column, the info and the stories about all the extremely unpopular bands he played in and with ... well, here is where it fell kind of short ... without the actual music!!!! Fast forward to 2020! THANK YOU, RU-vid! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! :D
If anyone's not convinced these guys were the tops just listen to them jamming live in some of the 1974 BBC sessions. They're on "Hattitude" and "Hatwise Choice" 44 years on and I still wonder how they did that
I REALLY pisses me off when they don’t focus in on the soloists as they’re doing their thing. Fortunately we get a decent dose of Phil especially, doing his “thing”! Phil was such a fantastic player, instantly recognisable....the sign of a special talent.
Que música tan excelente, elocuente excepcional, sin palabras, un gran trabajo súper especial, qué placer poder escuchar está delicia musical, genialidad grupal e individual... QUE TALENTOSOS
I saw them when they played on the same bill as Kevin Coyne in Birmingham. I remember the audience seemed to tolerate them as opposed to enjoy them and although it was not what I tended to listen to at that time something clicked and I went out and bought The Rotters Club. Still love that album in 2020. I am grateful to them as it sparked my interest in the whole Canterbury scene and I grew to love all of those bands.
Exceptional treat! Having the two albums all these years. I never noticed them playing in the states near me. Over the years I made a listening room, a hobby thing. When I would have musically inclined folks over I would play some Hatfield and the North. It never failed to take me and guests on a journey. That band fractured time and the lyrics I admire greatly. Over the top words to go with other worldly music. And let's not forget the Northettes. I don't know if I heard any avant-garde music I have liked more. Special mix of people seemingly playing for the sheer artistic satisfaction. it didn't matter anyway.......
Nice to hear this and wish I was there the first time, have been a big fan of this band for a long time. Have been following the band to members to Camel and Steven Wilson. So much talent there!!!!
What a wonderful music was made by the Canterbury bands... And it is so nice to be able to watch some videos from those times... Thanks a lot for posting it!!
The Rainbow had a particular acoustic that I loved, particularly good for bands like the Hatfields, Softs, Gong, Arthur Brown's Kingdom Come, Faust, Henry Cow, King Crimson, all of whom I saw there among others.
I've been a hardcore Caravan fan since they began. Saw them perform a memorable show. Went to a Jimmy Hastings concert in London. I just found out about "Hatfield..." yesterday and I can't believe I never heard of them until then. Now I'm listening to everything I can find. Beautiful and spectacular. In these horrific covid days it's finds like this which make my day/week/year! Thank you for posting and love the comments.
If you haven't already got it, get both 'Hatwise Choice' and 'Hattitude'. They're both jam packed with stuff from the vaults and with excellent sleeve notes too: well worth a punt!
To me, that's a very interesting an apt comparison. They both had very unique harmonic languages, where Bill Evans's was very open in its voicings and Dave Stewart tended toward very tight dissonant voicings similar to the horn arrangements on the early Chicago records. You can easily make a comparison with Allan Holdsworth, whose harmonic sensibility was completely unique.
The bit they always fade out in halfway between heaven and earth ! I always wondered where that excellent solo was going!! Wish there were more live recordings as they were so good live.
Regarding the debate about the "dated" organ sound, I remember at the time we thought it was a refreshing change from the traditional Hammond sound of the day which was, for that brief time, beginning to sound a little corny to some. (Time and tastes move on and now I think the Hammond B3/C3 sound is permanently ensconced, rightly, as a classic, ballsy sound). The Canterbury keyboard sounds will have evolved for technical gigging reasons, too, at a time when equipment was yet to give all the results musicians required. Remember the blessed moogs of the day were notoriously temperamental. The Softs/Caravan/Hatfields organs certainly cut through the mix and, for fans at the time, were the sound of the underground ;-)
I simply love the sound of the keys/organ and the band sounds pretty tight. Mike Ratledge, Dave Stewart, Kerry Minnear and the Nocenzi brothers are amongst my favourite keyboards players of the 70s.
i toured with those old keyboards, it wasn’t easy. I guess i neede to clarify - yes, others had that sound before Stewart. It was what he played with that sound: joyful, skittering, pugnacious and always so melodically beautiful
Fresh, is this a perfect mix of psych, prog and jazz or what. Never heard of this band but it got all the spices I like, I know what ill be listening today, a whole day
Thought this was 1974. Saw them support Chick Corea at the Rainbow. Love the late great Chick but Dave Stewart on the fuzz organ with a bit of wah wah. Heaven!
