exploring the so-called "Canterbury Sound", its many roots, branches, twigs and accompanying mycelia in 28 episodes (Nov. 2010—Jan. 2013)
Monday, 25 March 2013
new podcast: Canterbury Sans Frontières
Today sees the launch of my new podcast, Canterbury Sans Frontières. As with Canterbury Soundwaves, a new three-hour episode will be released with each full moon.
I decided to wind down Canterbury Soundwaves so that I didn't end up (i) repeating myself, (ii) scraping the bottom of the Canterbury barrel, or (iii) becoming increasingly tangential.
This new podcast broadens the musical remit, so it'll be about one-third 'Canterbury sound', together with progressive/psychedelic/experimental music from the Canterbury of today, the remainder being a mix of music from various times and places which I feel to be in a similar spirit of creative adventurousness. I'll be doing a lot less talking, and the programme will be less expository – so no interviews, barely-listenable bootlegs, etc.
I also plan to include guest one-hour mixes from various musicians from the current music scene in Canterbury (Episode 2 will feature a mix from Neil Sullivan from Lapis Lazuli). This episode, however, is dedicated to Kevin Ayers who passed away less than two weeks after the final episode of Canterbury Soundwaves went out, so there's an hour of his finest work embedded in the middle of the programme:
p.s. Those of you who use social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter: any help spreading the word about this series would be greatly appreciated...thanks!
Kevin Ayers died on the 18th February at his home in Montolieu, France. He was 68. He was a dear friend of Daevid and Gilli, well, forever. His life both musical and personal intertwined closely with theirs particularly in the 60's and 70's. They lived together, made music together, had adventures and just experienced it all together in those days. Despite some of the many obituaries denying the fact, Kevin was to all intents and purposes a member of Gong in 1971 when the band first toured the UK. He also played an instrumental role in
Steve Hillage appearing in Gong's Universe in 1972 while Steve was touring France as a member of Kevin's band.
Daevid told me on hearing the news of Kevin's passing he and Gilli thought, 'If the situation was reversed what would Kevin do?' Easy, a bottle of the best red wine affordable was purchased, Kevin's music went on heavy rotation and stories of the good times, full of good thoughts were shared with close friends and
family in Australia. When all is said and done they simply loved him.'
It was with great sadness to hear that Kevin Ayers, a legend of the Canterbury scene has passed away aged 68.
Kevin was a founder member of Soft Machine and played on their first two albums. He had a varied and prolific solo career producing memorable LPs such as 'Joy Of A Toy' and 'Shooting At The Moon'. His backing band included Mike Oldfield and Andy Summers. Kevin was very well known and a friend of Caravan during their early years and
he will be greatly missed.
One commentator has pointed out that Kevin's contribution to two Soft Machine albums is an error unless
Jet Propelled Photographs is considered an official Soft Machine release. Also "No mention on the Caravan site that it was Kevin who taught Pye Hastings his first guitar chords. Where But For Kevin...".
Stuart Maconie had a lovely chat over the phone with Robert Wyatt about Kevin as part of his BBC Radio 6 "Freak Zone" programme (click on image to stream):
The Web and (more surprisingly) the UK media have been awash with coverage of Kevin Ayers' recent passing (he died at home in southern France on 18th February, seemingly peacefully in his sleep). I don't think there's much I can add to what's already been said, apart from noting that with all the discussion of his character, voice, lyrical quirkiness, lifestyle, Englishness, etc., it's largely been overlooked that he was a fantastic bass player with the early Soft Machine. Live material from that era (especially the 1968 American tour when the trio were truly on fire) is sadly quite limited, but some excellent examples can be found if you search through the various episodes of Canterbury Soundwaves.
excerpts from Graham Bennett's Out-Bloody-Rageous, pp. 121 and 145
I was tempted to put together an extra episode of the podcast as a tribute to his music (despite having announced Episode 28 to be the final one)...but, no, I've decided to stick with my original decision and instead dedicate the first episode of the forthcoming Canterbury Sans Frontières podcast to him — that should be out in late March and will be announced here.
5. Soft Machine — "A Certain Kind" (from The Soft Machine, 1968)
6. The Magick Brothers — "Garden Song" (live at St. Mary's Arts Centre, Sandwich, 2012-09-21)
7. Gong — "Voix Lactée" → "Outer Vision" → "Inner Vision" (from Live on TV 1990, recorded Central TV studios, Nottingham 1990-04-24, released 1993)
8. Luke Smith and The Feelings — "Canterbury Girls" [excerpts] (live at the Cherry Tree, Canterbury, 2012-10-03)
9. Beggars Farm — "You Forever" [excerpt] (from With Brian Hopper, recorded 1969 or '70, Coach and Horses pub, Whitstable, Kent, released 1997)
10. Spirogyra — "Cogwheels, Crutches and Cyanide" (from St. Radigunds, 1971)
11. Khan — "The Cobalt Sequence" → "March of the Sine Squadrons" (from Space Shanty, 1972)
12. Steve Hillage Band — "Salmon Song" (live at University of Kent, Canterbury, 1979-02-28)
13. Daevid Allen and Nicoletta Stephanz — "Unriddle Me This" (from Live @ The Knit NYC, 2004, recorded at The Knitting Factory, New York, date unknown)
14. Gong — "Isle of Everywhere" [excerpt] (from You, 1974)
15. Caravan — "Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'" (from Green Bottles For Marjorie, recorded at BBC studios, London, 1968-12-31)
16. University of Errors — "Feelin' Reelin' Squealin'" (from Jet-Propelled Photographs, 2004)
17. Gong — "I Am Your Pussy" [excerpt] (live on French TV programme Rockenstock, 1973-09-18)
18. Gong — "Tropical Fish" → "Selene" (live at New Morning, Paris, 2012-10-15)
19. Robert Graves — "To Juan at the Winter Solstice" (origin unknown)
20. Soft Machine — "As Long As He Lies Perfectly Still" (from Volume Two, 1969)
21. The Wilde Flowers — "Parchman Farm" (from the 1994 The Wilde Flowers compilation, recorded 1965-03-16)
22. Soft Machine — "Memories" (from Jet-Propelled Photographs, recorded April 1967, released 1976)
23. Daevid Allen — "Stoned-Innocent Frankenstein...And His Adventures in the Land of Flip" [brief excerpt] (from Banana Moon, 1971)
24. Gong — "The Pot Head Pixies" (from Flying Teapot, 1973)
25. Robert Wyatt (feat. Ivor Cutler) — "Little Red Robin Hood Hit the Road" (from Rock Bottom, 1974)
26. Gong — "Inner Temple" [brief excerpt] (from Live, etc., 1977, recorded at BBC studios, London, 1974-01-15)
27. Duke Ellington — "Madam Zzaj" → "Ballet of the Flying Saucers" (from A Drum Is A Woman, 1956)
34. Daevid Allen — "Yum Yum Tree" (sung unaccompanied in Rev. Beverage's car while driving around Sturry, near Canterbury, 2012-09-11)
35. Soft Machine — "Dedicated to You But You Weren't Listening" (from The Peel Sessions, 1991, recorded at BBC studios 1971-06-01)
36. Acid Mothers Gong — "Bellyful of Telephone/Why Do?" (from Live in Nagoya, 2006, recorded Tokuzo, Nagoya, Japan, 2003-04-09)
37. Gong — "Magick Mother Invocation" → "Master Builder" (live at Canterbury Fayre, Mount Ephraim Gardens, Kent, 2000-07-30)
38. Gong — "Occupy" (live at New Morning, Paris, 2012-10-15)
39. Brainville — "Hope For Happiness" (from Live In The UK, 2004, recorded at The Lanterns, Ashburton, Devon 1998-06-18)
40. Gong — "Isle of Everywhere" [excerpt] (live at Lounge on the Farm festival, 2009-07-10)
41. Gong — "You Never Blow Yr Trip Forever" (from You, 1974)
42. Kevin Ayers — "Joy of a Toy Continued" (from Joy of a Toy, 1969)
[voiceover ambience: Daevid Allen and Euterpe — "Wise Man In Your Heart" (from Good Morning, 1976)]
clarifications/errata: I mistakenly gave the name of Duke Ellington's "Ballet of the Flying Saucers" as "Flying Saucer Ballet". The French TV recording of Gong which Daevid mentioned over lunch appears to have been autumn 1973 rather than 1974.
1. Ivor Cutler — "Women of the World" (BBC Radio One session, 1983-03-23) → Ivor Cutler and Linda Hirst — "Women of the World" (7" single, 1983)
2. Gilli Smyth and Gong — Great Mother Goddess invocation (live at Koncorde2, Brighton, 2012-11-01)
3. Henry Cow — "Living in the Heart of the Beast" (recorded live for Swiss TV's Kaleidospop, Vevey, 1976-09-25, available on Anniversary Box Set, Vol. 9, released 2009)
4. Humi [Hugh Hopper and Yumi Hara Cawkwell] — "Wind that Divides" (live at Club Integral, London, 2007-11-01)
5. Robert Wyatt and Karen Mantler — "Beware" (from Cuckooland, 2003)
6. The Carla Bley Band — "Wrong Key Donkey" (from European Tour 1977, 1978)
7. Hugh Hopper and Lisa S. Kloessner — "Red Poppies in the Corn" [excerpt] (from Parabolic Versions, 2000)
8. Hatfield and the North [feat. "The Northettes"] — "Son of 'There's No Place Like Homerton" [excerpt] (from Hatfield and the North, 1974)
9. National Health [feat. Amanda Parsons] — "Clocks and Clouds" (recorded 1976-09-21, released on Missing Pieces, 1996)
10. News From Babel — "Arcades (of Glass)" (from Work Resumed on the Tower, 1984)
11. Lindsay Cooper and the Gold Diggers — "Plate Dance" [excerpt] (recorded at Taktlos Festival, Zürich, 1985-03-09)
12. The Raincoats — "Dancing in My Head" (from Odyshape, 1981)
13. Professor Georgina Born speaking on "The Arts and Humanities" (Cambridge University, 2011-02-25)
14. Lady June — "Some Day Silly Twenty Three" (from Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, 1974)
15. Gong — "Zero the Hero and the Orgasm Witch" [excerpt] (BBC Radio One session 1973-05-29, released on Pre-Modern Wireless, 1995)
16. Kevin Ayers and Bridget St. John — "Jolie Madame" (recorded 11/1970, released on Odd Ditties, 1976)
17. Slapp Happy/Henry Cow — "In the Sickbay" (from Desperate Straights, 1975)
19. Miquette Giraudy with Steve Hillage — "Garden of Earthly Delights" (from Rainbow Dome Musick, 1979)
20. Lady June — "To Whom it May Not Concern" (from Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, 1974)
21. Lady June — "Optimism" (from Lady June's Linguistic Leprosy, 1974)
22. Feminist Improvising Group — "The Seventh Kisser Sisters"(?) (improvising live on NDR Radio, Hamburg 1980-10-03)
23. Lady June [feat. Cathy Berberian] — "Reflections" (Neville Harson remix — listener submission)
24. Robert Wyatt — excerpts from Wire salon, London, 2012-04-12
25. Annie Whitehead's Soupsongs [feat. Julie Tippetts] — "The Sight of the Wind" (from Soupsongs Live, recorded at Live and Direct Festival, Newark-on-Trent, 1999-10-10)
clarifications/errata: I should have mentioned the fact that Michael Mantler (Karen's father) was part of the Carla Bley Band which we heard, as was Gary Windo. I should also have mentioned the (unrecorded) Ottawa Music Company which involved members of Egg, Henry Cow, Steve Hillage and the Northettes.
British Library's "Oral history of jazz in Britain" series: Val Wilmer interviews Lindsay Cooper [1] [2] [3] (requires UK higher education login for access).
15. Gong — "Tried So Hard" (from Camembert Electrique, 1971)
16. National Health — "Squarer For Maud (part one)" (live in Bryn Mawr, PA, 1979-11-26, released on Playtime, 2011)
17. Hatfield and the North — "To Mum and The Gongs" → "Brandy As In Benji" → "Going Up To People And Tinkling" → "Calyx" (recorded live at Birmingham Town Hall, 1974-04-24)
20. Soft Heap — "A Flap" (recorded live at A L'Ouest de la Grosne, Bresse-sur-Grosne, France, March 1982, released on A Veritable Centaur, 1995)
21. Soft Machine — "Neo-Caliban Grides" → "Out-Bloody-Rageous" (live in Høvikodden, Norway, 1971-02-28, released on Live at Henie Onstad Arts Centre, 2009)
22. Gilli Smyth — "I Am a Fool" → "Back to the Womb" (from Mother, 1978)
23. Hatfield and the North — "Big Jobs" → "Calyx" (live at the Bowery Poetry Club, NYC, 2006-06-26)
25. National Health — "Phlákatön" (from Of Queues and Cures, 1978)
26. some Canadian National Health audience members — "Phlákatön" (recorded somewhere in Canada, 1979, released on National Health's Missing Pieces 1996)
27. Adam, Matthew and Matt — "Phlákatön" (undisclosed location near Barham, Kent, 2012-11-22)
[voiceover ambience: Centipede — "Septober Energy — Part 1" (from Septober Energy, 1971)]
Errata/clarifications: The drummer with Khan on that album track was Eric Peachy — what became of him? I mentioned that I was going to "focus on" Gong's Continental Circus album, but only played one track — I'd originally intended to include "What Do You Want?" (a version of "Fohat Digs Holes in Space") as well, but had to cut that due to time constraints. Dashiell Hedayat's real name appears to have been Jack-Alain Léger. The first Soft Heap track is called "Petit 3's", not "Petit"
There wasn't time to mention a number of Pip's other projects:
All Wet and Dripping (a shortlived "Canterbury-influenced band in which he replaced Charles Hayward")
The Weightwatchers (unrecorded touring band with Elton Dean and Keith Tippett)
Phil Miller's In Cahoots (Pip was the drummer for many years)
Rapid Eye Movement (with Dave Stewart, Jakko Jakszyk and Rick Biddulph)
T-Mit (with Mark Hewins, Richards Sinclair and Vince Clarke)
Absolute Zero
Pip Pyle's Bash!
Also Pip's composition/songwriting with Hatfield, etc. should have got a mention, as drummers who can write music are few and far between.
Some YouTube comments have questioned the thinking behind putting the following footage from Pip's funeral in the public domain, but it appears to have been cleared by his family. The general feeling seems to be that he would have wanted people to have enjoyed themselves at the event.
[from the Pip Pyle homepage, 2006-09-11]: "Pip's funeral will be held in England in a week or so (the date has not been fixed yet). Pip's children are planning to decorate Pip's coffin with the type of stickers he had on his drum cases, and have asked that if anyone has any Hatfield and the North, National Health, Gong, Chicken Shack, L'Equipe Out, Soft Heap, Bash!, Musicians' Union or 'Keep Music Live' (etc.) stickers they would like to donate, could they kindly send them now to the Funeral Directors...
Alternatively, bearing in mind that these stickers are often treasured possessions, you can scan them and send the image to Sam Ellidge and Sam will make them into stickers. All submissions are welcome. Please feel free to send anything that tickles your fancy, however daft or irreverent — Pip had a wicked sense of humour and would have liked the idea of people having a bit of a laugh at his funeral."
Errata/clarifications: Steven Miller died December 9th, 1998. I said The Whole World was Lol Coxhill's first outing into the world of rock music, completely overlooking Delivery, with whom I started the programme...d'oh! "Was a Friend" is indeed from Robert Wyatt's 1997 Shleep album. Banco de Gaia is Toby Marks. I forgot to mention that Pye Hastings played (very unusual) guitar on Hopper's "Miniluv Reprise", another Coxhill—Caravan crossover. I also failed to mention a number of other notable and innovative projects Lol was involved in, e.g. Brotherhood of Breath, AMM, Dedication Orchestra and Welfare State.
The Delivery piece "Betty" features just Roy Babbington on bass. Richard Sinclair supplied vocals at that gig, but not on that track. Coxhill and Babbington left soon after and Sinclair took over on bass, resulting in that proto-Hatfield lineup who played at The Tower of London in July '72 (see Episode 11).
Matthew Watkins' new experimental-cosmic-local history book — an accelerating history of the City of Canterbury from the Big Bang to noon on 15/08/14! It includes historical background to the emergence of the Canterbury Scene as well as musical developments in the city before and since.