Sunday Mornings with Hatfield and the North

Posted by bitemefanboy on May 20, 2013

Part of the late 1960’s Canterbury music scene the technically accomplished, jazz influenced

Hatfield and the North were the acceptable face of 70s prog-rock.

The musicians who started Hatfield and the North in November 1972 were previously all members in other Canterbury Scene bands. The band consisted of Richard Sinclair (bass/vocals, Caravan), Phil Miller (guitar, Matching Mole), Pip Pyle (drums, Delivery, Gong) and Dave Stewart (keyboards, Uriel). La, La, La’s and background vocals courtesy of The Northettes: Barbara Gaskins, Amanda Parsons and Ann Rosenthal. Also contributing at times to the groups’ sound were Henry Cow members, Lindsay Cooper (oboe) and Geoff Leigh (saxes/flutes).

Signing with upstart label Virgin Records the band’s music fell

somewhere between the stoned-output of Gong and the earnest politico-rock of Henry Cow.

In 1974 the band released their eponymous debut album, Hatfield and the North followed by the single “Let’s Eat (Real Soon”/”Fitter Stoke Has A Bath.” While both the album and the single showed what the band was capable of

which was, basically, to sing and solo, mixing catchy riffs with meandering breaks,

the record buying public was less than enthusiastic about the album or the single .

In 1975 the group released their sophomore LP, The Rotters’ Club.

On The Rotters’ Club The Hatfield’s were

careful to avoid the pomposity and bombast of better-known prog rockers of the era, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes.

Essentially an instrumental album “songs” were “few and far between.” Sung by Sinclair, “in a polite and mellow croon” his vocal style was closer to Bing Crosby than Joe Cocker. As for the songs’, their

rather whimsical lyrical content, (is) perhaps another conscious attempt to steer clear of the pretentiousness of the typically overbearing prog rock song style.

Where the band shines is on the instrumentals; whether it’s the electric piano work of Stewart on the Miller penned “Lounging There Trying” and “Underdub,” Pyle’s propulsive “Yes No Interlude” which melds Stewart’s keyboards with the sax of guest Jimmy Hastings or Stewart’s 20-minute opus “Mumps.”

The Rotters’ Club made a appearance on the UK Pop charts, but believing that their following was limited the band agreed to disband several months after its release.

Following the groups breakup Richard Sinclair joined English prog rock group Camel.

Dave Stewart did sessions work for former Yes and King Crimson drummer Bill Bruford. He became an unexpected pop star in 1981 when he collaborated with ex- Zombies singer Colin Blunstone on a cover of Jimmy Ruffin’s “What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?.” For Stewart lightning struck twice when a cover of Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party,” he recorded with former Northette Barbara Gaskins went to #1 on the UK Pop chart in September 1981.

In 1989 the group, except for Dave Stewart, his spot being taken by keyboardist Sophia Domancich, briefly reunited for a series of live dates. Those performances were captured on Live 1990, released in 1993.

The band reunited again in the mid 2000s, with Alex Maguire replacing Sophia Domancich on keyboards. Touring in 2005 and 2006 found the band playing Mexico’s BajaProg festival and NEARfest in the United States.

Pip Pyle, at the age of 56, passed away on August 28, 2006 in a Paris hotel room shortly after returning from a Hatfield and the North show in Groningen, The Netherlands.

DISCOGRAPHY

Releases

Albums:

Hatfield And The North (CD, LP, MP3) (Virgin) 1973
The Rotters’ Club (CD, LP, MP3) (Virgin) 1975
Live 1990 (CD, MP3) (Code 90) 1993
‎Hatwise Choice: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 1 (CD) (Hatfield And The North Self-Released) 2005
Hattitude (CD) (Hatfield And The North Self-released) 2006

Singles & EPs:

Let’s Eat (Real Soon) (7″) (Virgin) 1974

Compilations:

Afters (CD, LP) (Virgin) 1980

Appearances

Albums:

“Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut” Various – V‎ (Virgin) (Cass, 2xLP) 1975
“Halfway Between Heaven And Earth” Over The Rainbow: The Last Concert, Live!‎ (LP) (Chrysalis) 1975

Compilations:

“Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut” Virgin Collections 1973 ~ 1987‎ (4xCD) (Virgin Japan) 1988
“Let’s Eat (Real Soon)” Supernatural Fairy Tales: The Progressive Rock Era (5xCD) (Rhino Records) 1996
“Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut” Progressive Rock‎ (CD, Digital) (ΠΟΠ + ΡΟΚ (Magazine, Virgin) 1997
“Mumps” The Best Prog Rock Album In The World… Ever! (3xCD) (Virgin, EMI) 2003
“Going For A Song” Progressive Rock Trilogy‎ (3xCD) (Music Brokers) 2010
“The Yes No Interlude” Prog Rocks!‎ (2xCD) (EMI) 2011
“Lounging There Trying” Classic Rock Presents PROG: Prog Rocks!‎ (CD) (Classic Rock) 2011
“Fitter Stoke Has A Bath” Prog Rocks! Volume Two‎ (2xCD) (EMI) 2012
“Fol De Rol” Prog Rocks!‎ (Box + 5xCD) (EMI Import) 2013

Videos:

“Halfway Between Heaven And Earth” The Underground Anthology‎ (DVD-V) (Classic Rock Legends) 2003

The Rotters’ Club (1992)

Playing Time: 63:19

1. Share It (3:03)
2. Lounging There Trying (3:15)
3. (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology On The Jaw (0:43)
4. Chaos at the Greasy Spoon (0:30)
5. The Yes No Interlude (7:01)
6. Fitter Stoke Has a Bath (7:33)
7. Didn’t Matter Anyway (3:33)
8. Underdub (4:02)
9. Mumps (20:31)
10. (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology On The Jaw (Bonus Track) (0:43)
11. Chaos at the Greasy Spoon (Bonus Track) (0:20)
12. Halfway Between Heaven and Earth (Bonus Track) (6:07)
13. Oh, Len’s Nature (Bonus Track) (1:59)
14. Lying and Gracing (Bonus Track) (3:59)

The Rotters’ Club [Part 1] [Part 2]

Buy The Rotters’ Club from Amazon.com

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Third: What is Rock?

Posted by bitemefanboy on March 23, 2013

Several week ago I picked up the 2007 re-release of the Soft Machine’s 1970 album Third. For those who missed my 2007 post about the band a brief introduction to the band may be in order.

The Soft Machine, along with Pink Floyd and Tomorrow, were Britain’s first underground psychedelic bands. Along with Caravan, Gong, Matching Mole, Hatfield and the North and National Health they were major players in the”Canterbury Scene” of British progressive rock.

Third was the group’s third album but it was their first on Columbia Records.

With its mixture of jazz and contemporary electronic music this sprawling double album

incited the Village Voice to call it a milestone achievement when it was released.

Each side was devoted to a single composition, two by Mike Ratledge, and one each by Hugh Hopper and Robert Wyatt,

with substantial help from a number of backup musicians, including Canterbury mainstays Elton Dean and Jimmy Hastings.

Aside from Wyatt’s “Moon in June” the album virtually dispenses with vocals and “conventional rock songs entirely.”

Even with their “tape loop effects and hypnotic, repetitive keyboard patterns” the two songs by Mike Ratledge, Slightly All the Time and Out-Bloody-Rageous are the closest the album comes to fusion jazz.

Culled from two live performances in 1970, Hugh Hopper’s “Facelift” in parts bears a fleeting resemblance to King Crimson’s “21st Century Schizoid Man”, though it’s more complex and there are several dissimilar sections. “Facelift” with its

pulsing rhythms, chaotic horn and keyboard sounds, and dark drones …. predate some of what Hopper did as a solo artist later.

Lyrically Robert Wyatt’s “Moon in June” is

a satirical alternative to the pretension displayed by a lot of rock writing of the era

Hailed by some critics as a popular music milestone and considered a landmark by progressive rock and jazz-rock aficionados Third helped to push the boundaries of what might be considered rock. Many rock listeners, however, found the album’s music far too oblique and at nearly 75 minutes long something they were unwilling to sit down and commit to listening through.

Third [2007]

Playing Time: 74:20

soft machine - third

Disc 1 [Original album]
Playing Time: 74:20

1. Facelift [Live] 18:48
2. Slightly All the Time 18:13
3. Moon in June 19:07
4. Out-Bloody-Rageous 19:12

[Part 1] [Part 2]

Disc 2 [Bonus Disc]
Playing time: 38:58

Recorded at The Promenade Concert at The Royal Albert Hall
for BBC Radio Three on 13th August 1970

1. Out-Bloody-Rageous 11:57
2. Facelift 11:22
3. Esther’s Nose Job: Pig / Orange Skin Food / A Door Opens And Closes / Pigling Bland / 10:30 Returns To The Bedroom 15:39

Buy Soft Machine’s Third from Amazon.com

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Hampton Grease Band (or Everything You Wanted to Know About Halifax)

Posted by bitemefanboy on February 9, 2013

Sprung on an unsuspecting America (and Halifax) the Hampton Grease Band’s, Music To Eat, sold so poorly when it was originally released in 1971 that it has the dubious distinction of being the second worst selling record in Columbia Records’ catalog. Only an instructional yoga album sold less.

In 1996 the

Deluxe Reissue of 1971 classic featuring Bruce Hampton and Glenn Phillips (with expanded liner notes)

was back “by popular demand” and once again most people ignored it. Well, that is, most people. I’ve bought it twice… so what does that say about my musical tastes?

1971 (and perhaps 1996) America simply wasn’t prepared a band with a lead singer who’s voice has been described as making

Beefheart sound like Pavarotti

whose stage shows and song lyrics were

more Dadaistic than Frank Zappa

and whose overall sound was likened to the

Grateful Dead circa Live Dead and the jamming versions of Zappa’s bands.

Being compared to Captain Beefheart, Frank Zappa/The Mothers or the Grateful Dead meant that the Grease Band already had three strikes against them before they even stepped into the batters box; as Captain Beefheart and Zappa operated on the fringes of 60’s – 70’s popular music; while with the Dead there was no middle ground, you either loved them or hated them.

Formed in the late 1960’s, the original line-up of this Atlanta based blues-rock-oriented outfit consisted of Harold Kelling and Glenn Phillips on guitars, vocalist Bruce Hampton, bassist Charlie Phillips and drummer Mike Rodgers. Eventually Mike Holbrook replaced Charlie Phillips and Jerry Fieldings replaced Mike Rodgers.

The group developed their reputation playing at small “underground” clubs and as a supporting act for

psychedelic/progressive acts like the Grateful Dead, Jimi Hendrix, Procol Harum, and the Allman Brothers.

but it was their live shows where

the band often betrayed the Zappa influence in their theatrical, sometimes confrontational stage show, in which Hampton would throw chairs at the audience, or sing while standing on a pizza.

The confrontational stage shows and the absurdist lyrics of their songs may have polarized their audiences but it also piqued the curiosity of Columbia Records.

Signed by the Allman Brothers manager Phil Walden to a contract the group quickly recorded two albums worth of material.

On the tapes the group presented Columbia Records half the songs approached the 20 minute mark, and many

lurched unpredictably between melodies and tempos…(but) none of (them) could be construed as having money-making potential.

Some songs lyrics came right off a can of spray paint, “Hendon,” or from an encyclopedia article, “Halifax” and all sung by a lead singer, Hampton,

whose amelodic rants cross-bred soapbox preachers with bleacher bums

Doing the only “logical” thing, Columbia released the album as a double album and unsure on how to market the album they marketed it as a comedy record thus contributing to its failure.

Shortly after the album’s release the band guitarist Harold Kelling left the group and

despite a well-received show at the Fillmore East with Frank Zappa, CBS dropped the group.

The band then signed with Zappa’s Bizarre/Straight label but nothing materialized from that association and the band would finally break up in 1973.

Group members, notably Bruce Hampton and Glenn Phillips still remain musically active. Hampton has recorded extensively with both The Aquarium Rescue Unit and The Codetalkers while Phillips has released close to a dozen instrumental records, several for the indie label SST. (I covered the music of Phillips in a October 2009 post and really should refresh those links.)

This is a difficult album to listen to, especially if you do it all at one sitting. I’d recommend starting with the album’s first song, “Halifax” (especially if you’re a fan of the Dead) and then skipping right to the last song “Hendon.” Listen to the rest as the mood strikes you, but I’ll leave that up to you.

Hampton Grease Band / Music To Eat (1971)

music to eat

Disc 1
Total time: 57:13

1. Halifax (19:41)
2. Maria (5:33)
3. Six (19:31)
4. Evans (12:28)

Disc 2
Total time: 31:22

1. Lawton (7:50)
2. Hey Old Lady · Bert’s Song (3:22)
3. Hendon (20:10)

You can buy Music to Eat from the following Dealers

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Warm Hands and the Things You Say Revisited

Posted by bitemefanboy on January 1, 2013

I’d like to take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Hopefully 2013 finds me writing more new, original posts then I did in 2012, but that being said Eric wrote asking if I would refresh the link for the Wedding Present’s Singles 95-97.

Instead of refreshing one link I decided to refresh all the links from the original three 2006 posts. The layout of my first three posts are, by any standards, crude, but the music…. well this is, The Wedding Present, we’re talking about, so you know the music is great.

Each album title links to the original 2006 post. Under each album is a link to where that album (cd, cassette or vinyl) can be purchased. Seven of the albums are still in print (Bizarro, George Best, John Peel 92-95, Mini Plus, Saturnalia, Tommy and Take Fountain) so I’d encourage you to consider purchasing those. I’m sure David Gedge and company would appreciate the royalties.

THE WEDDING PRESENT
*Bizarro*	*George Best + 9*	*It’s A Gas*

Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
*Hit Parade 2*	*John Peel Sessions 87- 90*	*John Peel Sessions 92- 95*

Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
*Mini Plus*	*Saturnalia*	*Singles 95-97*

Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
*Tommy*	*Watusi*	*Yeah [EP 1]*

Purchase	Purchase	Purchase
*Take Fountain*

Purchase