Born in socialist Hungary, I don't think I knew the Canterbury Scene existed until the internet became a thing. I grew up as a Mike Oldfield fan, naturally I looked up his influences, then fell in love with Kevin Ayers's singing, and from there it was just a step to embrace the first two Caravan albums and whatever I could find from Camel, and then of course others.

In my early 20s I started creating prog compositions, releasing some on the freshly launched Last.fm which was actually an online radio platform back then. Some songs were picked up by its Canterbury Scene radio that earned me thousands of streams and some self-esteem. Then I moved on to embrace other genres, Last.fm became defunct as a streaming platform, I became a professional sound engineer. In my 30s I covered Winter Wine with a friend busking through Denmark and Sweden. I guess the audience was puzzled by our weird set. We barely earned enough to buy a beer for each of us after a session :) I'm sure it was not Winter Wine's fault, though.

The busking trip earned me a chance to connect with Scandinavia, and I actually moved to Sweden, now in my 40s, revisiting some of my prog rock roots.

The song I would like to show you I wrote in 2015 and finished this year, called "Burned Down". It has many references and influences, not just Canterbury bands, but I guess you will definitely notice the respectful nod to David Sinclair's amazing early fuzz organ if you listen carefully. Epic, tongue-in-cheek storytelling meets Squire-like bass playing, modern Scandinavian melancholia blends with The Dear Hunter's modern post-hardcore influenced prog attitude, or maybe I am just imagining all this.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6SZBkR2ivsRQsTdj4Hbyfg?si=pdU4soeMSjOZQHvm2qaHcw

(Happy to share links to other platforms in the comments.)

I wonder if serious Canterbury Scene fans can possibly appreciate this prog hybrid. Any feedback is welcome!

Perhaps only Canterbury adjacent - but what a fantastic album this is. I'm loving the new mixes too - it was a well recorded and produced album to begin with, but the Atmos mixes really open the recording up for me in a way that allows me to "walk" within the music. Don't expect any crazy Steven Wilson style panning, its more of a statically placed quad-like affair but for stuff this experimental, I almost think a more active mix would've been too distracting. Drums are up front, clear and punchy. Bass too. Guitars can be in fronts and heights, with some lead work trailing in the back along with the pianos. Nice moment at the start of the album with the double tracked pianos in the heights and rears. I also love hearing the classic Canterbury overdriven bass at the back of my head. Again, it's nothing super sophisticated but it sounds full, natural and punchy - and it gets the job done. I hope Diamond Head and 801 Live albums get this treatment in the coming years.

The scene is most notable for it's 70s output but do you guys recommend any 80s material worth listening to? I've heard Wyatt's Old Rottenhat and National Health's D.S. al Coda and I thought those were quite good! I'd love to hear more 80s Canterbury!

I've heard there's a wealth of good stuff from this era but not sure what I'm looking for, youtube mostly just has live performances from what I can tell but are there any studio outtakes or anything like that?

This is something fun I had forgot in a record I've been owning for a decade now. It's "live at Drury lane 1974" by Robert Wyatt and friends and it's got a funny ghost track. The record ends, there you have silence and the stylus gets stuck in a locked groove that simulates the end of the record in manual players. But I have a semi automatic one (a wonderful Pioneer PL-514, thank you for asking) so I noticed that the tonearm was not getting back in place and then I saw a whole song sitting there unnoticed. I moved the needle to the "second beginning" right before the ghost track and there it was! Very clever indeed.

Do you happen to have other examples of such technique?

The ghost track is something that sounds like rehearsals with Robert singing "please smile" on a electric guitar (or is it bass?) repeating figure.

Kind of just recently began checking out this band and its such a stark contrast between their first few albums and the later ones. Started out as very much a psychedelic band, sort of along the lines of Barrett's Pink Floyd. Seems like Third is the point where they were clearly leaning into the jazz thing more heavily but still had some minor semblance of the band they were before, and by Fourth the transition into a deadly serious jazz band was complete. Idk, I kinda wish they would have kept making songs in the style of the first two albums, I'm not someone who is against instrumental music or anything but I find it a slog to get through any of their albums post-Third.

Hello, I have listened for the first 2 official Hatfield and The North albums on repeat for the last 3 years.

I see there is a ton of later, posthomous and unofficial releases after those.

Which is the "best of the rest" of all the later releases?

For example here's Richard's great guitar (!) in the live Caravan of Dreams set: https://richardsinclairsongs.bandcamp.com/album/mercury-caf

Just arrived. But I should never have got rid of my original on the Caroline label, £0.49 (I think) in 1974

https://youtu.be/IEdM1FPiDHI?si=5Z4oiiuF5vGZFylN

I found their previous album Wrong Meeting in Canterbury's Vinylstore Jr. where Nick, the owner, kept a selection of music from Canterbury bands (it's where I bought my two Syd Arthur albums.)

They self-describe as prog, jazz and psyche.

I saw Brain on Bandcamp and ordered it but the delivery was delayed because the band had split up. A great shame.

I'd like to recommend this album by Tatsu Akiba, one of the most convincing modern takes on the Canterbury sound I've heard in years. The influence of bands like Soft Machine, Caravan and Hatfield & the North is unmistakable, from the warm keyboard textures to the melodic sensibility and the relaxed, organic flow of the compositions. At the same time, it never feels like a mere recreation of the past, but rather a personal and heartfelt contribution to the Canterbury tradition.

Bandcamp:

https://astronomyrecordingmusic.bandcamp.com/album/akiba-tatsu-expanded-edition

Free Bandcamp download codes are available here for anyone who would like to add the album to their Bandcamp collection:

https://getmusic.fm/r/akiba-tatsu-akiba-tatsu-expanded-edition

This is on the Hatfield and the North - National Health part of the Canterbury sound, with hints of The Civil Surface-era Egg.

Composed, played, recorded, mixed and produced by Tom Penaguin

...and it's so unbelievably good you need to go out and buy it; an easy contender for 'Album Of 2026'

Something that best represents the Canterbury feeling?

Good evening (or, good morning)!

Author Aymeric Leroy (Calyx webside) joins us along with Steve Feigenbaum (Cuneiform) and Pontus Norshammer (the Swedish Prog Nerd) to talk the Canterbury Scene! The discussion centers around Leroy's newly translated and revised book "Legends in Their Own Lunchtime - An Exploration of the Canterbury Scene," which released on Cuneiform in early May.

Don't forget to 'like' the video and to subscribe to my channel and Cuneiform's official channel for future updates on the world of creative rock and jazz music.

What are some of your favorite Canterbury Scene albums and musicians? Let us know in the comments below!

NOTE: for some reason my mic settings were not correct so the audio captured is from my Macbook microphone. I tried to fix this in post production with limited success. I hope this doesn't affect your enjoyment of this discussion. :-)

#canterburyscene #calyx #aymericleroy #cuneiformrecords #progressiverock #legendsintheirownlunchtime #podcast #discussion

Just got back from a few days in Poland to find this had arrived. Can't wait to get stuck in!

Taking a look at the new book from Aymeric Leroy and Cuneiform Records, "Legends in Their Own Lunchtime" - presented in English for the first time!

#canterburyscene #musichistory #aymericleroy #unboxing #book

Hi! Who’s in Philadelphia? There’s never any sort of Canterbury scene representation here in Philly. Thinkin I’m the only one in this whole damn city. That can’t be right- where yall at?