THE ROTTERS' CLUB

Hatfield And The North

Canterbury Scene

4.22 | 660 ratings

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

Easy Livin
Special Collaborator
Honorary Collaborator / Retired Admin

Canterbury crosses London, and heads up the A1.

I must admit to having trodden rather warily when it came to investigating the music of Hatfield and the North, my concern being that their brand of Canterbury music would be more Soft Machine than Camel/Caravan. Those fears were, I'm glad to say, largely unfounded. In many ways, "The rotters club" sounds like a lost Caravan album, especially through the distinctive vocals of Richard Sinclair. That said, this album leans more towards the "Waterloo Lily" side of Caravan than their more rock influenced albums.

While the tracks range from the absurdly brief ("Chaos at the Greasy Spoon") to the progtastically long ("Mumps"), this is very much an album to be heard as a whole. The songs generally merge together, although bizarrely the aforementioned "Mumps" fades mid track, then restarts as a different piece of music. Barbara Gaskin, wife and long term professional partner of Dave Stewart, adds some effective vocals to this track, along the lines of Annie Haslam's work on Renaissance's "Prologue" album.

In stark contrast to Stewart's work with Egg, there's a real diversity to the lead instruments used here, and thus to the sounds and colours of the album. With so many virtuoso performers in the line up, the lead instrument changes with sometimes indecent frequency.

Those who appreciate the Canterbury sound and style will find much to their liking here. While for me, for me the music sometimes drifts too far into Jazz territory, the album as a whole is well constructed, and highly enjoyable. Caravan fans in particular will find this to be a home from home.

Interestingly, although H&TN are considered to be a Canterbury act, their name comes from the opposite side of London, being the taken from a sign on the A1(M) motorway.

Easy Livin | 3/5 | 2006-4-20

MEMBERS LOGIN ZONE

As a registered member (register here if not), you can post rating/reviews (& edit later), comments reviews and submit new albums.

You are not logged, please complete authentication before continuing (use forum credentials).

Share this HATFIELD AND THE NORTH review

Social review comments () BETA

Review related links

Send comments to Easy Livin
Report this review (#75560)
Buy HATFIELD AND THE NORTH music online with PA partners
Show all HATFIELD AND THE NORTH MP3/Stream
Go to HATFIELD AND THE NORTH page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
Go to The Rotters' Club page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
Search the Forum for HATFIELD AND THE NORTH related discussions