TALES OF CANTERBURY - THE WILDE FLOWERS STORY

The Wilde Flowers

•

Canterbury Scene

From Progarchives.com, the ultimate progressive rock music website

The Wilde Flowers Tales Of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story album cover

2.55 | 32 ratings | 5 reviews | 12% 5 stars

Good, but non-essential

Write a review

Buy THE WILDE FLOWERS Music
from Progarchives.com partners

Boxset/Compilation, released in 1994

Songs / Tracks Listing

1. Impotence (2:10)
2. Those Words They Say (2:40)
3. Memories (1:35) *
4. Don't Try To Change Me (2:26)
5. Parchman Farm (2:18)
6. Almost Grown (2:50)
7. She's Gone (2:13)
8. Slow Walkin' Talk (2:26)
9. He's Bad For You (2:49)
10. It's What I Feel (A Certain Kind) (2:19)
11. Memories (Instrumental ) (2:08) *
12. Never Leave Me (2:36)
13. Time After Time (2:45)
14. Just Where I Want (2:10)
15. No Game When You Lose (2:53)
16. Impotence (1:16) *
17. Why Do You Care (Zobe) (3:13)
18. The Pieman Cometh (Zobe) (3:15)
19. Summer Spirit (Zobe) (3:28)
20. She Loves To Hurt (3:12)
21. The Big Show (4:12)
22. Memories (3:03)

* Omitted on 2009 LP edition

Total Time: 57:59

Bonus CD from 2015 expanded reissue:
1. Rating Length 1 The Pieman Cometh (6:24)
2. Mummie (4:33)
3. That's Alright Mama (2:15)
4. Orientasian (4:05)
5. Frentica (4:23)
6. � Blues Thing In F (4:19)
7. Slow Walkin? Talk (3:04)
8. Man In A Deaf Corner (5:07)
9. Summertime (4:26)
10. Belsized Parked (9:17)
11. Where But For Caravan Would I (12:01)
12. Hope For Happiness (9:23)

Total time 69:17

Line-up / Musicians

- Robert Wyatt / lead (1-3,9,12-16,21-22) & backing vocals, drums, percussion, tambourine
- Graham Flight / lead vocals (4,8,9)
- Kevin Ayers / lead (5,7) & backing vocals
- Brian Hopper / lead (2-16,21) & acoustic (17) guitars, alto (5,9), soprano (17,21) & tenor (18) saxes, flute (19), lead (6) & backing vocals
- Richard Sinclair / rhythm guitar (4,5,7-11), lead vocals (10)
- Pye Hastings / guitar (1), lead vocals & 12-string guitar (20)
- Mike Ratledge / flute (21), piano & organ (2)
- Hugh Hopper / bass (1-16,20-22), acoustic guitar (22)
- Richard Coughlan / drums (2,3,12-16)

Zobe Line-up (17-19):
- Dave Lawrence / lead vocals & bass (17-19)
- John Larner / guitar & backing vocals (17-19)
- Bob Gilleson / drums (17-19)
- Brian Hopper (see above)

Releases information

Collection of Demos recorded between 1965 and 1969, previously unreleased

LP Vinyl Lovers ‎- 900723 (2009, Europe) Different cover from CD editions, mastered by Chris Thorpe

CD Voiceprint ‎- VP 123 CD (1994, Austria) Mastered by Chris Thorpe @ Serendipity
CD Voiceprint ‎- VPB 123CD (1994, UK) Limited numbered edition mastered by Chris Thorpe w/ bonus 25 pages book "Tales of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story (Brian's Tale)"
2xCD Floating World Records ‎- FLOATCD6250 (2015, UK) The bonus disc features rare tracks by KEVIN AYERS,HUGH HOPPER and ROBERT WYATT with some intriguing newer material by BRIAN HOPPER including a re-work of the SOFT MACHINE CLASSIC "Hope For happiness" recorded by Brian in 2003; New cover art

Thanks to ProgLucky for the addition
and to Quinino for the last updates
Edit this entry

Buy THE WILDE FLOWERS Tales Of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story Music

DOUG LARSON IMPORTS — Buy prog rock music and rarities (Free shipping on orders over 10 CD's)
AMAZON.COM — Best-selling prog vinyls

THE WILDE FLOWERS Tales Of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story ratings distribution

2.55
(32 ratings)

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music(12%)
Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection(6%)
Good, but non-essential (31%)
Collectors/fans only (47%)
Poor. Only for completionists (3%)

THE WILDE FLOWERS Tales Of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story reviews

Showing all collaborators reviews and last reviews preview | Show all reviews/ratings

Collaborators/Experts Reviews

Review by obiter
PROG REVIEWER

It's a who's who of the canterbury scene but this ain't prog. You would not be suprised if Van the Man was singing. there's even bluesy twangs:

Booker White's Parchman Farm:... i'm going to be here for the rest of my life, but all i did was shoot my wife ... Chuch Berry .. Almost Grown

Some of the recording is truly dreadful: the pieman cometh sticks out as a particularly awful recording: think worst bootleg recording made on a mobile you've heard and you're coming close.

I'm a fan of the Canterbury scene so it's interesting to listen to so many of the main players in one group at an early stage. If I wasn't a fan then this would hold no interest for me, so it fits perfectly into the 2 star category.

Review by siLLy puPPy
SPECIAL COLLABORATOR PSIKE, JRF/Canterbury, P Metal, Eclectic

This is an interesting listen. Although this is the beginning of the Canterbury scene it is not the place to begin to explore that subgenre. This is simply the stomping ground for the who's who of that scene that would go on to produce the awesomeness of Soft Machine and Caravan.

Despite the negative reviews that depict this as na�ve British pop, I have to say that it's not bad for what it is. I actually like pop music and I really like the British pop of the 60s. It's not even close to the standards of the greats of the era but there is certainly some decent pop tunes to be had here.

Although THE WILDE FLOWERS never actually recorded an album we get to hear this historic gem as an archival artefact. Not exactly a masterpiece it is however an essential listen for those who like to hear how the evolution of certain sounds took place although there is little if any sounds of what is to come from any of these guys.

Thankfully Hugh Hopper, Robert Wyatt and Kevin Ayers would go on to form Soft Machine. And the same for the fact that Richard Sinclair, David Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan would go on to form Caravan. An intriguing listen but don't feel like you're missing out if you skip it.

Latest members reviews

3 stars The Canterbury Sound is a special subgenre, little but very interesting. Its mixture of jazz and pop made a soft and easy listened form of progressive rock. The genre originated from this band "The Wilde Flowers" which existed in the sixties but never released anything then. This is a collecti ... (read more)

Report this review (#1226612) | Posted by Dr�mmarenAdrian | Wednesday, July 30, 2014 | Review Permanlink

2 stars The band that spawned Kevin Ayers, Hugh Hopper, Robert Wyatt, Pye Hastings, Soft Machine and Caravan. The grandfather of the Canterbury Scene, in other words. Musicwise, this is nowhere near the Canterbury Scene. Rockabilly, naive pop, rock, blues and everything that went around in the 1960s ... (read more)

Report this review (#242179) | Posted by toroddfuglesteg | Wednesday, September 30, 2009 | Review Permanlink

2 stars A historically important collection, but I'm afraid that's really all it is. The Wilde Flowers could easily be described as The Yardbirds of the Canterbury Scene. Most of the famous Canterbury musicians played here at one time or another; including Robert Wyatt, Hugh Hopper, and Kevin Ayers of So ... (read more)

Report this review (#117731) | Posted by Speesh | Monday, April 9, 2007 | Review Permanlink

Post a review of THE WILDE FLOWERS "Tales Of Canterbury - The Wilde Flowers Story"

You must be a forum member to post a review, please register here if you are not.

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).