The Canterbury music scene of the early 70's seemed to be split between bands who went on to major success, like The Soft Machine, Caravan, and Gong, and those who were equally as talented but never really achieved the same acclaim. Bands such as Egg, National Health and Hatfield And The North all produced some great music, but never really hit the big time like other bands from the city. I've always liked Hatfield And The North, and count their 'The Rotter's Club' album as one of the best from the scene, so it was good to put together this collection of their rare recordings. They certainly worked hard enough, releasing a couple of fine records in 1974 and 1975, as well as gigging around the world, and also finding time to record three radio sessions for the John Peel show in their short three year career. The album starts with a rare 7" single released in 1974, as they were primarily know as an albums band, with an exclusive song on the a-side, and the b-side was an edited version of a track which would appear in a longer form on their next album. This is followed by some of their radio sessions from the mid 70's, and although some of the BBC sessions tracks were included on the two excellent compilation albums 'Hatitude' and 'Hatwise Choice', for reasons best known to the compilers they were cut up into individual tracks and scattered throughout the albums. Where possible I've pieced them back together so that they can be heard as they were first broadcast, but for the 1973 Top Gear session, only part of one track was officially available. Luckily I've managed to track down the original broadcast tapes to salvage two long pieces from the band, although these will only be in mono as that's the best we have. The 1974 Top Gear session also included a trailer for the programme, so that introduces their contributions to the shows from 1973 and 1974. To end the album we have their offering to the Virgin Record label when they were asked to provide something for their double-album sampler which was issued in 1975 to promote the label. The sources of the music on this collection are varied, but I think the mono radio tracks sound pretty good considering that they were recorded off-air some 45 years ago, and I've tried to match the sound to the better quality pieces from the two compilation albums as closely as I can.
Track listing
01 Let's Eat (Real Soon) (single 1974)02 Fitter Stoke Has A Bath (b-side of 'Let's Eat (Real Soon)') 03 Top Gear trailer (BBC Top Gear session 1974)04 For Robert > For Cyrille > Calyx > Son Of 'There's No Place Like Homerton' (BBC Top Gear session 1973)05 To Mum And The Gong > Lobster In Cleavage Probe > Gigantic Land Crabs In Earth Takeover Bid (BBC Top Gear session 1973)06 Finesse Is For Fairies > Nan's True Hole > Lything And Gracing (BBC Sounds Of The 70's 1973)07 Do The Lethargy Shuffle (Yeah Yeah) > Strand Of The Green > Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut > O What A Lovely Lifetime > (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology On The Jaw (BBC Top Gear session 1974)08 Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut (Incorporating Oh What A Lovely Lifetime) (from the 'V' Virgin sampler album 1975)
