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How could you not like a band who took their name from a road sign? In this case signs leading travelers out of London northward to Scotland via the city of Hatfield ...

Though they're essentially unknown in the States and not that well known in the UK, Hatfield and the North were true Canterbury all-stars. Formed in late 1972, the lineup consisted of lead guitarist Phil Miller, drummer Pip Pyle, singer/bassist Richard Sinclair, and keyboard player Dave Stewart. Miller and Pyle had been members of Delivery. Miller had also been a member of Matching Mole. Sinclair had played with The Soft Machine, The Soft Heap, and as a late inning member of Caravan.

     a.) Your Majesty is like a Cream Donut (Quiet) (1.59)
     b.) Lumps (12.35)
     c.) Prenut (3.55)
     d.) Your Majesty is like a Cream Donut (Loud) (1.37)

Ahh... Hatfield & The North... sometimes nothing suffices like this group's definitive concoction of jazzy, off-beat progressive rock. Those shimmering guitar solos, fluid rhythms, sparkling synths and choppy organ motifs bubbling around in the groups distinctly quirky, and distinctly English, brand of exquisite, melodic prog-fusion. If any band could possibly define the "Canterbury" sub genre, Hatfield & The North might be that band. The group consisted of a veritable all-star team of Canterbury musicians. Stalwart Dave Stewart on keyboards (Arzachel, Egg, Khan), Pip Pyle, fresh from a brief stint in Gong on drums, Caravan's beloved Richard Sinclair on vocals, and of course the incomparable Phil Miller, from Matching Mole, on guitar. Unfortunately, the group's brief flash of brilliance lasted for only two albums, both of which are classics of the scene. Thankfully, most of the group (Pyle, Stewart, Miller) would go on to play in the more expanded ensemble format in National Health, another seminal group whose first two albums would at least rival the classic Hatfield output. In any case, both Hatfield albums are, at the very least, must-haves for those exploring the Canterbury scene, though also perhaps two of the finest English progressive rock albums ever. - Greg Northrup [2001]

The Rotters Club is definitely one of the definitive "Canterbury" albums, a sub-genre of progressive rock that was decidedly jazzier, more instrumentally based and featured a more humorous, less-pretentious take on everything. The serious musical chops and tongue-in-cheek attitude fenced off many of these groups from the kind of criticism that more theatrical contemporaries like Yes and Genesis were being pummelled with. Hatfield & the North were on the forefront of this movement, carrying some already distinguished musicians from the likes of Caravan, Matching Mole and Egg. Rotters Club was their second album and is a monster of jazz infected progressive rock, made up of great extended jams and phenomenal musicianship from all parties.

"Share It" opens up with Richard Sinclair's whimsical vocals, already familiar to all Caravan fans, and is a very nice track. However, it is the last time we see vocals for awhile, as Hatfield and the North places much less emphasis on lyrics and such than Sinclair's former band. Instead, songs like "The Yes No Interlude" and "Underdub" are just replete with exciting playing, great organ from Dave Stewart as well as exquisite guitar work from Phil Miller. "Mumps" is a huge epic track that features some more vocals here and there but for the most part is another explosive instrumental. Basically this album is probably the next step the average prog fan should take into exploring Canterbury after Caravan's best albums. - Greg Northrup [February 2001]

The 1987 rerelease of the album added five bonus tracks, also available on the compilation Afters:

During 1972, Pip Pyle, back from his stint with Gong in France, began to work with the Miller brothers and Richard Sinclair. This eventually led to the formation of a new line-up of Delivery. Steve Miller and Richard Sinclair left Caravan in the summer, and as Matching Mole slowly ground to a halt after the sessions for "Matching Mole's Little Red Record", Delivery played a few gigs in August-September. But Steve Miller eventually left, and Richard Sinclair's cousin David joined the band, who then changed their name to Hatfield and the North. This was not the end of Delivery, though : in early 1973, Steve Miller formed yet another line-up, with Lol Coxhill on sax, Roy Babbington on bass and Laurie Allan on drums. The only testament left of Hatfield's early days is a French TV program, featuring Hatfield and Robert Wyatt. This is apparently lost in the vaults of good old INA (Institut National de l'Audiovisuel), or possibly destroyed. Anyone who viewed these tapes is welcome to tell us what they look like!

David Sinclair left Hatfield (in January 1973) for the same reasons as a few months earlier, when he'd quit Matching Mole: too much improvisation! He eventually rejoined Caravan, and was replaced by Dave Stewart. With Stewart on board, Hatfield really took off to unprecedented musical heights. In addition to his trademark heavily-treated organ, Stewart was asked to use the Fender Rhodes electric piano, which proved an unmistakeable feature of Hatfield's sound.

Between mid-1973 and early 1974, Hatfield and the North recorded their first album at the Manor Studios, after signing a contract with the Virgin label, then home of several Canterbury-related groups and artists (Henry Cow, Robert Wyatt, Mike Oldfield...). It was made up of compositions from all members, and was predominantly instrumental. Dave Stewart was the most prolific writer, penning almost half of the material.Phil Miller proved a very talented crafter of melodies ("Calyx" and "Aigrette"). Pip Pyle provided the excellent "Shaving Is Boring", with highly complex time signatures and riffs. And Richard Sinclair wrote a few songs filled with his whimsical / nonsense, typically British lyrics. The core quartet was supplemented by a prestigious cast of guest participants: Robert Wyatt, the Northettes (three female backing vocalists, friends of Dave Stewart), and Geoff Leigh (still in Henry Cow at that time - sax and flute).

In October 1974, Hatfield and the North entered Saturn Studios in Worthing and recorded three songs there: two sides of a single (released on November 15) - "Let's Eat (Real Soon)" (music by Richard Sinclair, lyrics by Pip Pyle), and "Fitter Stoke Has A Bath" (music and lyrics by Pip Pyle) - and a medley of Dave Stewart's epic "Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut" and Richard's song "Oh What A Lonely Lifetime" (which later appeared on the Virgin "V" sampler). Needless to say, it was a flop. During the same period, Dave Stewart reunited with his former colleagues of Egg to record a posthumous third album, containing material dating from the trio's latter days.

In January 1975, the four musicians returned to the studio, this time Saturn Studios, to record their second, and unfortunately final, album: "The Rotters' Club". More than twenty years later, the results are still as amazing as they used to be, although the band's sound, making extensive use of effects and instruments typical of the 70's, may appear a little dated. Of course, Dave Stewart's 20-minute magnum opus, "Mumps", is the high point of Hatfield's short musical career. Seeing this suite performed on stage, with its constant harmonic and rhythmic changes (has anyone scored this?!?), must have been something! The piece is actually made up of two different compositions : "Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut", presented in two versions (quiet, loud); and "The Alphabet Song" mentioned as such in the Virgin lyric archives. Maybe the latter does not fit in perfectly in the whole, as suggested by the fade out before the reprise of "Your Majesty...". But this really is a minor criticism : this piece is so good, its imperfection is only marginal.

The rest of the album is full of gems : from Phil Miller's bossa-flavoured "Underdub", featuring one of the greatest Fender Rhodes solos ever recorded (let's also mention the fuzz organ solo in "Mumps" and Jimmy Hastings' flute solo in Richard Sinclair's "Didn't Matter Anyway" - they're both incredible and sends a chill down your spine every time you listen to them!), to Pip Pyle's superb "Fitter Stoke Has A Bath", the ultimate Hatfield song. A masterpiece!

Alas, Hatfield broke up soon after recording this album. But its members kept working together : by 1977, Phil Miller, Dave Stewart and Pip Pyle were all members of National Health (and Richard Sinclair took part in some of their concerts that year, as guest vocalist); in 1980, Stewart and Pyle were reunited in the short-lived Rapid Eye Movement; in 1982-85, Miller, Sinclair and Pyle were all members of In Cahoots; and in 1988, a track on Phil Miller's "Split Seconds" ("Dada Soul"), featured Miller, Stewart and Sinclair. Let's also mention Pyle's guest appearances on several early Stewart-Gaskin songs (Miller also guested on one).

In 1990, Hatfield were briefly reunited for a TV show on UK's private Central Television channel. Well, almost... Dave Stewart declined the invitation, and was replaced by Pip Pyle's then-girlfriend and Equip'Out colleague, Sophia Domancich. Although an excellent jazz pianist, Domancich proved totally alien to the Hatfield style, and the performance was closer to a mix of In Cahoots and Equip'Out with occasional vocals by Richard Sinclair, than a recreation of Hatfield's spirit. Judged on its own merits, the gig was good : a good half was made up of new compositions (Pip Pyle's epic "Shipwrecked" and Sophia Domancich's "Blot" (a.k.a. "Blott On The Landscape"), with a few classics thrown in ("Share It", "Halfway Between Heaven And Earth" and "Underdub", the latter not broadcast), as well as Equip'Out's "Cauliflower Ears" and Richard Sinclair's "Going For A Song" (with lyrics by Pip Pyle).

All former members of Hatfield and the North were reunited on Pip Pyle's solo album "7 Year Itch" (1998), thanks to the magic of multitrack recording. Phil Miller and Dave Stewart both play on several tracks, and are joined by Richard Sinclair on the opening track "Seven Sisters", a song originally composed for National Health. More recently, Phil Miller and Richard Sinclair have appeared together at several concerts, most memorably on the first two edition of the Progman Cometh festival in Seattle.

d the North were the supergroup of England's Canterbury progressive rock scene, with bassist and vocalist Richard Sinclair from Caravan, guitarist Phil Miller from Matching Mole, keyboardist Dave Stewart from Egg, and drummer Pip Pyle from Gong and Delivery. This brilliant and inventive debut album is a cross between sophisticated, precisely executed jazz-rock and dry-humored, often surreal pop. The album consists of short pieces blended into a Zappa-like collage, providing a thematic work that bests even the most eccentric jazz-rock by bands like Soft Machine

The band played a few live shows between July and September that year, but with Steve Miller being replaced by Dave Sinclair (from Matching Mole and Caravan), the band soon changed its name to Hatfield and the North. The Delivery line-up reunited for a BBC session in November 1972 with Steve Miller, Phil Miller, Lol Coxhill, Roy Babbington (bass), Pip Pyle, and Richard Sinclair on vocals. (Steve Miller went on to release a couple of duo albums with Coxhill in 1973/74.)

Dave Sinclair left in January 1973, shortly after the band's appearance (with Robert Wyatt on guest vocals) on the French TV programme "Rockenstock", and was quickly replaced by Dave Stewart (from Egg) before the band's first recordings were made.^[1]

The band recorded two albums, Hatfield and the North and The Rotters' Club. ^[1]Backing vocals on the two albums were sung by The Northettes: Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin and Ann Rosenthal. On the Autumn 1974 "Crisis Tour", which Hatfield co-headlined with Kevin Coyne, the opening act was a duo of Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill (also previously of Delivery) and Coxhill usually guested with Hatfield on the jamming sections of "Mumps".^{[citation
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After disbanding, Dave Stewart joined National Health with Alan Gowen from Gilgamesh; Miller was a member throughout the band's existence, and Pyle joined in 1977. (Richard Sinclair also sat in on a couple of gigs and a BBC radio session that year.) Hatfield and the North and Gilgamesh had played a couple of shows together in late 1973, including a joint "double quartet" set, in some ways the prototype for National Health. Miller, Stewart, Pyle and Sinclair also worked together in various combinations on other projects.

[edit] Reunions & archival releases

Hatfield and the North took its name from the road signs out of London directing motorists toward the A1 or A1(M) — the old Great North Road — which runs north through Hatfield to Edinburgh; this is one such sign, although "Hatfield and the North" has now been replaced by "The NORTH, Hatfield".

In March 1990, the group reformed to record a TV show with Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair and Pip Pyle joined by Sophia Domancich (keyboards, Pyle's then-girlfriend and band mate in Equip'Out).^[1]

In January 2005, the band reformed again with Alex Maguire (from Pip Pyle's Bash!) on keyboards and toured between 2005 and 2006 (notable appearances included a short Japanese tour in late 2005, and the BajaProg and NEARfest festivals in North America). On a small number of European dates in June 2005, Mark Fletcher (from Miller's In Cahoots band) reinforced the band while Pyle was recuperating from a back operation and only played on part of each gig. Pyle died in August 2006 after travelling back from a Hatfield show in Groningen. Following Pyle's death, Hatfield played two previously booked gigs with Mark Fletcher on drums, including the Canterbury Festival in October 2006.

In 2005/2006, the band released two archival collections, Hatwise Choice and Hattitude, featuring the classic Miller/Pyle/Sinclair/Stewart line-up and distributed by the UK label Burning Shed. Both releases contained a mixture of BBC radio sessions and live recordings, along with the odd demo.

In 2007, Cuneiform Records re-released two albums by Steve Miller and Lol Coxhill with bonus material including 20 minutes of material by the proto-Hatfield and the North line-up of Delivery playing "God Song", "Bossa Nochance/Big Jobs", and "Betty" (a variation on some of the Sinclair bass riffs that also produced Hatfield's "Rifferama").

Jonathan Coe's novel The Rotters' Club takes its title from the band's second album. The novel also mentions them several times.

[edit] Discography

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Emerging from the Canterbury, England musical community which also launched Gong and Kevin Ayers' the Whole World, the whimsical progressive rock unit Hatfield and the North formed in 1972. Named in honor of a motorway sign outside of London, the group's founding membership brought together a who's-who of the Canterbury art-rock scene — vocalist/bassist Richard Sinclair was a former member of Caravan, guitarist Phil Miller had tenured with Robert Wyatt in Matching Mole, and drummer Pip Pyle had served with both Gong and Delivery. After a series of line-up shuffles, keyboardist Dave Stewart (an alumnus of Egg) was brought in to complete the roster, and in tandem with the Northettes — a trio of backing vocalists consisting of Barbara Gaskin, Amanda Parsons and Ann Rosenthal — the group began gigging regularly.

Upon signing to Virgin, Hatfield and the North recorded their 1974 self-titled debut LP, a jazzy, largely improvisational work halfway between melodic pop and more avant-garde stylings. A single, "Let's Eat (Real Soon)," appeared at the end of the year, and in 1975 the group resurfaced with The Rotters Club; although the record briefly landed in the U.K. charts, their commercial future looked dim, and so Hatfield and the North disbanded within months of the album's release. Sinclair soon joined Camel, while Stewart recorded with Bill Bruford before finding pop success in 1981 with ex-Zombie Colin Blunstone on a cover of the Jimmy Ruffin chestnut "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted?" In 1989, Hatfield and the North reunited, minus Stewart, for a series of live dates; a document of the performances, Live 1990, followed in 1993.

Hatfield and the North's second LP stands as a high watermark for the prog rock associated with England's Canterbury scene and, while filled with stunning musicianship, demonstrates both the strengths and some of the weaknesses of the Hatfield style. Dave Stewart on keyboards, Phil Miller on guitar, Richard Sinclair on bass and vocals, and Pip Pyle on drums (supplemented by a few guest instrumentalists and the ever-ethereal Northettes with their "la la" backing vocals) generally show an admirable sense of restraint and, like their Canterbury peers, are careful to avoid the pomposity and bombast of better-known prog rockers of the era, such as Emerson, Lake & Palmer and Yes. But the Hatfields might actually have been light to a fault, particularly whenever a segue from one of their convoluted instrumental passages into a Richard Sinclair vocal vehicle occurred. Sinclair shares a bit of Robert Wyatt's singing approach, or at least Wyatt's more whimsical side, but his polite and mellow croon, while pleasant, is less idiosyncratic and ultimately rather bland. And, don' t look for much importance from the songs' nearly empty lyrical content; perhaps this was another conscious attempt to steer clear of the pretentiousness of the typically overbearing prog rock song style, but the words leave precious little to sink the listener's teeth into. Things actually get off to a relatively strong start with "Share It," a catchy little number with Sinclair expressing some idealistic and hard-to-criticize Brit hippie sentiments. At the several other places where vocals crop up, however, it's all a bit empty-headed and self-referential. Thankfully, these songs are few and far between, but they're still rather hard to avoid; the Hatfields were masters of the segue and the most masterly demonstrations of instrumental technique wind up bleeding into some pretty dumb stuff from Sinclair's pipes. (In fairness, he isn't credited with writing all the words he wound up singing.) Nevertheless, Stewart, Miller, and Pyle all make some wonderful statements, as does Sinclair on bass for that matter. Particularly noteworthy are Miller's two short jazzy instrumentals, "Lounging There Trying" and "Underdub," which, with their sparkling electric piano work from Stewart, have a light and airy improvisational feel despite rather thorough scoring; Pyle's propulsive "Yes No Interlude" with its furious melding of Stewart's keyboards and the sax of guest Jimmy Hastings; and Stewart's 20-minute opus "Mumps." The latter is particularly impressive, with everything anyone would want from an extended-form Canterbury-style workout. The piece ebbs and flows through nimbly executed thematic passages and variations, featuring one of Stewart's most compelling themes and also one of the best fuzz organ solos that he (or Mike Ratledge or David Sinclair for that matter) ever recorded. Then, smack dab in the middle of it all, here comes Sinclair with a throwaway tune using letters of the alphabet as words; it really interrupts the flow. Everything is retrieved with a dramatic instrumental coda, though, melding spacy effects, more great organ playing from Stewart, and spectacularly executed unison lines from Miller and Hastings in crescendo before the final fade. All that lightweight stuff is forgotten. The Virgin Records CD reissue features several live bonus tracks (also found on the Afters compilation), including two comparatively crazed and heavy Miller instrumental pieces recorded in France and, from a date at the Rainbow Theatre in London, Sinclair's "Halfway Between Heaven and Earth," which has a bit more of the feel of his vocal work with Caravan than with the Hatfields. Too bad there's a premature fadeout during another great Stewart organ solo. One wonders where the band was headed with that.

Think of the Canterbury scene of the late 60s and early 70s and many names will spring to mind. Caravan, Gong, Gilgamesh, National Health, Soft Machine, Camel, and Soft Heap may well be among them. However, no such list would be anywhere near complete without including the name Hatfield And The North.

To map out the Canterbury family tree would take several, rather convoluted pages to cover in any meaningful depth. Suffice it to say that Hatfield And The North contained several key players in the movement and quickly became a leading light in the ‘experimental’ jazz fusion genre that seemed to have the Kent cathedral city as its epicenter.

They evolved in 1972 and soon began to display musicianship of the highest quality, an instinctive understanding, and stunning live shows. Never far below the surface was a sense of humour that helped make them one of the most popular live bands around at the time.

With a sound that explored the ground between rock and jazz, this was a band with a huge character. Their collective musical invention saw them perform complex and intricate pieces above a myriad of time changes and some memorable melodies.

Their two albums, the eponymous 1974 debut, and The Rotters Club which appeared the following year, are still cornerstones of the genre and are widely regarded as classics.

Now Esoteric Recordings have re-released both albums which arrive with informative sleeve notes that also include some previously unseen photographs and lyric sheets.

An interview with Pip Pyle dating from 2005, a year before his death, also appears and provides valuable insight into the formation, the recordings, and later problems in the story of the band.

Their name was taken from a road-sign on the M1 Motorway. A photograph of the band sitting at a picnic table beneath the sign whilst the traffic races by is included.

Once named, Hatfield And The North was underpinned by the intricately weaved drum patterns created by the late Pip Pyle who formed a near instinctive understanding with bass player Richard Sinclair.

Dave Stewart, formerly of Egg, adds his trademark keys with guitarist Dave Miller completing the line up. Both of these would later become influential members of National Health whose re-released album was reviewed here on Eurorock a few months back.

Adding vocals were The Northettes, a trio of female singers that included Barbara Gaskin who would later team up again as a duo with Dave Stewart, enjoying some brief chart success in the process.

Back in 1973, they were busy recording their debut at the manor Studios which was owned by Richard Branson’s, soon to be huge, Virgin label. Engineer Tom Newman, whose Faerie Symphony was reviewed here, worked on the album. It was not always a smooth process however and an unfortunate mishap occurred which is recalled by quotes from Pip and Dave Stewart in the sleeve notes.

Guest appearances included an un-credited sax solo from Gong’s Didier Malherbe, Geoff Leigh of Henry Cow, and one Robert Wyatt who adds vocals on “Calyx”. This very welcome re-release also includes three additional tracks as bonus material.

In 1975 the band released their second album The Rotters Club, which has been given the same treatment by Esoteric. This was the album that really secured their legendary status and included Dave Stewarts epic four-part masterpiece “Mumps”, a vaguely pop flavoured “Share It”, and Richard Sinclair’s “Didn’t Matter Anyway”.

Bonus material includes, the full length version of “Halfway Between Heaven And Earth”, and live versions of “Oh, Len’s Nature!” and “Lything And Gracing”. Again the sleeve notes include illuminating quotes from Pip Pyle who explains what brought about the somewhat premature demise of the band.

Both of these classic and lovingly repackaged albums, plus a whole host more, are now available through Esoteric Recordings by visiting their website for details.