VA - Hidden Maps of Imagination, Canterbury Journeys (a Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

CATERBURY PROG

VA - Hidden Maps of Imagination, Canterbury Journeys (a Butterboy Compilation) (4 x CDs)

When I look back at the Canterbury scene and its orbit, I’m struck not just by the music but by the times that shaped it. This wasn’t a movement born in isolation, it was the sound of post-war Britain finding its eccentric voice, of young musicians blending jazz clubs with art schools, of humor and melancholy walking hand in hand.

The Canterbury scene has always been less a genre than a landscape of imagination. It is a place where pastoral melodies, jazz improvisations, surreal humor, and brooding mystery coexist, each corner offering a different mood. With Hidden Maps of Imagination, Canterbury Journeys, I’ve tried to chart that terrain across four expansive discs, each one a chapter in a larger story.

The journey begins in the sunlit meadow, where playful eccentricity and pastoral folk touches set the tone. Caravan’s melodic charm, Kevin Ayers’ whimsical psychedelia, and Gryphon’s folk‑prog textures create a warm, witty invitation into Canterbury’s lighter side. From there, the path flows into rivers of jazz, where Gilgamesh, National Health, and Egg stretch the boundaries of improvisation. These tributaries converge into a current of cerebral invention, reminding us how deeply Canterbury was rooted in jazz‑rock interplay.

As the listener wanders further, the streets grow stranger. Gong’s cosmic whimsy, Matching Mole’s melancholy, and Comus’ eerie folk conjure surreal villages populated by dreamlike characters. This is Canterbury at its most eccentric, a carnival of oddities where humor and avant‑garde experimentation meet. And finally, the journey descends into shadowed forests. Van der Graaf Generator’s brooding art rock, Univers Zero’s dense avant‑prog, and Magma’s zeuhl intensity lead us into darker, contemplative spaces. It is the night journey, unsettling at times, but always rewarding, with mystery at every turn.

Across ninety‑six tracks, the set balances canonical names with rare obscurities, weaving a narrative that is both archival and imaginative. It is a collector’s map, an invitation: to wander, to discover, and to hear Canterbury not as a fixed sound but as a living landscape of imagination. (B)

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Track lists

CD1

01 Caravan - Golf Girl 5:01 1971

02 Hatfield and The North - Share It 3:03 1975

03 Kevin Ayers & The Whole World - May I 4:01 1970

04 GONG - The Octave Doctors and The Crystal Machine 1:59 1973

05 Robert Wyatt - Sea Song 6:33 1974

06 Egg - Contrasong 4:24 1970

07 Matching Mole - O Caroline 5:04 1972

08 Steve Hillage - Palm Trees (Love Guitar) 5:21 1978

09 Spirogyra - Dangerous Dave 4:34 1972

10 Comus - Diana 4:36 1971

11 Curved Air - Back Street Luv 3:38 1971

12 Gryphon - The Unquiet Grave 5:46 1973

13 Khan - Stargazers 5:31 1972

14 Daevid Allen - Peace Train 10:39 1988

15 Slapp Happy - The Drum 3:35 1974

16 Renaissance - Island 3:38 1969

17 Gentle Giant - Pantagruel's Nativity 6:52 1971

18 Barclay James Harvest - Mockingbird 6:39 1971

19 Audience - House on The Hill 7:28 1971

20 Stackridge - The Road to Venezuela 4:53 1974

21 Khan - Driving to Amsterdam 9:21 1972

22 Delivery - Harry Lucky 3:42 1970

23 Gilgamesh - With Lady and Friend 4:29 1975

24 Soft Machine - Moon in June 19:09 1970

CD2

01 Gilgamesh - One End More 10:21 1975

02 National Health - Tenemos Roads 14:30 1977

03 Delivery - Blind to Your Light 5:06 1970

04 Quiet Sun - Bargain Classics 5:48 1975

05 Henry Cow - Living in The Heart of the Beast 16:12 1974

06 Isotope - Spanish Sun 9:47 1974

07 Affinity - Night Flight 7:17 1970

08 Nucleus - Elastic Rock 4:05 1970

09 Back Door - Plantagenet 1:37 1972

10 Centipede - Septober Energy (Part 2, extract) 9:43 1971

11 Warm Dust - Loosing Touch 7:44 1970

12 If - I'm Reaching Out on All Sides 5:44 1970

13 Catapilla - If Could Only Happen to Me 6:45 1971

14 Brian Auger's Oblivion Express - Dragon Song 4:29 1971

15 Soft Machine - Slightly All the Time 18:13 1970

16 Colosseum - Lost Angeles 5:30 1970

17 Patto - Money Bag 10:05 1970

18 Steve Hillage - The Salmon Song 8:28 1975

19 Pierre Moerlen's Gong - Faerie Steps 5:32 1979

20 Soft Heap - Fara 6:40 1979

21 Egg - Boilk 0:59 1970

22 National Health - Paracelsus 1:42 1978

23 Polite Force - Childsplay 5:59 1976

24 Gilgamesh - Island of Rhodes 6:58 2000

CD3

01 Henry Cow - Nirvana for Mice 4:56 1973

02 Curved Air - Vivaldi 7:29 1970

03 Soft Heap - Petit 3's 6:18 1979

04 Principal Edwards Magic Theatre - The Death of Don Quixote 13:32 1969

05 Comus - The Bite 5:31 1971

06 Supersister - Memories Are New 3:46 1970

07 National Health - Portrait of a Shrinking Man 5:36 1977

08 Gong - Fohat Digs Holes in Space 6:20 1971

09 Lol Coxhill & Morgan Fisher - Pretty Little Girl 1:57 1979

10 Fred Frith - No Birds 12:46 1974

11 Steve Hillage - Hurdy Gurdy Glissando 9:00 1976

12 Robert Calvert - The Right Stuff 4:25 1974

13 Etron fou leloublan - Madame Richard Larika 9:25 1977

14 Samla Mammas Manna - Folkvisa I Morse 2:11 1971

15 Dave Sinclair - The Piano Player 4:47 1993

16 Magick Brothers, The - Wise Man in Your Heart 7:55 1995

17 Robert Wyatt - Unmasked 3:42 1982

18 Didier Malherbe - Zeff Over The Dunes 6:22 1983

19 Phil Miller - in Cahoots - Riffy 8:19 1982

20 Pip Pyle's Equipe Out - Jocelyn 4:13 1981

21 Supersister - A Girl Named You 3:15 1971

22 Quiet Sun - Mummy Was an Asteroid, Daddy Was A Small Non-Stick Kitchen Utensil 6:05 1975

23 Cos - Postaeolian Train Robbery 4:07 1974

24 Picchio dal Pozzo - Seppia 10:17 1976

CD4

01 Van Der Graaf Generator - House With No Door 6:30 1970

02 Univers Zero - Dense 12:26 1977

03 Jade Warrior - Dark River 6:38 1971

04 Art Zoyd - Musique Pour L'Odyss e 17:08 1979

05 Gryphon - The Unquiet Grave 5:46 1973

06 Peter Hammill - A Louse is Not A Home 12:11 1974

07 Comus - The Herald 12:08 1971

08 Gentle Giant - Think of Me With Kindness 3:32 1972

09 Renaissance - Black Flame 6:21 1973

10 King Crimson - Starless 12:16 1974

11 Camel - Air Born 5:02 1976

12 Steve Hackett - Shadow of The Hierophant 11:39 1975

13 Anthony Phillips - The Geese and The Ghost (Part 1) 7:57 1977

14 Ange - Le Cimetiere Des Arlequins 8:47 1973

15 Bill Bruford's Earthworks - Beelzebub 3:33 1978

16 Pekka Pohjola - The Madness Subsides 2:51 1972

17 Jakko - The Hands of Che Guevara 4:22 1983

18 John Graves - Kew. Rhone 5:27 1977

19 Hugh Hopper Band - Golden Section 5:36 1989

20 Moving Gelatine Plates - London Cab 7:33 1971

21 Daevid Allen - Why Do We Treat Ourselves Like We Do 6:51 1971

22 Khan - Space Shanty 8:59 1972

23 Area - Luglio, Agosto, Settembre 4:27 1973

24 Pulsar - Halloween Part I 20:00 1977

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Music weaves itself into the fabric of our emotions, dances through the corridors of memory, and whispers to the soul of who we are. Sharing these stories deepens the connection, turning the experience into something timeless and profound.

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