(Translated from my original Italian text by ChatGPT and Piero Scaruffi)
In 1967, Dave Stewart and Steve Hillage were the leaders of Uriel. From that lineup emerged another Canterbury dynasty. In 1968, the band changed its name to Egg, and, after losing Hillage, became a trio à la Nice: Dave Stewart (keyboards), Mont Campbell (bass), Clive Brooks (drums). Egg debuted with the single Seven Is A Jolly Good Time/ You Are All Princes (1969), followed by the album Egg (Nova, 1970), which contains surreal pieces like The Song of McGillicudie The Pusillanimous and the classically inspired suite centered on Stewart’s keyboards, Symphony No.2, lasting twenty-one minutes.
The next album, The Polite Force (Deram, 1971), was even more ambitious, featuring a Contrasong with Mike Davis on trumpet and Bob Downes on keyboards, and three extended pieces: Long Piece No.3, their Valentyne Suite (twenty minutes of flowing classical, jazz, and rock jamming), the dadaist, cacophonous collage Boilk (nine minutes), and A Visit To Newport Hospital (eight minutes).
Even better orchestrated, The Civil Surface (Caroline, 1974) was released after the band had already disbanded, but it contains two of their most ambitious compositions: the driving and imaginative eight-minute Germ Patrol and the dark, cerebral nine-minute Enneagram.
Seven Is A Jolly Good Time (Miles, 1985) is an anthology of Egg’s career.
Meanwhile (1966), pianist Steve Miller and his brother Phil Miller (guitar) had formed a jazz-rock group, Delivery, which recorded an album with Fools Meeting (B&C, 1970 – Cuneiform, 1999), featuring vocals by Carol Grimes and performances by saxophonist Lol Coxhill, bassist Roy Babbington, and drummer Pip Pyle. Pyle later joined Gong.
In 1973, bassist Richard Sinclair, who had begun collaborating on the masterpieces of Kevin Ayers and Lol Coxhill, left Caravan and formed Hatfield and the North with Phil Miller on guitar, Pip Pyle on drums, and Dave Stewart on keyboards. The supergroup recorded Hatfield And The North (Virgin, 1974), embarking on a respectable revival of the surreal jazz-rock of Matching Mole, showcasing great instrumental mastery. Particularly notable are Stewart’s big-band jazz-inspired There's No Place Like Homerton and Pyle’s dissonant dada-jazz jam Shaving Is Boring, reminiscent of Soft Machine.
The second album, Rotter's Club (1975), delved instead into anemic, scattered "ballads" that were far less compelling (best track: Fitter Stoke Has a Bath). Half of the album is taken up by Stewart’s suite Mumps. Afters (Virgin, 1980) is an anthology of Hatfield’s work. Hatwise Choice (Burning Shed, 2005) collects rarities and unreleased material.
From the ashes of this band, abandoned by both the public and record labels, emerged in 1977 National Health, comprising Jimmy Hastings (flute), Phil Miller (guitar), Pip Pyle (drums), Dave Stewart (keyboards), and Alan Gowen (keyboards) from Gilgamesh, while Sinclair migrated to Camel.
National Health (1978) contains four long tracks of soft, ethereal jazz-rock, structured as suites. Tenemos Road relies on the surreal effects of Stewart’s strangled organ and ethereal vocalizations. Elephants (14 minutes) features an overture of dissonances and jazzy synthesizer trills. Brujo is a relaxed, almost cocktail-lounge piece. Convulsive Matching Mole-style improvisation alternates with atmospheric instrumental passages, spatial solfeggi, and Fauvist abstractions. Stewart and Gowen’s keyboards dominate, along with the ethereal vocals of guest star Amanda Parsons.
Of Queues And Cures (Charly, 1978), with John Greaves replacing Hastings on bass and without Gowen, is their masterpiece. Elastic jazz-rock jams by Stewart (Bryden 2-step, a hybrid of Zappa-esque band play and melodic flash-rock) coexist with cacophonous exotica (Collapso) and total music experiments like Squarer For Maud (by Greaves), which incorporates dissonance and minimalism in a dense, frenetic piece for a small ensemble (cello, oboe, clarinet). Pyle and Greaves form one of the most creative rhythm sections of the era, while Stewart and Miller are two first-class fantasists (as shown by the frenzied organ opening and the ragged funk of Dreams Wide Awake).
In 1981 Gowen died of leukemia shortly after completing the recordings of Two Rainbows Daily (Red, 1980), a collaboration with Hugh Hopper, and Before A Word Is Said (Europa, 1982), with the help of Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, and Trevor Tomkins (drums). Before A Word Is Said is by Gowen, but the other compositions are largely by Miller (Above & Below, Fourfold, A Fleeting Glance).
In memoriam, DS Al Coda (1982) was released, credited to National Health but actually a collection of material mostly written by the late Gowen and performed by National Health (Portrait Of A Shrinking Man, Shining Water, Toad Of Toad Hall). Years later, a volume of Improvisations (Voiceprint, 1996) between Gowen and Hopper was also released.
Complete (East Side Digital, 1990) includes the three National Health albums plus unreleased material. Missing Pieces (East Side Digital, 1996) contains further unreleased tracks. Playtime (Cuneiform, 2001) is a live album.
(Original English text by Piero Scaruffi)
After National Health disbanded, guitarist Phil Miller founded In Cahoots,
comprising saxophonist Elton Dean, keyboardist Peter Lemer,
bassist Hugh Hopper and drummer Pip Pyle.
They and Dave Stewart appear on Miller's first solo albums,
Cutting Both Ways (Impetus, 1988), which contains the landmark
compositions/improvisations Green & Purple and
Eastern Region.
Split Seconds (Reckless, 1989), without Hopper,
includes the sophisticated jams And Thus Far and
Your Root 2.
Miller's third solo album, Digging In (Cuneiform, 1991), includes the
three lengthy compositions No Holds Barred, Digging In,
Bass Motives and the charming Speaking To Lydia.
Live 86-89 (Mantra, 1991) and
Live In Japan (Crescent, 1993) portray the band at its peak.
Miller collaborated with bassist Fred Baker on
Double Up (Crescent, 1992), which mostly reprises old
Miller compositions.
Baker was absorbed in the In Cahoots line-up, as was trumpeter
Jim Dvorak, while Hopper left.
Recent Discoveries (Crescent, 1995) was an impressive achievement by
any standards. At least
Recent Discoveries and Tide join the Miller canon.
Parallel (Crescent, 1996) was the ultimate Miller statement: a set of
lengthy, harmonious, cryptic compositions/improvisations:
Simmer, Parallel , Ed Or Ian, Half Life ,
Sitdown , Billow .
Out Of The Blue (Crescent, 2001), a tribute to Steve Miller who had died
of cancer, continues in that vein with three more
jazz juggernauts: Delta Borderline, Phrygian Blues, Slime Divas.
Pyle left to form his own band, Bash, while In Cahoots (Miller, Elton Dean on
saxes, Mark Fletcher on drums, Peter Lemer on keyboards, Jim Dvorak on trumpet
and Fred Baker on bass) released
All That (Cuneiform, 2003), containing two sprightly
13-minute numbers, Black Car and Sleight of Hand,
and
Belle Illusion (Cuneiform, 2004), that documents a live performance.
Pip Pyle has released only two albums with Equipe Out:
Equipe Out (52e Rue, 1987), with
Elton Dean on sax, Sophia Domancich on keyboards, Hugh Hopper on bass and
Pyle on drums, and Up (Too Much, 1991), with
Dean, Domancich and Paul Rogers.
The former is a distributed effort, with Pyle's Foetal Fandango,
Hopper's Midnight Judo,
Dean's Janna and Domancich's Porc-Epic.
The latter is mainly taken by Dean's Amba and Thunder, but also
includes Pyle's Cauliflower Ears, Domancich's Bimbo.
Pyle has then released his first solo album,
7 Year Itch (Voiceprint, 1998).
Pip Pyle, Philippe-Marcel Iung, John Greaves have also recorded
The Pig Part (Voiceprint, 2001).
Dave Stewart, instead, launched a pop career with vocalist Barbara Gaskin.
The early singles, compiled on Up From The Dark (Rykodisc, 1985),
revive ditties from the Sixties for the discos of the 1980s:
Leslie Gore's It's My Party,
Peggy Lee's Siamese Cat Song,
Holland/Dozier/Holland's I'm in a Different World, etc.
The World Spins So Slow is the closest to a decent song that the duo
came up with.
Broken Records (1986) collects all the hit singles.
Subsequent albums,
The Big Idea (Midi, 1990) and Spin (Midi, 1991), continued to
recycle covers. The former also boasts the nine-minute New Jerusalem.
Overall, Stewart managed to embarrass himself like noone in the history of
Canterbury's school.
Richard Sinclair started yet another project with
Caravan Of Dreams (HTD, 1992), a collection of elegant and funny
pop ditties, soon to become a trio with brother
David Sinclair on keyboards and Andy Ward on drums, as captured on
An Evening Of Magic (HTD, 1993).
On the other hand, R.S.V.P. (Sinclair, 1994), is a Richard Sinclair
album with friends, mostly performing mellow pop songs
(but it includes the 12-minute Out Of The Shadows and the surreal
Outback In Canterbury).
Pip Pyle died in august 2006.
Phil Miller died in 2017.
