Egg
 

I found itstrange that at least a few people here talk about Soft Machine, Caravan, and Hatfield and the North, but no one appears to have heard of Egg. they've got a great keyboard player(Dave Stewart, who later plays in Hatfield and the North) and bassist(Mont Campbell).

heres some stuff(audio only, because there isnt any live footage of them, sadly....)

YouTube - Egg - Enneagram

YouTube - Egg - A Visit To Newport Hospital

YouTube - Egg - Long Piece No. 3: Part Two

YouTube - Egg - Germ Patrol

Also, as an interesting note, the amazing steve hillage was a member on guitar, but left before they recorded their first album.

I don't like Egg as much as the big Canterbury bands, but they're still pretty cool -they would have been bigger if Hillage stayed with them.

I hear their new boxset (The Metronomical Society) is quite good.

I agree, it would have done them good to keep him. although on "the civil surface" Steve Hillage guests on a couple tracks.

If you want to hear what they sounded like with steve hillage, early on, try and find the cd "Arzachel", which is basically Uriel(egg w/steve hillage). Its more of a psychadelic album than the egg stuff: YouTube - Arzachel - Clean Innocent Fun (1969)
YouTube - Arzachel - Queen St. Gang
YouTube - Arzachel - Leg (1969)

and The Metronomical Society is really good, but the sound quality could have been a bit better on some of the songs.

I have their albums, it's just not my favourite Canterbury band. "The Civil Surface" is the album I know the best and it's good.

they're not my favorite either, but probably my second favorite(soft machine wins IMO), with Hatfield in a close third

Of the Canterbury bands, I'm currently enjoying Camel and Caravan the most at the moment.

almost forgot about caravan! yeah I like them as well. "nine feet underground" is one of my favorite epic-length songs, along with "mumps"(hatfield and the north
) and "Facelift"(soft machine)

If we're talking about short lived Canterbury groups here, Khan and Gilgamesh don't seem to get enough attention, though I certainly wish Egg had been around longer. :p:

Caravan and Soft Machine are thought of as the best for good reason though: the former of the two's sound basically defined Canterbury for other acts to follow.

There's a small heap of them. Yesterday, I listened to Quiet Sun's album "Mainstream" .. another I've yet to see mentioned here.

Of Caravan, of course the whole grey and pink album is awesome. I also thoroughly enjoy For Girls Who Grow Plump in the Night although I try not to overplay it. ;)

I've also fallen a bit in love with Camel's "Music Inspired by the Snow Goose" lately.

true, "space shanty" was awesome, but I have always thought of khan as a kind of one-off sort of thing

Mainstream was an astounding album. I couldn't find it anywhere originally though, so Jackhammer had to upload it for me, for which I'm grateful for. xD

As for Camel though....Moonmadness all the way, followed by Mirage, Breathless and a Nod and a Wink! :wave:

I have them, like them and listen to them except nod and a wink which I don't know at all .. I hear it's good, which is cool considering how recent it is. :)

Matching Mole is another band I haven't seen mentioned much, but I'll admit I've yet to listen to them. I've given their first record a spin once, but that's about it. They were warmly recommended to me by a friend who's a big fan of Soft Machine / Robert Wyatt.

edit :

By the way, I kinda like National Health's debut .. can anyone recommend me another album of theirs?

matching mole is okay, but often there isnt enough energy... "Part of the Dance" from the first album is awesome, though.

And National Health only has two studio albums, I think, so the other one is "Of Queues And Cures" and its quite good.

Hmm, according to wikipedia, they also have a third album "D.S. Al Coda" plus an album with live recordings from 79 and one archival album, mostly pre-debut stuff.

ah ****, The user who posted those youtube videos got deleted, so they're not gonna work now...