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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
....a good example of the ecentric lyrics that Richard Sinclair sings on this brilliant original album which has been on my top five favourite list since the seventies ! Such a shame they only managed to record only two proper albums before imploding - but if you need more then search out the offshoot albums by National Health and then move on to Gilgamesh, Matching Mole, Caravan, Henry Cow, Soft Machine and even Camel. This brand of Jazz/Rock/Progressive fusion is probably an acquired taste these days but there is still a reasonable amount of interest in the Canterbury scene some thirty years later so it must have had something . As a result the Hatfields have recently reformed and can be found doing the occasional gigs but without Dave Stewart. Richard Sinclairs's voice and whimsical lyrics lead the musicianship of the rest of the band and take them out of the "noodling" category to somewhere completely different and very wonderful.
57 of 59 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
Hatfield and the North were one of the very few bands that understood how to fuse Rock and Jazz, not just to show off playing ability (which is demonstrably excellent on this disc), but also to experiment with song structure, lyrical games and complex rhythmic soundscapes. No endless masturbatory sequences here. It's all sewn up very nicely. More a patchwork quilt than a stained duvet.
One might even say there's a pop sensibility in here, but that's such a hackneyed description that it would probably discourage the audience that would get the biggest blast from this excellent album. Still, there are proper 'songs' which - in a parallel universe - might have been hit singles, like 'Share it'. There are also extended, rhapsodic instrumentals which make up the bulk of it.
The sound is reminiscent of early Gong - minus the druggy zaniness - or Hillage's 'Fish Rising' (there are band members in common in both cases). Arguably it's Hatfield's Dave Stewart that makes 'Fish Rising' as good as it is, and many people have mistaken his fuzztone organ - also well in evidence on 'The Rotter's Club' - for Hillage's own instrument.
Dave Stewart (NOT the tiresome Eurythmic beardy weirdy) is the keyboard player's keyboard player. Highly technically skilled, but with a sense of absurdity, chaos and space. Pip Pyle's drumming is effervescent and seemingly effortless. Phil Miller knows how to make his lead guitar lines enhance, rather than dominate, the proceedings - the kind of humility we've been led not to expect from guitarists. It's all carefully balanced, with a handful of guest musicians from Henry Cow, Egg and other places scattered about for special effect. The 'Northettes' are sublime sirens as usual. Stop your ears with wax, or they will surely lure you to the rock.
'The Rotter's Club' has light and shade by the bucketful. It's an intensely rich and often humorous listening experience. Not least because of the hilarious song titles, and witty lyrics. I also appreciate Richard Sinclair singing in an unaffected British accent.
I'd go so far as to say this is not only one of the best Jazz Rock albums ever - the one by which all others should be judged - but also one of the best slices of that finer kind of Progressive Rock which did not get obsessed with equipment machismo and cosmic on-stage pretentiousness, and which should have given the genre a good name. Alas punk journalism needed - and still needs - to see its villains as an undifferentiated mass.
Nobody did it better, before or since, and the relative obscurity of this item (compared to - say - any of Mike Oldfield's offerings from the same period) will ensure that it retains its own internal musical meaningfulness for a long time. Buy now, or any time in the next five hundred years. (But consider the starving artists - still alive today - who sweated and strained to produce a masterpiece like this).
One might even say there's a pop sensibility in here, but that's such a hackneyed description that it would probably discourage the audience that would get the biggest blast from this excellent album. Still, there are proper 'songs' which - in a parallel universe - might have been hit singles, like 'Share it'. There are also extended, rhapsodic instrumentals which make up the bulk of it.
The sound is reminiscent of early Gong - minus the druggy zaniness - or Hillage's 'Fish Rising' (there are band members in common in both cases). Arguably it's Hatfield's Dave Stewart that makes 'Fish Rising' as good as it is, and many people have mistaken his fuzztone organ - also well in evidence on 'The Rotter's Club' - for Hillage's own instrument.
Dave Stewart (NOT the tiresome Eurythmic beardy weirdy) is the keyboard player's keyboard player. Highly technically skilled, but with a sense of absurdity, chaos and space. Pip Pyle's drumming is effervescent and seemingly effortless. Phil Miller knows how to make his lead guitar lines enhance, rather than dominate, the proceedings - the kind of humility we've been led not to expect from guitarists. It's all carefully balanced, with a handful of guest musicians from Henry Cow, Egg and other places scattered about for special effect. The 'Northettes' are sublime sirens as usual. Stop your ears with wax, or they will surely lure you to the rock.
'The Rotter's Club' has light and shade by the bucketful. It's an intensely rich and often humorous listening experience. Not least because of the hilarious song titles, and witty lyrics. I also appreciate Richard Sinclair singing in an unaffected British accent.
I'd go so far as to say this is not only one of the best Jazz Rock albums ever - the one by which all others should be judged - but also one of the best slices of that finer kind of Progressive Rock which did not get obsessed with equipment machismo and cosmic on-stage pretentiousness, and which should have given the genre a good name. Alas punk journalism needed - and still needs - to see its villains as an undifferentiated mass.
Nobody did it better, before or since, and the relative obscurity of this item (compared to - say - any of Mike Oldfield's offerings from the same period) will ensure that it retains its own internal musical meaningfulness for a long time. Buy now, or any time in the next five hundred years. (But consider the starving artists - still alive today - who sweated and strained to produce a masterpiece like this).
23 of 24 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
A real gem of an album from the mists of the mid 70s and the tail end of the prog rock era.
From the Canterbury gene pool, Caravan, Camel etc.
Although most notable at the time for Richard Sinclair’s
determinedly English accent, this is essentially a instrumental album.
The Rotters’ Club is, of course, ‘music of it’s time’, but stands up well today due to its beautifully crafted soft jazz/rock and to the light, sprightly, optimistic atmosphere that pervades it.
There are hints of 70’s Zappa jazz, early Chick Corea/Return to Forever, even a dash of Steely Dan precision, however this is at heart a very British album, imaginative, humorous and quite unique.
Little wonder that it’s become a bit of a cult-offering in recent years with good quality original vinyl copies being much sought after.
If it’s your area of interest don’t hesitate to give it a try….
From the Canterbury gene pool, Caravan, Camel etc.
Although most notable at the time for Richard Sinclair’s
determinedly English accent, this is essentially a instrumental album.
The Rotters’ Club is, of course, ‘music of it’s time’, but stands up well today due to its beautifully crafted soft jazz/rock and to the light, sprightly, optimistic atmosphere that pervades it.
There are hints of 70’s Zappa jazz, early Chick Corea/Return to Forever, even a dash of Steely Dan precision, however this is at heart a very British album, imaginative, humorous and quite unique.
Little wonder that it’s become a bit of a cult-offering in recent years with good quality original vinyl copies being much sought after.
If it’s your area of interest don’t hesitate to give it a try….
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
An oldie but a goodie
My neighbour, like me, is a bit of a muso and when I told him that I had bought an early copy of the debut album by Hatfield And The North on vinyl he said that I ought to give The... Read more
Published 9 days ago by Mr. T. D. Marshall
Hatfield and the North The Rotters Club
The Great Rotters!.
"The Rotters Club "is the Greatest jazzrock/canterbury/prog in the UK. Read more
"The Rotters Club "is the Greatest jazzrock/canterbury/prog in the UK. Read more
Published 28 days ago by KrakenProg
An icon of its decade
The other reviews have captured the essence of this second album very well. Rather than repeat that, I'll try and put it into an admittedly personal context. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Peter Beuttell
Highlight of 1975!
Dave Stewart has written "1975 was a difficult year to be a thinking rock musician - the halcyon years of 'progressive' rock, when musicians were actually encouraged to be creative... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Chris M.
A really great find
I've come to Hatfield really late in the day and it really is a pleasant surprise. The Canterbury Scene had escaped me; I was more Pink Floyd and Hendrix in my youth. Read more
Published 16 months ago by R. Hughes
Eccentric and of a time...
A classic piece of British eccentricity, from the 'Canterbury generation'.
If you like Soft Machine and Caravan, there's lots here to enjoy, but I'm guessing that like me, if... Read more
If you like Soft Machine and Caravan, there's lots here to enjoy, but I'm guessing that like me, if... Read more
Published 16 months ago by Mike
Genius
Wow! I'd forgotten how good this is. Maximum technical skills throughout the band, fabulous playing with humour in the music and wit in the wonderfully nonsensical lyrics. Read more
Published 21 months ago by Derek Payne
Virgin rotters!
Outrageously expensive to record thanks to the stuttering technology at Virgin's Manor Studios, debut `Hatfield and The North' saddled this band with a nasty case of negative... Read more
Published on 7 April 2010 by Rob Brook
A Timeless Joy
Like many of the great "Canterbury" bands,Hatfield and the North manage the seemingly impossible by being both cool and musically adventurous while remaining warm, friendly and... Read more
Published on 27 Dec 2009 by Earl Grey
Problems with CD box
As so often is the case with purchases from Amazon, the central lugs holding the Rotters' Club CD in place in the CD box were patially broken, meaning the CD is not secure in the... Read more
Published on 13 Nov 2009 by Mr. P. Burton
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