Canterbury

[Craig Shipley]

Chris sez...

CHOMP!
>
> Osibisa - by now, I'm well & truly back in the '70s.  They were
> pretty much
> as I remember them from way back - the perfect band for teatime.  Bouncy
> and exuberant and doing their best to bring out a little sunshine... Ghana
> comes to Kent!

I was very fond of this band back in the early '70's, having first heard
them in a disco in Ankara, Turkey. The fact that the first two LP covers
were done by Roger Dean might have also had something to do with it. Also
enjoyed their contribution to Uriah Heeps' LOOK AT YOURSELF title track
(three percussionist guested). Found a little classic fun cover tune on
Napster by them a few months ago, "The Coffee Song", also covered by Stan
Ridgway on his hard-to-find covers CD, "The Way I Feel Today". Didn't know
that they were still active...

> Porcupine Tree - well, I really tried to like these guys, having been told
> many times by others in these here parts how good they were, but...  Yes,
> they were technically capable, and there was nothing actually "bad" about
> them, but I thought that they exemplified the worst pretentious excesses
> that gave "prog" a bad name, and Steve Wilson(?) seems to be so far up his
> own fundament that he's in danger of choking on his own hair and getting
> his specs wrapped round his tonsils: all in all, too precious by half...
>
I think that the key word here is "were". PT _was_ good, up until STUPID
DREAM. I have tried and tried to like that release and LIGHTBULB SUN, but
they just don't have the appeal that the classic PT releases have. Like
Chris said, the band is technically competent and there is nothing really
bad about them, but the creative weirdness and spark is gone, replaced by an
AOR desire for a "hit". All the best luck to Steven Wilson and crew, but I
think that I have spent my last dime on them... (Richard Barbieri is an
excellent keyboardist; check out his work with the band Japan, especially
the first one, ADOLESCENT SEX. A little punky and if you have never heard
David Sylvan's vocals from that period, you will be shocked at the
difference, but highly recommended...)

Ship