The New Canterbury Sound?

“Maybe there is something about Canterbury that makes you write songs that are 20 minutes long with an improvisation in the middle.”
Jack Hues

The question “What is prog?” will probably be debated until the crack of doom, without anyone being able to come up with an answer that is universally approved. Trying to define the Canterbury Scene of the late 60s and early 70s is almost as difficult, especially as most of its major figures reckon that it didn’t exist – although there must have been something there or we wouldn’t still be talking about it today. And if there was a Canterbury Scene, then what was the Canterbury Sound?

What is certain is that a celebration of Canterbury’s musical legacy brought Jack Hues And The Quartet and Syd Arthur together to perform as a live big band back in 2010. They went on to record the one-sided album Nobody’s Fault But My Own in 2012, which is only now being released. Hues explains how the connection began:

“The University [of Kent in Canterbury] are interested in the Canterbury Sound from the 70s – people are writing doctoral theses on it these days! They put on shows