Formed in 1972 and named after a highway sign, Hatfield & The North were one of the most original and musically adventurous English bands of the 1970s. The progressive rock band was one of the finest examples of the Canterbury school. They wrote and played forward thinking creative music, fusing rock, jazz and classical music.
Hatfield’s music was a unique blend of its four members’ ideas and compositions, comprising the dreamy lyrical songs of former Caravan vocalist and bassist Richard Sinclair, Phil Miller’s intricate jazz-tinged guitar melodies, Dave Stewart’s complex instrumentals and the free-flowing compositions of drummer Pip Pyle (from Gong), who also contributed lyrics.
During its brief life span, the group recorded two highly acclaimed albums, Hatfield & The North and The Rotters’ Club, played numerous live gigs and recorded four BBC radio shows. Backing vocals on the two albums were sung by The Northettes: Amanda Parsons, Barbara Gaskin and Ann Rosenthal. Hatfield & The North became a legend with music fans in Europe, the United States of America and Japan, but broke up in 1975 just as its reputation began to build.
Aside from the 1980 compilation Afters (now deleted), no retrospective albums were released until the arrival of Hatwise Choice in January 2005. “Hatwise Choice” was the first volume of their archive CD series. This is the first album in thirty years to be entirely performed by the classic Hatfield line-up of Phil Miller, Pip Pyle, Richard Sinclair and Dave Stewart. The CD was released on January 31st 2005.
Hatwise Choice is Hatfield & The North’s own selection of unreleased material culled from their large tape archive. It consists of a 50/50 mixture of live concert tapes and BBC radio recordings, the latter taken from the band’s four John Peel sessions and mastered from first generation sources. The gig tapes show aspects of Hatfield’s music never before heard on record – on stage, the tight control of the group’s studio work is replaced by a looser, improvisational approach. Flashes of humor give way to electronic landscapes, interspersed with extended arrangements of the band’s compositions and occasional moments of utter musical madness.
Hatwise Choice includes rare tunes, musical surprises, photos, press cuttings, period artwork and an extensive history written by the four players. The booklet also contains additional text by Jonathan Coe, who named his best-selling novel “The Rotters’ Club” after the group’s legendary 1975 album.
Discography:
Hatfield and the North (Virgin Records, 1974)
The Rotters’ Club ( Virgin Records, 1975)
Afters ( Virgin Records, 1980)
Live 1990 (Demon, 1993)
Hatwise Choice: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 1 (Hatco, 2005)
Hattitude: Archive Recordings 1973-1975, Volume 2 (Hatco, 2006)