Canterbury Glass - Sacred Scenes & Characters

There will certainly be a frisson of excitement among collectors about the appearance of a previously unissued album from a group from the 1967/68 London underground scene. They won’t be disappointed with this interesting effort, complete with its originally planned sleeve. The group of North Londoners, with female flute, harmonica player and singer, had settled themselves in an ambitious furrow, taking in the rise of interest in church-related music, as fuelled at the time by the Missa Luba and the film If. Canterbury Glass worked up the long, multi-sectioned pieces of Kyrie and Gloria, drawing on a wealth of contemporary influences and, in some cases, anticipating some of the later ambitious prog-rock. Though rooted in church music, you hear snatches and elements of the quieter Seeds sounds, some Vanilla Fudge, Caravan and much more, and as such, this is bound to attract a good deal of interest. Prologue includes early guitar work from Steve Hackett, and a previous group demo, We’re Going To Beat It, is added as a bonus to the originally-planned album release. The whole is certainly evocative of the Middle Earth scene in 1968, which is no bad thing.