- This discography goes far beyond what is strictly considered Canterbury music by most people. Apart from classic bands like Soft Machine, Caravan, Gong and their spinoffs, it includes bands and projects in which important Canterbury figures (Daevid Allen, Elton Dean, John Greaves, Hugh Hopper, Didier Malherbe, Phil Miller, Pip Pyle, Mike Ratledge, Richard Sinclair, Dave Stewart, Robert Wyatt) have taken a significant part. And some in which none of them took part, too... It's really hard to draw the line between what is and what's not Canterbury. Suggestions are welcome.
- For each record, I have listed the label details, release date, line-ups and guest appearances, recording date and location, producer, track listings and, when possible, the album cover. Of course, there are still gaps, but with your help they will eventually be filled.
- My work was based mainly on my own collection of albums, CDs and cassettes, but the help of the following people has been invaluable : H.W. Neff was the author of the very first online Canterbury discography, which was partly used as a basis for my own (saves typing time!); Clive Backham's 'Gong Discography' was also very helpful in filling some of the gaps; Julian Christou, besides being a keen collector, has also created sites devoted to Hugh Hopper and Elton Dean, with comprehensive discographies, and provided some help with this site; Gérard Purnelle and Ulrich Bomnueter, who helped fill a few major gaps; Dan Kurdilla, who provided info from his excellent John Surman and Eberhard Weber discographies; the official Chris Spedding website, for the detailed album credits and plenty of sleeve scans.
- Let's also not forget my off-line sources of Canterbury info : Phil Howitt's 'Facelift' magazine from England, and Manfred Bress' 'Canterbury Nachrichten' from Germany, the latter being as a matter of fact a regular update of all new Canterbury-related releases; Martin Wakeling, editor of the Kevin Ayers fanzine 'Why Are We Sleeping?', compiled a very comprehensive Ayers discography which I used extensively; Philippe Renaud's 'Discographie du Jazz Anglais' (latterly re-titled 'Simply Not Cricket') and of course Mike King, author of the Robert Wyatt biography 'Wrong Movements', perhaps the ultimate source of information available.
- When possible scans of the album covers have been included. I scanned all those I had in my collection, and I received help from kind souls, in particular Hélène Collon and Xavier Marchon. For the few that are still missing, your contributions are welcome!
- Any suggestions, corrections and additions may be sent to me. The best way is to download the discography, print it, check it, work on it, and send me ALL your corrections and additions in one go. This will make my work much easier, thanks.
Aymeric Leroy