FRA Panther Post 2011 frapantherpost_gmail.com
Interim
by Alex Miceli
This year, Franklin Road Academy students have a wide variety of options to choose from when selecting their path for Interim this year. Interim has traditionally been held the week before spring break during the 3rd quarter of each school year; FRA offers mini-courses such as Civil War Site Tours and Rock Climbing to freshman, while sophomores through seniors can choose from trips, work/study, or off-campus education. Trips this year will encompass a choir and fine arts trip to New York City and a mission trip to Honduras. Through work-study, students may shadow a professional in a field they are interested in for four days in order to get a better understanding of a potential career path. Off-campus education offers the most options; for the more philanthropically inclined, Into the Community is a four-day trip into Nashville non-profits agencies such as Church of Christ Disaster Relief and St. Luke’s Community House. For students who have a more artistic inclination, a new off-campus offering to museums and galleries such as Cheekwood and the Frist will let students observe and sketch outstanding works of art. The ever-popular Hiking Trip is back this year, with the intrepid Joe Meko and Steve Barnes taking students through the caves and trails of Middle Tennessee. Lifeguard Certification, is available to students 16 and older; students who earn their certification will be able to lifeguard during the summer at any Middle Tennessee YMCA as well as at Nashville Shores waterpark. Driver’s Ed will also be offered to students wishing to earn their driver’s permit or license by Spanky’s, a comedic driver’s ed instruction company. No matter what students decide to do during Interim, they will have plenty of interesting, fun, and rewarding options to choose from.
Vending Machine Changes
There has been some intense debate between students as to whether or not the new vending machines in the commons are good for student health or just good for the school's wallet. The two new vending machines, announced in late September and installed on October 7, differ in two major ways from the previous vending machines. First, they offer a significant upgrade from the usual packaged fare found in most vending machines. Cliff Bars, organic chips, and high-fructose corn syrup free items fill the machines, which also stock a variety of drinks. Second, the prices are much higher, with prices rarely falling below a dollar. The machines also offer students the option of using their credit cards to pay for food; but buyer beware, because if a student does not hit a button to show that they are done buying from the machine, the next customer can easily use the previous person's credit card to pay for their food or drink.
The school administration has cited health as a primary reason for switching out the vending machines; the previous offerings consisted of items like Pop-Tarts and Doritos, which, while unhealthy, were popular snacks. Many students are unhappy with the change and insist that the old snack foods were better. They are too healthy, said sophomore Connor Meeks. Other students have more mild feelings about the change. "I think it's good that students will be inclined to make better choices, but I don't like that it's more expensive," said junior Rachel Shanks. According to senior Audrey Kromer, The only downside is that they are expensive but I would use them more than the other ones because they candy and I dont buy candy. While opinions vary, most students seem to agree that the prices are generally a bit high. Whatever the general consensus, the fact remains that the vending machines have only been in use for less than two weeks. Only time will tell if they are really repositories of overpriced food or a welcome change from previous unhealthy fare.
Essay Tips for College-Bound Students
Alex Miceli
As the year moves past September and into October, more and more high school seniors are focusing on their college applications, especially their applications essays. Application essays are meant to provide admissions officers with a vivid, personal look at a student; they are often the only thing that will make a student stand out from the crowd of other applicants. While it may seem simple to write a story about yourself in so many words or less, here are a few dos and donts to keep in mind when you begin to write your college essays.
How to Write a Newspaper Article
By: Michael Miceli
Writing an article for a newspaper isnt quite as simple as choosing a topic, writing about it, and then sending it to ones editor so that the editor can check for grammar and syntax problems for the author. Obviously, the author should care about that to. However, there is so much more than that that an author must pay attention to in an article.
Among the many things an author must watch out for is the length of the article. The ideal length for an article is around 500 words, but that isnt set in stone. Obviously there will be dome articles that need to be longer than others. To reduce the length of the article, the author could get rid of overly descriptive words and phrases.
The author also needs to be completely impartial about the topic he or she is writing about. A journalist is supposed to have as little bias as possible and the best way to do this is to simply get rid of all first and second person pronouns.
Another critically idea that a journalist must keep in mind is the idea of an inverted pyramid. The writer should start by stating the big, important facts first, so that the reader(s) will get a good idea of what the article is about. Keeping this in mind, a good journalist will be able to use this to organize his or her article and reduce waste.
One most critical idea a journalist must also keep in mind when writing an article is: Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? If the writer keeps these questions in mind when writing the article and answers them, then the article will be as complete as it can be.
The list of things that a good journalist must remember when writing an article are certainly important, but by no means everything a journalist must do when writing his or her article. This should simply be viewed as a basic guideline.
Bibliography:
http://www.mediacollege.com/journalism/news/write-stories.html
The Republican Primaries
Bo Korpman
As the race for the Presidential Election of 2012 starts to gain momentum, the Republican Party has begun the search for its candidate to oppose the incumbent President, Barack Obama. At the moment, the race is up for grabs, with two main candidates – Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich – leading the primaries while one other candidate – Ron Paul– tries to affect the outcome of the race. As the primary comes to Tennessee, many of us will be voting, some for the first time; here’s what you need to know about each candidate as it becomes your turn to decide.
Mitt Romney is the extremely wealthy former governor of Massachusetts. Notable for his universality and numerous appeals to all Republicans, Romney’s support base has remained steady throughout most of his campaign. Well-spoken and a brilliant investor, Romney brings a strong business background to the forefront of his campaign which, although potentially important, as seen throughout the past several years, does not by any means equate to a successful term in office.
Newt Gingrich is one of the most notable personages of the Republican Party, serving as Speaker of the House during the nineties and fighting vehemently against the Clinton administration. Despite his strong resume, Gingrich stepped down as Speaker under the threat of mutiny by his own party and has remained largely out of politics over the past decade. Although admittedly well-spoken and a fierce debater, his very anti-democratic views have lost him the support of more moderate Republicans and issues in his personal life (several accusations of affairs have come up of late) are a serious factor in his campaign. He is probably the most likely Republican candidate.
Ron Paul is a Congressman from the State of Texas and has a reputation of being a bit of an outcast in the Republican Party. Representing a unique Libertarian set of ideals, Paul has gained much support from the younger populace. His strict, unchanging beliefs in small government, personal liberty, and non-expansionist foreign policy can be considered radical, but honest and, as he believes, rooted firmly in the U.S. Constitution. Although one of the most secure and intelligent candidates, in all likelihood, Paul will fail once again in his attempt to get the nomination.
Ultimately, the choice is yours to make for those of you who are voting. At this point, Mitt Romney looks to be the certain victor in this race, just recently taking Florida and Nevada, so in the end, although the voting may not matter in Tennessee, your vote is still important.
CES 2012: Year of the Ultrabook
The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) happens every year in January and it is then that all the major electronics manufactures showcase their latest and greatest products. This year, there has been an immense amount of importance placed on a new category of ultrathin, ultraportable laptops called “ultrabooks.” Intel coined the term ultrabook last year and said that to be an ultrabook, a laptop must run Windows, have either a second generation Intel processor (commonly called Sandy Bridge) or a third generation Intel processor (Ivy Bridge), it must have some model that cost under $1,000, and it must be at least 0.8 inches thick and no thick.
Ultrabooks are Intel’s answer to the Macbook Air. When the Air was debuted back in 2008, but because it combined subpar hardware with an outrageous price tag, it was little more than a product no one except trust fund kids wanted to waste money. However, since then Apple has upgraded it and helped make it the king of ultraportable laptops.
The first ultrabooks came out late last year and they all were all lacking in some way (generally their track pad or keyboard) when compared to the Macbook Air. Whether or not the next batch of ultrabooks are any better has yet to be seen. However, with the manufacturers of ultrabooks having seen where other ultrabooks failed, maybe they’ll use the extra time they have to improve
The iPhone 4S: Is it the New Trend for Apple?
Apple has been known throughout its history -- and especially in recent years -- as a major trend-setting technology company. They have created some undeniably amazing products which revolutionized the product category they are sold in. A few examples of these products are the Apple II, the iPod, the iPhone, the Macbook Air, and most recently, the iPad. All of these products are hailed as marvels of engineering and are hot sellers wherever they are sold because of their bleeding edge designs, specs, and, most importantly, their user interfaces. However, there is one huge consistency that all of these products share: they were the brain children of Steve Jobs. Sadly, he is now dead.
The last time Jobs was not around to help create new products for Apple (the late 1980s and early 1990s), Apples market share plummeted due to various factors, such as dated hardware, uninspired designs, and a poor user interface. Apple nearly went out of business because things were so bad. All of that changed when Jobs came back, and Apple not only recovered but expanded into markets other than their traditional home, the computer hardware and software manufacturing industry. They went to create brilliant products, such as the iPod, and they did it with Jobs at the helm of Apple.
If that is what happened to Apple when Jobs was gone before, their massive fan base must now wonder what will happen to Apple now that Jobs is dead. Of course, Apple knew of Jobs deteriorating health and tried to plan for the inevitable demise of their leader, but if the phrase, history repeats itself, is true, then will any amount of preparation be enough?
One must now wonder if the iPhone 4S is simply the first in a long line of Apple products that fails to do anything radically different, something Apple products are known for doing. Jobs knew that his health was nott great, as evidenced by his numerous and lengthy medical leaves in the past three years, and as such he could not have had a major hand in the iPhone 4S with so much time spent away from Apple. It was for this very reason he stepped down from the position of CEO in August. The last time Jobs spent a large amount of time away from Apple for medical reasons was in 2009, when the iPhone 3GS came out. It, like the iPhone 4S, failed to make any major improvements on its predecessor, save an upgrade to the OS. Sure both are great phones that have sold in record numbers, but how long until people start to notice that Apple is once again failing to release amazing, groundbreaking products, as they did when Jobs lead them?
The Rising Cost of Health Insurance Premiums
By: Allie Huff
This years survey of employer health care benefits by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Health Research and Educational Trust shone light upon some unflattering truths of the price of insurance premiums: theyre going up. No question about it. The study showed that the average annual premium for family coverage through employers has reached $15,073, an almost ten percent increase from 2010. The only question now, says chief executive of the Kaiser Foundation Drew Altman, is whether thats a onetime spike or the start of a period of higher increases.
What precipitated this rise in cost? Shortly after the studys findings were released, Americas Health Insurance Plans, the health care industry group, issued a statement blaming the increase, among other things, on naturally rising medical costs as well as an aging workforce that has higher healthcare costs. Several individual companies have argued that an uncertain economy justifies their high premiums, and high profits. Their expenditures, they maintained, would increase when the public again feels that it can afford medical treatment. It always takes a while for underwriting to catch up with reality, said Beth Umland, director of a recent study from the consulting firm, Mercer. Meanwhile, while the insurance industry holds shifting demographics and financial uncertainty responsible for the unprecedented rise in cost of employee healthcare, political opponents of President Obama pin responsibility squarely on the Patient Healthcare and Affordable Care Act signed into law in March of this year.
Adversaries of the healthcare overhaul bill "blame everything on what they call Obamacare, including the weather, remarked Altman in an interview with National Public Radios Julie Rotman on Tuesday. However, the chief executive of Kaiser Family reports that the law, which was met by extreme opposition from fiscal conservatives aghast at the bills 940 billion dollar price tag over ten years, is only partly responsible. The swell in cost that came from parents being able to keep their children on their healthcare plan until the children are age 26 only accounted for about one and a half percent of the nine percent increase. Some analysts argue that the upcoming provision in the bill that will require insurance agencies which will have to justify price increases of more than 10% to quickly jack up costs in order to avoid government regulation. Altman instead shot blame back at the faulty predictions of insurance agencies, which had a collective expectation that the use of health services would go up because of an economic recovery that failed to materialize.
Kaiser estimates that about 60% of working age Americans get their health insurance through their employer. Last year, The Conference Board reported that companies allocated only 2% of their yearly finances for employee raises; the first time in over twenty years the number has slipped below 3%. Many employees are struggling to keep up with an ever-increasing cost of living in this season of scarcity. Meanwhile, healthcare insurance premiums keep rising. Kaiser Family estimated, at the end of their study, that prices would increase another five percent between 2011 and 2012.
The health economy acts as if its a boom economy, commented Heather Darling, chief executive of the National Business Group on Health. At a time when most working class Americans have to drastically recalibrate in order to keep up with a rising standard of living, it appears that health insurance agencies are remaining relatively untouched.
An Update on the Economy
Since the official end of the Recession, the U.S. economy has seen varying periods of apparent strength and growth followed by periods of terror, speculation, and economic decline. For the class of 2008 who are just now starting to leave college, finding a job will perhaps be the greatest challenge of their lives thus far. With a continually unstable economy, little growth over the past months, and more and more college graduates struggling to find even the most basic of jobs, many questions arise. For us as students especially the seniors what does that mean for our future after we graduate from college in the years ahead?
To put it simply, the job outlook, at the moment, is grim. The unemployment rate of college graduates from the age of 20-24 was up to a staggering 12.1 percent this past June. The unemployment rate nationally is at a threatening and worrisome 9.1 percent, and as the important Eurozone economy wavers with the prospect of a Greek default looming, the global economy is unstable as well. The Congressional Budget Office, as well as countless other economic reviews, has published grim reports on the state of the U.S. economy and its decline over the past decade. To young high school students getting ready to leave their bubbles and enter the real world, that is certainly some unnerving news; however, perhaps not all is grave for the economy.
Although several accredited economic sources like the International Monetary Fund and the Congressional Budget Office have predicted disappointing economic outlooks for the United States over the next couple of years, the predicted models indicate that the U.S. will nonetheless grow, expand, and ultimately recover. The GDP is predicted to continue growth, history has shown that employment rates will go back up to healthy levels, and although the United States may not see a period of growth and general wealth as it saw during the 1990s and up to the recession, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that things will eventually return to a normal state.
So what does that mean for us as high school students and college students to-be? Despite what any one source may say, no matter how credible, no one really knows. By 2016, the year that this years seniors will be graduating, there is a decent chance that China will have surpassed the United States as the worlds greatest superpower as well as a chance that the U.S. economy will have changed very little, but what is key in that phrase is the word chance; nothing in the future is guaranteed. Most economic models are based on history; history repeats itself and it almost always follows the same trend, and history says that the U.S. will grow once more. What is important for us, as students, now is to realise that our education is the ticket to better jobs and opportunities. Until the time we enter society as true adults, let us hope that the country and the government can make wise economic decisions that will result in prosperity, stability, and security.
Titans Football
By Dillon Korpman
This weekend the Tennessee Titans surprised a number of fans with their large margin of victory against the Carolina Panthers. This victory has bumped their record to five wins and four losses which puts them in contention for a wild card position in the playoffs. Local Tennesseans were impressed with our skill on both offense and defense.
Our success offensively enabled the Titans to win by a margin of twenty seven points with a final score of thirty to three. Chris Johnson, formerly one of the best running backs in the NFL, had thirty touches, ran for over 130 yards, and had four receptions for forty four yards. This marks his second 100-yard game of the seasons, and hopefully gives us insight on what to expect from him in the future.
Although they were successful on the ground, we would not have been victorious if they had not had success in the passing game as well. Our quarterback, Matt Hasselbeck threw for over two hundred yards, and he managed to throw one completion for a touchdown. Our kicker, Rob Bironas, stayed sharp making all three of his field goal attempts.
With this win over the Carolina Panthers, the Titans have somehow managed to get back on track. They have a winning record with five wins and three loses, and are now potentially playoff contenders. If they can manage to play as well as they did this Sunday, they will not only defeat the Falcons in their upcoming game, but they will also be victorious in a number of the games proceeding this matchup.
College Football Recap: Week 11
By Nic Chalos
What a week in college football as the 2011-2012 football season is coming to an end and the race to the National Championship is so close the teams can almost taste it. There were two underdogs who overcame obstacles and gave two undefeated teams their first loss. The Boise State Broncos, ranked number five, was beaten by the unranked Texas Christian Horned Frogs. The Stanford Cardinals, ranked number four, was beaten by the Oregon Ducks, who at the time were ranked number seven.
The Boise State Broncos dream and desire to be in the National Championship game was once again ruined for the second year in a row by a missed field goal. The Broncos defense played very horrificly by letting TCUs quarterback Casey Pachall lead TCU to an underdog win by one point. The score was 36 to 35. The Boise State Broncos offense was very aware that they needed to emulate what their opponents offense had been doing, which was to put points on the board. Boises quarterback Kellen Moore did very well but did not play as well as they needed him to. He threw for 320 yards and had two touchdowns, which was great, but just not good enough.
The Heisman favorite and prodigy Andrew Luck led his Stanford Cardinals into a game against Oregon. Andrew threw three touchdowns against Oregon, but Oregon came right back at them with their Heisman Candidate, LaMichael James, who ran for 146 yards on 20 carries and had three touchdowns on the ground. The Oregon defense really came to play by forcing five turnovers, two of those being interceptions. The Stanford defense was just not there, letting six total touchdowns get scored on them. Andrew Luck played great but Oregons defense played better.
The FRA-USN hockey team played Hume Fogg High School on January 13 at Centennial Sportsplex. It was a tough loss for the Panthers with Hume Fogg coming out on top, 4-3
Brian Eno
By: Jacob Eckert
Brian Eno was born 1948 in Suffolk, England. He easily is one of the most important and influential musicians of all time, not only perfecting already-existing genres but creating new and original genres of music as he went.
Brian Eno’s professional music career began when he joined the glam/art-rock group Roxy Music in the early 70s. Brian Eno was often credited as “synthesizer” or “tapes” on the Roxy Music records, and he added a very artsy edge to the group. He was only present on the first two records, the self-titled debut and the second album, For Your Pleasure. Songs such as “In Every Dream Home a Heartache” widely exhibit Eno’s input in the band with eerie synth layers over a more glam-oriented rock sound. However, there was large strife between lead singer of Roxy Music, Bryan Ferry, and Eno, and Eno wound up leaving the band after For Your Pleasure to start a solo career. Although Roxy Music would continue to make good records such as Country Life, their post-Eno records are not even comparable to their with Eno records.
It is undeniably for Eno’s solo career that he is most well-known. His first album in 1973, Here Come the Warm Jets, is his most glam-sounding album, with tracks such as “Cindy Tells Me” showing this glam side (as a side note, “Cindy Tells Me” was actually co-written by Roxy Music band member Phil Manzanera). However, it also showed some of the more experimenting that he would show in later albums in the closing instrumental title track. His second record in 1974 was called Taking Tiger Mountain (By Strategy), and is his last full-out rock album. Again, it shows more leaps towards the experimental side in its title track, which hints towards his future in ambient music. The track “Third Uncle” is often cited as a very influential track for post-punk music, with its driving and intense sound. It is Eno’s third record that is almost universally considered his masterpiece. 1975’s Another Green World was a revolutionary record, with some of Eno’s most accomplished songs and more ambient pieces. “St. Elmo’s Fire” is a classic pop song with a blistering guitar solo by Robert Fripp of King Crimson, and instrumentals such as “The Big Ship” and “Another Green World” are some of the most beautiful pieces of music that have ever been recorded. “Zawinul/Lava” is a very ambient piece that shows a jazz influence. Finally, the last of his “rock” albums was Before and After Science, the first side of which sounds quite like Talking Heads, and the second side of which is very ambient, with beautiful pieces such as “Julie With…” Although it does not improve upon Another Green World, it is still a great record.
After his first four solo albums, his music shifted styles very noticeably. His fifth album, Ambient 1: Music for Airports was an extremely influential album. It pioneered the style of ambient music with its four songs, the first and last being ambient piano pieces and the second and third being vocal loops, with each voice looping at a different interval creating an interesting sonic effect. After this, he would make two more albums in the “Ambient” series, and produce one of the “Ambient” series, making a total of four “Ambient” records, three of which were made by Brian Eno. Brian Eno invented the genre of ambient music and was one of the most amazing glam and art musicians.
However, making music was not all that he did. Brian Eno was also an accomplished producer, producing some of the most important and excellent albums of all time. Perhaps the most well-known of his productions would be The Joshua Tree by U2, but I hate U2 so that’s all about that. He also produced all of David Bowie’s “Berlin Trilogy”, Low, “Heroes”, and Lodger. These albums, especially the first two, show a huge ambient music influence in their second sides, with Low’s beautiful “Warszawa” and haunting “Subterraneans”, and “Heroes”’ “V2-Schneider” (which was named after Kraftwerk’s Florian Schneider), and “Sense of Doubt”, “Moss Garden”, and “Neukoln”. These records show krautrock influence as well, taking inspiration from Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Can. He also produced Talking Heads’ records, of which his influence can be best seen in 1980’s Remain in Light with its more synthy pieces such as “Seen and Not Seen”. He also produced Devo’s classic debut album Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are DEVO!
Brian Eno was The Man.
SOURCES
Birthdate: Wikipedia
Everything Else: Myself
Infinity written by Sherrilyn Kenyon
Raegan Dooley
Infinity is by Sherrilyn Kenyon, a well known adult romance novelist. While a well written and intriguing tale, the book is unfortunately too short, written, it seems for younger teenagers. The plotline, however, is fascinating, and the writing style is humorous. Nick is a sullen teenager, bullied by jocks, with a chip on his shoulder, who lives in New Orleans. He is extremely protective of his mother, whom is a stripper, and despite their extreme poverty, he is determined to get them out of their tiny one bedroom apartment. Unfortunately, this often leads him into making some awful decisions, including robbery. While Nick is not a “bad” kid, his mother is strict, and he is surrounded by watchful, loving people, his anger towards his absent, evil, imprisoned father, and resentment toward their lifestyle often cause him to act in less than ideal ways. While he struggles with daily issues, his upscale high school, and eventually all of New Orleans is overrun with zombie. The story is extremely original, even for those who are not fans of zombies. The supernatural world of New Orleans comes together to combat this seemingly uncontrollable situation, and even the Dark-Hunters, the main characters of Kenyon’s adult series, get involved. And all the while, Nick is confronted by a few paranormal issues of his own. Never having believed in zombies and vampires, he quickly realizes that there is far more to the world and himself, than he was ever aware of. It is his own self-discovery that I loved most in this book.
Rating:
****
The Summoning written by: Kelly Armstrong
The Summoning by adult author Kelly Armstrong was well-written with extremely diverse characters. Chloe is the principal character, a teenager who starts to see ghosts in very unsettling ways, leading to her placement in a group home and a mental illness diagnosis. Though Chloe tries to conform to the doctors' recommendations, she starts to find that she is not alone, and that the doctors aren't trying to help her at all.
This first book in the Darkest Power trilogy is well-written and engaging. The characters have fascinating personalities, and I had made up my mind which characters could be trusted and which seemed more sinister and found myself proven wrong many times. Although this book is a solid introduction, it does not go beyond merely introducing the series. In other words, it is an introduction that leaves you wanting more. It ends on a cliffhanger but I didn't mind because I had had already ordered the next two books. I didn't particularly care for Chloe but Derek pulled at my heartstrings. If you enjoy young adult novels that are peppered with diverse young characters and great writing, I would definitely recommend this series.
*****
Review of Dream House
Emily Graffam
Expecting an intriguing, not your typical horror film type of movie, Dream House was a letdown. Although the cast was impressive and the trailer exciting; the movie failed to perform. After watching it, one is left with the feeling that it could have been a great movie, but it just wasnt executed properly.
Daniel Craig plays a successful editor, Will, who decides to leave his job in order to spend more time with his family in their new home. From the time he comes home to his wife Libby (Rachel Weisz) and his two children there is something eerie. Weird things happen in that house as they discover a secret play room stashed with little girl dolls and tea sets. They are surprised and thoroughly disturbed when Will finds a group of teenagers meeting in his basement reenacting the murder that took place in that house. This is the first time Will finds out that a husband had killed his wife and two daughters in that house. Will is determined to find out what had happened, and to catch the mysterious figure who keeps peaking in his windows. His appearance quickly changes from the clean cut perfect father figure, to a disheveled lunatic as he discovers that he is actually the murderer of the family and that the wife and children living in his house were only figments of his imagination. Is he really the killer? From this point in the film there is still hope that it will succeed; sadly it doesnt as the end becomes slightly cheesy. If you are dying to find out whether hes the one who killed his family or not you could go see it in theaters, but personally, I think that would be a waste of money. It would probably be better to wait till its out on DVD.
Music History Lesson No. 1
By Jacob Eckert
The Canterbury Scene
In my articles for this year, I am going to be exploring various aspects of music history, almost purely in the rock genre and its countless subgenres, that are somewhat off the beaten path. That is, albums, bands, genres, and entire music scenes that have been unjustly overlooked over time that deserve so much more recognition and listens than they currently have. I sincerely hope that you at least try to check out some of these artists, as they truly deserve to be heard more often and by a larger population of people.
In 1964, a rock group formed in Canterbury, England under the name The Wilde Flowers. This band never released any music in its lifetime, yet was the initial planting of the seed that sparked the entire explosion of the Canterbury scene that was so fruitful in the late sixties and early seventies. The Wilde Flowers was composed of a majority of the major players of the scene, and when it split up, its past members went on to form the three key bands that made up the scene: The Soft Machine, Gong, and Caravan.
The Soft Machine was, at first, a psychedelic rock band composed of Robert Wyatt on drums, Kevin Ayers on guitars, and Mike Rathledge on organ. One of the key players in both the UK Underground (they were the house band at the now-legendary UFO Club) and the Canterbury Scene, their first, self-titled, album is a tour-de-force that blends Syd Barrett-era psychedelia with lengthier instrumental passages. Their evolution over their first three albums was a very interesting one, and their second album, Volume Two, shows their transition from the psychedelic rock band that they started out as to the jazz fusion group that they became with their third album, Third. Due to this, Volume Two is a brilliantly-written psychedelic record that has tendencies to delve into more progressive rock jams that occasionally border on jazz fusion. The band, though they did stay active until 1984, fell apart quickly after their first three albums, as Kevin Ayers left after the first album to pursue a solo career, whereas Robert Wyatt fell out of a third-story window at a party to become permanently paralyzed from the waist down. Thankfully, he was able to continue making music, and has actually made some of the best albums of all time such as Rock Bottom in 1974 and Shleep in 2001.
KEY LISTENING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h_xD4ieFGcI
Gong is one of the most playful psychedelic bands of all time. Their music is unbelievably fun to listen to, as it contains both brilliant and catchy, playful melodies as well as unbelievably psychedelic space rock segments. Their playful nature is evident immediately from their album names (Camembert Electrique, Flying Teapot) as well as their album covers. Daevid Allen, the mastermind behind the group, was an original member of The Soft Machine, but his brilliant work with Gong shows that he probably would not have worked as well with the slightly more serious sound of The Soft Machine. They, too, became a jazz fusion group with the departure of Daevid Allen, renaming themselves Pierre Moerleins Gong, but it is their early psych work that makes them one of the key bands of the Canterbury Scene.
KEY LISTENING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JK17rGg6XcA
Caravan is perhaps the Canterbury Scene group most unlike the others. They were much more prone to pure progressive rock in the vein of early Genesis and Yes, although they did contain the psychedelic elements necessary to be a member of the Canterbury Scene. They released two masterpieces in quick succession to one another in 1969 and 1970: If I Could Do It All Over Again and In the Land of Grey and Pink. Their sound is a very organ-driven progressive rock sound, with the brilliant organ playing of David Sinclair being very iconic for this group. Still, the songwriting is brilliant, and even holds strong in some of their more epic tracks, such as the 23-minute long Nine Feet Underground on In the Land of Grey and Pink which takes up the entirety of the second side of the record.
KEY LISTENING: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hom4ws1tM3w
OTHER ARTISTS THAT YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT IF YOU LIKED THESE:
National Health, Hatfield and the North, Robert Wyatt, Kevin Ayers, Peter Gabriel-era Genesis, Comus, Henry Cow, Slapp Happy, Khan, Steve Hillage, Arzachel
Music History Lesson No. 2: Krautrock
