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The Rotters' Club

Artist: Hatfield And The North
Label: Virgin
Catalog#: V 2030
Format: Vinyl
Country: United Kingdom
Released: 1975-03
Tracklist
A1 Share It 3:02
A2 Lounging There Trying 3:10
A3 (Big) John Wayne Socks Psychology On The Jaw 0:46
A4 Chaos At The Greasy Spoon 0:30
A5 The Yes No Interlude 7:02
A6 Fitter Stoke Has A Bath 7:38
A7 Didn`t Matter Anyway 3:03
B1 Underdub 3:55
B2 A. Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut (Quiet) 1:59
B3 B. Lumps 12:35
B4 C. Prenut 3:55
B5 D. Your Majesty Is Like A Cream Donut (Loud) 1:37
Credits

Artwork By - Laurie Lewis
Bass, Vocals - Richard Sinclair
Clarinet - Tim Hodgkinson
Drums, Percussion - Pip Pyle
Flute, Saxophone [Soprano, Tenor] - Jimmy Hastings
French Horn - Mont Campbell
Guitar - Phil Miller
Guitar - Richard Sinclair
Oboe, Bassoon - Lindsay Cooper
Organ, Electric Piano, Tone Generator - Dave Stewart
Producer - Hatfield And The North
Producer [Assistant], Engineer - Dave Ruffell
Vocals - Amanda Parsons
Vocals - Ann Rosenthal
Vocals - Barbara Gaskin

Notes

Recorded and mixed on Saturn, Worthing Recording Studio, January and February, 1975.
Barbara Gaskin, Amanda Parsons and Ann Rosenthal appear as the Very Wonderful Northettes.

Strawberry Bricks Entry: 
Hatfield and the North's second album appeared a year after their debut. The Rotters' Club offers more of their jazzy inventions and supports a fine cast of guests, including Virgin labelmates Lindsay Cooper and Tim Hodgkinson from Henry Cow. Again, Dave Stewart's keyboards are central, particularly his use of the electric piano and organ. Phil Miller offers his highly-sustained guitar, especially on the excellent "The Yes No Interlude." One of the band's finer elements is the incredible rhythm section of Pip Pyle and Richard Sinclair; they handled the ever-changing meters with absolute precision. "Fitter Stoke Has a Bath" drifts into one of Sinclair's finest compositions, the cheerfully somber "Didn't Matter Anyway." "Underdub," a jazzy number from Miller, opens the second side; but it's Stewart's multi-section "Mumps" that dominates. The Northettes open the track with "Your Majesty Is Like a Cream Donut (Quiet)," but Miller's guitar leads the larger section, "Lumps." The track is protean: certainly jazz-like in structure, but definitely not jazz or fusion. In typical Canterbury style, Hatfield succeed in harnessing an incredible amount of talent without ever succumbing to flash. While their music may never get you up and kicking your heels, it more than likely will sit you down for a good, long listen. The album ventured into the UK charts, reaching No. 43. By early summer, Sinclair had had enough of touring and the band broke up. Miller would eventually regroup the band as National Health, with Pyle joining in 1977; while Sinclair went on to Camel the same year. A posthumous compilation, Afters, appeared in 1979, solving the puzzle of their choice of band name.
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