Alan Gowen, Phil Miller, Richard Sinclair, Trevor Tomkins – Before A Word Is Said (1982)

If you get too far down the Canterbury Sound rabbit hole, this is the sort of place it takes you. I'm pretty sure I picked it up of Dave's stall in the Indoor Market in Canterbury for a fiver or so, but it doesn't often get a listen.

It's a collaboration of old bandmates Alan Gowen (Gilgamesh & National Health), Phil Miller (Hatfield and the North & National Health), Richard Sinclair (Hatfield and the North & Caravan) and Trevor Tomkins (Gilgamesh) recorded in April and May 1981, completing the recording less than two weeks before Gowen died of leukemia. He was 33. Recorded at Gowen's London flat, it was intended as his final recording.

It consists of three of Gowen's pieces, the brightly noodling Reflexes In The Margin, Silver Star more reflective and guitar led, and the darkly brooding Before A Word Is Said, alongside four of Miller's compositions, listenable jazz guitar pieces familiar from his solo work, Above And Below probably the stand out. The only vocal on the album (and it's only a la-la-la) appears on Sinclair's pleasant if unremarkable Umbrellas.

It's a decent enough listen without really getting this listener excited. Given the circumstances of its recording, it's remarkable that it ever saw the light of day.

Link to full album

3* - probably for Canterbury completists only