The Wilde Flowers were a popular music group based in the vicinity of Canterbury

Canterbury

Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. The group was active between 1964 and 1967 but never released any records during its existence; however it led to the formation of two other groups that became well-known and influential: Soft Machine

Soft Machine

Soft Machine were an English rock band from Canterbury, named after the book The Soft Machine by William S. Burroughs. They were one of the central bands in the Canterbury scene, and helped pioneer the progressive rock genre...

 and Caravan

Caravan (band)

Caravan are an English band from the Canterbury area, founded by former Wilde Flowers members David Sinclair, Richard Sinclair, Pye Hastings and Richard Coughlan. Caravan rose to success over a period of several years from 1968 onwards into the 1970s as part of the Canterbury scene, blending...

.

Band members included, at various times, Hugh Hopper

Hugh Hopper

Hugh Colin Hopper was a progressive rock and jazz fusion bass guitarist. He was a prominent member of the Canterbury scene, as a member of Soft Machine and various other related bands.-Early career:...

 (bass), Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt

Robert Wyatt is an English musician, and founding member of the influential Canterbury scene band Soft Machine, with a long and distinguished solo career...

 (drums, vocals), Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers

Kevin Ayers is an English singer-songwriter and was a major influential force in the English psychedelic movement...

 (vocals), Graham Flight (vocals), Richard Sinclair

Richard Sinclair

Richard S. Sinclair is a progressive rock bassist, guitarist and vocalist who has been a member of several bands of the Canterbury scene.-Biography:...

 (rhythm guitar, vocals), Pye Hastings

Pye Hastings

Julian Frederick Gordon 'Pye' Hastings is a British musician. He is the guitarist, vocalist and leader of the Canterbury scene band Caravan and brother of Jimmy Hastings.-References:...

 (guitar, vocals), David Sinclair

Dave Sinclair

David Sinclair , is a keyboardist who has been part of the progressive rock Canterbury Scene...

 (keyboards) and Richard Coughlan

Richard Coughlan

Richard Coughlan is an English musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist of the Canterbury scene progressive rock band Caravan. He was one of the founding members of Caravan in 1968 and has remained with the band for its over 35-year existence...

 (drums) and Brian Hopper

Brian Hopper

Brian Hopper is a British guitarist and saxophonist, and older brother of the late bassist Hugh Hopper. With Hugh, he was a member in the early Canterbury scene band Wilde Flowers. He also played saxophone on Soft Machine's album Volume Two...

 (lead guitar, alto saxophone, vocals).

A compact disc of previously unreleased recordings by the Wilde Flowers was issued in 1994. It is now available from Voiceprint Records

Voiceprint Records

Voiceprint Records is a company and record label based in England, founded in 1990 by Rob Ayling. They specialise in re-releasing old material, especially progressive rock, but also have new releases, all under the Voiceprint and other imprints....

(Blueprint BP123CD)