While most progressive rock fans know Dave Stewart for his involvement in the so-called “Canterbury Scene” – as the keyboard player in both Egg and Hatfield and the North and as a founding member of National Health –, fewer people are familiar with his early psychedelic adventures or with the slightly more jazzy Bruford combo in which he featured in the late 1970s. Moreover, the shift towards a synth-pop sound provided by the Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin duo during the 1980s baffles to this day many die-hard prog fans, who have trouble recognizing one of their favorite Canterbury minstrels in the glossy production of songs such as the number one hit “It’s My Party”.

 

Dave Stewart’s career and musical language flirts with and crosses between different genres and aesthetic tendencies: he has proven to be comfortable both among underground dwellers such as Henry Cow’s Chris Cutler and in mainstream pop charts. His production is a reminder of the creative impulses that drove the first generation of progressive rock musicians: on the one hand, we see the desire to create a new musical language, on the other the aspiration to a popular culture accessible to everyone.

 

My communication will address Dave Stewart’s musical language: I will trace its evolution through the 1970s and the 1980s by analyzing a series of musical examples. Then I will focus on the turning point in his career (from the bands to the duo), and I will try to establish whether it was a break from the past rather than a natural evolution. While – from a musicological standpoint – we can admit that there is a substantial consistency in Stewart’s compositional approach throughout the decades, we should also argue that his change in style is the result of his adaptability to a different professional context, the discovery of new instruments, and a renewed interest for the song form. 

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Keywords: Dave Stewart - Underground and Mainstream - Canterbury Sound - Stewart and Gaskin