British Folk (and Revival)

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I think an act needs to come along with the songwriting CHOPS to really do justice to updating the British Folk. Like some sorta Pentangle meets Sonic Youth band.

When I saw Espers, actually, they had one huge-ass jam part that sort of approached this idea, The rest of their set didn't really stand up, though

― DJ Mencap (DJ Mencap), Friday, 16 December 2005 16:57 (twenty years ago)

yes! thanks, rombald. i will have to look for another copy. here it is here: http://www.popsike.com/php/detaildata.php?itemnr=4055345643

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 16:58 (twenty years ago)

yeah, i felt the same way when seeing them. also, from what the internet says, they are up and down as a live band. like either completely stunning and "best ever" or a bit messy and boring. i think i saw what might have been a "good" show, though they did struggle with some sound and equipment issues. the recordings are spectacular, though.

― peter x (bucksbreeze), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:00 (twenty years ago)

Sweeney's Men - Hall of Mirrors

... download this, people... and "Standing on the Shore"

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:02 (twenty years ago)

... well download it before Bob Stanley discovers it

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:04 (twenty years ago)

He's an archivist of Britain's heritage past, you know.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:07 (twenty years ago)

speaking of hipster icons, i still need to buy that Forest two-cd set. I don't have either of those albums, and i really dig that stuff.

band that could feel the folke vibe live really well (and can play their asses off): Ghost

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:08 (twenty years ago)

Sweeney's Men - from the Free State, fuck the Brits!

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:09 (twenty years ago)

(Milkmaid the live recordings are nice and in some cases great but I don't think I'd shell for a box set in order to own them. Mind, in me the Shirley love is not yet as extreme as it is in others.)

― Tim (Tim), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:11 (twenty years ago)

Ok -- thanks Tim! I have extreme, maniacal Shirley love. (You might be wondering, "If you're so maniacal, why don't you already have the boxed set?" I have no decent answer to that question except that I haven't been able to justify the purchase to myself.)

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:14 (twenty years ago)

Milkmaid - if you've not got 'For As Many as Will' yet, then run out and get it now! It's hands down my favorite of the Shirley & Dolly albums. Everything about it is beautiful (to me, at least)

― Rombald, Friday, 16 December 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

i remember years ago, musta been late-80's, i bought shirley collins CDs on a hipster tip, and i wasn't ready for them. too deep for me back then. whereas, you know, nick drake and sandy denny albums i loved immediately when i heard them back then.(i remember going to tower and buying five leaves left and the next day going back and buying bryter layter and then the NEXT day going back and buying the vinyl fruit tree box! same with sandy. i bought all her albums in a mad rush.) i even traded all the shirley CDs back. i dig that stuff/her stuff so much more now. i needed to grow into them.i never would have listened to half of the trad stuff i like now back then. not even stuff like caravan. *For Girls Who Grow Plump In The Night* has been on my hit-parade for months!

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:21 (twenty years ago)

Re: "For As Many As Will" -- Isn't it out of print? I've not been able to get that one. I sure would like to, though.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:23 (twenty years ago)

Caravan, wrong thread perhaps?!?!!?!

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

Milkmaid - I've just checked the Fledg'ling catalogue and you're right. How unfortunate. :(

― Rombald, Friday, 16 December 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

Oddly, I've been introduced to Shirley a few times over the last couple of years, just in a totally non-music everyday social context. She seems like a lovely lady, but I was far too polite to gibber about music to her. Think at one stage Revenant were keen to get a boxed set out - did that ever happen?

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:30 (twenty years ago)

I really admire artists who just give up when they think they have nothing more to say - tho I don't know if that's why Shirley Collins stopped recording or not

― We Buy a Hammer For Dadaismus (Dada), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:31 (twenty years ago)

The copy I have on CD is on Fledg'ling. Checking their current catalogue:

Fledg'ling records catalogue

It's not listed. Fire off an email to them maybe? What a great, great catalogue, anyway. Plus, I didn't realise "Power of the True Love Knot" had come out on CD. (x-post, gah)

[OK, I edited the URL so it's the correct link, not an "owned" jpg. GAH. Apologies]

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

REALLY? You shook her hand? I emailed her once and felt like a total buffoon. She wrote back and was very nice and polite but I didn't know what to say. I've been hoping she would make it to the States to promote her book, but it's been a while now...

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:34 (twenty years ago)

Didn't really want to pry. Think she sort of lost confidence in her own voice though, for whatever reason. I actually attended a Bar Mitzvah with her(!), but she didn't sing at that either (it was all in Hebrew though). x-post

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

Woah, just had this in my inbox:

SIMON FINN + GREGG WEISS
The Freebutt, Phoenix Place, Brighton BN2 9NG Tel: 01273-603974
Tickets:£5/4 conc. available on the door/ Rounder Records: 01273 325440/
Resident: 01273 606312
Authentic "lost" psyche folk legend plays gig to promote the reissue of his sole LP...originally released in 1971 , it was re-released last year and picked up on by such knowledgeable heads of class underground as David Tibet (current 93) and Thurston Moore. Has recently toured Europe with Six Organs Of Admittance. Slightly too dark to be pure hippy, slightly too thunderous to be pure folk, this is truly a rediscovery to look into...

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:42 (twenty years ago)

...although the last time I heard it, 'Jerusalem' was just a bit too much for me to take really.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:43 (twenty years ago)

I'm going to have to write them a letter, since I can't find an email on their site where the catalogue is. I see that Gemm has some copies, but one of the sellers is apparently not to be trusted. Where else can I look for it? (It = "For As Many As Will")

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:48 (twenty years ago)

Drop me a mail, and I'll run a copy off for you, if you can't get a proper one (be warned, I'm slow at this)

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:50 (twenty years ago)

BLESS YOUR HEART! We can discuss over email if there's anything I have to offer you in return! Best random Christmas present EVER.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Friday, 16 December 2005 17:55 (twenty years ago)

"Caravan, wrong thread perhaps?!?!!?!"

yeah, i take it back anyway. i was trying to think of something that i would have considered too old-fogeyish to listen to in the 80's, but i liked a lot of that canterbury stuff even then. and other pastoral folkish prog like curved air and such.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:00 (twenty years ago)

Ha, how about the bit on "For As Many As Will" where Dolly sings a few lines? Too much!

― Pashmina (Pashmina), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:09 (twenty years ago)

the massive shirley collins article that johan kugelberg did in ugly things magazine is recommended if you see a back issue. as is his huge meic stevens interview/article.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:17 (twenty years ago)

and interview (if you missed it):

http://www.furious.com/perfect/shirleycollins.html

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:18 (twenty years ago)

People who dig the softner, prettier Espers tracks might want to check out Mellow Candle's "Swaddling Songs" reissue- great Irish band from 1972.

― Drew Daniel (Drew Daniel), Friday, 16 December 2005 18:57 (twenty years ago)

mellow candle iz hipster ground zero for the new kidz on the block. indie cred & crush being well over a decade long for swaddling songs and even pre-dating the large and in charge malkmus love when he would rave about it to anyone who would listen circa end of pavement start of solo. it's deserved. lovely stuff. thus began the one-album wonder oneupmanship that lives on to this very day. i'm still rooting for maryann friedman. perhacs must step aside.

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:18 (twenty years ago)

I definitely file that Mellow Candle record as something that I would have been too fogeyish to listen to in the 80s! Same with stuff like Mr Fox. Good call though.

― NickB (NickB), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:23 (twenty years ago)

I think I might like Trees more than Mellow Candle (On the Shore album anyway).

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:36 (twenty years ago)

it just dawned on me that the very same people who were turning me on to shirley collins in the 80's were turning espers on to the very same stuff later on. (philly is small like that.)

― scott seward (scott seward), Friday, 16 December 2005 19:52 (twenty years ago)

[X- post]I really like "Heaven Heath" by Mellow Candle, but, for some reason, have never gotten around to hearing any more.

Yeah, the new Vashti Bunyan album has only two or three memorable cuts. As stated before; it's pretty, but also pretty unsubstantial (Maybe I'll get an e-mail from her, too!).
Still, I ADORE "Just Another Diamond Day" and her work with AC with all my heart.

― Nathaniel (Horbgorbling Slubberdegullion), Friday, 16 December 2005 20:42 (twenty years ago)

Trees were great! People are pretty quick to call them Fairport clones, but I think they had a pretty unique approach. Great electric and acoustic guitar playing.

Seconding the Mellow Candle respect. Swaddling Songs is a gem.

Anyone here familiar with Fionn McCool (sp?) I read about them in a newsletter over the past year, and I can't remember where. Maybe Other Music? They were a 70s band who were compared to Mellow Candle.

I love this stuff!!!

― Brooker Buckingham (Brooker B), Friday, 16 December 2005 21:10 (twenty years ago)

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00008O33T/qid=1134772263/sr=2-1/ref=pd_bbs_b_2_1/103-9110605-2015805?v=glance&s=music

introduction to British Folk Music of the 1960s, a fine two CD set.
Donovan, Bert Jansch, The Incredible String Band, Pentangle, et cetera

― Wilhelm, Friday, 16 December 2005 22:33 (twenty years ago)

My favorite example of Bert Jansch's sound is Jack Orion -- it's got his usual rootsy celtic-blues sound applied to trad songs, which are better than most of Jansch's originals. Sui generis until Liege and Lief

The Oysterband are also not bad, Freedom and Rain with June Tabor is quite likable.

― theo, Friday, 16 December 2005 23:06 (twenty years ago)

no sufjan, no credibility.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 16 December 2005 23:13 (twenty years ago)

Some interesting folk artists from that era:

NICK DRAKE
BRIDGET ST. JOHN
MIDWINTER
STONE ANGEL
TIR NA NOG
JAKE HOLMES
ERIC ANDERSEN
KAREN DALTON
LINDA PERHACS
JUDEE SILL (reissue this year)
AGINCOURT
FLESH MAGGOTS
ANNO DOMINI
MAGNA CARTA
COMUS
SPIROGYRA
BARRY DRANSFIELD
DAVID ACKLES
BILL FAY
DAVID BLUE
TOM RAPP & PEARLS BEFORE SWINE
STEVE TILSTON
NICK GARRIE
GARY HIGGINS (reissue this year)
AMAZING BLONDEL
SPRIGUNS OF TOLGUS
GRYPHON
NUMBER NINE BREAD STREET
RICHARD & MIMI FARIÑA
TIM BUCKLEY
ARLO GUTHRIE
TOWNES VAN ZANDT
PHIL OCHS
JONI MITCHELL
JOHN RENBOURN
KATE & ANNA MCGARRIGLE
THE YOUNGBLOODS
FLYING BURRITO BROTHERS
MARTIN CARTHY
TOM PAXTON
FRED NEIL
CAT STEVENS

― antonio, Friday, 16 December 2005 23:23 (twenty years ago)

flying burrito bros=british folk? wtf!

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 16 December 2005 23:25 (twenty years ago)

Umm...

DEVENDRA BANHART DAY -- BANDS CONFIRMED SO FAR
DEVENDRA BANHART
VASHTI BUNYAN
VETIVER
ESPERS
BAT FOR LASHES
JANA HUNTER
THE METALLIC FALCONS
DANIELLE STECH-HOMSY
BERT JANSCH

There are worse reasons to go to Camber.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Sunday, 18 December 2005 13:18 (twenty years ago)

oh wow. is that ATP?? maybe time to think about a little vacation...

― peter x (bucksbreeze), Sunday, 18 December 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

Aye, the Sunday of weekend one. It's looking rapidly like choosing that weekend was the right decision.

― aldo_cowpat (aldo_cowpat), Sunday, 18 December 2005 20:02 (twenty years ago)

Talking of forthcoming shows, there are tickets currently on sale for a show in February at the Barbican, featuring Vashti Bunyan, Bert Jansch and King Creosote, among others.

― Tim (Tim), Monday, 19 December 2005 10:23 (twenty years ago)

Top of the Pops, yesterday...

"FOLK IS BACK!" mrs anne ouncer, on the number one this week.

― mark grout (mark grout), Monday, 19 December 2005 10:41 (twenty years ago)

Seconding the Mellow Candle respect. Swaddling Songs is a gem.

thirded! i know i've big-upped them here before.

― bob abernethy (Jody Beth Rosen), Monday, 19 December 2005 12:51 (twenty years ago)

The Kissing Spell label is the place to go if you want really obscure and often wonderful 70s (acid) folk in the Mellow Candle/Trees vein. Try Shide and Acorn who have a spookily forlorn Young Marble Giants vibe.

― ortho_bob (ortho_bob), Monday, 19 December 2005 15:33 (twenty years ago)

Guess who received the Within Sound box set for Christmas! I'm so excited!! I also got two ISB albums. Yaay. I still find myself wanting For As Many As Will, though...I'm still working on finding a copy.

― The Milkmaid (of Human Kindness) (The Milkmaid), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 14:49 (twenty years ago)

I see June Tabor's been mentioned in places on this thread, but not her "Silly Sisters" albums with Maddy Prior, which are very much worth tracking down, especially the first one. And also it's true that Steeleye Span's first 3 albums are arguably their best, but lots of their stuff is good. I even like some of the later boogie-folk stuff, All Around My Hat and so forth.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Tuesday, 27 December 2005 17:10 (twenty years ago)

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