i don't expect much response to this question, but if anyone can help, chances are s/he is currently an ILxer - or will be one, someday.
finally got my holdypaws on the Moths' lone album, a lovely homespun set of flute and bongo-fortified folk that i know at least one other ILMer is very fond of (hi, null!). problem is, the album entered this world in 1969 in a private pressing of just one (!) test copy, sans title, track listing, or even a sleeve. the record includes at least one original song, "Heron's Daughter"; said song so stands out that the album has come to be identified with it in name and reputation. as with the Gandalf LP, however, this mystical missive from the Moths consists mostly of covers. Alongside "Heron's Daughter" and fragile takes on Jansch ("I Am Lonely), Dylan ("I Shall Be Released"), Buckley ("Phantasmagoria in Two"), and Incredible String Band ("Empty Pocket Blues"), the gentle Moths included five other offerings. i'd love to know what these songs are called and, better yet, who originally performed them. think you can sort it out from lyrical clues? any input would be appreciated. i'm sure we can crack this puzzle together.
track 3 (sounds Canned Heat-ish): "sittin' behind the front wheel, my woman beside me too / hey, baby, we're going home (x2) / never mind the drizzlin' rain / inside it's warm and dry / 'cuz baby, we're going home / yes baby, we're going home..."
track 7 (sounds eerily like Bert Jansch, but i can't place the song in his catalog): "a'runnin', runnin' from home / breaking ties that have grown / and catching dreams from the clouds / the city sound burns your soul / and turns your hair to the (?) / your loneliness in the night / just like a fly when it's caught / the spider soon takes its prey / and spins a dance 'round your heart..."
track 8 (short and skiffly. my guess would be Mike Waterson, but that's just a stab in the dark): "every time i try to make up / things just aren't right / things getting worse and worser / every single night / (kazoo solo) / every time i try to find it / it's just not there / all the help you give with connections / it doesn't seem you have / (kazoo solo II) ..."
track 9 (a beautiful song, whatever it is. possibly another Moths original?): "a troubled wind has chilled my heart / killed our love right from the start / visions of your face twist my mind into knots and (?) / a chance to win a hand so fair / competes(?) with night in a single prayer / and a straw hat on her head brings morning dreams to a light upon my bed..."
track 10 (this one's probably called "Be My Friend." could it be Free? time period seems about right): "this world's a lonely place to walk around in / this world's a place where life is hard to spend / and we can help each other / everyone can give a simple gift, the words that lift / be my friend..."
― summerslastsound (summerslastsound), Friday, 11 April 2003 03:37 (twenty-one years ago) link
three months pass...
two months pass...
While idly leafing through the catalogue of a mail-order secondhand record dealer recently, I was amazed to find that a record label called Kissing Spell had released a CD of my old University band THE MOTHS no. KSCD 9470-f ‘Heron’s Daughter’. I have a 12” LP of the unreleased album we recorded at the time. Kissing Spell (whoever they are) must have got hold of one of the other copies- I think we had about a dozen done- and run off a CD from it, very shoddily as there is an uncorrected record-needle jump on the first track. The proprietor of the mail-order company (Rockin’ World, PO Box 88, Northampton, Massachusetts 01061 USA, website
http://www.rockinworld.com) had just bought it in a job lot on a visit to London so could not help. The CD insert says that Kissing Spell releases hard-rock/underground LPs and CDs from 1968-1978, and that the subsidiary ‘Erewhon’ label (i.e. Nowhere backwards, man) is the folk-rock subsidiary. It also gives the FAX number of Kissing Spell, 0728830477. In the modern format this would be 01728 830477, indicating dialling code 01728 which is the Saxmundham/ Leiston/ Aldeburgh/ Framlingham area of Suffolk. The Erewhon label also features such household names as Midwinter, Stone Angel, Mourning Phase, Shide& Acorn, and Caedmon. The CD is dated 1994 and says MCPS, which is the body which collects and distributes royalties! Can I have the money now, please!
I was the bass guitarist of The Moths. I was a second-year undergraduate at Hull University at the time, and I think all of the others were too. We didn’t do many gigs, but unexpectedly were offered some recording time in the studio at the University’s theatre building.
John Ellis - vocals & guitar
Mike Jones - vocals & guitar
John Dunn - vocals & bass
Neil Cawley - flute
John Beazer - bongos
The album was recorded in the Gulbenkian Centre, Hull University, England, 23 June 1970 and transferred to disc by Deroy Sound Service, Carnforth, Lancashire. We recorded two of John Ellis’s songs, plus others by Bert Jansch, Dylan, Tim Buckley, David Ackles and Clive Palmer from the original Incredible String Band.
I Am Lonely (Jansch) - vocal, JE (with MJ)
The Heron (Ellis) - JE.
Travelling Song (Jansch) - MJ (with JE)
I Shall Be Released (Dylan) - JD (with MJ)
Phantasmagoria In Two (Buckley) - MJ
Empty Pocket Blues (Clive Palmer) - JE
Running From Home (Jansch) - MJ and JE
A Stupid Song (Ellis) - JE
Dreams Of Love (Jansch) - MJ and JE
Be My Friend (David Ackles) - MJ
That‘s my bass guitar on all the tracks, plus my hesitant singing on ‘I Shall Be Released’. I enjoyed the gigs, but the recording was not pleasant. I banged my head as I went in, and did the recording in a state of mild concussion. On listening to the album, I realised that my bottom E string was out of tune. The only one of us with any recording experience was Neil, who had played flute (pseudonymously) on a couple of early Ralph McTell tracks. John Beazer was the contact with Deroy’s Sound Service and had an impressive collection of LP’s he’d played on - all pressed by Deroy’s. I’m sure I’ve got a practice tape of ‘The Heron’ (recorded in Hull University kitchen) but I’ll have to search for it. I haven’t seen or heard any of the other members since I graduated in 1971. I’ve put the word out on the Hull alumni website and magazine, to try to contact them, but nobody has responded. The American guy from the mail order company says he’ll finance another CD if I can find some other members. I’m tempted to use some other Norwich hacks instead ! Most of them are still living in 1970 anyway.
― John Dunn, Monday, 13 October 2003 19:41 (twenty years ago) link
eleven months pass...