RFI: Folksy Stuff like Fairport Convention S&D

It's not widely available, but you can get it here:

http://www.folkmusic.net/

Otherwise, there's a nice Celtic bent to some Trees stuff - I'm thinking specifically of things like 'Murdoch' with Celia Humphris doing the banshee bit (possibly over-doing it really but somehow the too-muchness only makes me crave it more) and Barry Clark's guitar swooping round the misty cairns much like a rum-addled puffin in his most impossible dreams.

The Woods' Band album that is.

not sure about the 'these trails' record though

My husband put the entire Maddy Prior discog on my computer & it always makes me laugh every time I see it on my itunes.

lol I revive3d this thread before I noticed the Steeleye Span thread was already on new answers page

Fairports' BBC sessions box is just great.

Was interesting to see a lot of the material The Dubliners recorded mid 60s turning up in electric versions on Steeleye Span, Fairports etc lps.
Wish I could find live audio & video from Ashley Hutchings era SS, & more by him with Fairports. Got the French set with Judy Dyble but apparently it was filmed in colour.

Haven't looked to see if Electric Eden & Seasons They Change have been discussed much yet.

Think I found this site through googling Emanuelle Parrenin whose La Maison Rose I saw in a list of cds on ebay.

(Swivel-eyed right wing dingbat) Peter Hitchens on "Meet on the Ledge"

http://hitchensblog.mailonsunday.co.uk/2015/06/old-forgotten-far-off-things.html

finally getting into those Shelagh MacDonald records (some of which features Thompson & Mattacks), pretty good post Sandy Denny action

this one has Thompson and Mattacks on it, i think...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ov6BtkDANb8

Don't quite know what's going here but this 1975 country album by professional wrestler, Brian Maxine, has quite the starry line-up.

https://img.discogs.com/6OR-CSRJ4chqUXp4AEv6uot6_B4=/fit-in/600x600/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4505708-1366802782-2272.jpeg.jpg

https://img.discogs.com/yn90gyWaM5IHMbaaYhe2xChsk0c=/fit-in/600x602/filters:strip_icc():format(jpeg):mode_rgb():quality(90)/discogs-images/R-4505708-1493327266-9291.jpeg.jpg

... there's lots of clips of Brian wrestling on YouTube but none of his singing.

whoa, never even heard of this!

... oh yes there is!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4wgtxNZ7mhI

... Linda Thompson is certainly enjoying herself.

ha, just found that too ... that is as energetic (or drunk?) as I've ever seen Linda Thompson

everybody looks pretty toasted, haha

You take the girl out of Glasgow...

apparently there's another one with swarbrick and pegg. amazing cover.
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EKFy0YQXkAEV1TF?format=jpg&name=4096x4096

Is this the first “wrestling album”

wow what a find

https://ibb.co/9wGjfLf

is the other.

https://i.ibb.co/rbvJLSL/AF97-DF58-1-D56-4-C7-F-A1-DD-34821168-AD2-E.jpg

^ already posted as the first post in this revive

I remember Brian Maxine well from Saturday afternoon wrestling on World of Sport, I even used to go to the wrestling from time to time and I'm fairly sure I saw him in action. Never knew he moonlighted as a singer though.

(xp) on the ball there, Fizzles ;)

Remember when they unmasked Kendo Nagasaki and it was actually Nick Drake?

Btw Shirley Crabtree is the my favourite obscure 70s folk singer

I'd always hear that Danny Thompson and John Martyn had a stormy relationship and this photo would seem to confirm it.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/c3/eb/cf/c3ebcfcaedd828f97831703afec0a344.jpg

(xp) LOL!

Haha Tom

Fyter Layter

Still can’t wrap my mind around this latest revive.

(xp) on the ball there, Fizzles ;)

INsect trust are good, bit of jazz in there. Not sure who's got either lp on cd at the moment I have the 1st one on Ascension from about 10 years ago.

Sunbeam records seemed to nearly specialise in folk stuff from the turn of the 60s/70s. Fresh Maggots, Synansthesia,Loudest Whisper, C.O.B. (Clive of the original ISB moved to the South of England and got his own band together), Moonkyte, Bread, Love & Dreams. Jade, Mark Fry, Meic Stevens are all good.

Mr Fox specialised in Northeern English folk I think specifically from Yorkshire. They gave us caroline Pegg who has a solo lp that's quite renowned.
& 2 lps of original material.

Dr Strangely Strange are an eccentric bunch from Dublin who put out 2 good lps Kip Of teh Serenes and Heavy petting, the latter of which features some heavy guitar from gary moore. They have a biography that came outover the last year taht I have yet to read.

Strawbs came from an acoustic bluegrassy background and put out a few at least semi classic lps. I'd recommend the 2 that were recorded with Rick Wakeman onboard . the live set A Collection of Curiosities & the Studio From the Witchwood. I think the 1st 2lps and the ones up to around 1973 are quite recommended too but I'm not as familiar with them.
The singer's vocals are a bit of an acquired taste though.

Jethro Tull got very folky in the late 70s Their lp Songs From The Wood sounds a lot like what other people were putting out about 69/70 but with synths and things added. I think the lp works very well , have heard teh next lp Heavy Horses is less successful.

I have the Dave Bixby related lp Second coming by Harbinger playing in the otehr room which is a semi acoustic band he put together after recording Ode To Quexalcoatl and retains his christian message alongside an odd Bowie lift.

Five Rounds Left
Coach Has Told Me

I'd buy "Five Leaves, Rapid" by Nicholas Courtney

Are there any books that describe this late 1960s era of folk/folk-rock/folk-jazz-whatever in Britain? As someone who has discovered Pentangle and Richard Thompson, and will probably move on to Fairport Convention, I’d like to know more about the historical background and how all these musicians came together.

Rob Young's Electric Eden is the only book you need.

Colin Harper's Dazzling Stranger which is mainly a Bert Jansch biography touches on the scenes in both mid 60s Edinburgh and London a few years later as well as giving the history of Pentangle.

Clinton Heylin put out a pretty comprehensive booki on Fairport Convention last year. What We Did Instead of Holidays.
I like the subject of Heylin's writing more tahn i like his writing which I often find pretty arrogant. But this i sworth reading for the amount of info you get from it

THe Guv'nor on Ashley Hutchings was a great read. Covers early Fairports, Steeleye Span's formative years, and Albion stuff. I think it was where i was reading about the early, Richard thompson era of Albion Band.
I was thinking it was written by Hutchings but now see it is Brian Hinton and Geoff Wall.

Richard Thompson has a 60s memoir due which I look forward to reading.

I Always Kept A Unicorn the MIchael Houghton biography of Sandy Denny was quite comprehensive too,

Clive Palmer had a biography written called Empty Pocket blues by Grahame Hood.
MIke Heron has a 60s memoir out too which I haven't read.

Patrick Humphries wrote books on Richard Thompsoin, NIck Drake and fairport convention a few decades ago. The tone of the one on Richard Thompson is a bit scathing.

Richard Morton jack has a major problem with Electric Eden that I really haven't seen what the story is on. I did think the attempt at injecting a line of speculative fiction into the book was a bit of an odd move. Thought the biographies were interesting.

Recommending his book White Bicycles to those who haven't read it. Recommending Beeswing to myself since I only just started nosing around in it.

Beeswing is excellent, especially if your main interest is in Fairport Convention. Thompson focuses on his upbringing through Fairport Convention to his conversion to Islam, but after that, he writes about his life in much less detail.

That's usually the opposite of how those bios go, so that's a plus for me. I guess because the recent events and work are usually at the front of the writers' minds, they are recalled with more clarity. The Bob Mould book is a great example. It was like he just couldn't wait to blaze through the Husker and Sugar stuff so he could write about working for the WCW and getting into techno. Neither of which was as interesting to read about as it sounds.

Ugh, I guess I'll skip Mould's book. That's really disappointing, because he seemed like someone who could write a great memoir.

The only thing I would have liked was an equivalent amount of detail on Richard's work with Linda, and given how it was entwined with his personal life, I can see how he would be reluctant to do that. Plus quite a few people still insist that Shoot Out the Lights was autobiographical when he's already explained many times why that isn't so. I think he's already had enough talking or writing about those years as a result.

Feel like maybe more often than not there is also usually some big block of negative emotion– anger, resentment or just plain old bad blood– that has to be addressed somehow before even beginning to tell the old stories of the original band without it turning into simple score-settling and backbiting. “I’m not going to give those bastards any credit! They’ve already taken more than their fair share and bled me dry for all those years. Turnabout is fair play.” Richard seems like a reasonably retrospective person that could get to some kind of place to deliver a balanced enough story. I also imagine that telling too much about his relationship with Linda would be fairly painful for all involved. Now picturing Teddy on the phone to Rufus Wainwright if not Martha: “Can you believe what he wrote? Listen to this!”

From what I know about the Lol Tolhurst book (which I own and have delved into but…) he was able to get to the good storytelling place as well.

Cured: The Tale of Two Imaginary Boys

Huh.

Can't believe no one told me that Richard Thompson & Dave Mattacks rejoined Fairport Convention last weekend to play Full House in its entirety. https://t.co/9yAe0PuSzi

— Tyler Wilcox (@tywilc) August 17, 2022

Good find. Those Fairport folks still seem to be pretty good friends. And props for the frontline rocking shorts.

https://www.rightmove.co.uk/properties/137254526#/?channel=RES_BUY

Experience the vibes in the original Fairport house! Yours for £4,300,000. Includes duplex annex with a self contained flat and garage space for multiple cars. Listing doesn't mention it but the property is also within walking distance of both Muswell Hill Sainsbury's and a fairly decent Chinese.

its better to buy something that hasn't been done up than something done up badly