British Folk (and Revival)

http://www.recordsale.de/cdpix/s/steve_ashley-stroll_on.jpg

i guess i'm talking about stuff like this that (imo) straddles the line between formal classical performance/early music and folk melodies? like anthems in eden.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRUkWm1jcSU

xp that is a super cool album cover

La Lachera, you might like this, though it has more folk appeal in feel than in any more definable connection maybe (though Dave's bass intro does seem to briefly quote the song I know as "Birmingham Sunday"; seems like Richard Farina might've set it to an older tune). From 1973 the title track of Conference of the Birds (most of the rest of the album is pretty freaky, though I learned to love it, for sure). A string band I used to know in the 70s covered this, in between Grisman and some Irish trad. Anyway: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2uoLafv5c0

1965 The Watersons - Frost & Fire
1966 Incredible String Band - s/t
1969 Ralph McTell - My Side of Your Window
1969 Al Stewart - Love Chronicles
1970 Robin & Barry Dransfield - The Rout of the Blues
1970 Mr Fox - s/t
1971 Dave Burland - A Dalesman's Litany
1971 Steeleye Span - Please To See The King
1971 Robin & Barry Dransfield - Lord of All I Behold
1972 Dick Gaughan - No More Forever
1974 Jack the Lad - The Old Straight Track
1975 The Watersons - For Pence and Spicy Ale
1976 Five Hand Reel - s/t
1977 Peter Bellamy - The Transports
1978 Paul Brady - Welcome Here Kind Stranger
1979 Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise - Cilla & Artie
1980 Nic Jones - Penguin Eggs
1981 Dick Gaughan - Handful of Earth
1983 Andy M. Stewart - By The Hush

^ A list of records that people on the internet claim were once the Melody Maker Folk Album of The Year

(obviously they can't all be right unless this wasn't an award as such, but just a phrase used in reviews)

Don't know all of those but can't argue with the ones I do know, not many people seem to know about "No More Forever" but it's probably my favourite Dick Gaughan album.

I don't know that one. Sure is a grim and grimey picture on the cover.

The only one I know of these is Al Stewart but it's a great album.

the Nic Jones is classic but all of Nic Jones's are classic imo

wish all of the Nic Jones albs were still in print, not just Penguin Eggs

i've got the s/t on mp3 and a live one ripped from a library copy, it's ridiculous he's not more available

Was listening to Penguin Eggs this morning actually, excellent record. Nothing fancy about it really, just boom - great singing, great guitar playing.

That Robin and Barry Dransfield album is great. I need to track down a copy, haven't heard it in years. (My parents have it, played it a lot when I was growing up.)

Rout of the Blues, I mean -- I'm not sure I've heard the other one.

xxp that sums up his appeal to me i think, his voice especially is beautiful and less mannered than a lot of straight folk peoples'

Where's Shirley?

Bright Phoebus seems like a glaring omission here

There's no Shirley but Dolly arranged all the music on the Peter Bellamy album on that list.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDCj-5uBXQI

^ this is a song off it with Norma Waterson singing, it's lovely

DID she? I'll have to look that up!! Her arrangements are the best.

The Transports was a folk-opera written by Peter Bellamy and released on Free Reed Records in 1977. It is often cited as Bellamy's greatest achievement. It featured many artists from the 1970s English folk revival, including The Watersons, Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, A. L. Lloyd, June Tabor, Cyril Tawney and Dave Swarbrick. The orchestral arrangements were by Dolly Collins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Transports

I've got that, some, uhhhhhhhhh, challenging vocals on that one.

Sure is a grim and grimey picture on the cover.

LOL, yeah, really selling it

Just seen that this is on BBC4 tonight -> The Enigma of Nic Jones: Return of Britain's Lost Folk Hero

yeah was gonna flag that. assume it's new?

cool, i've watched a clip of it, but didn't know if it was going to be shown or had even been completed.
http://vimeo.com/71491414

first time it's aired afaik

Think I read something on the programme a while back so assumed it must have been a repeat. Can't think when I read it or where though. Helpful. Did either Mojo or Uncut run something on him a while back with something on it? Or failing that the Observer?

gotta say i'm not mad nuts about programmes so heavily dependent on talking heads, but where so little archive footage exists it was always going to be the case here. that said, it was really good seeing nic soldiering on with that aura of peace and jolliness about him, though he does seem scarily frail for someone in their mid 60s; techy guitar bits were interesting, though i'm sure they'd mean more to tyler than they did to me; martin carthy was as good value as ever. that bit about them having to retrieve nic's teeth from his lungs after the car crash was plain O_O.

feel like a terrible curmudgeon not being 100% yay! about it though tbh

i think that's ok, its shortcomings - bits i saw whilst attending to kids, will catch up on iPlayer when i've got some alone time - are really the result of a career cut cruelly short

was pretty good i thought

made me want to pick up penguin eggs

not a sentence i thought i'd ever say

in the absence of footage from the era

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2PxsHBv0ps

so good

i've got the s/t on mp3 and a live one ripped from a library copy, it's ridiculous he's not more available

The unavailability of Nic Jones, Bright Phoebus and quite a few others seems to be down to the late Dave Bulmer who owned the copyright on them and for reasons best known to himself never released them properly. Doesn't seem to have been any discussion on this thread about this situation. More here:

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/10/bright-phoebus-waterson-toured-hawley-cocker-album

a brief nod to this story from mike a couple of years ago

I saw Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick last week. First set a bit doddery, second set AMAZING. My partner asked Carthy about the "lost" 1972 Lal & Mike Waterson album Bright Phoebus, which also features Carthy, Maddy Prior, Tim Hart & Norma Waterson - there was a BBC Radio 4 doc about it the other week. Carthy told him that the reissue rights had been acquired by a "bastard", from whom no artist royalties flow. His advice: grab a free copy. So we did:

http://witchseason.blogspot.com/2007/06/cheap-red-wine-in-my-drunken-brain.html

It's a superb record.

― mike t-diva, Tuesday, 13 September 2011 11:18 (2 years ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I have a copy of that lp that was doing the rounds about 10 years ago. I think it's on cdr but has an official looking sleeve. Not looked at it recently but did burn it to hard drive a few months ago so that i could listen to it through my computer. has some great stuff on it definitely.

That Robin and Barry Dransfield album is great.

I love the title track, I forget what I thought when I finally heard the whole album. (No I don't listen to much of this stuff, but I have listened to more in the past.)

rout of the blues <3

Saw 'Bright Phoebus Revisited' last night at the Barb. It was v. uneven but there was more than enough mesmerizing brilliance on show to make up for the dud moments. I wish I could afford to see them again in Bristol at the end of the tour, when they will nail it.

Have been indulging in some epic dithering about whether to go and see that tour or not. Don't think we get Jarvis Cocker here, and much as I like him as a character and a performer, I could probably do without his presence overshadowing the songs. How was his turn?

He did two proper songs (The Scarecrow and The Beast), and a kind of cameo as the Magical Man. He seemed to change his mind about where to pitch The Scarecrow after the first verse, so it went from spooky and deep, but only marginally tuneful, to much lighter and more musical but without the weird edge - I'd be interested to see which he goes with next time. The Beast was really good, really drew you in. It's hard to convey the contrast between Cocker and the pro folk singers - it's not like they can't do expressive, intimate or scary/vulnerable, because by damn they can. But there's something about Jarvis that sets him apart.

So, I thought he added something v.v. interesting without overshadowing anything, tho putting the poor chap in a chorus line for the big closing numbers was an odd thing to do. The awkwardness and intensity that makes him so compelling when he's up there on his own becomes discomfiting when his voice is inaudible and he's standing in a row with a load of Waterson/Carthys. He looked like a beardy alien. <3

i fell out of respect with J Cocker a long time ago and am kinda sad that he has any presence in this thing amongst some of my fave writers and performers so i'm afraid i'm out

nose/face

he's not on stage for most of it and you will miss out on astonishing harmonies from Eliza, Marry and Kima, pshaw

Looks like my copy of Bright Phoebus came out on a label called Trailer sometime around 2000. Seemed to be an official release a t the time but the company was pretty small so was doing cdrs instead of actual cds. I think that was somewhat common at the time among labels doing small pressings, is it still? Don't think there was as much digital d/ld presence at the time, or if there was it seemed to be strictly mp3.

Got the lp lined up to play next after a '75 Rahsaan Roland Kirk live set.

http://www.standard.co.uk/goingout/music/bright-phoebus-revisited-barbican--music-review-8878576.html

"Jarvis Cocker of novelty band Pulp" ??

LOL

Went and saw the Bright Phoebus thing last night, have never seen any of the Waterson/Carthy tribe live before so it was great to see those people. Eliza Carthy especially did a great job, I think maybe the whole performance would have struggled without her - definitely the person who seemed to be having the most fun on stage and her voice is terrific. Norma too actually, but obviously she's getting on so was a bit less active. No Jarvis here, so it was a slightly creepy young guy called John Smith who sang The Scarecrow, but he did exactly the same gruff voice in the first and last verses that Zora described, gave it a slight Playaway/Worzel Gummidge let's-pretend-to-be-scarecrows vibe. Kind of a shame, it's my favourite song on the album - lyrically it's a pretty heavy meditation on mortality and generational succession, but it's also the difference in delivery between that and the likes of Rubber Band and Magical Man that make it hit so hard, like a raw winter wind tearing through to your bones. Richard Hawley turned Danny Rose into a bit of a Ringo number, but also told a good story - he was wondering about the mystical side of some of Lal's songs, so over a cup of tea one day he asked Norma whether Lal had ever taken any magic mushrooms. The reply was 'no, but she did eat a lot of pickled onions'. Also bloody hell, aside from her dad's red hair does Kamila Thompson (Dickie & Linda's daughter) look like her mother or what?

worth checking out if you're into this stuff! http://landless.bandcamp.com/

...and likewise, the new Lutine album is great. Quite sparse sounding but very soft and delicate. Love this song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p9bhdCftGNA

http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/11705184.Sussex_Folk_legend_commemorated_in_with_ale_created_by_Harveys_Brewery_in_his_name/