RFI: Folksy Stuff like Fairport Convention S&D

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.

I'd become rather sceptical about the whole idea of great lost UK folk albums, but when I finally heard Bright Phoebus after its reissue last year (year before?) I was completely blown away. It features most of the people mentioned in this thread (although no wrestlers afaik) and is a truly fantastic work.

Bright Phoebus is great. The album that's been a discovery for me in the last year is Heron's Twice as Nice & Half the Price, damn I love that, want to walk into that cover photo and day in the country.

Electric Eden is a great read, both for the musician histories and for placing it in the context of 19th c. folk song collecting, William Morris, etc. I also have, but haven't read, Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk by Jeanette Leech, which looks promising.

I'll never get bored of "Yellow Roses" by Heron, which I think is on their other LP but I have the comp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqlHLkMyC98

I didn't love Electric Eden as much as more-or-less everyone I've seen comment on it; I found it a bit overblown in places, and I wish I shared more of Rob's taste - some of the records he raves about I didn't take to.

While I thought it was pretty good on the particular brand of leftism of the 50s/early 60s folk revival I thought it sidestepped the question of how the politics of the whole thing changed/fractured through the hippy years. Ultimately the piece of thinking that had the greatest effect on me was the insight into the deliberate cottageyness of early British attempts at social housing, reflecting interestingly on Britain's relationship with modernism in general, but that's a very different story.

Tim OTM.

Thanks for the recommendations. I’ve already picked up <i>Electric Eden</i>. Rob Young, huh: ironic that the same guy I went to for late-era Scott Walker has written an ample tome on British folk rock.

Electric Eden was a bit of a slog for me (the relentless impressionistic biographies, mainly) but I basically enjoyed it. I'm sure it's been mentioned but White Bicycles is excellent.

I'm listening to Heron again and being reminded it falls the wrong side of whimsical for me. I almost need to semi-ignore it for a bit, let the sunshine bleed in.

I forgot I'd made this: a big old playlist I made as I read Electric Eden. It's a mess but full of goodly things.

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0dWPJzlO2fjXzWXIN2Hqhh?si=9JaiZdOSQUeScVcpJvLkUA

Echoing the love for Bright Phoebus here, it's quite wonderful. According the liner notes on the reissue, red wine promises is about getting drunk, walking through Pearson Park and failing to leapfrog a bollard. It's 5 minutes from my house and I've probably fallen over in that spot too. Larkin's High Windows overlook the same park, and I like to think Lal and her fiance are the kids in the first verse.

There is an entire book about Dr Strangely Strange now

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