British Folk (and Revival)

this sounds really cool although whoever wrote ^that up has either never heard Earth or Rose Kemp's music, or is wilfully exaggerating the degree of contrast to make it seem more striking

Interesting, Maddy is my favourite UK female folk singer (and, yes, that includes Sandy Denny and Shirley Collins).

whoa that is really cool, although yeah, they're all folk artists really, even ol' dylan

thought rose kemp had retired! her final album was flat-out incredible

Anybody hear that show? Was it good?

Bright Phoebus reissue on the way:

http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/news/31-05-17/bright-phoebus-euro--songs-by-lal-and-mike-waterson-remastered-and-reissued-by-domino/

damnnnn, excited for that. such an amazing record (and so hard to come by!). glad it is finally getting the treatment it deserves.

My copy of Bright Phoebus arrived today. Haven't had a chance to listen yet, looks good, but that's pretty early, right? I thought it was supposed to be early August...

i'm enjoying the newest album from this Sharron Kraus project https://rusalnaia.bandcamp.com/album/time-takes-away

xp yeah, been seeing that people are getting that Phoebus reissue! jealous ... going off to order it now.

Strange stuff. Eliza Carthy just tweeted that the Bright Phoebus copyright holders (who haven't been paying any royalties, as I understand it) took Domino to court over the reissue and won, the Domino reissue being essentially unauthorised. The album has now disappeared from the Domino website.

Not good from Domino.

Jeepers, I actually know the copyright holder IRL, we drink in the same bars. He's inherited the rights from his late dad. I knew he was massively pissed off about the Domino reissue, but the release that his dad was flogging was a vinyl rip to CD - he never had the master tape, whereas Domino did get hold of it. I also remember Martin Carthy advising me to download a bootleg copy from an MP3 blog instead of buying the vinyl rip CD, as none of the musicians got royalties from it.

Damn that super sucks. Such a great album and I’d never even heard of it til this year.

so weird! domino did an amazing job w/ the reissue — totally definitive ... wonder how they would've gone along that far w/o actually getting the rights. i assume they were paying royalties to the performers?

Glad I saw this bump, just ordered a copy of the vinyl

I got a copy of the version from about 2010. So had it on the backburner.
wasn't sure how much better the new version was.

dammit, I've had the Domino reissue in my Amazon cart since it came out but never got it, what was the rush? hahaha

argh fuck i've been meaning to buy this for ages too

I bought the 2CD Domino set because it came with an extra disc of demos/outtakes etc, which again seemed to point to the legitimacy of the package. This brilliant record seems to be a bit cursed :-(

Reminds me of similar problems with records on CD Presents or SST where the label legally owns the records but don't pay royalties or allow anyone to reissue them

Fantastic record and the demos disc is/ was excellent. Crazy that it was all unauthorized!

if the musicians involved weren't getting paid anyway I don't feel too bad about buying the Domino reissue which I, uh, just did

But isn't the story that the Domino reissue was done with the master tapes - how did they get them?

Oliver Knight is a sound engineer and Lal Waterson's son... perhaps he had them?

This article on the proceeding doesn't do much clarify the dispute ("Domino was found to have no prospect of a defence, and the matter was summarily decided":

https://www.harrogateadvertiser.co.uk/whats-on/harrogate-record-label-wins-fight-against-famous-company-1-9471219

Confusingly, Financial Times at the time of the reissue last year:

Just 2,000 copies were manufactured in 1972, half of them unplayable because the hole was pressed off-centre. With lukewarm support from fans, the album went out of print. Financial problems forced Leader to sell his record labels. The new owner, Highway, sold the rights to a third company, Celtic Music, which focused on Leader’s recordings of Irish traditional music. Bright Phoebus remained unreleased.

But its reputation grew. In 2013 the Bright Phoebus Revisited Tour, featuring a band that included Marry, Carthy and Hawley with Jarvis Cocker, along with a BBC Radio 4 documentary, provided clear evidence of strong interest in the album. “It was ahead of its time,” says Marry. With demand for its release from a growing number of fervent fans unswayed by arcane arguments about folk music purity, Domino Records has bought the rights and remastered it. “It feels bloody great,” says Marry.

Eliza Carthy is retweeting folks encouraging people to buy the Domino release and calling it a "tragedy in performing art." It seems possible that ownership of the copyright was disputed between Celtic Music (the prevailing party here) and the Watersons' heirs (who Domino "bought the rights from," got the masters and were paying royalties to?).

In any case, a lovely record. Sad to have the copyright holder, with no connection to the artists, or even the original label, keep it from listeners (or keep a crap version in circ).

Yeah Domino don't seem like the bad guys here

I'm not sure I believe that only 2000 copies were ever printed story because, when I lived in Glasgow, I had a copy and at least two other people I knew also had copies - and it didn't cost an arm and a leg either.

... pressed, not feckin' printed!

original pressing was 2k with 1k viable, it did have at least two other vinyl pressings according to Discogs

i went to see one of the bright phoebus revisited concerts - eliza carthy, martin carthy, norma waterson, marry waterson (lal's daughter) plus richard hawley and some other people. really good, though martin c. was the only person there who actually played on the original record iirc

original pressing was 2k with 1k viable, it did have at least two other vinyl pressings according to Discogs

That explains it! I wondered why it was so cheap!

... other than the fact that no-one was interested it in those days.

I bought it when it was first (re)released on vinyl. And I love it. It bugs me if they get nothing from it, of course.

Some of this album is so very Hull it adds an extra layer of intimacy and relevance for me

It could really do without Rubber Band, Magical Man, and Shady Lady - but the rest is so good (including the early stuff on the second record.)

Ah they're part of the mix of the album. "Shady Lady" I really enjoy some days, obv those are three are probably nobody's favourites

They certainly give off a "Watersons gig in a lively pub" vibe

Loving Frost and Fire lately

Frost and Fire is fab. I like A Yorkshire Garland even more. Watersons is great winter music imo.

love 'frost and fire', never got round to 'a yorkshire garland'. noodle vague will know this but this is crucial, beautiful watersons viewing:

https://player.bfi.org.uk/free/film/watch-travelling-for-a-living-1966-online

twenty minutes into watching it again and even for a music documentary, there's so much booze and fags in that

other thing i loved was that norma seems to go on tour with a platypus nailed to a plank

Haven't seen the whole doc before! Only clips on YouTube.

ah well enjoy! rubber band haterz might feel differently after seeing it btw, mike seems like a sweet guy and that daftness is part and parcel of his charm

it’s the other guy with his hair and his porn and his beatles records you need to worry about

i’d never heard of bright phoebus despite yorkshire garland and frost and fire being long time favourites. i’ve listened to it now thanks to this thread and it’s wonderful.

i have a high level of tolerance for elastic band/magical man/shady lady - they’re cornball but the sound of having fun and sit well amongst the rawness of the other songs, not just in the aesthetics of the lp but as a picture of life. the beauty of this album is elsewhere but as slightly embarrassing, unbuckled, silly fun it’s enjoyable.

*rubber band

much prefer it to the latter day tweeness of eg nu-coppers - the melding of fun and foul doesn’t work for me. bob and ron incontrovertible in their tart-voiced sussex harmonies.

Folkers are fond of their whimsy, even Martin Carthy does silly numbers, Dick Gaughan doesn't though. I saw a Mike Waterson solo (unaccompanied) concert once and one of the highlights of his set was a song called (something like) "Them Geese Is Ducks".

THE IRON ROAD IS A HARD ROAD #dickgaughanwhimsy