by Brian Andrew Marek #22

Brian Andrew Marek - The Lair EP











Well, revrev's comments were so kind and so appreciated, I thought I'd upload another disc I put together recently. Still more-or-less lo-fi, but the overall sound is greatly improved - it was all recorded this year or last. The nine home recordings are rounded out by five rare live solo performances, bringing this "EP" to a respectable album length! Enjoy...

by Brian Andrew Marek #21

Brian Andrew Marek - THEN!
A Collection of Low Fidelity Recordings 1988-2005











Over the years, I've recorded literally hundreds of songs under humble circumstances, often collecting them on homemade cassettes with titles like "Accept No Imitations", "Footnotes to the Footnotes" and "Fight for Your Right to Be Pouty" to give out to friends. Here are 22 of my favorites.

I have intentionally eschewed (a) cover songs, due to the requirements of the blog, (b) songs that I have rerecorded and released with a band, and (c) recordings by actual bands (although there are a few guest appearances). Much of the weirder, more experimental stuff was ignored in favor of actual songs, but two of the best instrumental improvisations ("Reginald at the Beach" and "Waterfalls") made the grade.

Enjoy, and if you like what you hear, there's more where it came from!

DL

Spires That in the Sunset Rise

"Four Winds The Walker" 2005





















Psychedelicfolk:
What will happen if 4 woman go into mystic rock? 'Spires that In The Sunset Rise' are such four women from Chicago : Kathleen Baird - Vocals, acoustic, electric and slide-guitar, drums, harmonium, Georgia Vallas - Vocals, mbira, bul bul tarang, zither, Turkish lap banjo, lap slide guitar, harmonium, Taralie Peterson - Vocals, cello, guitar, banjo, mbira, and Tracy Peterson - Percussion, bells, mbira, thumb piano, washboard, rattlers.

They played on the underground psychedelic Million Tongues Festival at Chicago's Empty Bottle, along with Josephine Foster, Espers, MV and EE, Nick Castro, Kawabata Makoto and Kinski. They later joined the Incredible String Band for six dates on their US tour.

The style on this new, second album, is evolved and different and more direct but also more directly weird compared to the debut. The inspiration for the music is as if driven by a conscious shamanistic drugged campfire inner dreamtrance vision. There are tons of weird vocals, and a perfect use of strange, weird sounds and strange colour harmonies all over the place, with some focused acoustic guitars, here and there some chamber like arrangements, always experimental in an intuitive ? magical sense. The vocals sometimes are so odd that at times they recall a ghostly sphere. Also the somewhat ritual rhythms seem to react on a border line edge of a paraphysical situation, with knocking ghosts’ sounds, or with marching dead rhythmic weirdness. In combination of it all the music can again be so incredibly hypnotic in a different way, as what I can recall, I’ve never heard before. It is as if the group knows how to use some secret harmonies that gets a listener out-there. In some way it is like the expression with the essence of true magical ethnical ritual music, as a standing stone for a bridge to other worlds and towards different experiences. The effect is so powerful, overwhelming and slurping in all attention from you, that I can not imagine any framed thinker will survive his now fried brainwave changes, which this music can cause, making a recollection perceptiveness switch necessary towards more open visions. It's hard to believe if there would be no deliberate strong believe or philosophical system behind this, other than an intuitive tension, because it really is that powerful. Also incredible is that this tension is continuous for over an hours length, with just a few quiet moments, but even there it is never related to a more ordinary world perspective at all. The music sounds more pagan “magickal” than from any pagan, and more magical than from any inherited repeated ritual. Great!!

The Doors

"Philadelphia, Arena" Aug 4, 1968






























1. When The Music's Over
2. Alabama Song
3. Backdoor Man
4. Five To One
5. Spanish Caravan
6. Wasp
7. Hello, I Love You
8. Wake Up
9. Light My Fire

DL

Horse

"Horse" 1971




















Reissue of rare 1971 UK heavy psych rock monster originally released on the RCA label. I don't know why some people like to single this one out to beat up on. It's a good record and the opening song, which nobody ever mentions, is a certified beast. It's not as heavy all the way through as Nightsun, Buffalo, Toad, Jerusalem or something like that but this album has more UK psychedelic influence and feel so it's more mellow and vaired. I love that lead guitar sound!

Track Listing:
01. The Sacrifice
02. See The People Creeping Round
03. And I Have Loved You
04. Freedom Rider
05. Lost Control
06. To Greet the Sun
07. The Journey
08. Heat of the Summer
09. Gypsy Queen
10. Step Out of Line

Barry Dransfield

"Wings Of The Sphinx" 1996





















Barry Dransfield is one of a handful of towering figures who stands true to himself and his vision. at a time when folk's audience easily embraces diversity and when world albums are getting to be more and more common, he continues his exploration of traditional English folk song and music. He always was a breath of fresh air, and since his return with last year's magnificent 'Be Your Own Man' album, he's continued to be highly active and highly visible. With 'Wings Of The Sphinx' Barry has pulled off a remarkable coup, and Kenny Craddock's production perfectly captures the sparkling vitality of these magical sessions. Big sounds, a big sounding name and big names creating the sound: Kenny Craddock, Stefan Hannigan, Garry Blakeley, Steve Cooke and Liam Genocky collectively produce and awesome sound. But it's Dransfield who really shines with some truly inspiring performances. Ambitious, imaginative and tight as anything, 'Wings Of The Sphinx' is the sound of a man in love with his music.

Still Life

"Still Life" 1971





















This mysterious group (nobody seems to know who actually played in the band) released their first and only album on the Vertigo-label in 1971. Their music was organ-based progressive rock. The organ-player had a warm, atmospheric and very typical progressive sound on his organ, but his playing never went into very virtuosi solo-passages as the songs on the album were more based in strong and structured melodies than instrumental exercises. The opening number "People in Black" was very representative for the album. Good melodies sung with strong vocal-harmonies and with the earlier mentioned organ-sound as the instrumental foundation in the sound. "Don't Go" is a good ballad and the best example of the band's vocal-harmonies. "October Witches" is also a great song, but maybe a bit repetitive. The maybe best song on the album is in my opinion the more acoustic-based "Love Song No.6 (I Never Love You Girl)". A superb song with a great melody and tasty arrangement. "Dreams" is much harder rocking, with a catchy and aggressive chorus. The closing number "Time" is on the other hand mediocre and stands as the weakest song here. But most of the album is a very nice slice of organ-based progressive rock, and is recommended for everyone who just can't get enough of that early 70's feel and atmosphere.

Supernaut

"Supernaut" 1974





















A '70s Heavy/Doom metal band who had a promised deal with Vertigo Records, but Vertigo refused because they were too heavy.

Glynn Serpell - Vocals
Brian Took - Guitars
Peter Oldham - Bass
Barry Stonehouse - Drums
Mark Hodgkinson - Keyboards

1. Keeper of the Keys
2. Darkness Falls
3. Win or Lose
4. The Fog
5. Night Watch
6. He Was a Robot

The Plastic People of the Universe

"Ach to státu hanobení " 1976-77
















Tracklist:
1. Egon Bondy recituje DVACET (:28)
2. Ach to státu hanobení (4:00)
3. Píseň brance (7:24)
4. Phallus Impudicus (4:43)
5. Koleda (5:32)
6. Prší prší (5:31)
7. Apokalyptickej pták (8:51)
8. Eliášův oheň (5:42)
9. Magické noci (6:51)
10. Spofa blues (3:56)
11. 100 bodů (20:08)
12. Nebo jití jest Hospodinovo (6:20)


Personel:
Milan Hlavsa - bass [2-12], vocals [2-5, 7-11], choir [12]
Josef Janíček - guitar [2, 3, 6, 7], keyboard [3-5, 7-9, 11], vibraphone [6, 10], harmonium [12], vocals [2, 3, 6, 7, 9-11], choir [12]
Jiří Kabeš - violin [2-8], viola [9-11], theremin [9], vocals [10], choir [12]
Vratislav Brabenec - saxophone [2-5, 7-11], vocals [12]
Jaroslav Vožniak - drums [2-8]
Jan Brabec - drums [9-12]
Zdeněk Fišer - theremin [3, 7]
Jaroslav Unger - choir [12]
Jan Schneider - percussion [12]
Egon Bondy - recitation [1]

Tannahill Weavers

"Passage" 1984





















In 1984, after recording four outstanding albums for the regional Hedera label, Scotland's Tannahill Weavers set their sights on the American market by signing with Green Linnet. Passage ushered in a new era for the group. Canadian singer/multi-instrumentalist Bill Bourne introduced electric guitar into the fold and focused on contemporary covers like Stan Rogers' "Harris and the Mare" and "Marie Christine" by Gordon Lightfoot. His contributions, while excellent, do little to overshadow frontman Roy Gullane's powerful voice, whose emigration lament "Jamie Raeburn's Farewell" provides one of the record's finest moments. Piper Alan MacLeod opens the collection with the blistering "Roddie MacDonald's Favourite," a song in two-parts that the band learned during a break in Philadelphia, and co-founder Phil Smillie, who applies tasteful keyboard work, remains the glue that keeps the band so cohesive amidst its constant lineup changes. While by no means their best record, this leap into the future serves as a fascinating peek into a band stretching its legs outside of the traditional folk circle. Passage also marked the beginning of the addition of a Scots glossary -- a helpful guide to Gaelic terminology -- which has since accompanied each and every release. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide

Martin Carthy

"Because It's There" 1979





















CD Notes by Martin Carthy:
In a rare waking moment, the former President of the USA, Mr Calvin Coolidge was heard to cry out to the effect that half the world's problems would be solved if only people would sit down and keep still. Nothing Rhymed is a song that was written by Gilbert O'Sullivan which is, among other things, about just that and attendant problems.

Most of the songs on this record were learnt by chance, by osmosis, or, in the case of Lord Randall, virtually by accident. May Song came from a Cynthia Gooding record which I lost 16 years ago, words stuck in my head. Swaggering Boney Nothing Rhymed and Jolly Tinker by osmosis. The Three Cripples and the Siege of Delhi from Hamish Henderson in Padstow and at Mervyn Vincent's house in St Issy on May Day a couple of years ago. The exceptions are Long John, Old John and Jackie North which is a reworking of Long Johnny Mor, full of swash and buckle, and the Death of Young Andrew, a reworking of a severely holed set of words, and both songs are to be found in F.J. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads.

Ralph McTell

"The Journey: Recordings 1965-2006"

Disc: 1
1. Drybone Shuffle
2. Bells Of Rhymney
3. Girl From The North Country
4. Pasadena
5. Nanna's Song
6. Mermaid And The Seagull
7. Spiral Staircase
8. Michael In The Garden
9. Summer Come Along
10. Factory Girl
11. Too Tight Rag
12. Ferryman
13. Viola Lee Blues
14. Birdman
15. Barges
16. Zimmerman Blues
17. Summer Lightning

Disc: 2
1. Streets Of London
2. Hey Babe Would I Lie To You
3. Grande Affaire
4. Ladies Love Outlaws
5. Tequila Sunset
6. Marie
7. River Rising Moon High
8. Weather The Storm
9. Promises
10. Love Grows
11. Leaf Must Fall
12. Blues Run The Game
13. Red Apple Juice
14. Messrs Stevenson And Watt
15. Water Of Dreams
16. Alexi

Disc: 3
1. Bentley And Craig
2. Hands Of Joseph
3. Kenny The Kangaroo
4. Old Puggy Mearns
5. I Like Rubbish
6. Drybone Shuffle
7. Keeping The Night At Bay
8. From Clare To Here
9. Can't Be Satisfied
10. Hesitation Blues
11. Stealin'
12. Slip Shod Tap Room Dance
13. Prison Wall Blues
14. That'll Do Babe
15. Summer Girls
16. Setting
17. Jesus Wept

Disc: 4
1. Peppers And Tomatoes
2. Rue De La Montaigne St Genevieve
3. Georgia On My Mind
4. Girl From The North Country
5. Nanna's Song
6. Up
7. Easter Lilies
8. Let Me Down Easy
9. I'm Satisfied
10. Stagolee
11. In The Jailhouse Now
12. Still In Dreams
13. Feather Fell
14. Michelle
15. Don't Think Twice It's Alright
16. Red And Gold

Buy

Shirley & Dolly Collins

"Harking Back"
Live In Concert, Dublin 1978 & London 1979





















Track Listing:
All Things Are Quite Silent (3:28)
Rockley Firs (2:49)
George Collins (4:27)
Sellenger's Round (1:25)
Lancashire Lass (3:41)
Poor Murdered Woman (6:24)
The Moon Shines Bright (3:28)
The Black Joke (2:33)
Staines Morris (2:25)
Come All You Streamers (3:42)
Fare Thee Well My Dearest Dear (4:26)
Hopping Down In Kent (5:02)
Morris Medley:
Wheatley Processional,
Cuckoo's Nest,
Shave The Dionkey (3:32)
The Bonny Labouring Boy (5:07)
Greenwood Laddie (1:51)
Just As The Tide Was A-Flowing (2:15)
All Flowers In Broome (2:47)
The Captain With The Whiskers (4:40)
The Gipsy's Wedding Day (5:08)
The Merry Milkmaids (1:19)
Poor Sally Sits A-Weeping (1:52)
Kate's Wedding (1:13)

Personnel:
Shirley Collins
Dolly Collins
Sleeve Notes
Harking Back


Liner notes:
When these recordings came to light in 1998, two and a half years after Dolly's death, I listened to them with a mixture of pain and delight. They were possibly the last live performances given by my sister Dolly and me, and naturally there was a great poignancy, feeling Dolly's presence. I could see her so clearly, sitting straight-backed at the flute-organ and smiling across the keyboard at the audience and me. It was great to hear two songs that we'd never put on an album, 'The Bonny Labouring boy' which had been a song that our Grandad used to sing, and 'The Captain With The Whiskers'.
Dolly was a remarkable musician, with a fine appreciation and inderstanding of English music, and her arrangements were perfect for the English songs we both loved. I'd give Dolly a song and in a few days she'd come back with an arrangement that captured its spirit, using those lovely harmonies that were so wonderful to sing with. She made it look and sound simple, but hers was a rare talent. She was clever without being smart, and I often felt that her work and worth were undervalued.
Dolly was my big sister - we grew up during the War together. We were very close and she was always very protective of me, although sometimes she was a terrible tease. She was braver than me, could run faster and throw a rounders ball further, although I was pretty godd too! We were both in love with Laurence Olivier and could recite great chunks of Hamlet and Henry V, Wuthering Heights and Pride and Prejudice by heart. We started singing together in our mid-teens, Dolly sometimes playing the organ, or Granny's harmonium with its mouse-proof pedals, or later a cheap Czechoslovakian guitar that she bought on credit through an ad in the Daily Worker. In her early twenties she studied composition under Alan Bush at the Worker's Music Association, travelling up to London from Hastings where she lived in a double-decker bus parked in a field, complete with piano, while I spent a year in the United States collecting in the South with Alan Lomax, the American folklorist. When we eventually got together again, she started writing folksons arrangements to be played on early instruments, and we recorded The Power of the True Love Knot, Anthems in Eden, and Love, Death and the Lady. it was at this time, of course, that we discovered Noel Mander's beautiful reproduction of a 17th-century portative pipe-organ that so perfectly suited the plaintive quality of many of the songs, and which is the instrument she plays on this album. As an accompanist, she was sensitive, instinctive, and great fun to work with. She also wrote to great acclaim the arrangements for Peter Bellamy's ballad opera, The Transports.
I received many letters after her death, and there were two things that her friends mentioned most - her generosity and her laughter. She was warm-hearted and funny. She was a natural gardener and countrywoman, and certainly made the most of her time in the world. She loved to walk, as i do, and her habit of taking a thermos flask of coffee laced with brandy made her a perfect companion. Dolly always knew where to find violets, primroses and cowslips, rare orchids and star moss, wood ants' nests, kingfishers, and mushrooms and sloes in the autumn. She was a great gatherer, and her cupboards were full of jams and preserves. She always carried binoculars to gaze at birds by day and the stars at night. She knew the names of hundreds of wild flowers, and whenever we walked together in the Sussex countryside, which we did frequently in the last two years of her life, she taught me the names of two new wild flowers on each ramble. The last two I learned were 'Centaury' and 'Enchanter's Nightshade'. We had been out gathering sloes for her Christmas sloe gin the day before she died, and it had been a perfect late Summer day of golden sunshine and stubble fields, and a glimpse of Autumn in the reddening berries on the hawthorns. Early the next morning she died instantly of a heart attack.
She left two works she had completed weeks before, a song-cycle called 'The Pity of War', a setting of poems from the Great War, and a full orchestral score of The Beggar's Opera. Neither have yet been performed.
Her favourite poet, John Clare, wote some one hundred and fifty years, earlier,

"Our paths to joy are quite worn out
I shan't find them again..."

And for a long while that held true for me. But with the discovery of these concert tapes and Dolly herself shining there in every song and tune, I feel they might be found again.
Shirley Collins

Harking Back is dedicated to the memory of Dolly Collins... to our mother, Dorothy Florence Ball; to Dolly's son Buz Collins, singer and musician, his wife Sam and their coming baby; to my children, Polly and Robert Marshall, successfully working in the arts; to Polly's partner Chris, to Rob's partner Lisa, and to my darling grandson, little Joe Miller-Marshall; to my best friend Pip Barnes.

by arbor #3

Hi Lizardson,

At the end of the second track of my copy of

Grattons-Labeur - Le bal des sorciers (1977)





















...a totally different song appears sung in english
Would someone here know the title of the english song?
below is the link to the second track only

DL

Thanks for any help


Entire album:
Grattons-labeur - Le bal des sorciers ,LP,1977.France (MUTANT SOUNDS blog)

by Markus #3

Derroll Adams "Portland Town" (1967)
















Don't think this is available on cd.

Derroll is a banjoman known for his work with Ramlin' Jack Elliott.
He had a wonderful voice, deep like an ocean, warm like a summerbreeze and soft like silk. Upon it, listening on him is like listening to your favorite unkle.
This is his first solo album.

This is a share I do for Vlansdance(I miss your blog, hope you take it up soon), I've seen he's bin looking for it.

I also want to thank the person who shared this with me , but I've forgotten his name.

DL

Markus

John Renbourn

"The Black Balloon" 1979





















Like most of John Renbourn's solo albums, THE BLACK BALLOON is an instrumental showcase for exquisite acoustic six and 12-string guitars. Unlike many of his solo records, however, THE BLACK BALLOON also features electric guitar. On "The Pelican," for example, Renbourn's overdubbed electric and acoustic guitars blend into a sonorous haze. There's warmth and good humor here. When Renbourn muffs a note in the dazzling "English Dance," he laughs and starts over mid-solo. His usual virtuosity is best exemplified in the two-part "Bourree" and the remarkable guitar-and-flute duet "The Mist-Covered Mountains of Home." THE BLACK BALLOON is another typically excellent Renbourn solo project.

The Doors Bakersfield 1970 rare footage

Rosemary Haddad

"Coming Hohm" 1975



















Rosemary Haddad's Coming Hohm is described by one of the reviewers on the Acid Archives site as "one of the best hippie commune albums" and I'd have to agree. Great psych-folk with a joyous message. Some of it sounds like it could be Christian but at other times it's definitely Hindu and all of it is infused with a hippie sensibility that keeps it from ever sounding dogmatic. In the end the message is not so important as the delivery, and Haddad is spot-on with her vocals while still coming off as an amateur, interested in the joy of the experience rather than trying to sell records. Some fine flute, acoustic guitar, and percussion compliment her songs. : ~ playitagainmax.blog

Tracklist:

Side 1
Coming Hohm
It's alright now
Spiritual Slavery
The Nest
The Great Siddha

Side 2
I am the Lord
Steady in the Flow
Lady Kali
Sing with your Heart
The Kitchen Floor Song
Reprise

by ericbkk #6

Townes Van Zandt: Early & Late.

Two TVZ concerts. One is the earliest known TVZ recording, from three years into his professional career, and the other was recorded just a couple of years before his untimely death at the age of 52.


"A Gentle Evening with Townes Van Zandt" 1969
















"A Gentle Evening" was recorded in 1969 at Carnagie Hall, after the release of Townes' second album. The tape was thrown in a vault, and then shuffled from label to label as mergers took place, and was ultimately forgotten about, until now.
This is a remarkable look back at a young, 25 year old Townes, at the beginning of his career, and an insightful glimpse at what was yet to come. Townes is best known for his shows at small, intimate clubs, in front of small audiences. Yet here, he shows an amazing command of connecting with a much larger audience in a far larger venue, even so early in his career. Despite the sizable venue and audience, he transforms it into an understated, acoustic affair, and his songs come across as self-assured and confident. He sprinkles laid back, and at times, self depreciating humor throughout, making for a powerful performance.
"Tecumseh Valley", "Like A Summer's Thursday", "Second Lover's Song" and "She Came And She Touched Me" are culled from his first two albums. The rest of the songs are early workings of songs that wouldn't be released until later. "Lungs" and "Rake" show up on his next two releases, respectively. "Talking Thunderbird Wine Blues" and "The Ballad Of Ira Hayes" wouldn't appear on a studio album for another two decades. The biting wit of "Talking KKK Blues" shows up here on a recording for the first time ever.
"A Gentle Evening.." isn't just another in a spate of posthumous recordings by Townes. This one is an essential and important find, one more than worthy of seeing the light of day, after being forgotten for decades. As the earliest known existing live recording of Townes, it brings his story full circle, as we can now catch a glimpse at the beginnings of a true musical genius in progress- one that was taken far too soon.
: ~ AnnMarie Harrington Take Country Back May 2002

Tracks:
01. Talking KKK Blues
02. Rake
03. Like A Summer's Thursday
04. Second Lover's Song
05. She Came And She Touched Me
06. Lungs
07. Tecumseh Valley
08. A Joke
09. Talking Thunderbird Wine Blues
10. Ira Hayes


"Great American Music Hall, S.F.CA" Feb 16, 1995





















Nearly pristine soundboard recording of an enjoyable Townes show.

Tracks:
01. Two Girls
02. Snowin' on Raton
03. The Hole
04. Pancho & Lefty
05. No Deeper Blue
06. Marie
07. Short-haired Woman Blues
08. You Win Again
09. Loretta
10. Ira Hayes
11. A Song For
12. To Live is to Fly
13. If I Needed You
14. Buckskin Stallion Blues

Of interest is the amount of TownesTalk at these two shows, a sharp contrast to the concert practices of a slightly older, much more famous troubadour who seems to have harboured a deep contempt for his audiences ever since 1966, and speaks hardly a word to those who still faithfully pay good money to attend his concerts.

by Markus #2

"Skymonters with Hamid Hamilton Camp" 1973






















An Elektra artist both as part of a duo with Bob Gibson and as a solo artist in the first half of the 1960s, Camp got back onto the label as a singer on this 1973 album. It's genial but unimportant singer/songwriter pop, produced with more taste and restraint than much such material of the time, but lacking in outstanding songs. Camp sometimes sounds a little like a folkier Sal Valentino ("Long River" and "Shadows on the Wall" don't sound too dissimilar to the late-'60s Beau Brummels), though he lacks the depth and rock inclinations of the Beau Brummels' vocalist. A strong country-rock feel asserts itself at times, somewhat in the mold of the early Eagles, in particular, in the harmony vocals on "Gypsy," but less polished. "Kings," on the other hand, has some brass and orchestration that sounds like a faint leftover from the folk-pop moods on his 1967 album for Warner Bros., Here's to You. "Disaster" gets almost into a pure country barroom mood that nearly falls into parody, though that's redeemed by the strong storytelling feel and pleasing chorus of the best cut, "Steal Away." ~ Richie Unterberger


I think all of the songs is very enjoyable and Shadows on the Wall is with no doubt an outsatnding song.

Plethyn

"Drws Agored" 1991





















01. Cwm y Coed
02. Myn Mair
03. Breuddwyd Glyndwr
04. Rho Wên yn Dy Gwsg
05. La Rochelle
06. Philomela
07. Hon yw Fy Olwen i
08. Y Ceidwad
09. Ffarwel i Aberystwyth
10. Wylaf Dros Iwerddon
11. Y Deryn Pur
12. Cysga Di Fy Mhlentyn Tlws
13. Tafarn Fach Glyd ar y Cei

Jo Mama

"Jo Mama" 1970





















Abigale Haness - Vocals
Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar - Guitar, Conga, Vocals
Charles Larkey - Bass
Joel OBrien - Drums, Vibraphone
Ralph Schuckett - Keyboards, Vocals

1. Machine Gun Kelly
2. Midnight Rider
3. Searching High, Searching Low
4. Lighten Up, Tighten Up
5. Venga Venga
6. Sailing
7. Great Balls of Fire
8. Sky Is Falling
9. World Is Goodbye
10. Check Out This Gorilla
11. Cotten Eyed Joe
12. Love'll Get You High

Paper Bubble‏

Terry Brake (of Paper Bubble‏) said...

Hi,
Just came across your blog. My name is Terry Brake and I was a member of the Paper Bubble along with Brian Crane. We did record a second album called Prisoners, Victims, Strangers and Friends. No orchestra on that one, just straight into the studio where we got together with Rick Wakeman and afew other Stawbs members who improvised to our songs. A much better albumin my opinion - still the harmonies, but a much more 'live', raw feel.

Thought you might be interested.

All the best,

Terry

by Markus

Patrick Sky "Photographs" 1969





















Patrick Sky was a part of Greenwich City in the sixties. He was quite a skillful guitarist and "folksinger". His first appearence on record came 1965 on a Elektra-record: Singer Songwriter Project, together with Dick Fariña, David Blue and Bruce Murdoch. The same year his self titled album was made, wich contains his most famous song: Many a Mile.

Photographs is his fourth album, and his best in my opinion. Made in 1969.

Thanks 2,000,000 Times!!!

Nick Drake "Fruit Tree" 2008 [Limited Edition, 3SHM-CD]





















Tracklisting & More Information:
The SHM-CD [Super High Material CD] format features enhanced audio quality through the use of a special polycarbonate plastic. Using a process developed by JVC and Universal Music Japan discovered through the joint companies' research into LCD display manufacturing, SHM-CDs feature improved transparency on the data side of the disc, allowing for more accurate reading of CD data by the CD player laser head. SHM-CD format CDs are fully compatible with standard CD players.

SHM-CD 1: FIVE LEAVES LEFT 1. Time Has Told Me 2. River Man 3. Three Hours 4. Way To Blue 5. Day Is Done 6. Cello Song 7. The Thoughts Of Mary Jane 8. Man In A Shed 9. Fruit Tree 10. Saturday Sun

SHM-CD 2: BRYTER LATER 1. Introduction 2. Hazy Jane II 3. At The Chime Of A City Clock 4. One Of These Things First 5. Hazey Jane I 6. Bryter Layter 7. Fly 8. Poor Boy 9. Northern Sky 10. Sunday

SHM-CD 3: PINK MOON 1. Pink Moon 2. Place To Be 3. Road 4. Which Will 5. Horn 6. Things Behind The Sun 7. Know 8. Parasite 9. Free Ride 10. Harvest Breed 11. From The Morning

Frogmorton

Mike said...
Hi! Mike Smith from Frogmorton here... thanks so much for kind words.
Owing to renewed interest in the band we are playing a reunion gig and have recently set up a site and would welcome a visit,

www.myspace.com/frogmorton1976
or
michaeljohn.music@hotmail.com

Thanks again Lizardson you've made an old man very happy all love, Mike x

plectrum34

01. River Man
02. Pink Moon
03. Things Behind the Sun
04. Hanging on a Star
05. Northern Sky
06. From The Morning
07. Fly
08. Way to Blue
09. Cello Song
10. Place to Be
11. At the Chime of a City Clock
12. One of These Things First
13. Black Eyed Dog
14. Fruit Tree
15. Road
16. Parasite
17. Hazy Jane 1

DL (mp3 files)

http://jp.youtube.com/plectrum34

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Archie Fisher - Archie Fisher
Archie Fisher - Orfeo
Ben - Ben
Cockersdale - Doin The Manch
Meic Stevens - Sackcloth & Ashes
Robin Williamson - KPFK Radio
Shirley Collins - The Sweet Primeroses
VA - PICNIC: a breath of fresh air

In memory of our friend, Dirk

from Lizardson & friends...

Danny Kortchmar

"Kootch" 1973




















Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar (born April 6, 1946) is a guitarist, session musician, and songwriter. Kortchmar's work with singer-songwriters such as David Crosby, Carole King, Graham Nash, Carly Simon and James Taylor helped define the signature sound of the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s. Jackson Browne and Don Henley have recorded many songs written or co-written by Kortchmar. Kortchmar is credited as Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar, Danny Kortchmar, Dan Kortchmar and even Danny Kootch on different recordings.

Kortchmar first came to prominence in the mid-1960s playing with bands in his native New York City, such as The Kingbees and the Flying Machine, which included the then-unknown Taylor; in Taylor's autobiographical composition "Fire and Rain", the line "sweet dreams and flying machines in pieces on the ground" is a reference to the break up of that band. In 1967 Kortchmar joined The Fugs, appearing on their 1968 Tenderness Junction album before following bassist Charles Larkey to California, where they joined Carole King in forming a trio named The City. The group produced an album in 1969, Now That Everything's Been Said, which was not a success. The group subsequently broke up, but Kortchmar continued backing King on her more successful solo career, including the groundbreaking Tapestry. In 1970, Kortchmar reunited with Taylor on his breakthrough album Sweet Baby James. Kortchmar's work with Taylor and King made him one of the top session guitarists in the 1970s.

Kortchmar worked on his own, reuniting with Larkey in the band Jo Mama in 1970 and 1971 and recording solo albums Kootch (1973) and Innuendo (1980), but he experienced his greatest success backing other artists such as Linda Ronstadt, Warren Zevon, Harry Nilsson and Jackson Browne. In the 1970s he made three albums with Leland Sklar, Russ Kunkel, and Craig Doerge, as The Section. He has also produced recordings by Don Henley, Neil Young, Jon Bon Jovi, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, Hanson, Tracy Chapman, Louise Goffin and others. He is featured on guitar on Carole King's 1975 album, Thoroughbred.

He had a cameo as Ronnie Pudding (Spinal Tap's bass player in their early years) in the "Gimme

Some Money" video segment of the 1984 mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap.
In 2006 he co-produced Hanson's album The Walk, which was released in the U.S. in the summer of 2007.

Danny Kortchmar: vocals, bass, guitars, drums
Craig Doerge: keyboards
Abigale Haness and William Smith: background vocals
Jim Horn: flutes, recorder, baritone and alto sax
Doug Richardson: alto sax on "Dancing Shoes"
William Smith: piano, organ

by ericbkk #5

Bob Gibson
"Joy Joy!: The Young And Wonderful Bob Gibson"
1996 (rec. 1956-58)



















Before Dylan, before Paxton, before Hardin, there was Bob Gibson. He even preceded the Kingston Trio by several years, working the folk clubs of New York and Chicago in the mid-fifties. Much like Cisco Houston before him, perhaps Gibson never received the acclaim he well deserved because his voice was "too good" for folk music. The 27 renditions offered in this long-overdue collection were originally recorded from 1956 to 1959 and offer the listener an opportunity to hear the music played and sung the way its writers intended. Indeed Hudie Ledbetter, Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger and the other great folk song authors would not deny the purity of the songs offered here. From the title tune "Joy, Joy" and through such tracks as "Whoa Buck," "This Train," "Pastures Of Plenty," "Ol' Bill," "Take This Hammer," and all the rest, Bob Gibson's lovely tenor, accompanied by his outstanding banjo and 12-string guitar work reveal an artist who should be hailed as one of the greatest folk singers of the last forty years. If you're into honest representations of traditional folk songs, this CD is a must!
: ~ Amazon Customer Comment

01. Joy Joy
02. Whoa Buck
03. This Train
04. Abilene
05. John Henry
06. Pastures Of Plenty
07. Easy Rider
08. This Little Light
09. Money Is King
10. Ol' Bill
11. Titanic
12. The Virgin Mary Had One Son
13. A Wayfaring Stranger
14. Take This Hammer
15. Red Iron Ore
16. Brandy
17. Lula Gal
18. The Rejected Lover
19. Block Island Reel
20. Lost Jimmie Whalen
21. Drill Ye Tarriers
22. I Come For To Sing
23. There's A Meetin' Here Tonight
24. Alberta
25. The Erie Canal
26. John Riley
27. Mighty Day



One of the finest folk singers to emerge in the 1950s, Bob Gibson was very much in his prime when the outstanding acoustic sides on this 1996 compilation were released. Gibson, influenced by Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger but most certainly his own man, had a direct or indirect impact on Bob Dylan, Phil Ochs and other folk-rockers who emerged in the '60s. And yet, this music generally lacks the anger and disillusionment that would later characterize so much folk. Not that Gibson shied away from sociopolitical commentary -- on the painfully honest "Money Is King," he sings, "If you're poor, God help you/Even a dog is better than you." But quite often, Gibson's outlook is sunny and optimistic. On both traditional songs and originals like "This Little Light" (Gibson's best-known composition) and "Alberta," Gibson epitomizes '50s folk at its finest. : ~ Alex Henderson


Biography by Richie Unterberger
While Bob Gibson's recordings may sound like run-of-the-mill white-boy folk to modern listeners, he played an important role in popularizing folk music to American audiences in the 1950s at the very beginning of the folk boom. His 12-string guitar style influenced performers like Gordon Lightfoot and Harry Chapin; he was a mainstay at one of the first established folk clubs in the U.S., the Gate of Horn in Chicago; and he wrote songs with Shel Silverstein and Phil Ochs, as well as performing in a duo with Hamilton Camp. Most of all, he was one of the first folkies on the scene--when he began performing and recording in the mid-'50s, there was hardly anyone else playing guitar-based folk music for an educated, relatively affluent audience.
Gibson was a salesman for a developmental reading company before he was inspired by take up folk music in 1954, after hearing Pete Seeger perform. He learned Jamaican music while working cruise boats off Florida, and taught some to the Terriers, who recorded the "Banana Boat Song" (made famous by Harry Belafonte). On his first recordings for the Riverside label in the late '50s, he played banjo and 12-string guitar with light accompaniment, presenting a wide assortment of traditional folk tunes, as well as some originals.
Gibson helped Joan Baez and Phil Ochs in their early days, and was managed by Albert Grossman, who later handled the affairs of such giants as Bob Dylan and Peter, Paul & Mary. In fact, Gibson has said that Grossman wanted to team Bob and Hamilton Camp up with a female singer before hitting upon the same type of trio approach with Peter, Paul & Mary, although Gibson wasn't interested in the idea. But Gibson probably was a little too retro for bigtime folk success in the '60s anyway. He was older than most of the performers on the scene, and his approach too tame and clean-cut, even though he and similar performers had helped created the sparks of the folk boom just by playing such material to begin with. In the latter period of his life he did continue to perform in Chicago, and help out with programs for that's city's Old Town School of Folk Music. He died in September 1996 at the age of 64.

by Paul #19

Sara Grey with Ed Trickett "Songs and Ballads"
1970 LP MP3 Rip encoded VBR (possibly 128-192)




















Sara Grey apparently still tours but now with her son and has issued several CDs but, as far as I can ascertain, this album is not available on CD. She hails from North Eastern USA but she is a deft hand at the ballads of the British Isles where she has also lived. On this album, we also meet up with Ed Trickett again and he provides some excellent instrumental and vocal backing for Sara.
This album features a wide range of folk music, both old and new, from both the British Isles and the USA simply but beautifully performed by these two. I believe that her rendition of "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" in one of the best I have heard. I have no idea who did this rip from the LP but it has been excellently done.

Tracklist
1. Rigs of Rye
2. Two Sisters
3. Sandy River Belle
4. The Horse Trader's Song
5. Few Days
6. Open the Door Softly
7. Fair Flower of Northumberland
8. Fiddlers Green
9. Texas Rangers
10. Raspberry Lane
11. Boatman
12. Grey Funnel Line
13. Cobweb of Dreams


Ed Trickett "People Like You"
1982 (2002 CD release) - 256 CBR





















Well GeoX, you want to hear one of Ed Trickett's solo albums. Although he has issued four CDs, this is the only one I have ever managed to get the music for. This rip was done by the legendary FolkPhile who has collected, ripped and shared a prodigious number of folk albums over the years including six postings in this forum. Thank you, FolkPhile!
This album has a strong US traditional quality to it with what I call an old-time country feel to it. As a soloist, he does not have the greatest voice but he sure plays a great melody on stringed instruments. To my mind, the best track on this album is "Clayton Boone" which is a very western American variation of the Child No. 200 folk song (Gypsy Laddies, Raggle-Taggle Gypsies, Gypsy Rover, Whistling Gypsy, Gypsy Davy, Black Jack David, etc), although "Cotton Mill Blues" with a bluegrass influence has a lot of appeal as well. "River of the Big Canoe" is also enjoyable.

Tracklist
1. Cold Winter Is Coming
2. Sweet Freedom
3. Old Wing
4. Dry Cardrona
5. Rock the Cradle Joe
6. People Like You
7. River of the Big Canoe
8. Cotton Mill Blues
9. The Lover's Return
10. Kitty and I
11. Clayton Boone
12. Ashes on the Sea.

by GeoX #9

Bok, Mui & Trickett "All Shall Be Well Again" ‏ 1983





















Not an all-time classic, and Jennifer Gentle is surely one of theworld's most irritating songs, but it DOES have a "Farewell to theGold" that I prefer to Nic Jones', and their version of SydneyCarter's "Julian of Norwich" (from whence the album's title) is simplyone of the most sublime things ever recorded.

(yes, I know the track numbering is slightly screwy--I can confirmthat it is in fact the complete album, however)

Incidentally, if anyone has any of Ed Trickett's solo albums, I'd loveto hear them.

-GeoX

by Paul #18

by ericbkk #4

Cisco Houston - 2 Albums

Cisco Houston was a balladeer and folksinger whose life and songs bridged the generations. Guitar in hand, he travelled all over America, absorbing the sounds of his time, translating those sounds into folksongs.
In 1961, at the age of 42, Cisco's life was cut short by cancer. But the tragedy of Cisco's death made many people realize how fine a singer this troubled man from Colorado (sic) really was.


"Passing Through" (1963?)





















Liner Notes:
THE SONGS I SING
by Cisco Houston

A folk song is a way of singing out the news---of a wedding, a murder, good times or bad times, good people or bad people. It is one way of making a record of memorable things that happened. In the days before newspapers, and among people who could not have read them even if they had existed, the folk song was a kind of chronicle and running commentary on the times. Many folk songs have lived for hundreds of years, while nothing is more dead than yesterday's newspapers. The folk songs and story ballads were not the most accurate kind of history, of course, because once the event, whatever it was, had been recorded, generations of singers went on elaborating and changing the song - smoothing it out, or shaping it up to suit their own ideas of how the event might have happened. Often, the event which started the song was blurred or lost as time went on. The song then took on its own independent life. Aristotle said in his poetics, that art is truer than history because it shows what should have happened, rather than simply what did happen. It is true to its own inner necessity rather than to the accidental historical event. In this sense, the song is certainly true, because however much the actual event which inspired the song might be changed, the song was always a true record of the attitudes and feelings of the generations.

01. It Takes A Worried Man
02. Stewball
03. Red River Valley
04. Barbara Allen
05. Down In The Valley
06. Children Go Where I Send Thee
07. The Cat Came Back
08. East Virginia #2
09. Little Dogie #2
10. Mole In The Ground
11. Old Blue
12. John Henry
13. Trouble In Mind
14. Passing Through


Somehow, several years after Cisco's death, Folkways scraped together a few unreleased tracks on wildly varying quality and put them inside a package with the ugliest LP cover of all time. With this was a bizarre biographical paragraph (Colorado???) and a short piece of Cisco's prose taken (and slightly modified) from The Cisco Songbook.
Well, Dr. Logsdon took three tracks from this LP for his Folkways Years CD, and I would certainly agree they are the best. But there are a couple of other interesting performances as well, that show a very tender Cisco. His performances of the old-time American folk songs of Down In The Valley, Barbara Allen and Red River Valley are wonderful. Spare, simple, with a quiet guitar to keep time, they sound as they would have been sung next to a campfire.
Unfortunately, the LP is padded with duplications of material Cisco recorded on other LPs, and in most cases the performances are essentially indistinguishable from the earlier versions. The guy must have recorded hundreds of songs, why two versions of Git Along Little Dogies? : ~ Jim Clark


Acknowledgements to Uncle Gil's Rockin' Archives blog for these files.


"Cisco Houston Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie" (1961)

















What can I say? If you love Cisco, you must own this. If you like Woody, you must own this. If you enjoy folk music, you must own this. One can quibble as to whether some of these performances were "over-produced" or not, but the bottom line is that Cisco is in fine voice, his guitar rings out true, the songs are some of Woody's best, Cisco was in on the creation (uncredited) of several of them. Some people just can't warm up to Woody's own voice and pickin', and for them, these versions by Cisco were essential to forming an appreciation of Woody's genius. : ~ Bill Adams

Track Listing

THIS LAND
Pastures Of Plenty
(My daddy flies a) Ship in the Sky
Deportees
Grand Coulee Dam
Sinking of the Reuben James

CURLEY HEADED BABIES
Curly Headed Baby
Ladies Auxiliary
Taking It Easy
Hard, Ain't It Hard

BIG MEN
Jesus Christ
Buffalo Skinners
Pretty Boy Floyd
Philadelphia Lawyer

LONE WOLVES
Old Lone Wolf
Talking Fishing Blues
Ranger's Command
Do Re Mi
Blowing Down That Old Dusty Road

DL

192 kbps


There are five performances on here that should be on any collection of Greatest Folk Performances: Pretty Boy Floyd (compare this to Joan Baez's shrieking version available on The Greatest Songs Of Woody Guthrie); Buffalo Skinners (if this doesn't sound like a 100 year old song I don't know what does); Do Re Mi (the classic Depression song, sung by a guy who sounds as if he knows firsthand); Deportees (the essence of folk music, the downtrodden and abused); and Sinking of the Reuben James (which makes the loss of life a tragedy but not a maudlin spectacle.) Other fine songs are here, but these alone make it worth far more than its modest price. Cisco was the definitive interpreter of Woody's music, not just because they were friends for many years, but because he gets inside these tales. These are not performances as songs are currently performed, with some god or goddess acting as if they are downtrodden, rough-and-tumble, or broke. No, these versions live and breathe Woody's emotions, and the emotions of millions of Americans who loved their country, worried about its policies, bravely fought its wars, and looked forward hopefully to a better world a comin'.
The notes reproduce the original notes from the LP, capturing Cisco's heartfelt appreciation of Woody. A good man describing another good man. One line especially worthy of note:
"Nowhere in Woody's work will you find the 'I was born to lose' whimpering so common to commercial hillbilly tunes." These are tales of the hard working, patriotic, and staunch people politicians claim to care for but Woody and Cisco truly knew and loved. : ~ Jim Clark


Cisco Houston is sometimes more remembered for his association with Woody Guthrie than for his gift as a folksinger. His smooth, deep baritone was interpreted by many folk purists as "commercial," thus inauthentic, and unlike Guthrie, he preferred interpreting other writer's songs as opposed to writing his own. Released two years after Houston's death, Cisco Houston Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie finds the singer once again stepping out of the limelight to pay deference to his famous friend. The surprising thing to anyone unfamiliar with traditional folk music, however, is how enjoyable and accessible this collection is. Indeed, Houston's vocals on classics like "Deportees" and "Buffalo Skinners" are much more pleasing musically than Guthrie's dry, Oklahoma rasp. If one compares Houston's take on "Pastures of Plenty" with Guthrie's version on The Asch Recordings, for instance, Houston's version comes across as more inspired and more respectful of the lyrics. While this comparison would not hold true on Houston's versions of "Pretty Boy Floyd" and "Do Re Me," his interpretations are more than proficient. Perhaps the best way to understand his contributions to folk music is to understand him as a prophet of sorts, a John the Baptist spreading the word about another great folksinger who -- because of Huntington's chorea -- could no longer sing his own songs. Cisco Houston Sings the Songs of Woody Guthrie is a lovely tribute to a friend by someone who understood the significance of his music. ~ Ronnie D. Lankford, Jr., All Music Guide


Fiddle & mandolin accompaniment by Eric Weissberg of "Duelling Banjos" fame in the movie "Deliverance".


Thanks to Merlin in Rags blog for these files.

by GeoX #8

Bok, Muir & Trickett "Turning Toward the Morning"‏ 1975





















I would have sworn The Ways of Man was their first album. Shows whatI know. Anyway, this is pretty great, especially the title track anda really good version of "The Wind that Shakes the Barley."

-GeoX

by Paul #17

Anne Mayo Muir "So Goes My Heart"
2000 CD release of 1985 recording - VBR @ about 192Kbs





















Ann Mayo Muir has featured here in company with Gordon Bok and also with Ed Trickett and I am sure many have enjoyed her singing.

As far as I can ascertain, there have been three albums released solely under her name. There was a 1963/4 album titled "Magic of Mayo Muir" about which I know very little (any chance someone can rip and post this one, please?). In 2000, there was a CD titled "The Music of Ann Mayo Muir" but, with one exception, the tracks are re-issues from Bok, Muir and Trickett releases.

This album "So Goes My Heart" was also released in 2000 from tracks which, I have been informed, were recorded in 1985. In this album Muir is the principal singer with some backing and accompaniment from her daughter Christina and also Bok and Trickett. We need to thank "axbum" for this rip.

Tracklist
Bantry Girl's Lament
Cousin Emmy's Blues
The Dark North Sea
Faraway Tom
Geordie
Highland Widow's Lament
Know Me By No Other Name
The Lady Mary Sails
Little Goat
Love It Like a Fool
Oh, Hush Ye Now
Old Blue Suit
Stranger to the Land

by Julie

June Tabor "Airs and Graces" 1976





















Here the first album of June "Airs and Graces" (1976) , many considered his masterpiece

Julie


June Tabor's first solo record is an understated triumph full of good songs, great arrangements, and a crack group of backing musicians led by the guitar playing of Nic Jones. Much of Airs and Graces is pure British folk, and Tabor has much fun with such ancient numbers as "While the Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping" and "Young Waters." The standout track, however, is her version of Eric Bogle's brilliant anti-war ode "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda." Sung a cappella, you can almost feel the bitterness in her voice, a breathtaking, stunning moment indicative of how amazing she can be. Reissued on compact disc by Shanachie. ~ John Dougan, All Music Guide

by GeoX #7

Bok Muir & Trickett "And So Will We Yet" 1990
























One of their best albums. Features a version of "John Barleycorn"that is not the version made famous by Traffic and Steeleye Span.Also "Past Caring," one of the most relentlessly depressing songsever. What else is there to say?

-GeoX

This trio has never made a bad album, though some have been more transcendent than others. If this one doesn't top Turning Toward the Morning or even A Water Over Stone, it still stands head and shoulders above the vast majority of modern folk releases. Ed Trickett's reedy tenor, Ann Mayo Muir's flute-like mezzo and Gordon Bok's gravel-pit bass aren't exactly a natural fit with each other, yet somehow they work beautifully together, and when the three combine their talents for song-gathering the results are almost always inspiring. This program includes Bayard Rustin's gorgeous "I Saw Her as She Came and Went" (a Muir/Trickett duet which features Bok's expert accompaniment and homemade instruments), the lovely and strangely sad "Wild Birds" (which evokes the high plains of Wyoming in lyrics that Bok's down-east accent shouldn't be able to deliver as effectively as it does), and the achingly pretty "Past Caring," a gently despairing song that recalls Johnnie Stewart, Drover in its melody and general mood. Best of all, though, is Muir's singing on Jez Lowe's "The Bergen," an ode to a seafaring lover. Listeners might feel free to skip "Tails and Trotters," a cutesy novelty tune. ~ Rick Anderson, All Music Guide