Various Artists – "Music Of The Ukraine" (Ethnic Folkways Library – FE 4443) 1951

Its got sleeve art like a Swans album,adorned with a black and white photo of what appears to be soviet Ukrainian relatives of Blitz era Spandau Ballet,yet it sounds like the soundtrack to "O'Brother Where Art Thou? 2", and showcases a glaring error, much repeated by us ignorant Westerners, referring to Ukraine as 'THE' Ukraine....It's just 'Ukraine' in fact, no 'THE' involved,or,indeed, needed.

There must have been a sizable influx of Ukrainians ,fleeing pogroms or revolution to the Appalachians in the first half of the 20th century,as this Ukrainian Folk could easily be some weird bluegrass from Harry Smith's anthology of American Folk. It's just lacking a few Toothless Donbas Dumbass Hillbillies,or some moonshine damaged hick called Blind Lemon Shevchenko dueling balalaika's and banjo's with Dock Boggs. There was certainly no British folk that sounded like this anyhow......not enough senseless slaughter going on in those sceptered isles it seemed, at least up until the potato famine that is; after which the terrors of Irish pixie dancing music were deliberately exported to the fledgling USA by the British governments attempt to starve Irish Dancing out of the empire for good.....then Michael Flatley happened and now its too late to do a Potato Famine two....we're stuck with it!

I'm struggling to locate any contemporary Ukrainian music that isn't generic and western via Moscow leaning.....but this shits weird! Get it before Putin erases the tapes and removed anything vaguely Ukrainian from the planet,while moaning about 'Cancel Culture'. Betraying a very well hidden literary intellect, this jawless,joyless, dwarf,intellectually and physically,desperately accuses the British Government of trying to cancel Harry Potter! That bunch of twerps are responsible for many things, but tragically not cancelling all things J.K.Rowling.They couldn't even get that right!? I honestly despair of them. Tax cuts for the Rich funded by eye watering borrowing requirements,and sweeping welfare cuts for the poor,yet they don't have the balls to cancel Harry Potter!??? What is this world coming to?.......a heavily irradiated ending it seems?.....but at least Harry Potter will cease to exist along with the rest of us? Happily there's a bright side before the Electromagnetic wave of thermonuclear destruction wipes all hard drives and all data that proved we ever existed......but if those who inherit humanities position as super selfish food chain toppers,and string two extra brain cells together, ever find an intact copy of "Music Of Ukraine" hidden in a lead lined nook somewhere....with a record player of course? Then they are gonna have a funny idea that there may have been a mysterious civilization who, once upon a time, left this molten highly radioactive landscape to the next bunch of self-destructive morons.

Just like those mysterious chaps on Easter Island...what was going on there then?

Tracklist:

1. Gutsul Kolomyika Dance-Song – Oleska Suyhodolyak With Bagpipe Acc.
2. Kozachok Dance-Song – Ivan Martishchuk With Bagpipe Acc.
3. Huculka Dance – Carpatho Ukrainian Village Orchestra
4. Country Dances – Carpatho Ukrainian Village Orchestra
5. Wedding Melodies – Hutsul Ensemble Of Folk Musicians
6. Hutsulka And Kozachok Dances – Hutsul Ensemble Of Folk Musicians
7. Folk Song - The Wind From The Field
8. Folk Song - One Half Of The Garden Blossoms

DOWNLOAD the folk music from a people and a place that, according to a certain autocratic dictator,doesn't exist...find proof that it does...HERE!

Södra Bergens Balalaikor – "Södra Bergens Balalaikor" (MNW – MNW 19 P) 1971

Apart from austere joyless classical music, Dictators like their peasant classes to entertain themselves by doing traditional dances to horrific localized folk like this .Woe betide any smart alek liberal who whips out an electric organ or a new fangled digital accordian to sing songs in any foreign tongue,that doesn't exude love of country or praise the family unit. Out would be wheeled the portable guillotine so beloved of the Nazi's, for public execution parties.....complete with doomy classical and creepy Folk orchestra's in a jolly up as the offenders severed head is placed on the 'peoples' spike at the entrance of the city.

Although this scenario doesn't generally happen in peace lovin' Sweden...yet....this creepy,but menacingly funny balalaika band was a pinko non profit orchestra that boasted up to 30 balaikas and a choir in it's line-up,probably with it's own Swedish communist party lyicist. You may not be surprised to know that this started as a music school project,hence the deliberately emphasised 'bum' notes,which I guess indicates a pretension towards humor.

You may also be surprised to know that Södra Bergens Balalaikor was part of the Swedish 'Progg Movement' as discussed on the last post. This explains those grubby socialist jibes that your's truly aimed in the orchestra's general direction. That being the politics of choice for the 'Progg' movement...and why not? It worked for Amon Duul...forward slash...Baader-Meinhof's Red Army Faction....fun fun fun? Being cajoled into these movements,must be like being shut in a Japanese prison sweat box with an insurance salesman.

Don't It just make you wanna kick seven shades of shite out of the nearest self-righteous soap boxing aspiring political activist ? Leave us alone you cunts....please?

If Vladimir 'The impailer' Putin ever got anywhere near your home town you better start paying attention to your local folk volunteers and get yerself a Balalaika.....acoustic of course; as well as genning up on austere classical music.A guaranteed ticket away from having electrodes attached to your genitalia,before being waterboarded in a bath of human shit. 

This was the kind of stuff one could find in the 'Bargain Bin' section of the famed Ultima Thule shop of Leicester....which I'm sure I've mentioned before? It might have been cheap(it isn't now) but this stuff could empty a room almost as quickly as an Amon Duul I LP.

There are certainly shades of the Portsmouth Sinfonia going on here, and maybe even The 3 Mustaphas 3 from the 70's and 80's respectively. However i'm not sure how serious SBB or these other similar projects were,which is also a pointer towards sophisticated comedy,as it is with the aforementioned examples in this paragraph.They could be the Swedish Incredible String Band for all I know.

Having heard quite a few of the other Swedish 'Progg' groups,I can now warn you,in a polite way, that they aren't very good at all.So don't go thinking that there's an Italian Prog type gold mine of wonderful progressive rock just waiting like low hanging fruit fro yourselves to gorge on until you're sick.....dunno about you but I'm sick already.I'm also quite pleased to say that this has nothing to do with Rock In Opposition,except maybe 60's student politics, which is supposedly what the recent train of thought was supposed to be about.

Tracklist:

A1 Under Äppelträdet 3:10
A2 Zhaleika 2:17
A3 Dnjepr 2:30
A4 Kärleksvisa 2:30
A5 Månen Lyser 3:56
A6 Timon 3:11
B1 Poljanka 3:30
B2 Azamat 1:35
B3 Den Lille Gåskarlen 2:15
B4 Under Eken 1:33
B5 Vallåt Från Ryssland 2:00
B6 Gogov, Gogov 1:40
B7 Kamarinskaja 3:47

DOWNLOAD some volk musik HERE!

The Young Tradition – "So Cheerfully Round" (Transatlantic Records – TRA 155) 1967

They look like one of those generic American Psychedelic groups from the cusp of 1967. They even have the creepy older bloke like many a Sunshine Pop combo from Connecticut. The psych era was a vertitable playground for the creepy old bloke who had a modern wardrobe. Free Love baby....or rather Free Rape...which meant, men could have sex with anyone they wanted even if the person in question didn't want to. A sort of acceptable rape trend (Groovy Pops!) .If the young lady in question didn't sleep around she was instantly labelled an off trend square. The sneakiest way around the consensual sex trap that the human male has ever invented in his long evil history. These psychedelic violators would have laughed at the idea of consent forms, which are looming in our mixed up muddled up society;which will surely lead to a boom in forgery will it not?

My favourite creepy old bloke in a pop group has to be the horrific manifestation of pure evil that was ,real name, Peter Mann,head honcho of sixties sunshine pop band 'The Sugar Shoppe'. It was even named after one of the pedophile's most trusted lures,a sweet shop.

Dig this...he's second from the right.....the one that looks like a sex pervert,not the one that looks like a little girl ready for beddie on the left.

The Unusual Suspects.....spot the perv in the line up.

I was once a sunshine Pop obsessive, and I found this 'Please Buy Me' item in Rhythm Records of Camden lock NW1 in the 90's.It pleaded with me to take it home, and I certainly wasn't disappointed......so i guess I should make a rare exception and post two download links.....if you want to hear the Sugar Shoppe,including drug references, then click HERE! Baby!

The run out of the opener, Skip-a-long Sam, is pure Hollywood cheese Psych gold.

I digress......But, don't get me wrong ,obviously Royston of The Young Tradition wasn't too much of a randy perv by all accounts....he was just Balding! Like me......er...but I'm a perv(like all men) so strike that comment!

The cover art and title,of the Tradition's album, is a naked attempt to infiltrate the UFO club psychedelic underground...after all, Fairport and The Incredible string Band played at all the Psych haunts in swinging London,so why not The Young Tradition?....of course they didn't,but they might sell some records to the less hip,a casual browser in Woolworths,or an out of touch grown up Beatle fan maybe?

However, once the casual buyer got this disc home,and slapped it on their Dansette,I doubt they would have continued past track one. No drums, no guitars,no sickly sweet harmonies,no songs about going to the cinema with yer girlfriend. If you liked Pop music, this would have been as shocking as a John and Yoko album.

Yes, they've been to Carnaby Street,but musically they were the real thing.....they just didn't look like it.

Tracklist:

A1 Daddy Fox 3:12
A2 The Season Round 4:02
A3 The Bold Dragoon 2:18
A4 Watercress-O 3:08
A5 The Old Miser 3:50
A6 The Foxhunt 1:40
B1 Knight William 4:39
B2 The Single Man's Warning 2:36
B3 The Pretty Ploughboy 5:25
B4 The Hungry Child 3:48
B5 The Whitsuntide Carol 2:15

DOWNLOAD the Young Tradition of being fashionable HERE!

The Young Tradition – "The Young Tradition" (Transatlantic Records – TRA 142) 1966

Groovy Baby! Its the Waterson's if they lived on Carnaby Street. Note the moody cover photo hiding their Granny Takes a Trip finery.

There must have been some Record Company meddling going on here,crossing the Waterson's with The Mama's and Papa's,and coming up with a still birth. That name too!? It sounds like one of those all singing, all dancing, groups of 'Young' people who invaded our homes during the Des O'Connor Show;but looking at them, they would definitely not  have got a birth in 'Hills Angels' on the Benny Hill Show.....unaware of this dodgy dance troop? Then treat yourself to an offensive on all levels clip of Benny and the Angels in action HERE!....blacked up old men, scantily clad schoolgirls,and what takes the biscuit...its superbly unfunny even on a child's level. We need crap like this NOW!

However, The Young Tradition,were as straight faced about their art as I was watching the Benny Hill Show.They seem,however, to have been accepted by the infamously snobby UK Folk Revival scene,the Young,and very middle class snobby Folk Revival Scene. They sang largely unaccompanied, like the Waterson's, were probably older than the Waterson's, but had a clothing budget,although  one of them had sideburns,and a comb-over baldness hiding hairdo,likely by Vidal Sassoon's dumber brother.

The not so Young Tradition do psychedelia

You can forgive the moronic record companies trying to sell this Folk Fad to the Beatles bobby-soxers, they were in business after all,even if they were clueless about the stuff they were forcing upon us.The Beatles were, after all, a contemporary electric Folk group. But John ,Paul,George and Ringo's vocal harmonies were certainly sweeter sounding that the harsh Folk realism of Peter,Heather and Royston's abrasive traditional vocalisations. The subject matter of the songs were usually X-rated,unlike the Fab Four's 'will you go out with me' storylines, so it was unlikely they were gonna trouble the British Market Research Bureau, who compiled the charts,too much.They were also terminally lacking in the Good looks department,something that was/is as essential in Folk Music as it is in Politics....Fuck the Music,Fuck the policies, the only thing that interests the casual human being is can you imagine wanting to fuck them....in this case,probably not,especially the groovy kat with the comb-over.

Tracklist:

A1 Byker Hill
A2 The Bold Fisherman
A3 Betsy The Serving Maid
A4 Henry The Poacher
A5 The Lyke Wake Dirge
B1 The Banks Of Claudy
B2 The Innocent Hare
B3 Dives And Lazarus
B4 Derry Down Fair
B5 The Truth Sent From Above
B6 Pretty Nancy Of Yarmouth

DOWNLOAD these crazy kids' first album HERE!

The Watersons – "The Watersons" (Topic Records – 12T142) 1966

1966, a fine year indeed, England won the world cup with a dodgy goal that pissed the Krauts off double LOL!,and The Watersons released their second album on Topic.

No selling out for The Waterson family,still banging out the ,largely,unaccompanied traditional songs mostly from East Yorkshire and the lovely city of Hull,with a swarthy gypsy's religious Zeal.No Aryans allowed here thanks.

Their enviable,it says on the sleeve-notes, combination of dark good looks, ringing voices, abundant charm and immense vitality earned them a kind of star status within the UK folk song revival which was usually reserved for them silly pop singers. With unpretentious zestfulness for their craft they had little or no interest in the glamorous sewer of showbiz,and doubtless, showbiz had little interest in them? Unless they changed them into The Hollies or some 60's dross like that,and send the ladies to Mary Quant for a vast makeover.They luckily escaped this humiliation,unlike some of their fellow travellers,such as Sandy Denny who was made to go and get glammed up for David Bailey to take some of his shite photo's of her for that big push for stardom....which of course went very tits up indeed!

Tracklist:

A1 Dido Bendigo 2:53
A2 The North Country Maid 2:31
A3 Brave Wolfe 4:27
A4 The Jolly Waggoners 2:53
A5 I Am A Rover 4:59
B1 Fathom The Bowl 2:52
B2 The Thirty-Foot Trailer 3:30
B3 The Holmfirth Anthem 1:58
B4 Twanky-Dillo 3:38
B5 The White Hare Of Howden 1:59
B6 The Plains Of Mexico 1:49
B7 All For Me Grog 2:39

DOWNLOAD by the watersons HERE!

The Watersons – "Frost And Fire: A Calendar Of Ritual And Magical Songs" (Topic Records – 12T136) 1965

Hull,the home of Britain's longest road bridge,and due to its close proximity to the former Soviet Union,was chosen as the site for Britain's early warning system and listening stations pointing towards Moscow.Only been to Hull once,when I went a wassailing with a nice young lady I conversed with in the early days of the internet.She hadn't heard of the Watersons,or The Housemartins, but boy could she wassail.....and other things too (nudge nudge).Sadly I have forgotten her name,but she did have a interesting fantasy to be tied to a tree naked,taken advantage of, and left there!? The great conversationalist that I am,I asked her what she did for a living(no,not while tied to a tree....pleeeze!),which she wasn't at liberty to disclose because she had signed the Official Secrets Act"!? Hmmmm?

So, can we all name five famous people from Kingston upon Hull?.....er,as previously mentioned....there's that bloke from The Housemartins......er....ummm...oh yeah;and, of course, The four Watersons in The Waterson's, Folk's version of Crass.

They dressed in various shades of grey,had poker straight black hair,class war politics,and drank copious amounts of northern ale. Which for the female members of the group,including Norma, Martin Carthy's future wife, was shocking behaviour for the early sixties.

They performed mainly traditional songs with little or no accompaniment, and banged out the tunes with their distinctive close harmonies,and proud Hull accents, across the pubs and clubs of northern England,kick starting the UK Folk revival with an almost religious zeal. They had a great spartan image too, which is always a plus.

Crass at the Waterson themed Anarchy center fancy dress party 1977....Rimbaud is top left.

This debut on the legendary Topic Records was voted Melody Maker album of the year,which considering what it was up against (Bobby Dylan etc..) is a mildly impressive achievement.

Opening with what is something of a theme tune in "Here We Come A-Wassailing", this record was the benchmark for how to do contemporary versions of traditional song forms.

What the fuck is Wassailing anyway you may ask? Good question...well instead of asking your mates if they fancy a pint later,try asking them if they want to come A-Wassailing, which basically means are you coming tut pub to get wasted th'neet?

There's plenty of similarly themed tunes celebrating the simple things in life,and includes the definitive version of "Hal-An-Tow, the pagan anthem for the rebirth of summer.Which in Hull lasts approximately a wet fortnight in august.

One simply couldn't get further away from commercialism or the musick biz as this.

Tracklist:

A1 Here We Come A-Wassailing
A2 The Derby Ram
A3 Jolly Old Hawk
A4 Pace-Egging Song
A5 Seven Virgins Or The Leaves Of Life
A6 The Holly Bears A Berry
A7 Hal-An-Tow
B1 Earsdon Sword Dance Song
B2 John Barleycorn
B3 Harvest Song: We Gets Up In The Morn
B4 Souling Song
B5 Christmas Is Now Drawing Near At Hand
B6 Herod And The Cock
B7 Wassail Song

DOWNLOAD to come a digital wasailing HERE!

Martin Carthy – "Shearwater" (PEG – PEG 12) 1972

It be the great daddy of the UK Folk revival's 80th birthyday today. All Hail!

So as a tribute,and with virtually zero moronic waffle from me, here's One of Martin's bestest ever albums for you all to celebrate with...bloody crap cover though!? This may be an unimaginative piece of script,but its more than most other blogs can be bothered to write.Normally its jsut a picture and a highlighted "Link" that's long dead.....unlike the great Martin.

Happy 80th Birthyday Martin Carthy.....MBE.

Tracklist:

A1 I Was A Young Man
A2 Banks Of Green Willow
A3 Handsome Polly-O
A4 Outlandish Knight
A5 He Called For A Candle
A6 John Blunt
B1 Lord Randall
B2 William Taylor
B3 Famous Flower Of Serving Men
B4 Betsy Bell And Mary Gray

DOWNLOAD the leftie with the MBE,but with reasons,HERE!

Michael Raven & Joan Mills ‎– "Hymn To Ché Guevara" (Folk Heritage Recordings FHR 054) 1974

There aren't too many openly conservative Folkies. They're all looney left wing, unless you count Johnny Cash as Folk? Well at least in the UK, all Folk musicians were proud exponents in sucking the red end of the political spectrum. Michael Raven may well have the deportment of an off duty Police officer,but his recording career suggested that he was somewhat a frustrated Pinko. Firmly out of the closet by 1974,the title of this crime worshiping album kind of confirms a revolutionary bent.

Making a record in praise of Ché ,a terrorist by modern standards,quite possibly a war criminal by any code of contemporary civilised ethics, and very guilty of crimes against humanity for his role as Minister of Justice in Castro's early government.'Justice' meaning executing enemies of the people,aka, anyone they didn't like.

Very popular on T-shirts,crowned the sixties Jesus, Ché,was more a fashion token rather than someone to base a new world order on. Somehow I can't imagine Joan and Michael having an in depth discussion about Ché's concept of the 'New Man' and the collectivization of farmlands.....saying that ,however, he looked good,and if you have a cool image, crimes against humanity don't count for diddly-squat.

I can just imagine these gentle folkies turning into blood thirsty killers come the revolution, hacking that doom metal fan next door into pieces with a scythe at the slightest wink from the latest Ché-a-like @ Facebook.com. Human's have a track record of stuff like this.

Depending on the blugeoner of course, I wouldn't mind being bludgeoned to death by an acoustic twelve string if it was wielded by Sandy Denny's resurrected ghost......as long as it was in tune mind!

That said, if the would be bludgeoner was some faux-folkie like James "You're Beaudiful" Blunt,or that Ginger twat from X-Factor,then I would willingly surrender my liberty,or even my life, to render them harmless with a couple of lead lined mandolin's. 

Raven and Mills, seem to enjoy singing about criminals in general it seems,because of the misconception that all criminals are the hard done by working class lads'n'lasses featured in many a traditional tune.Or was Raven really a plain clothes policeman after all?

 
Tracklist:

1 Belle Starr & Jesse James
2 Twenty Years
3 Tim Evans’ Dance
4 Melancholy Pavanne
5 Perry Mason’s Maggot
6 Hymn To Che Guevara
7 The Great Train Robbery
8 Magpies In Picardy
9 Little White Donkey
10 Dancing Lady
11 Over The Wall
12 Midnight City

DOWNLOAD the commie book of prayer HERE!

Michael Raven & Joan Mills – "Death And The Lady" (Folk Heritage Recordings – FHR 047) 1972

Well the tenuous connection between me getting Pfizered today and some twilit english folk moozick,is this sought after LP by Michael Raven and Joan Mills."Death and The Lady"

Death being the looming shadow of Co-Vid 19,and the lady being the charming young nurse who penetrated my left arm with the serum.

A liquid which, depending on which facebook post you last read instead of watching responsible news channels, or reading serious newspapers, will either render you a screaming vegetable as part some some fiendish genetic experiment, or turn you into a political zombie working for the Illuminati (Aren't we already?). There are many others that I can't be fucking bothered to list,but I do suspect,I'm crazy i know, that there wasn't any nano-bots or nano chips shot into my body, and the planet Earth is definitely elliptical rather than Flat.I know this because I can't see Australia,or at least the Himalayas from my nearest hillock.

Anyway, I've took one for the team to help free us all,even the Anti-vaxxers and conspiracy nuts, from this absurd repression......not that i've minded it at all.It kept people away from my front door,business increased by 500% due to the online boom,and i don't have to go anywhere.....look, I've got the photo's,so whats the point?

As lockdown is being lifted,and bars are opening, at least in the UK, I'm waiting for the anti-vaxxers to become the dominant breeding ground for super-covid,as the virus works out how to avoid the immune system altogether and become 100% lethal.My dearest wish is that it kills the Anti-Vaxxers in horrible slow agony before it gets to us responsible adult types.Dying will be worth it knowing that these post-truther fools got a free crash course in immunology before they realised that they just might have been....er,silly I know but.... wrong???....can't be?...nah?

"Do your Research" they said? Meaning watch some basket-case with a self-importance deficiency on YouTube,rather than doing 6 years at university studying immunology and/or virology.Duh!

Frank Farley of The Pirates as Joan Mills minder

However..... this album is rather mid-budget Pentangly, but worth the price of admission for the fact that Michael raven looked like a bald Frank Farley of the Pirates ,and sometimes like Roger Whittaker crossed with the Sweeney......sorry anyone not from the noisy island of Britain,I just can't help myself using Brit-culture references,it amuses me.

Joan mills has a nice line in delightfully dark(-ish) warbling,but tends to overdo it a bit.She so wanted to be Jacqui McShee (Pentangle),and almost pulled it off. But one cannot fault the quality of these songs.....the guitar playing, although very BBC schools program theme tune style is suitably haunting!......OUCH!...those nano-bots are starting to take over, I must kill,Kill KILL all non believers!

I predict the new 100% lethal'Super-Covid' will hit round about the end of the holiday season(sept).....and there'll be No escape....not even for Bo-Jo bless him,as he'll miss being voted the worst Prime Minister that ever got to redecorate the Downing Street Flat 'cus he'll be dead!

Tracklist:

1.Death And The Lady
2.The Jolly Highwayman
3.Lisa Lan
4.Ladies Don't Go A-Thievin'
5.Robin Hood's Dance
6.Staines Morris / La Folia Saraband / Adson's Saraband
7.Saraband
8.The Lichfield Greenhill Bower Processional
9.The Captain's Apprentice
10.Can Y Melinyd / Troseg Y Gareg
11.Sarah Collins
12.The White Gloves
13.La Russe Waltz / Paris Polka
14.The Queen Of The Night

DOWNLOAD some intravenous english folk HERE!

Dave Swarbrick – "Swarbrick" (Transatlantic Records – TRA 337) 1976

Barry Dransfield may have had the eyebrows, but Fiddler numero uno was of course, David Swarbrick, the Fag-meister.The funny looking one in Fairport Convention with the sticky out ears and questionable dress sense.

Never seen without a tab in his mouth,even when sleeping, he was one of the musicians responsible for the resurgence of  folk music in the UK and made it attractive to a mainstream rock audience.

During his tenure on the highway to emphysema, dual lung transplant, and inevitably, death,he effortlessly churned out a seemingly endless repertoire  of jigs, reels, and melodic violin led laments,as well as accompanying all the legends of the UK folk revival,often whipping out his mandolin.His workload was enormous,but never a complaint about shite record sales,unlike todays spoilt and lazy drug free bratola's. Basically his legend loomed large,and looms larger today. I bought this back in the day,because i liked the cover(rarely goes wrong), thinking this was some violin led prog rock group,but was pleasantly surprised it was prog jig mixed with some prog reels,and some prog folk.... a great album, and a great man.Chain Smoking's obviously good for some people after all?

Tracklist:

1.The Heilanman / Drowsy Maggie 2:39
2.Carthy's March 2:31
3.The White Cockade / Doc Boyds Jig / Durham Rangers 3:09
4.My Singing Bird 3:37
5.The Nightingale 2:18
6.Once I Loved A Maiden Fair 1:57
7.The Killarney Boys Of Pleasure 2:37
8.Lady In The Boat / Rosin The Bow / Timour The Tartar 4:10
9.Byker Hill 5:07
10.The Ace And Deuce Of Pipering 2:11
11.Hole In The Wall 1:19
12.Ben Dorian 1:36
13.Hullichans / Chorus Jig 2:00
14.The 79th's Farewell To Gibraltar 3:26
15.Arthur McBride / Snug In The Blanket 4:32

DOWNLOAD the postive sides of tobacco abuse HERE!

Barry Dransfield – "Bowin' And Scrapin' " ~~(Topic Records – 12TS386) 1978

Rumour has it that Barry Dransfield's fiddle bow was beefed up by strands of Barry's own eyebrow hair liberated by some handy wire-cutters,which adds that extra raspiness so characteristic of Barry's solo fiddle style. I suspect that Dave Swarbrick did the same thing, but this time using his ample sideburn hair.?

All the secret age old techniques of Folk music are being brought into the light here, so one must curtail these revelations pronto or risk a visit from a fuming Green Man with wood on,looking for sexual recompense of the type as described in "Recitation Upon A Gentleman Sitting On A Cremona Violin".

Although Barry's youthful looks as pictured on his first solo album had waned somewhat by 1978.This has to be the best album cover in the vast Topic Records catalogue. Which isn't saying too much,as most of 'em are bloody terrible.Here we have a police helicopters view of Barry's piercing eyes framed by the famed eyebrows,handling that fiddle like a freshly sheered sheep's arse.

The back cover has our second favorite fiddler doffing his cap in an unsettlingly Russell Brand-like pose,but with a better hairstyle than the self-styled Che Guevara of Hampstead,or Citizen Smith of Beverly Hills when he's on set in Hollywood.

But when Barry's a-fiddling he, the hideous spectre of ex-junkie stand up joker Brand,disappears like a mirage in a desert of forgotten folk reissues. 

Tracklist:

A1 Rattling Roaring Willie / Metal Man 3:18
A2 Fiddler's Progress 2:29
A3 Who Know Where The Time Goes / My Lagan Love 4:15
A4 Sheffield Hornpipe / Pet Of The Pipers 2:18
A5 Up The Aisle Medley: Swedish Wedding March - Wedding Song - Bridie's Wedding - Norwegian Wedding March - Wedding Morris 6:35
B1 Sandy Bell's 1:19
B2 Obliged To Fiddle / Planxty Davy / Spanish Cloak 4:32
B3 Bushes And Briars / Swedish Air 2:45
B4 O'Carolan's Concerto 3:42
B5 Recitation Upon A Gentleman Sitting On A Cremona Violin 6:19
B6 Sally Gardens / Clonmel Races 2:06

DOWNLOAD without blowin' and crappin' HERE!

Barry Dransfield – "Barry Dransfield" (Polydor – 2383 160) 1972

Once voted thee most expensive Folk album on da planet,f-king hell, it costs even more than anything on elitest re-issue label Vinyl On Demand!!!? But infinitely better value for money music wise,in the fact that it is actually 'Music'. The more talented Dransfield brother, Barry, garnered himself a major label one album deal. with kraut label Polydor. Label mates with James Last was something to keep quite down at the Folk Club at the local pub.

It is,however a great piece of authentic contemporary folk art,made and played by the owner of the densest set of eyebrows this side of Chris de Burgh.I think I may have a man crush goin' on here?....no not De Burgh! Dransfield, B.

Of course it sank like the Titanic,with the Dransfields' ancestors trapped beneath decks in steerage ,such be the role of the working classes.Die in wars, die in factories, die in pits,die in luxury liner disasters. Not sure if there are any folk tunes about the Titanic....one must do some research, proper research, not the type of 'research'(ie watching you-tube video's by nutters) that anti-vaxxers and relatives always accuse your scribe of not doing.

Anyone know of any?

Tracklist:

A1 The Werewolf
A2 Be My Friend
A3 Jigs: Hyde Park Mansions / Irish Jig
A4 She's Like A Swallow
A5 Broken Barricades
A6 Girl Of Dances
B1 Lots Of Little Soldiers
B2 Lily's Ballade
B3 Reels: The Trip To Derrow / The Traveller / St. Anne's Reel
B4 Robin Hood And The Peddlar
B5 General Worthington

DOWNLOAD from steerage HERE!

Morris On - "Morris On" (Island Records – HELP 5) 1972

 

No, not a lost album by Jim Morrison as channeled by a nutter from beyond the grave. It's an album of Morris dancing jigs and reels as performed by a Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span,plus Barry Dransfield super group...that's them nutty fellows pictured in their off duty relaxation gear on the cover.

The brainchild of Ashley Hutchings,this is a funked up version of some of the tunes that the Morris Men dance to, evoking the sex gods to make these dancing lunatics fertile around human mating time.So crank up the volume, and make ready your pigs bladder,polish the bells that adorn your legs and prance around like an idiot with a handkerchief and some sticks....among other questionable acts.There's quite a few tunes that are rather rude,so you have been warned.

It sounds like the lads, plus Shirley Collins,seem to be having a jolly fine time anyway.So much so that there were several sequels to this LP over the decades,starting with "Son Of Morris On"......noooo not Jim Morrison's secret son!Although I do know someone who did actually father a child after he was dead. He finally succumbed to his fifth heart attack,but his girlfriend had insisted that his spunk should be frozen for future use...post mortem. Thankfully we won't have to suffer any surprise kids by the stiff Jim Morrison,and the potential threat of more terrible poetry springing forth from the snake king's DNA helix.Dare I suggest that death may well be preferable,unless a hell exists beyond the one we are in now,in which we are taunted by Jim Morrison's "An American Prayer" for eternity plus one.....and don't forget, Suicide is no longer an option when you are already dead.

Tracklist:

A1 Morris Call
A2 Greensleeves
A3 The Nutting Girl
A4 Old Woman Tossed Up In A Blanket / Shepherd's Hey / Trunkles
A5 Staines Morris
A6 Lads A'Bunchum / Young Collins
B1 Vandals Of Hammerwich
B2 Willow Tree / Bean Setting / Shooting
B3 I'll Go And 'List For A Sailor
B4 Princess Royal
B5 Cuckoo's Nest
B6 Morris Off

DOWNLOAD morrison's ghost HERE!

Robin & Barry Dransfield – "The Rout Of The Blues" (Trailer – LER 2011) 1970

I noticed that the posting, previously, of some cassette kulture euro-Industrial led to a sharp upsurge in blog traffic, possibly due to a mention of  the blog's favourite fat idiot over at Vinyl On Demand,or, even sadder, that you lot out there can't get enough formulaic Industrial skronk ,that if i posted the same cassette over and over again,you'd download it again and again until you ate yourselves.

A happier tone seems to have been struck by a few complaints that i have forsaken my recent Folk direction deliberately to pursue viewing figures by giving them what they want?.......Nah!

Here's Yorkshire's 1970 version of The Proclaimers,but with two handsome farmer types replacing the rather unattractive geeky twosome, and with far less shouty spittle involved.

The cover photo does look like the Dransfields are looking around the site of the male rape scene with the Trump voters from  John Boorman's "Deliverance"....after all events like that are what most Folk tunes are written about.Subject matter rarely touched upon by the mainstream rock and punk bores.

1970/71 could well turn out to be the best years for music ever.....even Yes were good then for chrissakes!?

But what about the Punk Rock the aging Ramones shirted punx whine?....this stuff IS Punk Rock! Besides that you proto punk bores are always inventing new bands who were the first Punks before Punk every bloody week,so you should be happy in 1971...especially when you discover that there were actually no,zero, Punk bands in 1971 (pretty much like 1976 in fact)......and don't yee come back with Iggy effing Pop , the rocking dwarf. Pleeeeeze!

The real underground was the Folk scene.No-one bought the records, but they carried on oblivious of the global indifference.Even shunning electrical instrumentation.

So here we have the Dransfields giving it their all with a mixture of self-penned and traditional tunes, given a cutting edge by Barry's barely disciplined fiddle scraping.

I should have saved this for this coming Saturday's F.A. Cup final, in which I am expecting, nay demand, a Rout of the Blues by my beloved Leicester City...the Blues being the arrogant and Russian Oligarch financed Chelsea.

Like Rock and Punk music, Football used to be property of the common man,but the rich have stolen it,as they have Rock music;but Folk is still with us,and could never be bought by Russian blood money. Hopefully we can get the other stuff back one day; but not using the VOD method of selling it back to us in unaffordable over elaborate box sets with shite artwork,to display but not play.

Here,the music will remain free,so we can reclaim the notes without feeding the phat cats,or the fat twats.

Tracklist:

1.The Rout Of The Blues
2.Scarborough Fair
3.English Medley

     St. Clement's Jig

     The Huntsmans Chorus

     Nancy
4.The Waters Of Tyne
5.The Earl Of Totnes
6.Tapestry
7.The Trees They Do Grow High
8.A Week Before Easter
9.A Fair Maid Walking All In Her Garden
10.Who's The Fool Now

DOWNLOAD from the internet's rout 666 HERE

Spriguns Of Tolgus – "Jack With A Feather" (Alida Star – ASC 7755) 1971

Another pale blue off the shelf standard jacket,and another Fairport Convention emulator,and every line-up of Fairport and Steeleye Span is represented,but all on one LP. 

Noticed that an original copy of this private pressing is up for sale on Discogs for a very reasonable four grand!?....does anyone actually pay these prices? How they can look at themselves in the mirror I'll never understand.Sorry African children you'll have to continue to die horribly of disease and hunger 'cus I just bought a Spriguns Of Tolgus original pressing for Four grand! Luckily for us mentally normal persons there exists Cd's that we can rip and distribute to the poor, Robin Hood style.

It's not bad musically, but when a disc is judged mainly for its rarity rather than quality,it can cloud certain person's vision. They did however get signed to a proper record label on the basis of this,and now enjoy a 'cult' following in Scandinavia,which is what we all dream of in our nascent adolescent pop stardom fantasies is it not?

The band photo's on the cover are rather amusing anyway,dressed up as knights, wizards and jesters.....which ,may I suggest, should be made compulsory for at least one day a month during the full moon?

On later records,they did get darker,and so should it be.

Listen carefully for Singer Mandy Morton's Bongo's.

Tracklist:

1.Lambton Worm
2.Let No Man Steal Your Thyme
3.Derby Ram
4.Jigs:Rakes Of Malo / St. Patrick's Day / Ten Penny Bit
5.Flodden Field
6.Troopers Nag

7.Curragh Of Kildare
8.Keys Of Canterbury
9.Twa Magicians
10.Seamus The Showman
11.Barren Banks Of Aden

DOWNLOAD and pay no less than zero quid HERE!

Gallery – "The Wind That Shakes The Barley" (Midas Recordings – MFHR 046) 1972

On the aptly named Midas label.Anyone who touches this turns it into gold.Fetching up to a grand for this Folk Wave long missing pastel blue progressive folk rarity.

A lot of these independent releases seemed to go for the pastel shade jacket around 1972 to '76.....obviously it was either cheap,or it was a take it or leave it situation.

Of course, I don't own an original copy.If I did it'd be straight to eBay. However, as with most bands from rediscovered genres, it got a re-released version,adding some bonus home-recordings, which are included here for all you rabid Gallery-ettes out there...of which I'm sure there are dozens?

Tracklist:

1 Seven Gypsies 2:54
2 False Bridge 4:36
3 Queen Of Hearts 3:45
4 Gilderoy/Staten Island/Harvest Home 22:36
5 Let No Man Steal Your Thyme 2:28
6 Dowie Dens Of Yarrow 4:03
7 The Wind That Shakes The Barley 4:22
8 Broomfield Wager 2:46
9 Chaconne 2:58
10 The Baron Of Brackley 4:27
11 Icy Acres 5:01
12 Home Recordings 20:06

DOWNLOAD a folk art gallery HERE!

John Faulkner and Sandra Kerr – "Bagpuss: The Songs & Music" (Smallfolk – SMF001) 1974/1999

Zchivago sings holding back the tears,for the finishing touches of his version of "Candle In The Wind" in memory of Sandy Denny....."And I'd like to have known you but I was just a kiiiiid"......

Indeed I was once a kid, believe it or not, and as I may have mentioned before, there was a lot of Folk music about, especially on Kids TV programming.The stand out moment being the thirteen,unlucky for some, episodes of the erstwhile adventures of a saggy old pink and white cat in Emily's lost and found objects shop window.Bagpuss!

Emily would found some old crap someone lost in the street, chuck it in the shop-window display, and leave it there for Madeleine the rag doll (Sandra Kerr) and Gabriel the Toad (John Faulkner), with a Chorus of Mice from the mouse organ, and unhelpful comments from smart arse Woodpecker,Professor Yaffle and,of course a certain Saggy Old Cloth Cat.When bagpuss woke up, everyone else came to life for fifteen minutes, and fixed the piece of crap into something that might refind its previous owner.

Oliver Postgate(RIP),possessor of the finest narration voice on the planet,could lull me into a womb-like situation at the drop of a syllable;like leaning back in the bosom of your dear departed mother once again.

Oliver's folky chums, John and Sandra,were commissioned,which in 1970's BBC terms would mean they got a fiver and a sandwich to do it,and make the music.Which consisted of a bunch of traditional folk tunes furnished with new words for us kids,plus a few originals.

I seem to remember the Uncle Feedle Episode featured a few rather horrific rag dolls, that missus Postgate must have kinted up in a hurry,resembling eyeless zombies more than cute children's characters.I'm sure Madeleine sings that she's Just a Rag Doll made from 'Crap' during this epidsode....reigniting the furious debate about "Captain Pugwash" and the characters Seamen Stains and Master Bates......an urban legend unfortunately!

The thing about folk music is that it can be both dark and twee at the same time,and the music for Bagpuss fits those criteria beautifully....forget Current 93 this and similar cult soundtracks are da real thing man.It hasn't quite gained the kudos of Playchool's dark folk princess Toni Arthur and hubby Dave, but it has its darker moments.

Oliver Postage made all these masterpieces on a budget of a tenner per episode in his garden shed....the ultimate TV DIY......and don't forget this is the man who made the Clangers, and Noggin the Nog too ,among many others.

A Posthumous knighthood is called for here...give him Jimmy Savilles,it might revive this soiled institution for future good?

Tracklist:

1 The Bony King Of Nowhere 3:27
2 Mouse Round (Here's A Pin) 0:42
3 The Princess Suite 2:36
4 Weaving Song / The Laird Of Drumblair 2:13
5 Uncle Feedle 2:25
6 Ragtime Mice 0:13
7 Turtle Calypso 2:15
8 Brian O'Lynn 2:09
9 Agricultural Jigs 2:18
10 The Town Band 1:13
11 The Miller's Song 3:00
12 I Saw A Ship A-Sailing 2:31
13 Song Of The Flea 3:03
14 Mouse Round (Mending Song) 0:25
15 The Ear Song 1:21
16 Hamish McTavish 1:25
17 The Old Woman Tossed Up In A Basket / Haste To The Wedding 2:43
18 The Porcupine Song 2:32
19 The Oak Tree Reel 2:27
20 Row, Row, Row Your Boat 3:15
21 The Prima Ballerina 2:10

DOWNLOAD some lost tunes from emily's shop window HERE!

Martin Carthy – "Landfall" (Philips – 6308049) 1971

Archie Fisher was not the only MBE on the folk circuit incredibly. For sooth ,Martin Carthy MBE has been a reality for more than a decade.This means I have to choose a favourite Martin Carthy album,so, having a liking for grim tunes and psychsploitative sleeve art I've plumped for this...."Landfall". A word that usually means the moment when a hurricane  hits the shore and calms down a bit.

There's good songs about infanticide,loneliness,death,injustice, and mental illness,what more could you want?

Martin is also worth his MBE for never selling out,and  for his impeccable ethics...you know, those things the Punk Rockers conveniently forgot about once they got in the charts.....I know,'but he accepted an MBE' you say....in the world of Folk this is not the same act of betrayal as Mick Jagger accepting a knighthood, as the royal family was always an accepted part of the folk world especially in the lyrics.Without the murdering, thieving, war mongering scum that made up the royal families of the past, we would have only about half of the folk songs available for the good Martin to re-interpret for us!?

Tracklist:

A1 Here's Adieu To All Judges And Juries
A2 Brown Adam
A3 O'er The Hills
A4 Cruel Mother
A5 Cold Haily Windy Night
B1 His Name Is Andrew
B2 The Bold Poachers
B3 Dust To Dust
B4 The Broomfield Hill
B5 January Man

DOWNLOAD the calming moment of the hurricane HERE!

Archie Fisher – "The Man With A Rhyme" (Folk-Legacy Records – FSS-61) 1976

What does 'Sister Ray' mean to you?.....No not The Velvet Underground, obviously the late Sister Ray Fisher,sibling to the more successful Archie Fisher; both members of Scottish Folk Royalty The Fisher Family.Archie, as it says, is the man with a Rhyme,and he penned quite a few popular contemporary Folk tunes that garnered an audience in the States, United of...!

Archie is also the man with an MBE,awarded for services to Folk music in the 2000's.

He does a nice line in gentle, acoustic folk,and manages to sing in various accents, both Scotch and English; a fact that would make many a kilt wearing Scottish nationalist bigot spin in his shallow grave.

Archie realised we were all the same people on that wretched Island.

Tracklist:

A1 Twa Bonnie Maidens 3:23
A2 Welcome Royal Charlie 3:03
A3 Dark Eyed Molly 2:59
A4 Queen Amang The Heather 3:49
A5 Jock Stewart 2:57
A6 The Witch Of The West-Mer-Lands 4:38
A7 The Echo Mocks The Corncrake 2:42
B1 Western Island 2:01
B2 Upstairs, Downstairs 1:58
B3 Mount And Go 3:13
B4 The Wounded Whale 4:09
B5 The Cruel Brother 5:45
B6 Coshieville 3:04
B7 South Wind 3:19

DOWNLOAD something fishy HERE!

Ray Fisher – "The Bonny Birdy" (Trailer – LER 2038) 1972

Staying on the theme of androgynous female first names, after Frankie, and Lindsay ,but not staying on the same musical theme, we've got Scotch Folkie lady,and bonny birdie, Miss Ray Fisher.She,who sings with a Scottie from Star Trek style scotch accent(but this one is apparently 'real'?) about Scottish stuff,but without that distasteful Scottish Nationalism that makes everyone groan as soon as North Sea fucking Oil is mentioned! The same shit happens in conversation with persons of Irish decent too.The clock is ticking as to when 'Da Potatoe Famine' is inevitably mentioned. Jeeeezuz, let it go will ya!?

But, when it comes to traditional music, Scottie from Star Trek can sum it up in one of his adapted catchphrases.

"Yae cannie change the laws of Folk Captain!" (Montgomery Scott,chief engineer, USS Enterprise)

No doubt that The Fisher family were staunch nationalists,but no real hint of that crap on this record anyway,especially as most of the English folk glitterati appear on this album,as featured on the rear cover in that folk style of heads floating in bubbles. Included in the floating bubbles are folk gods Martin Carthy and Ashley Hutchings who supply arrangements, guitars and backing voices.

As far as I can see the song selection only hints at the Glencoe massacre when scots killed scots,and no tiresome tunes about slaughtering the English at one of the few battles they actually won.

American Aussie and Jew Hater, Mel Gibson,barked the immortally fictional line "You may take our lives but you won't take our freedom!",in that rather silly film about William Wallace.

They are still a slave state of the English to this day apparently? All that devolved power and democracy, higher capita per head spending of govt funds north of the border,and other atrocities like that. Poor fuckers.

The Uyghur's in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar have got it easy compared to the repressed Scots.

I know that by mentioning the Uyghur genocide in China I am risking receiving a virus that wipes this blog completely and emptys my bank account,but I felt obliged. A western boycott of Chinese goods, like anything by Apple, would go a long way to offer some support for our Muslim chums in the Re-Education centres and forced labour Factories of China.This is probably the only time I have agreed with Iain Duncan Smith ever! Who is normally reprehensible in his obnoxiousness......this also sadly means that I agree with Trump on China too...but perhaps for different reasons.

Oh Yeah.....this albums pretty good by the way.....got rather sidetracked.....again!? 

 

Tracklist:

A1 Johnnie Sangster
A2 Mill O'Tifty's Annie
A3 Bonny At Morn
A4 Forfar Sodger
B1 Pride Of Glencoe
B2 Silkie Of Sul Skerry
B3 Shipyard Apprentice
B4 Bonny Birdy

DOWNLOAD this bonny compressed mp3 file HERE!