Tuesday 25 May 2021

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


Monday 24 May 2021

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


Friday 21 May 2021

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



Thursday 20 May 2021

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


Tuesday 18 May 2021

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

Sunday 16 May 2021

Leicester City & Supporters - "Filbert Street Blues" (Cherry Red Records) 1990

             

Well, i've just about recovered enough now from the revelries of yesterday's F.A. Cup final victory for my beloved Foxes.So as my hangover fades I will inflict this collection of Leicester City themed aural atrocities.
These 19 tracks are from a time when supporting the foxes was a kind of masochistic torture. There were brief moments of joy, but it was largely pain,frustration and disappointment. A lot of these songs ,seemed, at the time to be overoptimistic and unrealistic;but nowadays,the lyrics of all these tunes seem to have come true.
Suddenly those ill-advised tuesday evening round trips to Middlesbrough to watch our footy team lose seem worthwhile.

I could spend the rest of this post slagging off the so-called big boys,but frankly they ain't worth it;just listen to Chelsea fans moaning about handballs, offsides, and how we were lucky....as in they didn't win so the other lot must have been lucky...pathetic.
Leicester are the peoples team,rather than a Russian Oligarchs plaything. Moan all you like and wish your millions could buy a goal like that screamer.....
We also have players who are brave enough to show support for Palestine as they collected their medals
Leicester lad Hamza Choudhury risking being accused of Anti-Semetism for exercising his freedom of speech.

This also gives me a chance to plug my much praised compilation in Tribute to Leicester City for winning the Premier League in 2016. This one has lots of local groups,rather than a bunch of dodgy fans.
And a much more in depth analysis of what it means to support an 'unfashionable',read as 'Not Rich', football club in England: Click this......


Here's the tracklist for Filbert Street Blues,including a tune that's on both of these tribute albums,the prophetically named "This is the Season For Leicester", the the 1974 squad....produced by Trevor Horn of Buggles fame nonetheless!?

Tracklisting:

1 This Is The Season For Us
by Leicester City F.C. 1974 1:37

2 The Tank
by Leicester City F.C. 1974 2:45

3 Champions
by The Leicester Lads 3:33

4 Post Horn Gallop
by The Band Of the Royal Marines 1:53

5 Yes We're Back
by The Back Five 4:42

6 Oh Leicester City (Calypso)
by The Back Five 3:07

7 Follow The Foxes
by The Back Four 2:23

8 The Glory Boys In Blue
by The Back Four 3:46

9 Blue Army Blues
by The Bangers 3:39

10 Wembley Roar
by Kev Price and the City Strikers 3:49

11 The FNF Rap
by Filbert Fox Songs 4:05

12 The Filbert Fox Song
by Filbert Fox Songs 3:32

13 We're Going Up
by Blue Army 3:35

14 This Is The Season For Us
by Phil Bert & The Foxes 1:37

15 Flowing Tears (Wembley 1993)
by Kev Price and the City Strikers 2:54

16 Come And Join Us
by Steve Tilbury and the Blue Team 2:58

17 Frank Worthington
by The Joe Jordanaires 2:22

18 Leicester Boys
by Kev Price and the City Strikers 2:42

19 We're Back Where We Belong
by Ray Nardfox 3:23


Saturday 15 May 2021

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


Friday 14 May 2021

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


Thursday 13 May 2021

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


Wednesday 12 May 2021

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


Tuesday 11 May 2021

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

Monday 10 May 2021

Stenka Bazin – "Racines" (Émergence Du Refus) 1984



It may have escaped your notice,hopefully,that a certain moaning German DIY music oligarch (our 'friends' at VOD),was complaining,on facebook I believe, about how hard done by he has been because a rival reissue label from France (Rotorelief) has beaten his corpulent majesty, in attempting a reissue of French Industrial artiste Stenka Bazin's,also know as the weird and arty,not,Claude Escarmand's, early cassette works. So all you record consumers in the richest 1% of the "Ain't I weird and artistic,not" record collecting bracket,will have to exchange their diminishing wad of 100 Euro bills for someone else's over priced and over packaged re-marketed lo-fi 'we've heard it all before' eighties old Skool Industrial for the upper stratum white collar professional.
Naturally the curators of laughable Genesis P. Orridge museums everywhere are lubricating themselves with self-righteous indignation that someone else has the sheer gall to compete in the same area as they have claimed as their property,that they would hypocritically claim that this rival label owner was maybe arrogant????.....and may not have the artist in question's best interests at heart????? Quick somebody nail them to a cross for we sinners are not worthy.
Sect members are effortlessly liberated of their easily earned cash,hemorrhaging profusely into the swollen edifices of this messianic cassette tape Richard Branson.In fact Claude Escarmand himself was't too shy in using messianic imagery,and a few cocks, to enhance his 'i'm weird and arty' credibility to a level hither to only seen in a Hermann Nitsch video;and almost as boring too. Come Armageddon come.
They died for your sins against art!...I guess that creepy guy in the background is Claude?

Rotorelief is the rather naughty label in question,who have had the nerve to want to reissue these Stenka Bazin cassettes.Their crime being that they have taken too long,and won't co-operate with the auto-superior re-issue pied piper of Hamlin, and give them the master tapes which were given to them by the artiste himself.....who,as artists are liable to do,changed his minds(sic) half-way through the project.
Of course readers of this blog could not care less about the hissy-fits of these small business men,so I thought it would be funny to post some of these tapes here. Bog standard Old Skool Industrial as it may be,but it gives a section of my readership the chance to escape the glut of Contemporary Folk musick(note crowleyism) that these poor chaps have been exposed to these past weeks.Folk musick(there I go again) is far more unsettling than most of this endless shit pit of Industrialism could ever be.
So, I gift those with Industrial withdrawal symptoms,the no more than just 'Ok' sounds of Stenka Bazin of France. I may be so incredibly bored of listening to this stuff, but at least those who aren't can keep their Euro's in their furry black fanny bag purses for a bit longer.This stuff wasn't meant for glossy over elaborate reissues.Its as if the capitalists in question have never actually listened,or understood this music...and why should they?...we do though, don't we?....in fact who cares?...in fact also, you can get the set here,so i've been informed:


Saves me from boring myself rigid,and straining my brane trying to think of something else to say about Industrial musick and the usual targets. I dunno if they are in 320k however,but 'tis supposed to be noisy anyways so...whatever?

Tracklist:

A1 Crépuscule
A2 Force D'Intervention
A3 Lumières Pour Un Massacre
A4 Valzakapé
B1 Quart D'Heure
B2 Transit
B3 Pôle
B4 Diffomite 1
B5 Alcools


DOWNLOAD the roots of grown men throwing handbags in each others general direction HERE!

Saturday 8 May 2021

Zchivago's Disco Dystopia "Piss'n'Shit'n'Rock'n'Roll" 04/30/2021


As a break from more hippie folk,here's some 'orrible punk rock to remind you of reality in the Next Exiting (sic) Episode of Zchivago's Disco Dystopia ,sub-titled “PISS'n'SHIT'n'ROCK'n'ROLL” is now available...here's the playlist to put you off.....

DISCO DYSTOPIA PLAYLIST 30h APRIL 2021:

“PISS'n'SHIT'n'ROCK'n'ROLL”

1. P.M.S. - “Cocaine Cunt”
2. GIRLS IN SYNTHESIS - “Mound”
3. G.L.O.S.S - “Future Girls Living Outside Of Societies Shit”
4. SHIT ROCKETS - “Alpha Male”
5. SHITKICKERS - “NY Nice Guy”
6. SHITLICKERS - “Armed Revolution”
7. THE AUTHORITIES - “I Hate Cops”
8. MARY BELL - “I Hate You”
9. THE MUMMIES - “I'm Gonna Kill My Baby Tonite”
10. THE PRATS - “Nothing”
11. THE NOTHING - “Scream'n'Cry”
12. NO SECURITY - “I'm Nothing”
13. SHIZUKA - “The Ribbon Of A Child That Has Been Unwound”
14. THE RINGS - “Automobile”
15. PUSSY GALORE - “Spin Out”
16. THE CRAVATS - “ You're Driving Me”
17. THE SCREAMERS - “ 122 Hours of Fear/Government Love Affair”
18. NACHTHEXEN - “Panic”
19. PISSE - “Alt Sein”
20. CRIME - “Piss On Your Dog”
21. EARTH DIES SCREAMING - “Bored Teenager”
22. THE PRATS - “Bored”
23. THE SLITS - “A Boring Life”
24. DESTROY ALL MONSTERS - “Bored”



or


Thursday 6 May 2021

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


Wednesday 5 May 2021

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

Tuesday 4 May 2021

Fresh Maggots – "Fresh Maggots... Hatched" (Sunbeam Records – SBR2LP5002) 1971


 It wasn't the Punx who first sang about life on the Dole (unemployment Benefit) apparently?Among a lot of other traits that they shared with earlier times,like all those ridiculous 'Punk before Punk' groups that get discovered everyday,just to put that to bed,Punk Rock only existed when it had a name,which was basically all it was about musically,but there were some good clothes at least;unlike the Hippies. Two of which can be heard on this sunk without trace Psychedelic Folk monster from 1971,singing about The Dole...among other topics, including anti-war and anti-monarchy tunes.
This Nuneaton#(UK) based pair  obviously heard The Incredible String Band,and Donovan,and realised just a couple of acoustic guitars and a penny whistle could possibly get them on the Hippie Folk bandwagon,and maybe, able to sign off the Dole? This may have occurred, but by 1972 they were back on the Dole after failing to shift enough units to make a second album economically viable..... a familiar tale.

#The Home town of the great Larry Grayson if anyone's interested.So its very possible that the good Larry would have heard Fresh Maggots at some point while walking up and down Nuneaton high street.I can just imagine he,Slack Alice, Non-Stick Nell,Apricot Lil and Once a Week Nora, standing at the back of the hall while the Maggots were going off on one. Any late comers would have been swiftly advised to "Shut that Door!"......just don't tell Everard for christs sake!
Ooooh look at the muck in 'ere!

Tracklist:

A1 Dole Song 3:27
A2 Rosemary Hill 3:34
A3 Quickie 1:21
A4 Everyone's Gone To War 3:55
A5 And When She Laughs 2:49
A6 Spring 3:22
B1 Balloon Song 3:56
B2 Guzz Up 1:37
B3 Who's To Die? 3:55
B4 Elizabeth R 2:53
B5 Frustration 5:58
C1 Car Song 4:06
C2 What Would You Do? 2:47
D1 Frustration (Live) 5:54
D2 Rosemary Hill (Live) 3:49
D3 Quickie (Live) 1:29
D4 And When She Laughs (Live) 1:29
D5 Spring (Live) 3:06


Sunday 2 May 2021

Trees – "On The Shore (Expanded Edition)" (CBS – 64168) 1970


Following on from Forest, the group, not the crap footy team, comes another contender for the fourth best Folk-Rock group in the UK and Ireland.
So what makes up a Forest?.....yeah,very good,...Trees.
They were on CBS , got the sleeve designed by Hipgnosis, and sold about twenty two copies of their debut album,and even less, probably 17 of this follow up. It has a very recognisable cover photo,and i hear there's a new pressing on coloured vinyl that i may purchase to leave out on my coffee table for my regular fine wine and cheese fondue soirées. That should cement my place in the bourgeoisie as a newly qualified permanent resident of France under the Brexit agreement......they took my fingerprints the fookers! I get a plastic card with my face and biometric data on it,which leaves an empty feeling after four years of being used as a negotiating chip by both the European Union and dear old blighty........Kuntz!....There was a German footballer called Kuntz i seem to recall.He was a Cunt too.
Its all fine stuff,but some of the acid guitar playing does irk somewhat.It's that fizzy transistor distortion,of which there was rather too much of, that spoils the overall sound a tad.Great for The Gang Of Four, but for progressive Folk....Nah!
There's,naturally, a lovely lady sharing the singing duties again, the recently deceased, Celia Humphris.This one can actually sing to boot.....Mmmmm nice. Apparently Cecilia lived in France too,probably next door to me.....i'm that sociable that i would never know.Hopefully she not stressed out by our bastard politician chums in her last days?...cunts!
So to make up for all this bureaucratic fascism i've only gone and  knocked up an expanded edition of the Tree's second and best album "On The Shore",padded out with peel sessions,demo's, and unreleased third album demo's too!?  

Tracklist:


On The Shore

1 Soldiers Three 1:50
2 Murdoch 5:09
3 Streets Of Derry 7:34
4 Sally Free And Easy 10:08
5 Fool 5:22
6 Adam's Toon 1:12
7 Geordie 5:05
8 While The Iron Is Hot 3:20
9 Little Sadie 3:10
10 Polly On The Shore 6:09

Demo's and Sessions:

11 Polly On The Shore (Demo 1970) 5:45
12 Streets Of Derry (Demo 1970) 6:12
13 She Moved Thro' The Fair (Demo 1969) 5:28
14 Pretty Polly (Demo 1969) 4:54
15 The Great Silkie (BBC Session 1970) 6:51
16 Soldiers Three (BBC Session 1970) 1:42
17 Little Black Cloud (Demo 1969) 2:16
18 Forest Fire (BBC Session 1970) 4:09

Demo's for Unreleased Third album (1971):

19 Prince Heathern 4:33
20 Tom Of Bedlam 7:56
21 Cry Of Morning 2:56
22 Bergen Polka 3:33
23 Friar Tuck 6:49
24 Innocent Hare 2:05
25 Van Dieman's Land 7:13

DOWNLOAD if you're really shore HERE!

Saturday 1 May 2021

Forest – "The Full Circle" (Harvest – SHVL 784) 1970


On this weekend that sees all leading sports clubs,especially Football clubs and their sickening playing staff boycott social media for four days(????),why not forever if they really gave a shit(?), in a fruitless attempt to end online abuse,and general offensive behaviour(sounds good to me...the abuse stuff not the protest shit). Another small step for a small mind,but another giant leap for mankind towards that magnolia existence that is creeping ever closer.
I for one is gonna have to go through this blog with a fine tooth-comb to eek out anything that could make a poor social media user cry or angry or sad.Usually this manifests itself by myself being labelled racist, or a neo fascist for not being a fan of Reggae,and other absurd notions such as that!?
 I've backed it all up by the way,so fuck 'em. I demand my right to offend and to be offended,we're all grown-ups here thanks.
So how does this tie in with my current interest in Hippie and traditional Folk,which inexplicably seems to offend a few of our visitors,so they might complain to our Google masters and get this site deleted,alongside other similar arseholes. An internet full of fluffy bunnies,pink unicorns and rainbows......I may slash my wrists right now!Zog's drummer has already done that with an angle-grinder (true!) but survived,leaving him without the ability to either Drum, wank or work! All he has is the Internet.....naturally now avoiding the copious amounts of free Porn, for obvious reasons;which, alas will also soon be erased from this increasingly dull medium.
Right, time to get offensive,abusive and display acts of mild bullying.
I fucking HATE Forest!....down in the deepest sewers of my black heart.
Noooooo Not Forest, the superb progressive Folk band from the early seventies, that fucking shit Football team from Nottingham, whose staff are also going on this silly half-arsed boycott.
For those too sensible to have any interest in this petty triballism to know, Nottingham is the  neighbouring city to Leicester (my personal Bethlehem)festering in the East Midlands hinterlands of the UK. 
In my yoof  Forest were rather successful,and we Leicester fans never heard the last of it. These Notts... (they hate being called 'Notts' Forest hehehe),i'll say it again, Notts Forest Fans, forgot that old showbiz rule of, be careful how you treat people on the way up,for you will surely meet them again on the way down......and down they went,as far as one can go. Suitably humbled by Leicesters continuing success post 2016 Premier league triumph,we long passed these crowing reprobates ,and for the runners-up prize the same fate befell those other lesser rivals,Derby County,and Coventry City. Shame innit?
Enough Gloating.....well maybe......but,one Forest I do love is this Acid Folk masterpiece  which travels a full circle from Football,of which there is actually very little to like,ne'r mind love? We sad fans are a captive audience,emotionally blackmailed by the super rich and despicable mercenary playing staff....fuck 'em I say. Love my club, but everything else about footy makes my stomach contents defy gravity.
Forest,the folky groop, however, are the opposite of stupidity,greed and big business.They also make some delightfully dark progressive folk music, that strangely ,at times, remind one of The Pale Saints if the 4AD legends had long hair and acoustic instruments.
Thankfully, neither Forest the Band,or The Pale Saints, came from Nottingham, so they're definitely ok by me.
Grimsby gave birth to Forest,thanks to their connections to Hull on the other shore of the Humber estuary,where legendary folkers, 'The Watersons' hung out in the sixties.But, disquietingly too close to Lincolnshire,which does in fact harbor some Forest Fans, and is full of Gammon faced Brexit voters.....double stupid. 

Tracklist:

A1 Hawk The Hawker
A2 Bluebell Dance
A3 The Midnight Hanging Of A Runaway Serf
A4 To Julie
A5 Gypsy Girl & Rambleaway
B1 Do Not Walk In The Rain
B2 Much Ado About Nothing
B3 Graveyard
B4 Famine Song
B5 Autumn Childhood