The Young Tradition – "Galleries" (Transatlantic Records – TRA 172) 1968

 As the cover artwork gets more Psychedelic ,the Young Tradition are subtly getting more desperate for commercial success.Even with Dave Swarbrick and Dolly Collins to sprinkle some fairy dust and provide some much needed instrumentation to their renditions, it weren't never gonna happen .

Neither the magic,or tragic, touch,of Sandy Denny, who makes an uncredited appearance playing piano on track 16, is enough to propel these 'Youngsters' into the lower reaches of the hit parade.

Teen appeal aside,the Tradition still manage to maintain the admirable quality of material to belt out,made all the more palatable thanks to a smattering of minimal instrumentation. They were soon to put the paisley shirts into mothballs for good,and Peter Bellamy to  continue his fledgling solo career,but not after upping their cred with Shirley and Dolly Collins.Peter would ,however, be spotted wearing even more ridiculous clothes in the coming years....and why not? Only his suicide would save us from greater fashion faux pas's;but at least we were also spared from any possibility of 'Bellamy died for you' T-Shirts.

Tracklist:

A1 Intro: Ductia 0:58
A2 The Barley Straw 2:15
A3 What If A Day 2:13
A4 The Loyal Lover 1:15
A5 Entracte: Stones In My Passway 1:00
A6 Idumea 2:07
A7 The Husbandman And The Serving Man 1:43
A8 The Rolling Of The Stones 0:54
A9 The Bitter Withy 2:18
A10 The Banks Of The Nile 2:09
B1 Wondrous Love 2:46
B2 Mediaeval Mystery Tour 2:14
B3 Divertissement: Upon The Bough 0:30
B4 Ratcliff Highway 1:56
B5 The Brisk Young Widow 1:43
B6 Interlude: The Pembroke Unique Ensemble 1:01
B7 John Barleycorn 2:24
B8 The Agincourt Carol 4:38

DOWNLOAD some minstrels on mushrooms 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!