Various Artists. Electric Eden.

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Blabber’n’Smoke received a copy of Rob Young’s exhaustive history of, for want of a better term, British alternative folk and folk rock, Electric Eden last Christmas. As a long time listener of the likes of the extended Fairport Convention family tree, John Martyn, Nick Drake, Pentangle at al we devoured the book wondering at the vastness of it all and greedily devouring via Spotify and YouTube numerous artists we’d either forgotten about or had never heard in the first place. Young uses the early chapters to explore the late 19th and early 20th Century roots of the folk revival in some detail to advance his thesis that this ties in with a uniquely British innate desire to return to and commune with a bucolic faerie fuelled past. He then tops off the book with a look at the likes of Kate Bush and Julian Cope in the eighties but the meat of the book is in the blossoming of a new type of folk, fuelled by the beatnik, hippie and rock movements of the 50s to the 70s. As a true companion to the book this album would have been required to be a box set of some sumptuous proportions, sadly it is not so however Young has compiled a fine primer which manages to balance familiar and obscure relics of the highwater years from 1966-1979.
With the two discs subtitled “Acoustic Eden” and “Electric Albion” there’s a rough division between those bands and artists who upheld more traditional sounds and those who plugged in and with drums, bass and a rock’n’roll heart. A mite misleading as some of the electric songs are much more traditional than the acoustic ones with Comus (acoustic) scary as hell and Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band (electric) sounding as if they were conjured from a Thomas Hardy novel. That quibble aside the 36 songs here capture the spirit of adventure and daring that allowed such songs as Tim Hart and Maddy Prior’s False Knight On The Road to rub shoulder to shoulder with prog and Krautrock on the late John Peel’s radio shows. While the likes of Fairport Convention, Richard Thompson, Pentangle, John Martyn and Steeleye Span are well represented here the real thrill is in hearing names that have been thrown up as influences by the freak folk crowd but are rarely represented on compilations. Thus Bill Fay, Peter Bellamy, Meic Stevens, COB, Shelagh McDonald, Mick Softley, Trees and even our very own Archie Fisher (with a wonderful rendition of Reynardine complete with sitar) are offered a moment in the sun with around a dozen others. Even David Bowie gets in here with Black Country Rock. Nicely packaged with liner notes by Young it’s an engaging trip down a mystic country lane for those who remember those times and a great place to start for anyone wanting to dig deep into what the likes of Devandra Banhart is on about.

Tracklist

CD1
ACOUSTIC EDEN
1. Peter Bellamy – ‘Oak, Ash and Thorn’
2. Traffic – ‘John Barleycorn Must Die’
3. Bert Jansch – ‘The Waggoner’s Lad’
4. Fairport Convention – ‘Stranger to Himself’
5. Archie Fisher – ‘Reynardine’
6. Bread, Love and Dreams – ‘Brother John’
7. Bill Fay – ‘Garden Song’
8. Water Into Wine Band – ‘Stranger in the World’
9. Tudor Lodge – ‘Willow Tree’
10. Comus – ‘Diana’
11. Meic Stevens – ‘Yorric’
12. Magic Carpet – ‘The Dream’
13. Sweeney’s Men – ‘The Pipe on the Hob’
14. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior – ‘False Knight on the Road’
15. Dr Strangely Strange – ‘Dark-Haired Lady’
16. Albion Country Band – ‘I Was a Young Man’
17. COB – ‘Music of the Ages’
18. Roger Nicholson – ‘The Carman’s Whistle’
19. Bridget St John – ‘Fly High’
20. John Martyn – ‘She Moves Through the Fair’
CD 2
ELECTRIC ALBION
1. Richard Thompson – ‘Roll over Vaughn Williams’
2. Steeleye Span – ‘The Lark in the Morning’
3. Unicorn – ‘Country Road’
4. Fairport Convention – ‘A Sailor’s Life’
5. Trees – ‘Glasgerion’
6. Fotheringay – ‘Gypsy Davey’
7. David Bowie – ‘Black Country Rock’
8. John Martyn – ‘Glistening Glyndebourne’
9. Mike Cooper – ‘Paper and Smoke’
10. Shelagh McDonald – ‘Mirage’
11. Spirogyra – ‘Disraeli’s Problem’
12. Mick Softley – ‘Time Machine’
13. Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band – ‘Murder of Maria Marten’
14. Pentangle – ‘Jack Orion’
15. Incredible String Band – ‘Painted Chariot’
16. Nick Drake – ‘Voices’

Karine Polwart. Traces

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Mention of folk music almost inevitably leads to discussion of protest songs with the folk form almost exclusively linked to the notion of expressing political or social concerns in song. On this latest release from Karine Polwart, doyen of Scots folk singers, the first two songs certainly fit the bill. Cover Your Eyes rails against the capitulation of Aberdeen’s finest in allowing media mogul millionaire Donald Trump (he of the hair) to trample over local opposition and despoil an area of natural beauty. Fittingly Polwart invokes here the power of nature to achieve a vengeance of sorts. With a cold beauty it makes its point without haranguing the listener. King Of Birds which follows is a hymn to the Occupy protesters who camped outside St. Paul’s Cathedral. Here Polwart utilises metaphor with the titular king of birds, the wren, representing the architect. A powerful song it grows in stature as it progresses thanks to the wonderful production by Iain Cook and ultimately it becomes a song of hope. Throughout the album Cook manages layers of sound, understated mild electronica and pulses of traditional instruments which ebb and flow under Polwart’s faultless voice which has a comforting Scottish burr.
Despite the pointed message of the opening songs much of the album is derived from Polwart’s pesonal story, writing about her upbringing in Falkirk on Tinsel Show and the devastation of the death of a cousin on Strange News, a simple stark tale with sombre backing and ethereal vocals. She sings about her elderly neighbour on Salters Road, painting a simple life and capturing it in miniature with evocative place names while the sombre brass band backing tugs nostalgically.
An album to be savoured, mulled over late at night with the beautiful melody and voices on a song like Tears For Lot’s Wife comforting and shivering at the same time Traces places Polwart at the forefront of contemporary Scottish folk music. She closes the album with another song that belongs to her own story but this time dredged from many years ago. Half A Mile is about the kidnapping and murder of a young girl 30 years ago. A contemporary of Polwart she lived only a few miles away and Polwart paints a vivid picture of the innocence of youth and the alarm raised after the event. Chilling in its execution with dramatic use of percussion it’s a powerful song. A bitter end to a fine album but in its way a commemoration of, as Polwart says “the kinds of love and longing and loss that shape all of our lives.”
Finally mention must be made of what might possibly be the best opening lines of an album this year…
I was Farrah Fawcett
You were Steve McQueen
And we rode your silver Grifter half the way from Aberdeen.

website

For Folk’s Sake: Bard, The Imagined Village, Seth Lakeman, Kathryn Roberts & Sean Lakeman

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Although Blabber’Smoke tends to wallow in the sounds of Stetson wearing honky tonkers, fiddling mountain dervishes or bruised and angry troubadours we pride ourselves in having an eclectic ear. Over the past few months several albums of the folk variety have tumbled in and we thought it was time to give them an airing.

First up is Bard whose album The Springtime Fool has been gathering plaudits and airplay since their successful appearance at Celtic Connections. A five piece band whose traditional sounding songs are coloured heavily by an almost klezmer sounding clarinet they weave songs that draw from the country and the city with a jaunty spring in their step. Born In London Town is an almost skiffle like number while the opener Violets is reminiscent of Pentangle at times. An encouraging debut.

Encouraging as it is to hear a young band like Bard take up the baton of modern folk if we go back ten years or so there was a blossoming of folk sounds influenced by world music. Much of this was delivered by the generation below sixties masters such as Martin Carthy and indeed Carthy and his daughter Eliza are very much present in The Imagined Village’s third release, Bending The Dark. A conglomeration led by Simon Emmerson The Imagined Village blend world tunes, dub, Afrobeat and traditional folk into a beguiling stew. Although the recording of this album was beset with problems including the departure of Chris Woods they’ve delivered a fine set of songs and tunes that derive from the traditional and embroider them with layers of exotica. Percussion, sitar, studio trickery all play a part here but the lyrics cleave to traditional subjects while the band are a virtual commonwealth of sounds. Brave and adventurous it is and with the voices of Eliza Carthy and Jackie Oates grounding it the album is well worth hearing. A highlight is Get Kalsi which imagines the Get Carter theme tune as if it was actually on the soundtrack of Slumdog Millionaire.

While the Carthy family has engendered numerous albums and various groupings the Lakeman’s appear to be catching up on them. Best known is Seth Lakeman, a past Mercury prize nominee whose latest album, Tales From The Barrel House, is a truly solo effort with him playing all of the instruments. The songs pay tribute to the rural professions that have been plied over the ages but are in danger now of dying off. Recorded in a barrel house (or cooperage) his fiddle scrapings and clattering percussion can threw up images of the blacksmith hammering at the anvil or the claustrophobic atmosphere endured by copper miners. The fine Salt From Our Veins is an impressionistic portrait of the travails of fishermen while Brother of Penryn is a rousing stomp that forsakes the artisan tributes for a good old fashioned folk narrative with murder and mayhem on its mind. The Blacksmith’s Prayer however stands out with some fine lyrics and the best use of an anvil in a song we’ve heard for some time.


Seth’s brother, Sean, steps into the limelight along with his wife Kathryn Roberts on Hidden People. The pair have played together since their days in Equation, a band that included Kate Rusby along with three Lakemen brothers. Sean has kept busy over the years in bother Seth’s band and honing his production skills on numerous albums, skills that allow this album to shine sonically. While Roberts handles the vocals throughout the album she’s joined at times by Caroline Herring, Jim Moray and Dave Burland while Seth and Sam Lakeman both add their tuppenceworth along with Sam’s wife Cara Dillon. It’s a family affair indeed.
The result is an album sounds as modern as tomorrow while still celebrating tradition. There are tales of vengeance, fairies and mystical creatures. . The opening song, Hundra (in Scandinavian folklore “hidden people”) is composed almost entirely of Roberts’ voice multi tracked with some assistance from Swedish band Baskery’s Greta Bondesson. While several of the songs sound traditional including Hang the Rowan, Lusty Smith and the tremendous The White Hind the outstanding pieces have a broader base. Standing At My Window almost has a Bo Diddley beat while Oxford, N.Y. allows Lakeman’s guitar to shine coming on like Richard Thompson in fiery form. The central piece is The Ballad Of Andy Jacobs. Stripped to the bone with only Roberts’ voice and piano accompaniment it’s a moving and intimate telling of the human consequences of the miners’ strike. Signing off with Jackie’s Song, another bare boned affair only with guitar replacing the piano that recalls Thompson again its fair to say that this album places Roberts and Lakeman well up in the current folk pantheon.

Mairi Orr. The Gathering Crows.

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In the dying days of Celtic Connections we heard that good friends of Blabber’n’Smoke, Old Dollar Bill were venturing west to support Mairi Orr at an Open Stage gig. The Open stage is a free daily show featuring several artists who have the opportunity to play to a very appreciative audience. It’s one of Celtic Connections’ finer aspects and was inspired by the late and great Danny Kyle.
Anyway, Mairi, originally from Morar in the west Highlands but now living in Edinburgh, appeared with her “borrowed band,” and delivered a fine set featuring songs from her sparkling debut disc, The Gathering Crows that went down a treat. Intrigued we sought a copy and for the past two weeks have been very impressed.
The Gathering Crows is a five song collection with all titles written by Orr and featuring support from Stephen Clark and Ed Henry of Old Dollar Bill among others. It positively bursts at the seams with a vibrant quality and the maturity of the writing and playing is unexpected from someone just stepping onto the stage.
Orr’s voice has a magnificent presence. Strong and melodic she could fit well into that pantheon that includes Sandy Denny, Linda Thompson, Jacqui McShee and in particular the enigma that is Shelagh McDonald. The latter is particularly recalled on two songs here, the title song and the opening For Gold. Both songs are baleful tales, chilling in their delivery with some superb backing, the Dobro in For Gold snakes menacingly throughout while on The gathering Crows the guitar, mandolin, bass and percussion thrash together in a propulsive audio equivalent of a murder of crows. A third song, Will You is delivered very much in a folk style that does recall early Denny and it features some exquisite fiddle by Amy Geddes. The two remaining songs display a more American influence. Sweet One has an urgency that owes a debt to bluegrass while Two Different States of Mind features just Orr and banjo from Mark Woods on a tantalising murder ballad.
A great debut and a mention must be made of the excellent supportive players, Stephen Clark, Ed Henry, Hugh Kelly, Mark Woods and Amy Geddes who all add a very authentic and well played backdrop to Ms. Orr’s very talented delivery.

website

For Gold

James Overbee The Old Way.

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If the old way was to get a guitar, strum along to some songs and entertain folks, then this album is aptly named. From Kentucky, Overbee has forsaken his band The Talking Machine (their last album, Stayin’ In Touch is a fine slice of Neil Young/Rich Hopkins guitar laden rock) to deliver eleven songs that flow ever so well in a folky manner. Accompanied only by David Vaughn on bass, Overbee sings, plays guitar, drums and blows his harp on a selection of his own compositions that recalls more innocent times. His delivery, particularly with the harmonica present is reminiscent of Neil Young in his folky form, think of Long May you Run and you’re halfway there. Overbee’s voice has an attractive worn way with it and this is heard to best effect on the ballad So This Is What You Wanted, a little gem of a song. There is a naïve, untutored quality in his singing that takes a bit of time to get used to but its used to fine effect on Song For No One and Do You Think I’m A Fool, a pair of songs that reach back to the likes of Woody Guthrie and old time folk Americana. Do You Think I’m a Fool in particular is almost archetypal and one can imagine it having been sung by Hank Williams or Michael Hurley.
The album ends on a high note with the delightful folky froth of Mistaken, a simple song that buskers everywhere should learn. Simple, homespun and heartfelt, if you like your folk woody and plain give it a go.

http://www.myspace.com/jamesoverbeeandthetalkingmachine

Coming to You: The Fox Hunt.

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Another string band from the good ole USA, the Fox Hunt apply a youthful vigour to the tried and tested American mores as purveyed by the likes of The Wilders and The Black Crown String Band. Hailing from Virginia their latest album “Long Way To Go,” is chock-full of fiddles, banjo and mandolin.

With an eye on tradition but a contemporary style there’s no gloss on their songs. They’re earthy and full of grit, as real as you can get and if they sound anything like the album a must to see. They’re playing The Classic Grand on Saturday, 17th July, and to top it all, according to a recent review they do a version of Plastic Jesus, a great song that I’ve only heard on crackled old vinyl so to hear it live would be a blessing, so altogether now………. Jesus, Plastic Jesus, sitting on the dashboard of my car………………..
Hear them here, toe tappingly real and coming to Glasgow.