Playlist "Psyche van het folk", Radio Centraal, 2002-07-10 : Obscure UK folk items. BREAD, LOVE & DREAMS : * London Bread Love & Dreams (UK,1969)*° Tr.2, "Virgin Kiss" 4 min Tr.8, "Until she needs you" 4 min Tr.11, "The Yellow bellied Redback" 3 min 12 Gentle soft acid folk with dual male/female vocals with a (too) large portion of hippie like (child like flair) naivety. A certain charm coming true makes this (still) worth tracing, although it might not be essential. * Decca Bread Love & Dreams : The strange tale of Captain Shannon and the hunchback from Gigha (UK,1969)** Tr.7, "Purple Hazy Melancholy" 4 min. 4 16 Already a bit more matured in working out/mood soft folk. But still most of it is not that incredible. Some charming ideas/songs again now and then (surely at side 2) makes it still worth tracing. The track I chose is beautiful in its fragile delicacy. * Decca Bread Love & Dreams (UK,1970)**° Tr.1, "Amaryllis" part 1,2 : fragment -> 1542 min 16 32 The style improved a lot. The mood finally came close to enough maturity. A stand out is the long track "Amaryllis". Exceptional, but still somewhat long. MOUNTAIN ASH BAND * Vinyl Tap Rec. Mountain Ash Band : The Hermit (UK,1975)*** Tr.1, "birth"1 min Tr.13, "Outcast" 5 min Tr. 15, "Leading Lady/November" 5 min 11 43 Very original interesting folk piece with a story made for a literature festival. The narrative sections are most beautiful. I also like very much the bonus tracks which have that kind of acid folk melancholy/worked out instrumental parts I personally would go for. WOODEN HORSE Elegy Wooden Horse (UK,1972)**° Tr.4, "Northern Beaches" 5 min 5 50 Kind of nice harmonic vocals (I find it less nice to hear it too often) in a typical English soft acid folk style, with that harmonic pop touch except for the chosen track, which is a bit more acid folk, and a blues song. Elegy Wooden Horse : II (UK,1973)**° Tr.2, "Wooden Horses" 5 min Tr.9, "On this day" 4 min Tr.11, "Afternoon typewriter of guitar" 4 min 14 65 Similar in style as first album. Several songs are better worked out in acid folk (rock) way, still with that English pop vibe. These mentioned songs make the album worth to trace more but might also be overrated in its complete score for it. MARIE CELESTE Audio Archives Marie Celeste : And then perhaps (UK,1971)*° Tr.1, "Prisoner" 5 min 70 Traditional and popular tunes in an acid folk(rock) style. Although the overall mood succeeds roughly with the tendency to be beautiful, the fragile tenderness is not always that rewarding. It means the singer is often somewhat out of tune and the versions of the songs (except for the first song) are not even that good being often being almost mediocre. These days it would be impossible to record such poor sound. Unless its sound fits perfectly within that pure 70's mood of UK acid folk. All elements essentially for it are there. On the track I chose the working out of them fits perfectly as well. Bruton Town newslist remark by Mark Coyle : " Marie Celeste is okay, alright but a typical short run private press item, it was never going to break out of the small time. I think Baby Whale were better at a similar type of thing." TICKAWINDA Kissing Spell Tickawinda (UK,1978)*** Tr.1, "John Barleycorne" 6 min 77 The chosen track is a fantastic gentle and original version of a folk Traditional. Most of the album is just good traditional folk, never exceptional, but because of its compatibility widely appreciated by many. I personally prefer mostly more adventurous folk. Bruton Town newslist remark by Mark Coyle : "Tickawinda I adore, I have come to enjoy traditional folk music and they do it so well. I like the tracks as they pick classics, Jansch and Anne Briggs strong tunes. They do a great version of 'Go Your Way'. I'm glad it was discovered." More about this item added at http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/files/KISSING_SPELL.txt TIR NA NOG BGO Rec. Tir Na Nog (UK,1971)**** Tr.1, "Time is like a promise" 3 min Tr.2, "Mariner Blues" 5 min Tr.8, "Our love will not decay" 3 min Tr.10, "Dance of years" 3 min 15 93 Very beautiful item. I consider it as being amongst the more essential folk releases. Condell's songs are a bit like Madden & Harris, O'Kelly's song are more like Donovan (with some tabla,..), the song from Dolan is a bit more in Heron style. I think the BGO releases is the same as the Kissing Spell release. Bruton Town newslist remark by Mark Coyle : " Well it doesn't get any better than them. I just wish the subsequent albums had stayed with the early doomed-gothic-folk sound." (PS. The other two albums are "A Tear and a Smile" and "Strong In the Sun") "There is a also an early demos album released last year that is fairly good." More about this item added at http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/files/KISSING_SPELL.txt MADDEN AND HARRIS Jasmine Rec. Madden & Harris : Fools Paradise (AUSTRALIA,197?)***°° Tr.8-10, "Fools Paradise" a) "children of ice" Tr.9, b) "will you be there" Tr.10, c) "e.i.e.i.o." 14 min 107 Unique perception of soft acid folk, with delicate male vocals, Pink Floyd like piano/el.guitar, progressive pop like folk. Unique also for the perfect adaptation of a child choir. Long title track is an all time classic. BOOK OF AM Synton The Book of AM : part 1, dawn and morning (F,1978)*** (hymn to Ra when riseth) Tr.1,2,4,5,10-12 20 min 127 Beautiful cult commune hippie psych folk item with a certain eastern flavour. Extremely rare but most of it is really good. Spiritual songs with various acoustic instruments, harmonium, sitar, tabla female/male vocals. Spiritually a bit out of mind. I thought at first this would have been an American release, but it seems to be that these folks were friends of Daevid Allen & Gilli Smyth(Gong). CIRCULUS Instant Farma Circulus : Giantism (UK,1999)*** Tr.2, "The true lover's farewell" 3 min Tr.3, "My lady Carey's Dompe" 3 min Tr.4, "Everglade" 5 min 11 140 Very good folk flavoured music. Review added at http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/Psychfolkpopreview.html SPITTING FEATHERS Private Spitting Feathers : Shoot the Rapids (UK,1994)* Folkrock with Slapp Happy like female voice. Some songs are better than others. SPIROGYRA Repertoire Rec. Spirogyra : Bells, boots and shambles (UK,1973)***°° Tr.1, "The furthest point" 9 min Perfect progressive folk. A few only slightly weaker tracks, but tremendous opening. Still a classic gem. Their first album is perfect. The outstanding tracks here are even better worked out as on the first album. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- More info at http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/UKfolk.html