ANNOUNCEMENT FOR SPIROGYRA FANS : 'Spirogyra' - British late 60's and early 70's progressive psychedelic folk cult band.- Martin Cockerham ('Spirogyra' Founder Member) released his Songbank on cdr for some interested, but now will work on more proper releases : “Since 2002 I have been working on a new 'Spirogyra' album with Mark Francis. This line-up is actually 'The Original Spirogyra' because the band was originally formed by myself and Mark in Bolton, Lancashire, in the 'Summer of Love' - 1967. (Mark can be heard on the 'Old Boot Wine' album and he co-wrote a couple of the songs on the 'Burn The Bridges' album). Completion of this new album has been held up by a lack of funds and also by bad health on my part, as I was hospitalised last year with TB. I spent 2 months in hospital and about 6 more months getting back to a state where I could sing. My health is still not A1, but the recording of the album and songs has now mostly been completed. What remains is for the recordings to be mixed. The recording has been done mostly in Mark and my home studios. But now we need to go into a top professional studio to mix it. We are also looking for a deal with a major record company to release the album. Already there are 2-3 smaller companies interested. Since we have not yet signed any deal for the new album I cannot say at this point when exactly the album will become available, but it should be by the end of this year. The songs on the album have all been co-written by myself and Mark. I will update this site with the latest news as soon as the album becomes available. Meanwhile I am now doing gigs under the band name 'Faery King' I also have a web site www.faeryking.com and e-mail faeryking@gmail.com The web site is not yet very developed and it is something I will be trying to do over the next few months. 'Spirogyra' fans can check the site from time to time for all the latest news on 'Spirogyra' and 'Faery King'. Regarding my solo albums done between 1974 to the present time. I have stopped selling these albums as I now plan to finish them all up to a professional standard with proper covers and professional mastering. This work will take some time and until it's done I will not be putting them out. There is also a 'Faery King' album in the pipeline which should also get done by the end of this year. This is my own work with some other musicians including Dave Stuckey. In addition to the music - I have been working on two books. One is my life story with astrological explanations. The main book is a 3 part epic the title of which I am not yet making public. Part 1 of the book is in it's final stages. This book is actually designed to be a movie. It's a kind of 'Star Wars' meets 'Lord of the Rings' meets 'Mahabharata' futuristic epic. I'll be letting you all know as soon as this book becomes available. It is still possible that Mark and I may release the new 'Spirogyra' album ourselves. However, what we really want to do is sign with a big label to get it distributed world wide, so until we have exhausted all possibilities of this we will not consider releasing it ourselves. That's it for now and many thanks for all your continued support. Especially my deep gratitude goes out to those of you who have actually written to me and encouraged me to continue. It is only these letters that have kept me going through very hard times. Warm Regards from” Martin Cockerham ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 'Spirogyra' and Martin Cockerham Album List : -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arkives Burn The Bridges St. Radigund's Old Boot Wine Bells Boots & Shambles A Canterbury Tale Live In Holland Seer's Songs Havi Sings Mahaaksha Gauranga's Cruises Warlord Valley Of The King Standing On One Of The Stones Up In The SacredField Ziom Topanga He Balinese Conjunction Blue Boy Martin Millennium The Sword From The Stoned Spirogyram Faery King -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ARKIVES Grapevine By The Way A Foreman’s Firstborn Linda’s song Spellbound Old Boot Wine (Martin vocal) The Furthest Point (early demo) Is That The Way? Let The Long Winds Blow Mary Don’t Be Scarred (Spirogyra 5) Waves (Spirogyra 5) Sea Song (A 20 minute opera recorded live in Haarlam) This is a collection of recordings not found on other albums. I’m trying to gather together all the old, lost recordings that I can find. This already includes the only existing recordings of the Spirogyra 5 line up with Barbara, Rick Biddulph and Jon Gifford. Also included are some really early songs of mine. “Grapevine” was the one of the first songs I ever wrote whilst travelling in Greece/Turkey 1968. Also on this album you can hear me playing my original guitar. Included is a live recording of Spirogyra 5 playing my mini rock opera - 'Sea Song', at the ‘Electric Center’ Haarlam, Holland some time in 1973-4. I’m looking for a tape done by Mark Francis and myself in 1968 which was submitted to Apple Records and earned me a personal invite to Apple to meet Peter Asher. Had h e not just signed James Taylor the day before, the first ‘Spirogyra’ might have got somewhere quicker. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- CANTERBURY TALE Here’s Today Crew At Home In The World The Duke of Mary Wings of Thunder Dangerous Dave Time Will Tell Runaway Parallel Lines World’s Eyes Don’t Let It Get You Love is a Funny Thing Canterbury Tale The Furthest Point The Western World Jungle Lore Coming Back Western World Reprise I wanted to make one album out of the best of the 3 Spirogyra Studio Albums - namely: ‘St Radigund’s’/’Old Boot Wine’/’Bell’s Boots and Shambles’. This album is the result. For now this is the list of songs chosen for the album. It is already 74 minutes long so I can’t add any song without taking something out. I have edited some of the songs so expect a few surprises. Mainly I took out the bits I didn't like! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Live In Holland This is a rare live recording that recently surfaced of the last 70's configuartion of 'Spirogyra' consisting of Martin Cockerham, Barbara Gaskin, Jon Gifford and Rick Biddulph. It's the recording of the last gig we ever did but one (at the end of a Dutch Tour). The last gig was in the London Roundhouse in 1974 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SEER’S SONGS Holy Earth Ship’s Ahoy/A Seer’s Song The Hidden Treasure Fool Beautiful World Guruvayor The Time of Death Sleeping Soul Bamboo Flute The Holy Name When The Morning Comes Kingdom Of The Lord This album contains highlights of 2 albums. The first 4 songs were written in West Ireland in the summer of 1978. I actually wrote enough songs for a whole album at this time and you can hear all the songs from that period on the album “Havi Sings Mahaksha”. They are not all here because I didn't record them all myself at the time. I was living in the Barn of my American friend Suzie who had a remote farm of 5 acres called “Cloonshear More” in the hills around Inchigeelah/Macroom, west Cork. This was the place where I had arrived with my horse and cart in 1974 after travelling like that down the west coast of Ireland. I stayed at ‘Cloonshear More’ for 2 months immediately before leaving for India. It was also where I came back to after India. “Cloonshear More” is a very mystical location, and a line of standing stones came over the mountain and right through the farmhouse. The nearest other house was about 1 mile away, apart from the small cottage of Bina, at the entrance to the trail leading to the farmhouse. You can hear about Bina’s passing in the song “Lady” on the album “Gauranga’s Cruises”. The next 8 songs were again written in ‘Cloonshear More’ in the winter of 1982/3 when I had again come back there for about 4 months after leaving Bali. All of the recordings on this album are as usual demos and have been rescued from last remaining cassette copies of the original recordings so don’t expect top sound quality. However they are some of my best songs and I think carry well the spirit of the period. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HAVI SINGS MAHAAKSHA Holy Earth Ship’s Ahoy/A Seer’s Song The Hidden Treasure Fool Love Lives Again Missing You It's So Nice Srila Prabhupada My Friend This album is a live recording of Ilan Chester (Also known as Havi) singing a bunch of songs I wrote (My Indian name is Mahaaksha) in Ireland in 1978 The live recording was done at Croome Court in the days when the Hare Krishna Movement was something to be in. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- GAURANGA’S CRUISES The Ship Love Lives Again Come Out Of The Dark Manblind Burning Alive Brighton Easy I Believe Make Me Dance Lady Fool New Kind Of Love Holy Earth A Seer’s Song The Ship Of Deliverance It’s So Nice Build A World These are recordings made with different friends 1979-1984. Once again they are all demos, each one recorded at different times and under different circumstances. Mostly recovered from cassettes. Many of the original masters were stolen from my friend Aprameya’s Garage in Amsterdam. Luckily I kept digital back ups of these recordings. The back up was done on the first ever digital recorder on Sony Beta tape in 1985. On this album you can hear performances from my following good friends: Krpa Moya: Vocal on “Come Out Of The Dark” Samba: Vocal on “The Ship” & “Lady” & “Love Lives Again” Ananda Moya: Vocal on “It’s So Nice” & “Make Me Dance” & “I Believe” & “Build A World”. He also wrote some of the lyrics for “It’s So Nice” including the title line and we co-wrote the tune and lyrics for “Make Me Dance”. Havi (Ilan Chester): Plays most everything on “Love Lives Again” & “It’s So Nice” except for guitar. Julian Cusack: A short excerpt from Julian’s piano arrangement for “A Seer’s Song” Giriraja: Does Vocal & Guitar on a short version of “Holy Earth” included here. Tridandi: Keyboard on “Come Out Of The Dark” and “Manblind” Rick Biddulph: electric guitar and bass on some tracks. Martin Cockerham: Acoustic Guitar & Vocals Radha Priya: Backing Vocals on 'Fool' Vichitravirya: Vocals on 'Fool' I’ve included another version of “Fool” here which is just myself on acoustic guitar and Vocal. “Ship Of Deliverance” is the only recording I ever played harmonica on until the new 'Faery King' album. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WARLORD Break the Barrier of Love Beautiful Lord Lift Up Your Heart It’s A Massive Shake Out Song Of Krishna Love Like An Ocean New Day Eyes of Green The Song (Goes On Forever) These songs were written in 1986 in Topanga Canyon near LA, when I first arrived in the USA . These songs are part of my original movie soundtrack. At that time I called the movie 'Warlord', but it now has a new name as yet unannounced. Some of these songs were written living in my Volkswagon camper van up in the Sierra Mountain Forests. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- VALLEY OF THE KING Men Of War Bard Of Paradise The Book Of Love He Has Followed In That Land One Day The Speed Of Love Some Mystic King Heaven’s Above Garden Radha Faire Rainbow Krishna Light Of Day He’s The One Mauna Kea Heaven’s Reprise I recorded this album using solar power and a Honda 500 watt generator in a remote part of The Big Island Of Hawaii. It was during the time when I was suffering from tendonitis in my left wrist and could not play guitar. This is the first album of songs which I wrote and played entirely on keyboards. I did this whole album completely alone without help using a Tascam 8 track cassette recorder. I first arrived on the Big Island January 2nd 1987. A friend had given me a free ticket from LA and I arrived with about $5 and vague directions to Waipio Valley - a remote valley known as “The Valley of the Kings”. It had been the Hawaiian homeland at the time of King Kamehameha who united all the Hawaiian islands under one king. At that time thousands of Hawaiians lived here, but now there are only a handful, living without electricity or phone. The valley is accessible only by 4 wheel drive vehicle down a 2,000 foot cliff face and then over numerous rivers and streams. I walked down there in January 1987 and ended up staying for 2 years. For the first year I was living only on wild fruits, of which there were many, on account of abandoned orchards. At the time I had my left wrist in a cast and sling in the hope that it would cure the problem. (It didn’t). So I couldn’t climb trees in search of fruit, but each day one or two would fall down so it wasn’t a problem. In fact I count it as one of the best times of my life. Living entirely without money in the hand of God, in the land of God, by a stream. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- STANDING ON ONE OF THE STONES UP IN THE SACRED FIELD World’s Tumbling Down Golden Colors Standing on One of the Stones Radhe Radhe Mind Expanding It’s Nothing to do with me Simply magical My address is Fife Meeting of the Tribes Wonderful One Indah Festival and Mahaksha Govinda Maintain Civilization Radhe When The World Gets Through - I’m Gonna Get To You Hey Radhe Yasomati Nandana Some of them are Born Jesus Christ! What Sort of Crystal’s That? How the river flows The Love Ram’s Vacuum Suck The Band Keeps Playing - The Forest of Dean Don’t Look Down I’ll Dream of You Tonight Primitive Gana Gana Shyam Hare Rama All War Is Vain The Children Will Be Free Eagle Fly Window of Your Heart Great Spirit This album is kind of my 'Revolution #9' They are a collection of surreal passages using samples and recordings done in tents at Glastonbury festival. There are many samples used recorded in Glastonbury, India and Maui. It’s my most adventurous album project and has some cutting edge musical ideas and trance. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ZIOM (DESERT HIT SPRINGS) A Lad In Love Lives If I Were You Time Track Feelings Dad Jumping Can It Come To This? Hari Om Flower Revolution Watching Sun & Moon Beautiful People Dream Wars Orchestral Ziom These albums are being made into one and consist of songs that I wrote in Paiia, Maui at the Kuau mansion and at Daryn’s House. Also in in Desert Hot Springs California at a hot springs resort owned by Dr. Dahi known as Casa Azteca. Also in Kedric the clown’s cabin in Topanga Canyon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topanga He These are songs recorded in Kedrick The Clown's mystic cabin in Topanga, California around 1997. The full song list is not completed yet. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BALINESE CONJUNCTION These are recordings I did with Mike Rogers, Emmy Moreau and Nate - all well known musicians inLA. We met by chance in Bali and at the time I had just lugged a huge heavy Yamaha QS 300 around India, only to frazzle it’s power supply when I tried to use it. Smoke started billowing out of the back so I gave up quick. In Delhi train station in the middle of the night a gang of porters took off with it and nothing except paying them a king’s ransom could get it back. By the time I arrived in Bali I really regretted having brought it with me. But Mike Rogers said lets do a recording in The Dewi Shree Hotel - and have a party. Nate (Vocals) turned up the same day. During the day we met Batuan, founder of the Artists Colony in Ubud and a well known Balinese wise man. I recorded him and other sound effects on my DAT, as well as the party in the evening when Mike made good use of the Qs 300. When I got back to Maui I edited the recordings, added samples and voila! Those recordings are followed by two tunes written by my friend Dave also from Maui. We met up again in Venice and did these recordings. I added the vocals and samples. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Blue Boy These are a collection of recordings from all over the place written by me with the Krishna theme. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MARTIN MILLENNIUM Heart Beat Look At Life Still Leave Traces Living In The Now Dream of You I Do Through Thick & Thin Seasons What’s It To You? Poetry In Green Mr. America The Streets of Canterbury There is a River These are songs I wrote during the latter half of 1999. I had opened a gallery selling Balinese spiritual imports with my friend Jitendra (an english sadhu and musician who lived in India for 16 years broke) in the San Francisco Bay area - or for those who know, more precisely - San Anselmo, Marin. These recordings are all done in the gallery, mostly at night. All the recordings are done live with vocals and keyboards or guitar without overdubs. Mostly I recorded the songs at the actual moment I first got the idea. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Sword From The Stoned These are all recordings done in England between 2001-2003 as preparation and ideas for the forthcoming 'Spirogyram' album. These are ideas that never made it to the 'Spirogyram' album -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Spirogyram This is the new album I've been doing with Mark Francis. It's been recorded between 2003-2005 in London, England. At present (March 2005) recording is complete but it all needs mixing in a top studio and mastering.The songs on this album are either Mark songs or Martin Songs or songs we co-wrote together. Robin Runciman has also contributed some of the lyrics. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 'Faery King' This is the latest album I'm still working on with Dave Stuckey and other musicians with whom I currently play live. It has songs written by the 3 'Bolton Beatles'. That's Mark Francis, Neil Duckworth and Martin Cockerham Keep up to date with all developments on: www.faeryking.com Write to us at: faeryking@gmail.com More info, go to : http://psychedelicfolk.homestead.com/acidfolkreviews.html