#britishfolk — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #britishfolk, aggregated by home.social.
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Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing -
From the same stable as Jansch and Renbourn, Ralph McTell was huge in the UK folk scene. This album, Right Side Up, is reasonably early on in his discography, and is notable for covering John Martyn’s ‘May You Never’. Martyn also plays guitar on ‘River Rising’. Can’t quite remember where this came from but I think, again, it was Truck Records.
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Had to pick this up when I saw it. I’m a big fan of Bert Jansch, and Bert & John collaborated many times. They are two peas from the same pod. I think I probably have all these tracks spread over several LPs but nice to have this sampler anyway. Again, a #HumminGuru clean was required.
I am once again in awe of the difference a sonic clean makes. My ears will never get used to it 😄
This one was from Truck Records in Witney. Not a charity shop, but a charity shop price!
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Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing (2023)
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing-2023 -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing (2023)
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing-2023 -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing (2023)
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing-2023 -
Robert Farmer – Each Mortal Thing (2023)
#Acoustic #JamesJoyce #acousticguitar #altfolk #altfolk #britishfolk #folk #freefolk #indiefolk #lofi #poem #poetry #singersongwriter #Northampton
CC BY-NC (#CreativeCommons Attribution Non Commercial) #ccmusic
https://robertfarmer.bandcamp.com/album/each-mortal-thing-2023 -
Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention, along with Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). While the band members would work together again on solo projects and in Fairport Convention, this was the group's only studio album.
Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2025/08/09/self-titled-summer-fotheringay-1970-uk/Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QmMr1RfdVw. It's also on Dailymotion here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x263bv2
Happy listening!
#Fotheringay #SandyDenny #TrevorLucas #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #PatDonaldson #FairportConvention #BritishFolk #FolkRock #selftitled #music #1001OtherAlbums
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention, along with Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). While the band members would work together again on solo projects and in Fairport Convention, this was the group's only studio album.
Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2025/08/09/self-titled-summer-fotheringay-1970-uk/Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QmMr1RfdVw. It's also on Dailymotion here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x263bv2
Happy listening!
#Fotheringay #SandyDenny #TrevorLucas #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #PatDonaldson #FairportConvention #BritishFolk #FolkRock #selftitled #music #1001OtherAlbums
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Fotheringay was a short-lived British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention, along with Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). While the band members would work together again on solo projects and in Fairport Convention, this was the group's only studio album.
Want to read more? See the full spotlight on the Fediverse at @1001otheralbums.com or on the blog: https://1001otheralbums.com/2025/08/09/self-titled-summer-fotheringay-1970-uk/Want to skip straight to the music? Here's a YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5QmMr1RfdVw. It's also on Dailymotion here: https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x263bv2
Happy listening!
#Fotheringay #SandyDenny #TrevorLucas #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #PatDonaldson #FairportConvention #BritishFolk #FolkRock #selftitled #music #1001OtherAlbums
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Point of origin(s): Fotheringay was a British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention (following the release of their 1969 Liege & Leaf, which we looked at nearly a year ago in a SpaceAce Sunday), named after Denny’s song of the same name from the Fairport Convention album What We Did on Our Holidays. The other members were Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). This was their debut album.
- Tasting notes: Folk rock with some jazzy bits, Sandy Denny’s remarkable voice, wistful longing
- Standout track: Their cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Way I Feel” – I want that song to last forever. The opener “Nothing More”, the first piano track Denny would write, is also fantastic (as it is on their live album, Essen 1970, released in 2011).
- Where are they now?/RIP: This is the only album released while the original lineup was together. They disbanded in January 1971 during recording sessions for a second album. While some of this material would later be released in 2008 under the title 2, some was used for Denny’s debut solo album (the 1971 The North Star Grassman and the Ravens) and on a Fairport Convention album (the 1972 Rosie), as Conway, Donahue, and Lucas had all joined that band after Fotheringay broke up (Donahue and Lucas from 1972-5, Conway just briefly at the time as a session musician, but then again later from 1998-2022). Denny would go on to have a successful but short solo career (with her former bandmates appearing on some of her albums), and would also briefly rejoin Fairport Convention in 1974-5. She tragically died in 1978 at the age of 31. Lucas then returned to Australia and mainly worked as a producer and film score composer until his death in 1989. In addition to his long stint in Fairport Convention, Conway was also in Pentangle from 1987 until his death just last year (he was married to Pentangle’s singer, Jacqui McShee). Donahue has a rather lengthy CV, working as both a musician (including guitar trio The Hellecasters plus being in The Yardbirds around 2004-5) and producer, at least up until a stroke in 2016 that affected his ability to play guitar. Donaldson was also in a few other bands and worked as a session musician (including for John Cale and Stevie Nicks)[1] at least into the 2010s. Quite a group, this one.
- Websites: Wikipedia
Happy listening!
- Though a non-Fotheringay/Fairport Convention-related tidbit, a fun find for me in writing this up is Donaldson’s work on Mae McKenna’s Everything That Touches Me (1976). I know this album as McKenna is the mother of Jamie Woon, whose debut LP we’ll see in a future spotlight because I had added it to The List. ↩︎
#1970s #BritishFolk #FairportConvention #folkRock #Fotheringay #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #music #musicDiscovery #PatDonaldson #SandyDenny #selftitled #TrevorLucas
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Point of origin(s): Fotheringay was a British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention (following the release of their 1969 Liege & Leaf, which we looked at nearly a year ago in a SpaceAce Sunday), named after Denny’s song of the same name from the Fairport Convention album What We Did on Our Holidays. The other members were Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). This was their debut album.
- Tasting notes: Folk rock with some jazzy bits, Sandy Denny’s remarkable voice, wistful longing
- Standout track: Their cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Way I Feel” – I want that song to last forever. The opener “Nothing More”, the first piano track Denny would write, is also fantastic (as it is on their live album, Essen 1970, released in 2011).
- Where are they now?/RIP: This is the only album released while the original lineup was together. They disbanded in January 1971 during recording sessions for a second album. While some of this material would later be released in 2008 under the title 2, some was used for Denny’s debut solo album (the 1971 The North Star Grassman and the Ravens) and on a Fairport Convention album (the 1972 Rosie), as Conway, Donahue, and Lucas had all joined that band after Fotheringay broke up (Donahue and Lucas from 1972-5, Conway just briefly at the time as a session musician, but then again later from 1998-2022). Denny would go on to have a successful but short solo career (with her former bandmates appearing on some of her albums), and would also briefly rejoin Fairport Convention in 1974-5. She tragically died in 1978 at the age of 31. Lucas then returned to Australia and mainly worked as a producer and film score composer until his death in 1989. In addition to his long stint in Fairport Convention, Conway was also in Pentangle from 1987 until his death just last year (he was married to Pentangle’s singer, Jacqui McShee). Donahue has a rather lengthy CV, working as both a musician (including guitar trio The Hellecasters plus being in The Yardbirds around 2004-5) and producer, at least up until a stroke in 2016 that affected his ability to play guitar. Donaldson was also in a few other bands and worked as a session musician (including for John Cale and Stevie Nicks)[1] at least into the 2010s. Quite a group, this one.
- Websites: Wikipedia
Happy listening!
- Though a non-Fotheringay/Fairport Convention-related tidbit, a fun find for me in writing this up is Donaldson’s work on Mae McKenna’s Everything That Touches Me (1976). I know this album as McKenna is the mother of Jamie Woon, whose debut LP we’ll see in a future spotlight because I had added it to The List. ↩︎
#1970s #britishFolk #fairportConvention #folkRock #fotheringay #gerryConway #jerryDonahue #music #musicDiscovery #patDonaldson #sandyDenny #selftitled #trevorLucas
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Point of origin(s): Fotheringay was a British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention (following the release of their 1969 Liege & Leaf, which we looked at nearly a year ago in a SpaceAce Sunday), named after Denny’s song of the same name from the Fairport Convention album What We Did on Our Holidays. The other members were Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). This was their debut album.
- Tasting notes: Folk rock with some jazzy bits, Sandy Denny’s remarkable voice, wistful longing
- Standout track: Their cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Way I Feel” – I want that song to last forever. The opener “Nothing More”, the first piano track Denny would write, is also fantastic (as it is on their live album, Essen 1970, released in 2011).
- Where are they now?/RIP: This is the only album released while the original lineup was together. They disbanded in January 1971 during recording sessions for a second album. While some of this material would later be released in 2008 under the title 2, some was used for Denny’s debut solo album (the 1971 The North Star Grassman and the Ravens) and on a Fairport Convention album (the 1972 Rosie), as Conway, Donahue, and Lucas had all joined that band after Fotheringay broke up (Donahue and Lucas from 1972-5, Conway just briefly at the time as a session musician, but then again later from 1998-2022). Denny would go on to have a successful but short solo career (with her former bandmates appearing on some of her albums), and would also briefly rejoin Fairport Convention in 1974-5. She tragically died in 1978 at the age of 31. Lucas then returned to Australia and mainly worked as a producer and film score composer until his death in 1989. In addition to his long stint in Fairport Convention, Conway was also in Pentangle from 1987 until his death just last year (he was married to Pentangle’s singer, Jacqui McShee). Donahue has a rather lengthy CV, working as both a musician (including guitar trio The Hellecasters plus being in The Yardbirds around 2004-5) and producer, at least up until a stroke in 2016 that affected his ability to play guitar. Donaldson was also in a few other bands and worked as a session musician (including for John Cale and Stevie Nicks)[1] at least into the 2010s. Quite a group, this one.
- Websites: Wikipedia
Happy listening!
- Though a non-Fotheringay/Fairport Convention-related tidbit, a fun find for me in writing this up is Donaldson’s work on Mae McKenna’s Everything That Touches Me (1976). I know this album as McKenna is the mother of Jamie Woon, whose debut LP we’ll see in a future spotlight because I had added it to The List. ↩︎
#1970s #BritishFolk #FairportConvention #folkRock #Fotheringay #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #music #musicDiscovery #PatDonaldson #SandyDenny #selftitled #TrevorLucas
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Self-Titled Summer | Fotheringay (1970, UK)
Our next Self-Titled Summer spotlight is on number 280 on The List, submitted by baz. Here’s a quick rundown:
- Point of origin(s): Fotheringay was a British folk rock quintet formed by Sandy Denny after she left Fairport Convention (following the release of their 1969 Liege & Leaf, which we looked at nearly a year ago in a SpaceAce Sunday), named after Denny’s song of the same name from the Fairport Convention album What We Did on Our Holidays. The other members were Denny’s partner and Australian guitarist Trevor Lucas plus drummer Gerry Conway (both formerly of folk psych prog rock band Eclection), and American guitarist Jerry Donahue and Scottish bassist Pat Donaldson (both formerly of prog psych group Poet and The One Man Band). This was their debut album.
- Tasting notes: Folk rock with some jazzy bits, Sandy Denny’s remarkable voice, wistful longing
- Standout track: Their cover of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s “The Way I Feel” – I want that song to last forever. The opener “Nothing More”, the first piano track Denny would write, is also fantastic (as it is on their live album, Essen 1970, released in 2011).
- Where are they now?/RIP: This is the only album released while the original lineup was together. They disbanded in January 1971 during recording sessions for a second album. While some of this material would later be released in 2008 under the title 2, some was used for Denny’s debut solo album (the 1971 The North Star Grassman and the Ravens) and on a Fairport Convention album (the 1972 Rosie), as Conway, Donahue, and Lucas had all joined that band after Fotheringay broke up (Donahue and Lucas from 1972-5, Conway just briefly at the time as a session musician, but then again later from 1998-2022). Denny would go on to have a successful but short solo career (with her former bandmates appearing on some of her albums), and would also briefly rejoin Fairport Convention in 1974-5. She tragically died in 1978 at the age of 31. Lucas then returned to Australia and mainly worked as a producer and film score composer until his death in 1989. In addition to his long stint in Fairport Convention, Conway was also in Pentangle from 1987 until his death just last year (he was married to Pentangle’s singer, Jacqui McShee). Donahue has a rather lengthy CV, working as both a musician (including guitar trio The Hellecasters plus being in The Yardbirds around 2004-5) and producer, at least up until a stroke in 2016 that affected his ability to play guitar. Donaldson was also in a few other bands and worked as a session musician (including for John Cale and Stevie Nicks)[1] at least into the 2010s. Quite a group, this one.
- Websites: Wikipedia
Happy listening!
- Though a non-Fotheringay/Fairport Convention-related tidbit, a fun find for me in writing this up is Donaldson’s work on Mae McKenna’s Everything That Touches Me (1976). I know this album as McKenna is the mother of Jamie Woon, whose debut LP we’ll see in a future spotlight because I had added it to The List. ↩︎
#1970s #BritishFolk #FairportConvention #folkRock #Fotheringay #GerryConway #JerryDonahue #music #musicDiscovery #PatDonaldson #SandyDenny #selftitled #TrevorLucas
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We are really excited to announce that our new single 'Song to the Siren - Live!' - our interpretation of the classic song written by Tim Buckley Music and Larry Beckett - is set for release on Friday 24th January, 2025.
It's been refreshing to work on this song as a duo playing almost all the instruments ourselves - including Starlite on the drums and me on bass pedals and real Leslie 145 🙂
#Folk #BritishFolk #acousticmusic #folksinger #music #MastoMusic #FediMusic
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Frost and Fire, Part 1 – SpaceAce Sunday Edition
When I sat down to search for a streaming link for our next SpaceAce Sunday, I realized that we, in fact, have two albums on The List with the title Frost and Fire: The Watersons’ 1965 folk debut, and Cirith Ungol’s 1981 proto-doom/heavy metal debut. Given that (a) The Watersons’ album contains a few Xmas/Xmas-adjacent songs, and (b) I, like many of you, am rather ambivalent towards the holiday season at best, I wanted to offer up both albums at this time of year as if they were both Xmas albums, even if one is only partially an Xmas album and the other can essentially only be considered an Xmas album due to proximity, or, say, in the sense that Die Hard is an Xmas movie because it takes place on December 24.[1] In doing so, we can each choose for ourselves what level of holiday music we want to expose our ears to. And, because SpaceAce Sundays are clearly limited to Sundays, we will first spotlight SpaceAce’s Frost and Fire, i.e., The Watersons’ album, and then, on December 24, we will spotlight Cirith Ungol’s take on the title.
The Watersons – Frost and Fire (A Calendar of Ritual and Magical Songs)[3] (1965, UK)
And so, today we go back to one of the first albums SpaceAce submitted to this project, number 481 in The List.
I think it’s fair to say that SpaceAce must’ve loved this band/family, seeing as this is the third album of theirs we’re looking at thanks to him. As noted in the liner notes by A. L. Lloyd[2] (who we met in a previous SpaceAce Sunday), this album collects traditional ceremonial songs, not just from around the winter solstice but from each season:
Seasons of anxiety, seasons of joy. The common people had their rites of propitiation and triumph, older than the rituals of the Church and closer bound to their daily lives. This record takes us through a year’s calendar, displaying songs that accompanied these ceremonies, season by season…
When the Christian church arose, it ranged itself against the beliefs and customs of the old nature worship, and prudently annexed many of the seasonal ceremonies. Thus the critical time of the winter solstice, a rich period for pagan ritual, became the season of the Nativity of the new god. The season of the great spring ceremonies became the time of his slaughter and resurrection. So it happens that in many songs on this record pagan and Christian elements are inextricably tangled…it’s necessary to recall that behind most of these calendar customs and the songs attached to them lies nothing more mysterious, nothing less realistic, than the yearly round of work carried out in the fields…For it’s due to their relation with economic life, not to any mystical connection, that the song-customs have persisted right up to our own time.
That’s the sort of Xmas songs I can get behind.
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and, if you wish to listen to this Frost and Fire, let’s take a listen together. Otherwise, let’s meet back here Tuesday for a more metal take.
- Songlink: The Watersons – Frost and Fire (A Calendar of Ritual and Magical Songs)
- Discogs: The Watersons – Frost and Fire (A Calendar of Ritual and Magical Songs)
[1]To be clear, Die Hard is most definitely an Xmas movie. I will not be taking any questions at this time.
[2]The liner notes are reproduced in full here.
[3]Note the cover of the US pressing that I’ve included here doesn’t include the subtitle found on the original UK cover, but this one is so much cooler looking (and, I believe, is the version SpaceAce owned).#1001OtherAlbums #1960s #BritishFolk #ChristmasMusic #folk #folkMusic #holidayMusic #ListenToThis #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #SpaceAceSunday #TheWatersons
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SpaceAce Sunday | The Watersons – The Watersons (1966, UK)
The next album our dearly missed friend submitted to the project is number 1050 on The List.
I forgot to explain in our last SpaceAce Sunday that that album marked the first of the last group of SpaceAce’s contributions. From there until we reach the end of our SpaceAce Sundays (with the exception of next week), you may notice that each album was released in 1966. This isn’t an odd coincidence. When I had finished indexing the entirety of The List, I discovered something odd: of the roughly 1035 albums we had gathered up to that point, none of them had been released in 1966, the only entry for that year being a compilation that included some singles released in ’66. Granted, there was also no albums for 1962 (again, just a compilation with some ’62 singles) and then one or none for any year earlier than 1955, but the bare spot for 1966 seemed to really stand out to me, given the number of albums we had in the few years before and after.
And so, me being me, I tooted “was no one pressing records in 1966?”…and some lovely Mastodonians promptly provided evidence that, in fact, ALL of the records were pressed in 1966, lol, and we ended up adding 16 albums from that year to The List. SpaceAce is responsible for most of those, as he took a look at his gigantic vinyl collection on Discogs, sorted by year, and made a list of 10 albums from 1966 that were worthy of The List.
And so, here we are. If The Watersons sounds familiar in this context, it’s because we’ve already had a SpaceAce Sunday looking at this family, in particular the duo of siblings Lal and Mike. As mentioned in that previous spotlight, The Watersons consisted of Lal (or Elaine, as billed on the cover of this album) and Mike, their other sibling Norma, and cousin John Harrison. The album here is their second. Next weekend we’ll be taking a look at their previous album from 1965, the first album in fact that SpaceAce had contributed to The List – it’s a holiday-ish affair, so we had saved it for the holiday season. That said, for me at least, the a cappella tunes on this album already remind me of Christmas carols, so guess I’m getting an early start.
Happy listening, all. And thank you, J.
- Songlink: The Watersons – Early Days
- Note: I can’t find a streaming link to just the 1966 album, but it is included in its entirety (and with tracks in the same order) in this 1994 compilation (tracks 7 to 17) that also features the same cover photo.
- This Die or DIY blog post has a download link (.rar format), if you’re into that sort of thing.
- Discogs: The Watersons – The Watersons
#1001OtherAlbums #1960s #BritishFolk #folkMusic #ListenToThis #music #musicDiscovery #Musodon #SpaceAceSunday #TheWatersons
- Songlink: The Watersons – Early Days
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Ever thought British folk needed more autotuning and fuzz? Check this out!
https://stickinthewheel.bandcamp.com/album/a-thousand-pokes
#StickInTheWheel #BritishFolk #RadicalFolk #folktronica #experimental
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The next album SpaceAce submitted to this project is the fourth studio album from Pentangle, number 486 in The List.
I would’ve liked to know what SpaceAce’s thoughts on this one were. To me, from a single listen, the music itself doesn’t stand out from the previous British folk/folk rock albums that he submitted to The List – it features traditional folk songs, Jacqui McShee’s beautiful vocals sound rather familiar, etc. What I would like to know is whether the fact that the final track (“Jack Orion”) takes up the entire second side of the album was thought to be strange or controversial at the time. According to Wikipedia, Cruel Sister was a commercial disaster. Was it because of “Jack Orion” in particular? Was there a backlash for straying into the prog lane, akin to Dylan going electric? Did they play the entire 18 minutes and 36 seconds of “Jack Orion” in live performances? At any rate, it couldn’t have hurt the band too much in the end, as they continued to put out albums (including a number of reissues/remasters of Cruel Sister) and still exist today.
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and take a listen together.
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/09/22/spaceace-sunday-pentangle-cruel-sister-1970-uk/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #BritishFolk #folkRock #Pentangle #SpaceAceSunday
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The next album SpaceAce submitted to this project is the fourth studio album from Fairport Convention, number 485 in The List.
This is the only album of the 25 SpaceAce submitted that is also on the “official” list. Like many other contributors to The List, SpaceAce was quite careful to submit only albums that are “other” (i.e., that had been missed by the official list), so I’m going to take the inclusion of this one as an emphatic “you got to listen to this…or else, HA HA”.
This is the last Fairport album to feature the spectacular Sandy Denny on vocals. Denny had joined the band the previous year, and together they put out three releases. Denny is credited with nudging Fairport away from being a “British Jefferson Airplane” (i.e., worshipping at the altar of American music) towards being a full-on British folk rock band. Denny quit the band soon after Liege & Lief was released, and formed Fotheringay, whose only release we’ll eventually meet in another spotlight (not submitted by SpaceAce, but I imagine only because it had already been added to The List before he joined the project). As mentioned in our previous 6 Degrees of Separation series, we’ll also hear from Denny again when we get to Led Zeppelin IV. In the meantime, thanks to SpaceAce, we’ll lay our Denny foundation with this lovely album.
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and take a listen together.
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/09/15/spaceace-sunday-fairport-convention-liege-lief-1969-uk/
#1001OtherAlbums #1960s #BritishFolk #FairportConvention #folkRock #SandyDenny #SpaceAceSunday
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The next album SpaceAce submitted to this project is the debut album from Anne Briggs, number 483 in The List.
As with the other folk albums we’ve listened to so far for SpaceAce Sunday, this is another artist who was apparently very influential in the British folk revival of the 60s. If you (like me) don’t know anything about Briggs, I’d recommend checking out her Wikipedia page – she sounds like an interesting person, and there’s a ton of musical connections to explore. One thing that jumped out at me was that she plays bouzouki, and played it while touring in the late 60s with an Irish band, Sweeney’s Men (it can also be heard on the second last track – and my favorite – of this self-titled album). The Wikipedia notes that the instrument was rare in Ireland (and Britain) at the time; I can’t help but wonder if Briggs’/Sweeney’s Men’s bouzouki playing laid any sort of foundation for the Irish folk community’s later acceptance of bouzouki player Mohammad Syfkhan, who we met in a previous spotlight. My mind wanders…
This album was just re-released this April as a deluxe edition for Record Store Day with an additional 7″ that has four extra songs. I would think SpaceAce likely grabbed a copy of it – if my memory serves, he posted at least a few times about Anne Briggs records.
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and take a listen together.
- Youtube: Anne Briggs – Anne Briggs
- Songlink: Anne Briggs – Anne Briggs (deluxe edition)
- Discogs: Anne Briggs – Anne Briggs
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/25/spaceace-sunday-anne-briggs-anne-briggs-1971-uk/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #AnneBriggs #bouzouki #BritishFolk #folk #folkMusic #SpaceAceSunday
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I have just resolved something that, if not quite a bucket list item, has been bugging me for years. When I was in university, I was a DJ at the student radio station. I remember playing a song that I thought was called "Ante Aviator". Despite many searches, I was never able to find it.
Well, I finally found it and it's as good as I remember it.
https://youtu.be/g0TxcKqbBlU?si=t05M4mcBUXl1AfY5
More about it here.
https://coredump3.blogspot.com/2024/08/a-lost-musical-treasure-found.html
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The next album SpaceAce submitted to this project is a collection of holiday tunes, so we’re going to save that for a later SpaceAce Sunday and skip to the next, number 482 in The List.
This is a really lovely and eclectic collection of folk songs from the Waterson siblings. SpaceAce must’ve really dug what this family was doing, as he also submitted the first two albums by The Watersons, an earlier band that included both Lal and Mike along with their other sibling Norma, and cousin John Harrison. The Watersons had broken up in 1968 but would reform the same year Bright Phoebus was released.
I think SpaceAce would’ve had a lot to say about this one. As per the Wikipedia page, it had some really mixed reviews when it was released, presumably because it was a departure from the family’s typical work of singing traditional songs, featuring instead original songs, some of which were more poppy, some rather dark. To put in context of contemporaries, Ewan MacColl (who we met last SpaceAce Sunday) hated it, but Anne Briggs (who we’ll meet next SpaceAce Sunday) loved it. Since then, it seems to have become a bit of a holy grail, as it wasn’t repressed on vinyl until 2017, and then the re-release was pulled due to copyright issues. I wonder if SpaceAce had one of the original 1000 copies…
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and take a listen together.
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/08/18/spaceace-sunday-lal-mike-waterson-bright-phoebus-1972-uk/
#1001OtherAlbums #1970s #BritishFolk #folk #folkRock #LalWaterson #MikeWaterson #SpaceAceSunday #TheWatersons
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Last SpaceAce Sunday, we took a listen to the first album that SpaceAce submitted to this project. We had a sort of surrogate spotlight on the second one back in March, pointing to SpaceAce’s own post on that album,* so here we jump to the third.
In memory of our dearly missed friend, let’s raise a glass and take a listen to number 479 in The List. This one is a collection of traditional sea shanties, and one of the many collaborations between Ewan MacColl and A. L. Lloyd, both key in the British folk revival of the 1950s and 60s.
Thanks, friend.
- Songlink: Ewan MacColl, A. L. Lloyd – Blow Boys Blow (Songs of the Sea)
- Note: CW for lyrics in the title track.**
- Discogs: Ewan MacColl, A. L. Lloyd – Blow Boys Blow (Songs of the Sea)
*SpaceAce’s piece on Forest’s The Full Circle is on the Digital LoFi blog. While our surrogate spotlight simply links to his post, you may want to check it out – in a weird tech glitch/gift, though SpaceAce’s use of the autodelete setting on Mastodon means that his comment on the Mastodon side has long disappeared, it remains on the blog side, complete with his cartoon avatar and signature ALL CAPS joy.
**I questioned pointing this out, but I feel like SpaceAce would’ve said something about it. The title track has a racist word in a lyric describing an antislavery ship; the song appears to have originated during the slave trade. There’s a discussion of the song and its various versions including this one here. The same site has an ultra-detailed discussion of each song on Blow Boys Blow and of both Ewan MacColl’s and A. L. Lloyd’s entire discographies, if you’re interested.#1001OtherAlbums #1950s #ALLloyd #BertLloyd #BritishFolk #EwanMacColl #folk #folkMusic #seaShanties #SpaceAceSunday
- Songlink: Ewan MacColl, A. L. Lloyd – Blow Boys Blow (Songs of the Sea)
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In memory of our dearly missed SpaceAce, let’s raise a glass and take a listen to the first album he submitted for this project, number 474 in The List. This one is a collaboration between singer Shirley Collins and guitarist Davy Graham, two musicians who were highly influential in the British folk revival of the 60s, as was the album itself.
Thank you, friend.
- Songlink: Shirley Collins, Davy Graham – Folk Roots, New Routes
- Discogs: Shirley Collins, Davy Graham – Folk Roots, New Routes
#1001OtherAlbums #1960s #acousticGuitar #BritishFolk #DavyGraham #folk #folkMusic #ShirleyCollins #SpaceAceSunday
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Because more music is never ever a bad thing, last weekend we added a new feature to the blog, a Links page that points to some other cool online spaces that are dedicated to sharing excellent music. In putting a call out to Mastodonians to send in links for their own sites and personal favorites, a blog by two of our List contributors was brought to my attention, Digital LoFi. I was especially thrilled to find that, on their blog, @SpaceAce (aka Robotron, aka Tom Q.) has a fantastic write-up for one of the albums they had submitted, Forest’s The Full Circle, number 480 on The List.
Since the whole point of the 1001 Other Albums project is to share music and our thoughts on said music with each other, I feel like pointing to a contributor’s thoughts elsewhere rather than trying to reinvent the wheel here is a great fit. And so, at the risk of appearing to be phoning it in, please join us over at Digital LoFi for today’s spotlight – a surrogate guest post, if you will. But first make sure to grab yourself a snack, something warm to drink, maybe a kitten, and a pair of headphones, because this is a nice loooong read, complete with a history lesson on British folk music in the 50s/60s, a review of the band’s first LP, a close-up look at the album cover art, a deep dive into the lyrics, and (*swoon*) footnotes.
Happy reading/listening!
>>> Digital LoFi: The Trees In The Forest <<<
[Alt text for accompanying image: The album artwork is a drawing or painting in light colors. There’s a stone church at the top of a small hill in the background and a woman holding a baby in the foreground, surrounded by some sort of scribbles representing perhaps a bush or wind or water. The band and album names are in yellow font, printed in a circle to the left of the woman.]
https://1001otheralbums.com/2024/03/30/forest-the-full-circle-1970-uk/
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I listen to this every New Year’s Eve. May we all have hope this year, especially when people tell us to not have any.
https://youtu.be/g9oT6Dn9xmw?si=kKDPnW29FOZbuQx5
#NewYearsEve #NewYear #Music #Folk #FolkMusic #BritishFolk #LadyMasery #WilliamMorris
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Thrilled to see so much early airplay for my #newalbum 'Dark Harvest' (released January 26th) - there's a shipment of CDs from the USA due soon.
If you fancy a sneak preview, catch up on repeat with the #IainAnderson show on #BBCRadioScotland#folkmusic #singersongwriter #americana #newalbum #radio #scottish #music #original #singer #guitarist #songwriter #folk #newmusic #darkharvest #storytelling #britishfolk #linocut
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Steeleye Span - Saucy Sailor - live https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgSwnL4au64 #music #britishfolk
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I got a job in a #recordstore 33 1/3 years ago. I like to think about #Beatles #progrock #jazz #britishfolk. I'm on a #metal server so some of my fave metal bands are #horisont #blackstarriders #nightflightorchestra #bluespills and #jethrotull.
I make #electronicmusic for my own use.
I proposed #RecordStoreDay and ran marketing for one of the CD stores that launched Limp Bizkit.
I review music, movies, and the occasional book for the Portland, Maine NBC station.
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I got a job in a #recordstore 33 1/3 years ago. I like to think about #Beatles #progrock #jazz #britishfolk. I'm on a #metal server so some of my fave metal bands are #horisont #blackstarriders #nightflightorchestra #bluespills and #jethrotull.
I make #electronicmusic for my own use.
I proposed #RecordStoreDay and ran marketing for one of the CD stores that launched Limp Bizkit.
I review music, movies, and the occasional book for the Portland, Maine NBC station.
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I got a job in a #recordstore 33 1/3 years ago. I like to think about #Beatles #progrock #jazz #britishfolk. I'm on a #metal server so some of my fave metal bands are #horisont #blackstarriders #nightflightorchestra #bluespills and #jethrotull.
I make #electronicmusic for my own use.
I proposed #RecordStoreDay and ran marketing for one of the CD stores that launched Limp Bizkit.
I review music, movies, and the occasional book for the Portland, Maine NBC station.
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I got a job in a #recordstore 33 1/3 years ago. I like to think about #Beatles #progrock #jazz #britishfolk. I'm on a #metal server so some of my fave metal bands are #horisont #blackstarriders #nightflightorchestra #bluespills and #jethrotull.
I make #electronicmusic for my own use.
I proposed #RecordStoreDay and ran marketing for one of the CD stores that launched Limp Bizkit.
I review music, movies, and the occasional book for the Portland, Maine NBC station.
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I got a job in a #recordstore 33 1/3 years ago. I like to think about #Beatles #progrock #jazz #britishfolk. I'm on a #metal server so some of my fave metal bands are #horisont #blackstarriders #nightflightorchestra #bluespills and #jethrotull.
I make #electronicmusic for my own use.
I proposed #RecordStoreDay and ran marketing for one of the CD stores that launched Limp Bizkit.
I review music, movies, and the occasional book for the Portland, Maine NBC station.