New takes on old songs, RT biography [was: God]

[Dave Royal]

I'm moving this to a new thread because my usual Android newsreader
doesn't display replies to threads where I killed the OP. I only
spotted Nick's post when using my desktop machine.

>Nick Odell <gurzhfvp...@ntlworld.com.invalid> wrote:
>Nothing wrong with Fairport Convention![1} I think it was exciting to
>be in the middle of it all when the folk melting pot was given a good
>stir in the sixties and seventies and I still tend to wander back
>through material from that era for enjoyment. True confession: the
>thing that first attracted me to Led Zeppelin was their take on
>traditional and traditional-sounding English and Welsh music and it
>didn't seem at all out of place to be at Knebworth in'79 when Fairport
>were the support act at what turned out to be Led Zep's last festival
>gig.
>
>But I still like to be surprised by new and original takes on old and
>historic music and Anaïs Mitchell and Jefferson Hamer did that and I
>still find them enjoyable to listen to. Contrast perhaps with The
>Imagined Village project which I thought was a breath of fresh air at
>the time but I find I don't often play those albums again these days.
>
>
>Nick
>[1]Which is an opportunity to vaguely connect and say I've just
>finished reading Richard Thompson's autobiography and wonder if
>anybody else has taken a look at it yet?
>
I just listened to Imagined Village's Empire and Love album. And it's
good - but as you said, it's a long time since I did. But 'Space Girl'
is as wonderful as ever. I often play Eliza's Red Rice albums, though,
which has some novel instrumentations of folk songs. And, critically,
a strong clear vocal.

I read the review of the RT biog, but decided not to get it.
<https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/apr/10/beeswing-by-richard-thompson-review-beyond-fairport-convention>
Joe Boyd has been endlessly interviewed about Fairport and Sandy and
I felt I knew enough about it. I'm trying to read books on subjects
I dont know anything about.

I enjoyed Joe's book White Bicycles'. I learnt a lot about ISB that
had passed me by. I still play /their/ records. And not only the
early ones.
--
(Remove numerics from email address)

[Nick Odell]

That's fair enough. Anybody eho has been interested in English folk,
electric folk or folk-rock for long enough will have absorbed most of
the names and places and stories without even trying. But the odd
little snippets of stuff that I didn't previously know about kept me
interested. I didn't read appendix A because it's a collection of
lyrics to the songs mentioned in the text and I think I knew (most of)
those already. And I didn't read appendix B because that's all about
lucid dreams he's had and I think reading other people's dreams is a
bit weird.

>I enjoyed Joe's book White Bicycles'. I learnt a lot about ISB that
>had passed me by. I still play /their/ records. And not only the
>early ones.

Oh yes! Super book!
I somehow missed out on Vashti Bunyan the first time around but
reading White Bicycles inspired me to go out and buy her Just Another
Diamond Day album. Would it be unkind of me to say that, having heard
it, I think I know how I missed her the first time around?

Nick

[Chris J Dixon]

There was a time after she was "rediscovered" that one of her
tracks was used for an advert. I can't recall what it was
selling, but it did not encourage me to investigate her further.

I don't have many folk books, but I enjoyed this.

Singing from the Floor: A History of British Folk Clubs

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Singing-Floor-History-British-Clubs/dp/0571305458

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK
ch...@cdixon.me.uk @ChrisJDixon1

Plant amazing Acers.