O I forbid you, maidens a’
That wear gowd in your hair,
To gae by Carterhaugh,
For young Tam Lin is there.
Ingrid, our Steward, declared earlier this week that today would be an Estate work free day as much was possible, though the livestock would need tending to and other such matters. Mrs. Ware and her ever so talented Kitchen staff prepared a picnic of sorts so they could enjoy the day too. I even closed the Pub for the day as Bjorn, our brewmaster, set up taps of Celebration Ale, Albion Cider, Widdershins Mead and Banish Misfortune Stout at the top of the Greensward for all to enjoy.
There’s a pig roaring over the apple wood fire which should be ready in a few hours. Plenty of other fare as well — earlier today I saw corn ready for roasting, German style potato salad, lots of cheeses, fat sausages, a coleslaw with poppy seed dressing and lots of other tasty foods.
Indeed I’m finishing this edition earlier this week, so I too could take the day off. After you read this edition, join us on the Greensward for music, libations, food and other summery things. There’ll be a cricket game for those needing a bit of entertainment.
It’s all music reviews this time, be it bands like the Pogues or solo artists like the much missed Sandy Denny of Fairport Convention fame. So grab your favorite libation, be it a coffee or something stronger and sit in for some great reading now.
Cat really likes The Pogues: The Lost Decades: ‘Ann Scanlon has captured the Pogues from their very first days in early ’82 ’til a decade later when they released their only commercially successful album If I Should Fall From Grace With God, an album that really did sound like it was produced instead of being simply tossed togather. Ann’s clearly at ease with the band. And it’s clear she had the full cooperation of the band, their friends, and assorted never do well hanger-ons. This is a fuckin’ brillant work of ethnograpghy that catches the evolution of a band as no other book I’ve read has done.’
Chris’s review of Clinton Heylin’s No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny starts off with this rather unusual introduction: ‘In some ways it’s apposite that a book written about an artist as emotionally charged and mercurial as Sandy Denny should itself have had a difficult and rocky genesis. Some people, myself included, were expecting an biography of Sandy written by Pam Winters to be issued by Helter Skelter last year. It’s not my place as a reviewer to pass judgment on the disagreements which caused that project to flounder, and led to Clinton Heylin writing this book. Nevertheless, I include these comments to clarify the situation for those readers who do not know the background, why a biography did not appear last year, and why the author of this book, Clinton Heylin, is perhaps not the same author that they may have expected. It also helps explain the rather unusual comments in Clinton Heylin’s acknowledgments. Maybe one day that full story will unfold, but I shall keep my thoughts and comments on the book in hand.’
Chuck found Garóid Óh Allmhuráin’s Pocket History of Irish Traditional Music rather good: ‘Here’s a neat little book. Gearóid Ó h Allmhuráin manages to compress a history of Irish music into just over 150 pages and does it clearly and cleanly. I have an aficionado’s knowledge, not a expert’s, of Irish music, so I can’t say for certain if absolutely everyone who should be included was. But the major figures – Turlough O’Carolan, Rory Dall, Francis O’Neill, Michael Coleman, and even Riverdance – all get suitable notice. Furthermore, Ó h Allmhuráin does an excellent job of describing the origins of the various aspects of the Irish tradition, as well as, placing the more recent performers within that tradition.’
Ever listen to Little Feat? Here’s the first biography of the singer Lowell George and David has the story: ‘Mark Brend’s Rock and Roll Doctor provides us with the essential material. The story of a life. Taken together with his recordings this is the closest any of us will come to a look at who Lowell George was. But perhaps his widow, Elizabeth George, said it best, “There was nothing regular about the guy.”’
David found a good one here: ‘There have been many books written about Frank Zappa. Perhaps the most disappointing, and yet most enlightening, was his own The Real Frank Zappa Book. A bizarre but strangely readable book was Ben Watson’s Frank Zappa’s Negative Dialectics of Poodle Play. Dangerous Kitchen: the Subversive World of Frank Zappa falls somewhere in between. Kevin Courrier is a journalist and film critic for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. This is his second book, and it is a labor of love.’
Kate has a choice rock ‘n’ roll biography for us: ‘ Scott Allen Nollen has proven his devotion as a Tull fan in the countless miles travelled and the hours passed collecting details and interviewing band members and other associates. He has included nostalgic pictures of the band, some of which were borrowed from Ian Anderson, the often frenzied flautist who, despite some controversy, became the Fagin-like front man for the band. After ten long years of research, here in Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968-2001 is a comprehensive and entertaining story of the much misunderstood Jethro Tull. The authenticity is underlined by the thoughtful and honest foreword written by Ian Anderson himself.’
Mike Scott’s Adventures of a Waterboy was a lot better than Gary expected: ‘The moment I opened this book about Mike Scott and started reading it was when I first realized that it was a memoir. And if you’ve read many musicians’ autobiographies, you’ll know why my heart sank. “Oh, great, another slog through a couple hundred pages of mediocre writing at best.” It didn’t take long for Mr. Scott to dispel that notion. And when I reached the end of Chapter 1, I said out loud, “This guy can really write!” Not just songs, but prose, too.”’
Gary looks at a very personal biography, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon: ‘Warren Zevon died in 2003, within a week of Johnny Cash. While he was nowhere near the cultural icon that Cash was, Zevon was one of the most important voices in popular music in the second half of the 20th century. That much was clear to me before, but it was brought home to me by this biography compiled by his ex-wife Crystal Zevon.’
Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span always seem to evoke sunmet for me, so it’s fitting that Lars has a review of Brian Hinton and Geoff Wall’s biography of Ashley Hutchings: The Guv’nor & the Rise of Folk Rock as he helped birth both of those groups: ‘To some of us the subject of this book is, if not God, at least the musical equivalent to the pope. Name a group you like and have followed over the years, and there is a fair chance that Mr. Hutchings was there to start it, or at least influence the starting of it. He is in one way or another responsible for a very large number of the records in my collection, and yes, we are certainly talking three figures, here.’
A musician visiting here from America some years back told me of the Holy Trinity of summer for him: baseball, beer and brats. (He was from Milwaukee, which explained the latter.) So it’s apt that we’ve Kelly looking at a related book: ‘[E]ven with my recent development of my palate to include dark ales and porters and bitters and IPAs (but not quite stouts; I just can’t get into those), I never really knew the difference between a lager and an ale until I read Ken Wells’s book Travels with Barley: A Journey Through Beer Culture in America.‘
Michelle starts off her look at American baseball films this way: ‘In the big inning, God created baseball. Or perhaps it was Loki, patron of athletics and other tricks; the origins are shrouded in antiquity. There is also debate about which mortal first received the divine inspiration. Abner Doubleday often gets credit, though some historians claim the game was played in England in the 1700s. What is known is that, in 1845, a team called the New York Knickerbockers adopted the rules of the game we know as baseball. In New Jersey that summer, they played the first organized baseball game, and America acquired its own pantheon.’ You can read her delightful essay here.
Gary here with music. It being August, we’ve dredged the archives for some of our extensive collection of reviews of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention. But first, I have some new music.
First up is a delightful piano trio recording, Fred Hersch’s The Surrounding Green. ‘Hersch excels at the inward gesture and mood, and there’s plenty of that here, especially on his originals. The title track, new to this project, is one of the loveliest melodies you’ll hear this or any year. The closing number “Anticipation,” also new, is a Latin influenced groove that showcases Baron’s exquisite brushwork and Gress’s sheer melodicism, both of which complement Hersch’s joyful keyboard romp. This one definitely goes on my 2025 jazz favorites playlist.’
Next, an exquisite gem of a recording from bandoneon maestro Dino Saluzzi, El Viejo Caminante. ‘This is an intimate album, just Dino and two guitarists, his son José Maria Saluzzi on classical guitar and Norwegian Jacob Young on an electric Telecaster and acoustic guitars. It’s a generous program of 14 songs in which the master and his instrument explore a variety of moods.’
I also enjoyed an album of sunny summertime Americana. ‘The sunny Laurel Canyon vibe is what first drew me to Minor Gold’s Way to the Sun, then the sharp songwriting, lovely vocal harmonies, and emotional resonance of the songs pulled me in for a long stay.’
Deb Skolnik turned in a round-robin review from the 1999 Cropredy that was originally published in Folk Tales. ‘I decided it would be fun to have a group interview about this year’s festival by e-mailing several Folk Tales staffers who are also Fairport fans: Chris Woods, Richard Hamilton, Koen Hottentot, and Ian Walden. I had a bonus interviewee in the form of Ian’s companion, Ellen Rawson, who was there for the first time this year and is not a staff member. Chris, Richard and Ian live in the UK; Koen is from the Netherlands, and Ellen is American (as I am).’
John O’Regan turned in thorough reviews of the 2005 and 2007 Cropredy gatherings. Of 2007, he noted: ‘This time the weather played a deciding role in proceedings. Cropredy 2007 could have been a non-event up to two weeks before the festival. Torrential flooding had crippled the Oxfordshire and Northamptonshire countryside, leaving towns like Tewkesbury cut off from the outside world. Nearby villages like Abington and Daventry also suffered, and the farmers fields where the Cropredy backstage area normally sits were waterlogged. However, the weather improved sufficiently for the festival to proceed and it was a mixture of luck and providence that allowed the proceedings to begin on time and to happen at all.’
Lars attended and reviewed the 2017 Cropredy festival. ‘The 2017 festival was something special, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the band. Every living past member had been invited to take part, and the tickets sold out two months in advance. Even the weather seemed to celebrate. There were a total of 40 minutes of light rain during the whole event, in spite of it having poured down earlier that week, and it was an enjoyable 20 degrees Centigrade with spots of sun every now and then. Perfect for good music and a few pints.’
Michael Hunter did the honors on Fairport Convention’s CD Live At Cropredy ’08. ‘Live Fairport CDs are quite regular occurrences and therefore the risk exists that the same material will continue to be recycled ad infinitum. Does the world really need another version of ‘Matty Groves’ or ‘Meet On The Ledge’ for example, as good as both songs are? The band seems to understand this, as to large degree, the obvious tracks such as those mentioned are omitted and some quite rare material appears instead, in some cases for the first time in a few decades.’
To Pamela fell the task of reviewing Fairport Convention’s The Cropredy Box, a three-disc set commemorating the band’s 30th anniversary in 1997. ‘I don’t think The Cropredy Box is only for the hardcore. In fact, I’ll assert that each of us in the “Fairport Cult” should buy a copy for a friend. To truly appreciate the album’s ragged glory, though, the listener has to imagine the whole experience: the muddy hillside scattered with beer jugs, the multigenerational crowd with its multicolored hair, and the inward sense that something special will happen. It’s not as good as being at Cropredy, but for most of us it’s a lot cheaper, and it’s a treat we can enjoy more than once a year.’
Paul tackled the massive Free Reed set Cropredy Capers. ‘One thing’s for sure, if you’re any sort of admirer of Fairport Convention, then you really ought to have this. It submerges you in something truly special, and makes you look at your savings, wondering if you can somehow afford to spend an August weekend in Oxfordshire.’
That, of course, barely scratches the surface of Fairport related things we’ve reviewed over the decades. Come back in two weeks for more.
Our What Not comes courtesy of Pamela Dean, who was asked what her favourite ballad was: ‘As I went through all the Child ballads when I was trying to think of a frame for Juniper, Gentian, & Rosemary, and the only other remotely feminist ballad I could find was ‘Riddles Wisely Expounded,’ which is not nearly as active for the young woman as ‘Tam Lin’ is. Well, there is the one where a young woman ransoms her guy and says, ‘The blood had flowed upon the green afore I lost my laddie,’ which is nice, but all she does is take all her money and hand it over.’
In 2007 at Cropredy, Fairport Convention would recreate their Liege & Lief album with the original lineup sans the departed Sandy Denny so Chris While did the vocals and was quite stunning in her performance. Now let’s hear their ‘Tam Lin’ as performed on the night of the 10th of August.
