No’am Newman wrote this review.
The year 1971 found me as a dewy-eyed teenager sitting agog at the Bristol Troubadour. I had just discovered that my adopted home city had a strong “folk scene,” and that good music was always to be found in that musky room in the Clifton district. Of the many musicians that I saw there, the strongest impression was made by a guitarist and singer called Dave Evans. It always seemed that he had several hands playing the guitar at the same time, and his performances used to hold me spellbound. One Sunday evening at a concert (at the appropriately named Newman Hall, actually not far from my house), Dave introduced an instrumental as “a number which I recorded this afternoon for a forthcoming album.” I waited a few weeks, then went round to the local record company’s headquarters and purchased my copy of The Words In Between.
Although the sound was a bit fuller from what I remembered being played at the concerts (there was a second guitarist, Pete Airey, credited, as well as harmony vocalist Adrienne Webber and harmonica player Keith Warmington), the record was a convincing reconstruction of Dave’s performances. I really loved that record and played it to death for years. But Dave’s second recording for The Village Thing, Elephantasia, was disappointing and didn’t feature the acoustic guitar so much.
Maybe because of that disappointment, Dave seemed to drop out of my life, which continued placidly on its course until two recent events. One was an off the cuff mention by someone on the Richard Thompson mailing list about this album, and the second was a long interview with Steve Tilston in which he reminisced about his Bristol period, alongside such luminaries as Dave Evans. My imagination sparked, I immediately went looking for this album on the Internet, and whilst it took a long time to track down, I eventually found it at Froots and ordered the disc.
This is basic, almost unadorned contemporary folk — excellent guitar picking, slightly odd tunes with meaningful lyrics sung by a voice which is well-worn and can carry a tune, but would never find itself at the top of the hit parade. Think of the classic sixties British folk guitarists such as Bert Jansch or Davey Graham, and you have an idea of what this album sounds like. Probably because of the paucity of instrumentation, the songs don’t sound dated at all, even though hardly anybody plays in this style any more.
I get the feeling that Dave’s strongest appeal was to acoustic guitarists, who could sit and listen in wonder at his tunings, digital dexterity and general brilliance. These are the distinguishing marks which shone as clear as a beacon thirty years ago, and still shine as brightly now. But I suspect that to someone who doesn’t play the guitar, this album is simply a bunch of nice sounding songs with minimal arrangements.
The CD booklet boasts pictures that appeared on the original sleeve, alongside new and informative notes from Ian A. Anderson (who, for better or worse, functioned as the artistic director of The Village Thing, and actually recorded the original album in his basement) and Dave Evans himself, which place this album in its historic context. Dave also makes reference in his text to the sources and inspirations for some of the songs.
The original The Words In Between consisted of ten songs and lasted only thirty-six minutes (but thirty-six minutes of high quality!). To these have been added from the second album five songs, those considered to be the most compatible with the style of the first record.
Whilst listening to the album with headphones, it becomes apparent which tracks were recorded with Dave playing alone and those with accompaniment. It transpires that most of the tracks that I’ve liked the most (such as “The Words In Between,” “Magic Man,” “Now Is The Time” and “Sailor”) were those recorded with extra instruments, but the recording of “Grey Lady Morning” — always a jewel in live performances — shows that Dave really does have four hands!
(Weekend Beatnik, 1971/2001)
