Anthems in Eden

Last updated

Anthems in Eden
Anthems in Eden.jpg
Studio album by
Released1969
Genre Folk
Length50:30
Label Harvest
Producer Austin John Marshall
Shirley Collins chronology
The Power of the True Love Knot
(1968)
Anthems in Eden
(1969)
Love, Death and the Lady
(1970)

Anthems in Eden is a 1969 album by Shirley and Dolly Collins, with the Early Music Consort of London, directed by David Munrow. The album originally consisted of a 28-minute set of folk songs plus seven other individual pieces performed by the same group. The musical arrangements for these eight pieces included early music instruments, such as viols, recorders, sackbuts and crumhorns. In 1976, six new songs were recorded with a different assortment of accompanists, to replace the original seven individual songs. This 1976 album consisting of the 28-minute set plus the six new songs was released by Harvest Records under the title Amaranth. Subsequent releases have combined all fourteen pieces under the original title, Anthems in Eden.

Contents

Recording history

The original recording of eight tracks was made in 1969 and was released as the original vinyl album. Track one is a suite, "A song-story", lasting 28 minutes, 7 seconds and is the centrepiece of the album.

In 1976, a further six tracks were recorded with musicians mainly from the Albion Band and a new version of the album was released, with the original "A song-story" suite on one side and the new recordings on the other. This album was issued under the name Amaranth.

In 1993, a CD with all the tracks was issued. This whole album lasts 69:56.

Musical content

Side 1 of the original album consists of "A song-story", a suite of folk songs which depict the changes in rural England brought about by the First World War, and the disconnection that this created with folk traditions. Recorded with an ensemble of early music instruments, it was a completely unique approach to recording English folk music and was to be influential on bands such as Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span in the way that they addressed the traditional folk repertoire. The importing of early instruments into popular recordings is believed to have influenced other bands such as Amazing Blondel and Gryphon.

Musicians

Original 1969 album

Tracks 1 to 8: Settings by Dolly Collins, directed by David Munrow.

1993 CD

Tracks 1 to 8 as above.

Tracks 9 to 14:

Track listing

Original 1969 tracks

The songs are: "Searching for Lambs", "The Wedding Song", "The Blacksmith", "Our Captain Cried", "Lowlands", "Pleasant and Delightful", "Whitsun Dance", "The Staines Morris" All traditional apart from "Whitsun Dance" (words by A J Marshall)

Additional tracks recorded in 1976.

These tracks were originally issued as side A of Aftermath, Harvest – SHSM 2008, EMI – OC 054 o 06135, with Side A of Anthems in Eden as side B.

Related Research Articles

Contrabass refers to several musical instruments of very low pitch—generally one octave below bass register instruments. While the term most commonly refers to the double bass, many other instruments in the contrabass register exist.

Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">David Munrow</span> British musician

David John Munrow was a British musician and early music historian.

The City Waites is a British early music ensemble. Formed in the early 1970s, they specialise in English music of the 16th and 17th centuries from the street, tavern, theatre and countryside — the music of ordinary people. They endeavour to appeal to a wide general audience as well as to scholars. They have toured the UK, much of Europe, the Middle East, the Far East and the USA, performing everywhere from major concert halls and universities to village squares. Collaborations include the National Theatre, the Royal Shakespeare Company and Shakespeare's Globe. They can be heard on several movie and TV soundtracks; they broadcast frequently and have made more than 30 CDs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Albion Band</span> British folk rock band

The Albion Band, also known as The Albion Country Band, The Albion Dance Band, and The Albion Christmas Band, is a British folk rock band, originally brought together and led by musician Ashley Hutchings. An important grouping in the genre, it has contained or been associated with a large proportion of major English folk performers in its long and fluid history.

<i>No Roses</i> 1971 studio album by Shirley Collins and The Albion Country Band

No Roses is an album by Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band. It was recorded at Sound Techniques, and Air Studios in London, in the summer of 1971. It was produced by Sandy Roberton and Ashley Hutchings. It was released in October 1971 on the Pegasus label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music in the Elizabethan era</span> Period in the musical history of the Kingdom of England

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603), English art and high culture reached a pinnacle known as the height of the English Renaissance. Elizabethan music experienced a shift in popularity from sacred to secular music and the rise of instrumental music. Professional musicians were employed by the Church of England, the nobility, and the rising middle-class.

The Young Tradition were an English folk group of the 1960s, formed by Peter Bellamy, Royston Wood and Heather Wood. They recorded three albums of mainly traditional British folk music, sung in arrangements for their three unaccompanied voices.

The Gower Wassail is a wassail song from Gower in Wales. Wassailing is a midwinter tradition wherein either orchards or households are blessed by guisers, which came to Wales through exposure to English custom. The song is printed in A.L. Lloyd's book Folk Song in England (1967), having been heard from Phil Tanner. Structurally, the song is in 6/8 time with bacchius trisyllables, a Balliol rhyme scheme, and the "ffal de radl" musical syllables characteristic of much of Welsh folk songs. Some of the lyrics closely resemble other popular wassailing songs, such as the 'Gloucestershire Wassail'.

<i>Carols of All Seasons</i> 1959 studio album by Jean Ritchie

Carols of All Seasons is a 1959 studio album by American folk singer Jean Ritchie.

<i>Love, Death and the Lady</i> 1970 studio album by Shirley and Dolly Collins

Love, Death and the Lady is an album by Shirley and Dolly Collins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Early Music Consort</span>

The Early Music Consort of London was a British music ensemble in the late 1960s and 1970s which specialised in historically informed performance of Medieval and Renaissance music. It was founded in 1967 by music academics Christopher Hogwood and David Munrow and produced many highly influential recordings. The group disbanded in 1976 following Munrow's suicide.

<i>The Holly Bears the Crown</i> 1995 studio album by The Young Tradition with Shirley and Dolly Collins

The Holly Bears The Crown is an album by The Young Tradition with Shirley and Dolly Collins and other guest musicians. The trio "The Young Tradition" sang a cappella folk songs in a style similar to the Copper Family.

<i>The Power of the True Love Knot</i> 1968 studio album by Shirley Collins

The Power of the True Love Knot is an album by Shirley Collins.

<i>The Prospect Before Us</i> 1977 studio album by The Albion Dance Band

The Prospect Before Us is a British folk rock album, by The Albion Dance Band, which was released in 1977 on the EMI Harvest label.

Dorothy Ann Collins, was an English folk musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of Shirley Collins.

The Etchingham Steam Band were a folk group formed by Ashley Hutchings and Shirley Collins in England in 1974 after the Albion Country Band had disbanded in late 1973.

Medieval folk rock, medieval rock or medieval folk is a musical subgenre that emerged in the early 1970s in England and Germany which combined elements of early music with rock music. It grew out of the British folk rock and progressive folk movements of the late 1960s. Despite the name, the term was used indiscriminately to categorise performers who incorporated elements of medieval, renaissance and baroque music into their work and sometimes to describe groups who used few, or no, electric instruments. This subgenre reached its height towards the middle of the 1970s when it achieved some mainstream success in Britain, but within a few years most groups had either disbanded, or were absorbed into the wider movements of progressive folk and progressive rock. Nevertheless, the genre had a considerable impact within progressive rock where early music, and medievalism in general, was a major influence and through that in the development of heavy metal. More recently medieval folk rock has revived in popularity along with other forms of medieval inspired music such as Dark Wave orientated neo-Medieval music and medieval metal.

Austin John Marshall was an English record producer, songwriter, poet and graphic designer, most notable for his work in developing folk music in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s. Writer Karl Dallas described him as "one of the great unsung pioneers of contemporary British folk song".

<i>Hearts Ease</i> (album) 2020 studio album by Shirley Collins

Heart's Ease is the eighth solo studio album by English folk singer Shirley Collins. It was released on 24 July 2020 via Domino Recording Company, a follow-up to her 2016 comeback album Lodestar. Recording sessions took place at Metway Studios in Brighton. Produced by Ian Kearey, the album features contributions from Dave Arthur, Matthew Shaw, Nathan Salsburg, Ossian Brown, Pete Cooper, Pip Barnes, John Watcham and Glen Redman.

References