| Shearwater | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1972 | |||
| Recorded | 1972 | |||
| Genre | Folk | |||
| Label | Pegasus, Mooncrest, Castle Music | |||
| Producer | Terry Brown | |||
| Martin Carthy chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
Shearwater is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1972 on the Pegasus label as PEG12. It was re-released on vinyl in 1973/74 by Mooncrest as CREST25. The album was re-issued on CD in 1995, by Mooncrest, as CRESTCD 008 and then again, in March 2005 by Castle Music, as CMQCD1096. [2]
All songs Traditional; arranged by Martin Carthy
The Castle CD reissue has three bonus tracks from the BBC Radio 1 John Peel session recorded on 22 May 1972 at the Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London, broadcast on 30 May 1972:
Martin Dominic Forbes Carthy MBE is an English singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in English folk music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon, and later artists such as Richard Thompson, since he emerged as a young musician in the early days of the folk revival in the UK during the 1960s and 1970s.
"Scarborough Fair" is a traditional English ballad. The song lists a number of impossible tasks given to a former lover who lives in Scarborough, North Yorkshire. The "Scarborough/Whittingham Fair" variant was most common in Yorkshire and Northumbria, where it was sung to various melodies, often using Dorian mode, with refrains resembling "parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme" and "Then she'll be a true love of mine." It appears in Traditional Tunes by Frank Kidson published in 1891, who claims to have collected it from Whitby.
Martin Carthy is the debut solo album by English folk musician Martin Carthy, originally released in 1965 by Fontana Records and later re-issued by Topic Records. The album features Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle or mandolin on a number of the tracks. Swarbrick was not headlined on the album for contractual reasons as he was with the Ian Campbell Folk Group at the time with permission granted by Transatlantic Records.
Please to See the King is the second album by Steeleye Span, released in 1971. A major personnel change following their previous effort, Hark! The Village Wait, brought about a substantial change in their overall sound, including a lack of drums and the replacement of one female vocalist with a male vocalist. The band even reprised a song from their debut, "The Blacksmith", with a strikingly different arrangement making extensive use of syncopation. Re-recording songs would be a minor theme in Steeleye's output over the years, with the band eventually releasing an entire album of reprises, Present – The Very Best of Steeleye Span.
Ten Man Mop or Mr. Reservoir Butler Rides Again is the third album by Steeleye Span, recorded in September 1971. It was issued on the short-lived Pegasus label, and then the Mooncrest label, also in 1971. It was not initially issued in the US until Chrysalis acquired the group's first three albums in 1975, when it reissued all three in the UK and US. Tracks like "Four Nights Drunk", "Marrowbones", and "Wee Weaver" are essentially pure folk. It was the last album to feature founding member Ashley Hutchings; he left the band in November 1971, just after its completion, partly because he felt that the album had moved too far toward Irish music and away from English music. The band was also considering touring America, and Hutchings was reluctant to make the trip.
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.
Bessy Bell and Mary Gray are "twa bonnie lassies", the subject of one of the Child Ballads, based on a true story. The two young women sought refuge from the plague in 1645 in a remote spot away from habitation. The story has been much embellished in a poem and ballad that were written many years later.
The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady turned Serving-Man is a traditional English language folk song and murder ballad. Child considered it as closely related to the ballad "The Lament of the Border Widow" or "The Border Widow's Lament".
"Unusually, it is possible to give a precise date and authorship to this ballad. It was written by the prolific balladeer, Laurence Price, and published in July 1656, under the title of The famous Flower of Serving-Men. Or, The Lady turn'd Serving-Man. It lasted in the mouths of ordinary people for three hundred years: what a tribute to the work of any writer, leave alone the obscure Laurence Price. Oral tradition, however, has made changes. The original has twenty-eight verses and a fairy-tale ending: “And then for fear of further strife, / he took Sweet William to be his Wife: / The like before was never seen, / A Serving-man to be a Queen”. – Roy Palmer, A Book of British Ballads
Storm Force Ten is the tenth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span, released in 1977 by Chrysalis Records. Until their 2013 album Wintersmith, released 36 years after Storm Force Ten, this album was the band's last production to reach the charts, topping out at 191 on Billboard's Pop charts. After Rocket Cottage, Bob Johnson and Peter Knight left the band. As there was still a contractual obligation, they invited Martin Carthy back again. Back in 1971 when Martin Carthy had joined he had recommended John Kirkpatrick but they decided on fiddler Peter Knight instead. This time they accepted his recommendation and Kirkpatrick's fiery accordion playing replaced Knight's fiddle.
Tempted and Tried is the 13th studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. The album was recorded after a three-year hiatus after the release of Back in Line. After releasing ten albums in fairly rapid succession during the 1970s, the band entered something of a creative dry spell, with 'Tempted' being only their 3rd album in 10 years. The album cover proclaims the album a "20th Anniversary Celebration", and the band was clearly eager to commemorate their anniversary, since strictly speaking the band had only been rehearsing in 1969, and didn't record until 1970.
"King Henry" is Child ballad 32, Roud 3967.
Journeys from Gospel Oak is the 1974 solo album by country rock/folk rock musician Ian Matthews. It was recorded in November 1972 as Matthews' expected third solo album of a three-album record deal on the Vertigo label and was originally set for release in mid-1973. Vertigo, however, lost interest in the project and it was signed over to and released by Mooncrest Records in 1974 who had also released albums by other ex-Fairport Convention colleagues, Ashley Hutchings and Sandy Denny. The album was recorded at Sound Techniques studio in Chelsea and took its title from Matthews' commute to the studio from where he then lived in North London.
The Bird in the Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs) is a folk album by A. L. Lloyd, Anne Briggs and Frankie Armstrong, released by Topic Records in 1966. The album is a collection of traditional erotic British folk songs, although the album's content is in the form of euphemism and metaphor, like "sport and play". The album was re-released in 1996 by Topic on CD with 5 additional tracks taken from other Topic folk albums of the same period. The album is now available as a download
Bright Phoebus, fully titled Bright Phoebus: Songs by Lal & Mike Waterson, is a folk rock album by Lal and Mike Waterson. It was recorded in May 1972 with musical assistance from various well-known members of the British folk rock scene. The album failed to make an impact on its original release, but it was subsequently championed by many musicians, including Billy Bragg, Arcade Fire, Richard Hawley and Jarvis Cocker. For years the album was difficult to obtain. In 2017, a re-release of Bright Phoebus was announced and shortly thereafter pulled from the market for legal reasons.
Because It's There is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1979. It was re-issued by Topic Records on CD in 1995.
Crown of Horn is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1976. It was re-issued by Topic Records on CD in 1995.
Out of the Cut is an album by Martin Carthy, released in 1982. It was re-issued by Topic Records on CD in 1994.
A Cut Above is a folk album by June Tabor and Martin Simpson released in 1980 on Topic Records, catalogue number 12TS410. The album was re-released on CD in UK on Topic Records in 1989 and was released on Green Linnet in the US in 1992.
Byker Hill is the third solo album by English folk musician Martin Carthy, originally released in 1967 by Fontana Records and later re-issued by Topic Records. The album features Dave Swarbrick playing fiddle on a number of the tracks.
The False Lover Won Back is Child ballad 218.
