Fairport Convention - Full House 1970

Full House, released in 1970, is the fifth album by folk rock group Fairport Convention and was their first album without a female vocalist, as Sandy Denny had left to form Fotheringay.

Despite these changes they produced another great album which was remarkably successful as a project. Like Liege and Lief, it combined traditional songs with original compositions. It was favourably reviewed in Britain and America, drawing comparisons with The Band from Rolling Stone Magazine who declared that ‘Fairport Convention is better than ever’. The album reached number 13 in the UK Chart and stayed in the chart for 11 weeks.


Personnel
Dave Swarbrick - vocals, Fiddle, Viola, Mandolin
Richard Thompson - vocals, Electric Guitar
Dave Pegg - vocals, Bass Guitar, Mandolin
Dave Mattacks - drums, percussion, Harmonium, Bodhran
Simon Nicol - vocals, Electric & Acoustic Guitars, Bass Guitar, Electric Dulcimer

Produced by Joe Boyd

Tracks
1. Walk Awhile
2. Dirty Linen
3. Sloth
4. Sir Patrick Spens
5. Flatback Caper
6. Doctor of Physick
7. Flowers of the Forest


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Pearls Before Swine - These Things Too 1969

These Things Too was the third album by American psychedelic folk group Pearls Before Swine, and their first for Reprise Records. It was released in 1969.

By early 1969, the original line-up of Pearls Before Swine - which had only ever performed in the studio, never live - was disintegrating around its leader and mainstay, singer and songwriter Tom Rapp. Original members Lane Lederer and Roger Crissinger had left, and Rapp had married Dutch traveller Elisabeth (surname unrecorded), whom he had met in New York when recording the album Balaklava. Original member Wayne Harley remained in the group, but left shortly after These Things Too was recorded.

The group had now left ESP-Disk and joined Reprise, a major label, and Rapp and producer Richard Alderson recruited studio musicians to play on the album. Chief among these was Jim Fairs, formerly of garage band The Cryan’ Shames, who acted as co-producer and arranger as well as musician. Other musicians included violinist Richard Greene, later of Seatrain, and jazz drummer Grady Tate.

These Things Too has been described as Rapp’s ”dreamy” album, and it is generally less well regarded by critics than the albums which immediately preceded and followed it, Balaklava (1968) and The Use of Ashes (1970). Rapp stated that it was the first Pearls Before Swine album which reflected drug use in the writing of the songs.

The album sleeve showed a 15th century painting of Christ by Giovanni Bellini. The picture was removed from the version of the album issued in Germany because it showed Christ’s nipple exposed.


Tracks
1. Footnote
2. Sail Away
3. Look Into Her Eyes
4. I Shall Be Released
5. Frog In The Window
6. I’m Going To City
7. Man In The Tree
8. If You Don’t Want To (I Don’t Mind)
9. Green And Blue
10. Mon Amour
11. Wizard of Is
12. Frog in the Window
13. When I Was a Child
14. These Things Too


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Mark Fry - Dreaming With Alice 1972

Released only as a local RCA pressing in Italy, Dreaming With Alice is a legendary rarity of the hippie folk-rock scene. It’s an LP that’s easy to like, with good songwriting and all the elements that genre fans crave - dreamy vocals, sitars, flute, stoned Eastern fantasies and wistful Donovan fairytale moods. Indeed, it sounds like a sliver of vintage, acid-fuelled Donovan expanded to an entire album. The gentle acoustic mood is wisely broken up with folk-rock jamming and even some hard-edged fuzz workouts, all within the aesthetic boundaries of this skilfully arranged yet pleasantly organic album.


Tracks
1. Dreaming With Alice (verse 1)
2. The Witch
3. Dreaming With Alice (verse 2)
4. Song For Wilde
5. Dreaming With Alice (verse 3)
6. Roses For Columbus
7. A Norman Soldier
8. Dreaming With Alice (verses 4-5)
9. Dreaming With Alice (verse 6)
10. Lute and Flute
11. Dreaming With Alice (verse 7)
12. Down Narrow Streets
13. Dreaming With Alice (verse 8)
14. Mandolin Man
15. Dreaming With Alice (verses 9-10)
16. Rehtorb Ym No Hcram


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Loudest Whisper - Children of Lir 1974

This psychedelic folk classic was recorded in 1974, and has gone on to become one of the rarest records ever issued in Ireland. It's hardly surprising, as it's a wonderful progressive folk concept album, with mystical atmosphere and mellow vocals. A glorious mixture of catchy melodies, soaring harmonies and biting acid guitar.


Tracks
1. Overture
2. Lir’s Lament
3. Good Day, My Friend
4. Wedding Song
5. Children’s Song
6. Mannanan I
7. Mannanan II
8. Children Of The Dawn
9. Dawning Of The Day
10. Septimus
11. Farewell Song
12. Cold Winds Blow
13. Sad Children


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Anne Briggs - Hazards of Love EP 1963

There are few female folk singers with the natural talent of Anne Briggs, and although she never became a major star (mostly because she wasn't interested) it is difficult to overstate her influence on the British folk scene of the '60s and '70s. (i.e. Pentangle, Fairport Convention). Discovered in a local club in 1962 before she had even turned 18, she was soon touring all over the British Isles, living the troubador's life and influencing a generation of young folk musicians wherever she went.

This is Anne Briggs first appearance on a record of her own, and the only vinyl release of these songs. On this four track EP she sings traditional english folk songs, totally unaccompanied. Very fragile and beautiful.

Recorded by Bill Leader at Olympic Sound Studios, London in 1963
Recording supervised by Paul Carter
Produced by A.L. Lloyd
Cover photograph by Brian Shuel


Musicians
Anne Briggs - vocals

Tracks

1. Lowlands
2. My Bonny Boy
3. Polly Vaughan
4. Rosemary Lane

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Tucker Zimmerman - Ten Songs by 1969

San Franciscan Tucker Zimmerman wound up in the UK and fell in with fellow US expat Tony Visconti (soon to find fame and fortune with David Bowie and T. Rex). His debut LP is a mixture of bluesy rock, folk and skewed, oddly affecting ballades, backed by Shawn Phillips, Rick Wakeman and Aynsley Dunbar (with Visconti on bass). Released in the UK on Regal Zonophone.

Tracks
1 Bird Lives
2 October Mornings
3 A Face That Hasn't Sold Out
4 The Roadrunner
5 Children of Fear
6 The Wind Returns Into the Night
7 Running, Running From Moment to Moment
8 Upsidedown Circus World
9 Blue Goose
10 Alpha Centuri

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Fotheringay - Fotheringay 1970

This folk-rock group was formed by Australian Trevor Lucas when his previous group Eclection split. His then girlfriend, Sandy Denny, left Fairport Convention to set up the new band with him. However, despite Sandy being at the peak of her popularity - she was voted Britain's No 1 girl singer in a Melody Maker poll in 1970 - the band was relatively short-lived, lasting from March 1970 - January 1971, because it didn't enjoy the commercial success one might have expected. Sandy then embarked on a solo career before rejoining Fairport Convention in 1974. Donahue, Conway and Donaldson (who'd previously been with Zoot Money) became part of Mick Greenwood's backing group and Trevor Lucas became a producer for Island Records.

The Fotheringay album is by now considered to capture Denny's vocals at their best. Trevor Lucas (her husband) also sings on a lot of the tracks and provides a distinct contrast to her vocals. Sandy is probably at her very best on the exquisite traditional song Banks Of The Nile.


Tracks
1. Nothing More
2. The Sea
3. The Ballad of Ned Kelly
4. Winter Winds
5. Peace in the End
6. The Way I Feel
7. The Pond and the Stream
8. Too Much of Nothing
9. Banks of the Nile


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Agincourt - Fly Away 1970

An ultra-rare privately-pressed album by the same group of people responsible for Alice Through The Looking Glass, Ithaca and Tomorrow Come Some Day.

This particular album is folkier than Ithaca, for example, but like the latter still has a strong Moody Blues influence, particularly on the best track Through The Eyes Of A Lifetime, which begins with a poem and ends with some lovely piano-dominated instrumentation. The opening cut When I Awoke is a very pleasant folky number with some lovely female vocals. Next up is Though I May Be Dreaming, which has a gorgeous acoustic guitar intro and more delicious female vocals. There's some nice flute work on instrumental Joy In The Finding, Dawn and Kind Sir. All My Life is a nice piano-led piece with a spooky sounding ending.


Personnel
Peter Howell - acoustic & classical guitars, mandolin, piano & organ, recorder, percussion
John Ferdinando - vocals & vocalizes, electric, acoustic & bass guitars, autoharp
Lee Menelaus - vocals & backing vocals

Tracks
1. When I Awoke
2. Though I May Be Dreaming
3. Get Together
4. Joy In The Finding
5. Going Home
6. All My Life
7. Mirabella
8. Take Me There
9. Lisa
10. Dawn
11. Barn Owl Blues
12. Kind Sir
13. Through The Eyes Of A Lifetime (i)The Poem (ii)Peace Of Mind (iii) Closing In


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Bill Fay - Time of the Last Persecution 1971

This is the fantastic second and final LP by progressive folk singer Bill Fay. Released 1971 on the Deram label. The lyrics often tackle religion, in a questioning and poetic way. They certainly cover many of the complex questions of humanity. One of the more fascinating singer-songwriter records of the early 70s.

‘Another rather tuneless singer who writes his own songs, Londoner Bill Fay is 28 and has the right sound in his voice for today’s folk tunes… He plays piano and is backed by a six-piece at times, including guitarist Ray Russell, who helped produce his second LP, which is versatile and interesting’ – NME, 20/2/71

Tracks

1. Omega Day
2. Don't Let My Marigolds Die
3. I Hear You Calling
4. Dust Filled Room
5. 'Til the Christ Come Back
6. Release Is in the Eye
7. Laughing Man
8. Inside the Keepers Pantry
9. Tell It Like It Is
10. Plan D
11. Pictures of Adolf Again
12. Time of the Last Persecution
13. Come a Day
14. Let All the Other Teddies Know

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The Nice - Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack 1967

The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack is the 1967 debut album by the English psychedelic rock and progressive rock group The Nice. It is considered one of the first albums in the latter genre.
The name Emerlist Davjack is a pseudonym created by combining the last names of the four members of the group; Keith Emerson, David O'List, Brian Davison, and Lee Jackson.
The album was promoted by a sampler featuring a commentary by John Peel, which included the following comments:

1967 was a strange year for pop music with groups experimenting with new
sounds and bouncing on and off bandwagons with dizzying speed and agility. They
were calling themselves ridiculous names and regretting it shortly. The Nice
came together in a void and will be here when the others are in pantomime in
Wolverhampton.

The cover, photographed by Gered Mankowitz, shows members of the band apparently unclothed except for being wrapped in cellophane. Originally released on Andrew Oldham’s Immediate label in december 1967.


Tracks
1. Flower King Of Flies
2. The Thoughts Of Emerlist Davjack
3. Bonnie K
4. Rondo
5. War And Peace
6. Tantalising Maggie
7. Dawn
8. The Cry Of Eugene


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Chris Britton - As I Am 1969

As guitarist for the Troggs, Chris Britton made important contributions to the raw British Invaders' sound with his crunchy, wiry style. Though Reg Presley was the Troggs' principal lead singer and songwriter, Britton also took occasional lead vocals and wrote a bit of material on their records, the odd primitive buzzing psychedelia of "Maybe the Madman" and the sultry midtempo rocker "Say Darlin'" (both used on 1968 B-sides) being the highlights in that respect. It's not even too well-known by many big Troggs fans that Britton did an obscure solo LP in 1969, As I Am. A varied batch of period British psychedelic pop songs, sung by Britton in his idiosyncratic, diffidently cool and amused style.


Tracks
1. Sit Down Beside Me
2. Will It Last
3. That Was The Time
4. No Sense In Fighting
5. Maybe Time Will Change You
6. Fly With Me
7. If You Really Care
8. Run And Hide
9. How Do You Say Goodbye
10. Sleep My Love
11. Why Did I Let You Go
12. Evil Woman
13. Learn To Love Life You’ll Be Living


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Barclay James Harvest - Barclay James Harvest 1970

Barclay James Harvest self-titled debut album was released in mid 1970 to positive reviews, but few sales. Released on the progressively inclined label of Harvest.

The album sounds like a mix of Moody Blues, Pretty Things and late 60’s Procol Harum. A great album that is not to be missed, pitched half way between the psych and prog eras.

This is what Disc & Music Echo wrote in 1970:

A very excellent album, with an incredibly full, lush sound, which at times
sounds rather like a film score for a mammoth spectacular... Very good
listening, stimulating and very melodic.

Tracks
1. Taking Some Time On
2. Mother Dear
3. The Sun Will Never Shine
4. When the World Was Woken
5. Good Love Child
6. The Iron Maiden
7. Dark Now My Sky


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Duncan Browne - Give Me Take You 1968

Duncan Browne’s album stands as irrefutable evidence that the later 60s was an era of British musical growth and excellence. Released on former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham’s eclectic Immediate label, Give Me Take You never enjoyed the attention it so richly deserved. Browne’s gentle songs draw from a world of theatrical references, Latin and public school choral societies, and deliver their stories wrapped in melodic acoustic guitar washes backed by imaginative string and vocal harmony arrangements.

Compared to Paul McCartney, Donovan and the Moody Blues, Duncan later joined the power-pop band Metro.


Tracks
1. Give Me Take You
2. Ninepence Worth of Walking
3. Dwarf in a Tree (A Cautionary Tale)
4. The Ghost Walks
5. Waking You (Part one)
6. Chloe in the Garden
7. Waking You (Part two)
8. On the Bombsite
9. I Was, You Weren't
10. Gabilan
11. Alfred Bell
12. The Death of Neil





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Various Artists - Songs of the March Hare

Hello music lovers. Now it's finally here. A brand new psych packed collection of obscurities from the vaults of Peppermint Store. This time it's my dear friend the March Hare who collected his favorit tracks. Songs of the March Hare is the fifth compilation released here on my blog. Hope you all like it!


Check out my previous compilations:
Peppermint Store -Vol 1.
In the Magic Garden of Peppermint Store
Wizard's Dream
Out of the Mad Hat


Tracks
1. Tea & Symphony - Armchair Theatre 1969
2. Acid Gallery - Dance Round the Maypole 1969
3. The End - Cardboard Watch 1968
4. Mushroom - Devil Among The Tailors 1973
5. Rainbow Ffolly - Sighing Game 1968
6. Mayfly - Blue Sofa 1972
7. Heron - Little Boy 1970
8. Syd Barrett - Octopus 1970
9. Fairport Convention - The Deserter 1969
10. Bridget St. John - Seagull Sunday 1971
11. Beacon Street Union - Angus Of Aberdeen 1968
12. Tony, Caro & John - Waltz for a Spaniel 1972
13. Wil Malone - Down Maundies 1970
14. Billy Nicholls - Come Again 1968
15. Jackie McAuley - Turning Green 1971



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Marc Brierley - EP 1966

This is the debut EP from Marc Brierley. Released 1966 on Transatlantic (TRA EB 147). The Transatlantic EP is the most dark and stripped-down of all the material he recorded, featuring just Marc Brierley's voice and an acoustic guitar. Donovan's early recordings must have been a big influence.

Recorded 1966 Wessex Sound Studio London

Produced by Nathan Joseph

Cover photo and design by Brian Shuel


Tracks:
1. Time For Love
2. Dragonfly
3. Arctic City
4. Rel's Song
5. If You Leave Me Now



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