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"...Shine On Your Celestial Light..."
Imagine The Incredible
String Band had a three-way with Tir na n'Og and Gryphon and the offspring
produced was Steeleye's Span's awkward child.
AMAZING BLONDEL will not be
for everyone - ye old English rhymes about buxom wenches beneath willow wood -
celestial lights up on Old Moot Hill and lute-wielding hairy men dancing Lady
Marion's Galliard at the Siege of Yaddlethorpe (if you get my pint of mead).
UK released on the very
adventurous Island Records in 1970 and 1971 (on both sides of the pond no less)
– The Amazing Blondel and these two brilliant albums was part of the Fairport
Convention/Fotheringay/Pentangle led Folk Revival sweeping the country and
student campuses at the time. But our minstrel heroes veered away from the new
hybrid of Folk Rock and went back to very ancient roots indeed. Theirs was a
mission to tap into the deeply distant past - airs and tunes and instruments
gathering dust in unloved Elizabethan museum spaces.
But I hear you say - that's
all very nice and historically tickety-boo - but isn't most of that stuff
unlistenable pigeon doo-dah. Well no - because amidst all the madrigals, pipe
organs, harmoniums, tabor pipes and lutes - lurk pretty melodies - and a trio
of enthusiastic Englishmen ready to glockenspiel your sorry city ass. At the
time it was fresh and even daring. It’s dated now of course and does suffer
from some serious hippy overtones laced with mushrooms and dodgy real ale
choices. But there’s so much to love here too and this BGO Remaster is audibly
fabulous (2 full albums for the price of one – how very trade union of them).
Here are the lullabies,
galliards and merry dances on St. Crispin's Day...
UK released 14 June 2004 -
"Evensong/Fantasia Lindum" by (THE) AMAZING BLONDEL on Beat Goes On
BGOCD 626 (Barcode 5017261206268) offers 2LPs Remastered onto 1CD and plays out
as follows (70:28 minutes):
1. Pavan
2. St. Crispin's Day
3. Spring Season
4. Willowood
5. Evensong
6. Queen Of Scots
7. The Ploughman [Side 2]
8. Old Moot Hill
9. Lady Marion's Galliard
10. Under The Greenwood Tree
11. Anthem
Tracks 1 to 11 are their 2nd
studio album "Evensong" (as THE AMAZING BLONDEL) - released December
1970 in the UK on Island ILPS 9136 and February 1971 in the USA on Island
SMAS-9302. Produced by PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH.
12. Fantasia Lindum [Side 1,
20:25 minutes]
Prelude and Theme
Song "Swifts, Swains
and Leafy Lanes"
Dance "Jig Upon
Jig"
Theme (Lutes and Recorder)
Dance Galliard "God
Must Doubt"
Song "Lincolnshire
Lullaby"
Dance "Basse
Danse"
Theme (Lute Duet)
Dance "Quatre Bras
Pavan"
Song "Celestial
Light" (For Lincoln Cathedral)
Dance "Coranto"
Them (Lutes and Recorders)
End
13. To Ye [Side 2]
14. Safety In God Alone
15. Two Dances
(a) Almaine (b) Bransie
"For My Ladys' Delight"
16. Three Seasons Almaine
17. Siege Of Yaddlethorpe
Tracks 12 to 17 are their
3rd studio album "Fantasia Lindum" (as AMAZING BLONDEL) - released
November 1971 in the UK on Island ILPS 9156 and December 1971 in the USA on
Island SW-9310. Produced by PAUL SAMWELL-SMITH.
(THE) AMAZING BLONDEL was:
JOHN DAVID GLADWIN - Lead
Vocals, Lute, Theorboe, Cittern and Double Bass
TERENCE ALAN WINCOTT -
Crumhorn, Recorders, Pipe-Organ, Tabor Pipe, Tabor, Flute, Harmonium, Lute,
Harpsichord, Woodwinds, Percussion and Vocals
EDWARD BAIRD - Lute,
Cittern, Glockenspiel, Dulcimer and Vocals
Other Musicians:
Chris Karan - Percussions
Adam Skeaping - Viola de
Gamba and Violone
Jim Capaldi (of Traffic) -
Drums on "Siege Of Yaddlethorpe"
The 12-page booklet features
the lyrics to both LPs in that old English typeface - some black and white live
photos of the trio and new highly entertaining liner notes from noted writer
ALAN ROBINSON (dated January 2004). There are no credits for the Remaster but
it sounds like Andrew Thompson's work. As both records are largely acoustic
instruments - this is the kind of transfer that benefits from a delicate touch.
Take the beautiful instrumental passage at the title track "Evensong"
plays out which is followed by the short instrumental "Queen Of
Scots" - both sparkling with clarity and full of presence - a very sweet
job done.
Their debut "The
Amazing Blondel And A Few Faces" had surfaced in May 1970 on Bell SBLL 131
in the UK (now a £300 rarity) and has been reissued separately. But their 2nd
studio album "Evensong" from December 1970 was a giant leap forward
and the UK issue came in a typically lovely Gatefold Sleeve courtesy of Island
Records (repro'd in the booklet). Let's get to their unique type of new
old-music...
Just what kind of instrument
a Trumhorn, a Tabor or a Theorboe actually is remains an ecclesiastical mystery
- but we're "...off to the Holy Wars to fight the Saracen..." on the
opener "Pavan". Ladies of pleasure are mentioned in both
"Pavan" and St. Crispin's Day" (using their ye old name
beginning with 'w' and I don’t mean wenches) - but it's the impossibly pretty
"Spring Season" that really catches the ear. This tale of 'courting'
on dark nights that are dwindling and fires that need less kindling is properly
lovely and featured as an example of excellence on the stunning 2009 "Meet
On The Ledge" 3CD Box Set covering Island's Folk-Rock output (see separate
review). "The Ploughman" is another gushing love song with a
Harmonium anchoring a light but sweet melody. It spins its lovely way into your
heart with yearning words like "...If I were a Weaver...I'd weave the
tresses in your hair...Plait them with ribbons of gold...and bless each
ringlet, curl and fold..."
Years of untold pain
continue and are sung by all three in the strangely jolly "Old Moot
Hill" - another air where a hurting soul wishes he was the lucky suitor
come calling as she sits "...combing auburn hair before retiring to bed..."
Our players ask another lady to come discreetly and meet "Under The
Greenwood Tree" where he dreams of more nights of shameless love – if only
her dowry wasn’t promised to another. The album ends with the huge Harmonium
sound of "Anthem" where you half expect someone to walk down the
aisle in a countryside church wedding at dusk as the boys (all dressed as Will
Scarlett) sing like a choir "...your guiding light shines clear...through
the twilight till the dawn..."
"Fantasia Lindum"
goes for broke with the whole of Side 1 being one long 20-minute mishmash of
13-segments – and it’s frankly brilliant, brave and musically beautiful Suite
with certain instruments a shoe-in for an album in 1973 called "Tubular
Bells". The playing on this side-long opus is magical and the Remaster really
brings the beauty of pinging acoustic strings, Dulcimers and Harpsichords into
your living room. As they sing “...Crimsoned fragrance expounding...adorn your
dreamfields tonight...” – you get lost in the voices and that unique sound they
make and you also can’t help but feel that £30 as a Record Collector Price
Guide quote is too low for these rare Pastoral Folk masterpieces.
For sure this music isn’t
going to be everyone’s idea of Newcastle Brown Ale – but I urge you to seek out
The Amazing Blondel in all its old-world diversity and unique British beauty.
Shine on your celestial light indeed. And eh by gum but them were the days...
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