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"...Autumn Leaves..."
Blame it on the Beatles I say – "The Summer Of Love" to be precise.
Bishop Stortford's Robert Kirby was seeking a choral scholarship when he first met an equally bright-eyed and bushy-tailed 18-year old student at Caius College in Cambridge in the autumn of 1966. The pair bonded over Footlights audition failures (both of them) - but in June of 1967 - the two 19-year old English lads (along with everyone else on the planet for that matter) were quietly blown away by the sheer cinematic majesty of "She's Leaving Home" on Side 1 of the Beatles 1967 musical A-bomb - "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band".
Typically ahead of their time and always pushing Rock's boundaries – the Fabs had shown these young hopefuls how to marry Autumnal melody and soundscapes to guitars and simplified instruments. The melancholia-mad young new arranger was ROBERT KIRBY, and his first client was the much-missed and beloved singer-songwriter NICK DRAKE - who would sign to Island Records two years later aged only 20. In fact, eagle-eye collectors will notice the subtle homage to Drake's ethereal September 1969 debut album "Five Leaves Left" in the green colour scheme to the artwork of this fiendishly clever reissue.
As well as Drake's (delayed) March 1971 follow-up LP "Bryter Layter" (Kirby was integral to the sound of both) – shortly after Drake's debut Richard orchestrated Vashti Bunyan's Folk-Rock LP "Just Another Diamond Day" on Phillips (a cult record from 1970 worth four-figures today) and from thereon found himself a career in helping other artists realize the potential in their songs. And that's where this very cool 20-Track CD compilation from those right-on erect-nippled chappies at England's Ace Records comes a-lollygagging in. Let's get all Laura Ashley (our Laura approves you know) on the details…
UK released Friday, 23 February 2018 (9 March 2018 in the USA) - "When The Day Is Done - The Orchestrations Of Robert Kirby" by VARIOUS ARTISTS [ROBERT KIRBY] on Ace Records CDTOP 1517 (Barcode 029667088022) is a 20-track CD compilation that plays out as follows (78:52 minutes):
1. Introduction - NICK DRAKE (from the March 1971 UK Second LP "Bryter Layter" on Island Records ILPS 9134)
2. Forest And The Shore - KEITH CHRISTMAS (from the 1971 UK LP "Pigmy" on B&C Records CAS 1041)
3. Ophelia's Song - SHELAGH McDONALD (from the 1970 UK LP "Album" on B&C Records CAS 1019)
4. I Keep A Close Watch - JOHN CALE [of The Velvet Underground] (from the 1975 UK LP "Helen Of Troy" on Island Records ILPS 9350)
5. Dancing At Whitsun - TIM HART and MADDY PRYOR [of Steeleye Span] (from the 1971 UK LP "Summer Solstice" on B&C Records CAS 1035)
6. Rainbow River - VASHTI BUNYAN (from the November 1970 UK LP "Just Another Diamond Day" on Phillips 6308 019)
7. I've Seen The Movie - ANDY ROBERTS (from the 1971 UK LP "Nina And The Dream Tree" on Pegasus Records PEG 5)
8. White Witch - SPRIGUNS (from the 1977 UK LP "Time Will Pass" on Decca SKL 5286)
9. It's My Own Way - GILLIAN McPHERSON (from the 1971 UK LP "Poets And Painters And Performers Of Blues" on RCA Victor SF 8220)
10. Follow On - STEVE ASHLEY (from the 1974 UK LP [recorded 1971] "Stroll on” on Gull Records GULP 1003)
11. Silver Threads And Golden Needles - SANDY DENNY (from the 1977 UK LP "Rendezvous" on Island Records ILPS 9433)
12. Love Is A Funny Thing - SPIROGYRA (from the 1971 UK LP "St. Radigunds" on B&C Records CAS 1042)
13. Friend To Me - GARY SHEARSTON (from the 1975 UK LP "The Greatest Stone On Earth And Other Two-Bob Wonders" on Charisma CAS 1042)
14. Honour Bright - SHIRLEY COLLINS (Unreleased track that first appeared on "Within Sound", a 2002 CD Box Set on Fledg'ling Records CDNEST 5001)
15. First Light - RICHARD and LINDA THOMPSON (from the 1978 UK LP "First Light" on Chrysalis CHR 1177)
16. Raviole - AUDIENCE (from the 1971 UK LP "The House On The Hill" on Charisma CA 1032)
17. Madonna Blue - ILLUSION [Jane Relf, Jim McCarty and others from Renaissance] (from the 1978 UK LP "Illusion" on Island ILPS 9519)
18. Gimme An Inch Girl - IAN MATTHEWS (a Robert Palmer song from the 1978 UK LP "Stealin' Home" on Rockburgh ROC 106)
19. What Memories We Make - DANA GILLESPIE (from the 1973 UK LP "Weren't Born A Man" on RCA Victor APL 1-0354)
20. Pick Up The Gun - RALPH McTELL (from the 1971 UK LP "You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here" on Famous SFMA 5753)
Your eyes are immediately drawn to a Trade Advert repro'd on Page 3 of the booklet - what a trio - Island Records advising that on 3 July 1969 the public can buy Nick Drake's "Five Leaves Left" (his debut arranged by Kirby), the latest advancement in Folk-Rock by Fairport Convention with the bonkers-titled "Unhalfbricking" and just to rub salt into those confused wounds - "Kip Of The Serenes" by Dr. Strangely Strange (my God was them the days). Spread across 20-pages festooned with album sleeves you rarely see and their equally obscure trade adverts - St. Etienne leading light and all-round good-egg BOB STANLEY provides some of the most entertaining, informative and properly affectionate liner notes I've ever read. Kirby's track record is impressive - not just arrangements for tasteful strings but for the Mellotron, Recorder and Harp. The listen is mostly Folk-Rock on a mellow tip with the feeling of Autumn Leaves falling outside your bedsit window as the cat yawns in the corner. And even if a few of the songs aren’t nearly as gorgeous as the Bobster would have us believe (hence the four stars) – make no mistake – this is an impressive listen and superbly presented release.
Long-standing Audio Engineer and long-time associate to Ace Records NICK ROBBINS has handled the mastering and what a job he's done. I've not heard the Ian Matthews pop of Robert Palmer's "Gimme An Inch Girl" or the brilliant but completely forgotten "Friend To Me" by Gary Shearston sound so good. This is a compilation where you 'want' the audio to be top-notch on every song and it is (I've the Spinney reissue of the Vashti Bunyan album and I'd swear the sound on the key track provided here is better than the 2000 master). On to the pastoral music...
It begins with an absolute humdinger - the entirely orchestral "Introduction" by Nick Drake - the opening track on Side 1 of his second studio album "Bryter Layter" from 1970. Surely one of Kirby's most sublime moments – the gorgeous mood it creates is cleverly followed by seven-minutes of a Folk-Rock song that few of us know - "Forest And The Shore" by Keith Christmas. Kirby makes the Mellotron on this completely overlooked melodic adventure sound like a choir and adds an almost "Nursery Cryme/Foxtrot" Genesis-sound to the long song elevating it into something special. His girlfriend and fellow Folky Shelagh McDonald is up next with the poignant "Ophelia's Song" where she sings of daisy chains and Christmas pinewood lanes and her backing band is most of Sandy Denny's vagabond pals Fotheringay (impressive company to say the least).
Unfortunately we next get what I feel is one of several clunkers – the kill-me-soon drone of John Cale. I know people worship at the altar of all things velvety and throw petals at the feet of every VU solo project – but the man's voice is surely on a CIA interrogation list somewhere along with waterboarding and Anne Widdecombe sermons. However that rare wrong foot is quickly blown away by the beautiful "Dancing At Whitsun" brought to us by Steeleye Span's guitar-player Tim Hart and singer Maddy Pryor. Kirby makes the 'Recorder' sing. Mike Oldfield must have been listening to this particularly English instrument because his first three albums "Tubular Bells", "Hergest Ridge" and "Ommadawn" are steeped in its distinct pastoral sound (Clifford T. Ward and Al Stewart).
Vashti Bunyan has a very clean vocal on the warbling finger-in-the-ear Folk of "Rainbow River" and Kirby's string arrangement arriving a few minutes into the long Andy Roberts break-up song "I've See The Movie" virtually saves the thing from itself. Other goodies include the Gillian McPherson track "It's My Own Way" which features Pentangle's Danny Thompson, Dave Cousins of The Strawbs and jazzman Johnny Almond - while Steve Ashley's "Follow On" was actually recorded in 1971 (unreleased until 1974) and its high-strung acoustic guitar has more than a touch of Duncan Browne's self-titled LP on RAK Records in 1973 (good news in my book). Another amazing production can be found in "Friend To Me" by Gary Shearston and how good is it to hear the Richard and Linda Thompson "First Light" on the digital format anywhere.
With a stonking seventy-eight minutes of overall excellence to choose from there was always going to be a few dribbles on the sonic bib and for me the clunky John Cale and Dana Gillespie/Ralph McTell songs towards the end let the collective side down somewhat. And even if I'm hung from a Cotswold yard-iron and prodded repeatedly in the Irish unmentionables with a pastoral pitchfork by the cloth-capped Mafia of musical taste – no matter how hip and collectable they are I find the Spriguns track just the wrong side of musically twee - and along with other three keep "When The Day Is Done" a hair's breadth away from greatness (many may disagree).
Yet apart from those debatable blips - there's magic here and you can't but help feel a huge well of genuine affection for this gorgeous, timely and very smartly compiled CD. For me "When The Days Is Done – The Orchestrations of Robert Kirby" is already one of the 'Reissues of the Year' 2018 and I can only suspect that Paul Buckmaster's equally extraordinary work with Bowie, Elton John, Nilsson, Carly Simon and so many others is hopefully next in this series.
Another peach from England's Ace Records then and master-compiler/musical-hero Bob Stanley – a Romantic Englishman who is now to be kissed gently on his Sweet Afton by a lacily-clad Lady Chatterley and thereafter forced to lap dance nightly in a Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley three-way. Hell, I'll join in - if my Pilates schedule allows of course.
"…Time has told me…you're a rare, rare find…" – Nick Drake sang on the truly beautiful song "Time Has Told Me". When it comes to arranger Robert Kirby - never were truer words spoken. Well done boys and roll on the next chapter...
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