"...In The Land Of The Snow Queen..."
After
two well-received Transatlantic Records albums as part of the British Folk/Acid
Folk cult group MR. FOX (the debut "Mr. Fox" in 1970 and its
follow-up "The Gipsy" in 1971) - it was time for the recently
separated Derbyshire duo of Bob and Carol Pegg to go solo. In the case of Bob
Pegg – across two years and two albums, BP buddied up with someone else of like
mind - Great Yarmouth's finest purveyor of Folk and Mandolin playing - Nick
Strutt. Carolanne went her own way in 1973 and Bob would too eventually in
1975.
And
that's where this chunky gathering of four rare British Folk-ish LPs newly
remastered onto two CDs in 2020 by England's BGO comes a-strumming in. Like
their former band, the Pegg and Strutt solo material mixes traditional ye olde
Dales narrative-driven historical stories with contemporary Folk influences -
arriving at a musical place both grounded in the old but knocking on the
mushroom-stoned door of the new. You get all sorts of characters in here -
Jesus Christ on top of a hill in the Lake District, a witch's guide to the
underground, shipbuilders tormented by lizards and kings and snow queens, dark
riders and one-eyed merchants with ancient maps (as Anthony Hopkins would say,
very tasty my dear). Let's have at it all - you wild and fertile men and woman
of the hills...
UK
released 29 May 2020 - "Bob Pegg and Nick Strut/Carolanne Pegg/The
Shipbuilder/Ancient Maps" by BOB PEGG and CAROLANNE PEGG with NICK STRUTT on
Beat Goes On BGOCD 1413 (Barcode 5017261214133) offers Four Albums Remastered
Onto Two CDs and plays outs as follows:
CD1
(79:40 minutes):
1.
King Dog [Side 1]
2.
Starchild
3.
Wildman
4.
Baroques Off
5.
The Headrow Song
6.
Kirkstall Forge [Side 2]
7.
Jesus Christ Sitting On Top Of A Hill In The Lake District
8.
Gypsy Romp
9.
Entr'acte From "The Shipbuilder"
10.
The Cows And The Sheep
Tracks
1 to 10 are the debut album "Bob Pegg & Nick Strut" by BOB PEGG
and NICK STRUTT – released April 1973 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA
265 (no US issue).
11.
Open The Door [Side 1]
12.
A Witch's Guide To The Underground
13.
Mouse And The Crow
14.
The Sapphire
15.
Fair Fortune's Star
16.
Clancy's Song [Side 2]
17.
The Lady And The Well
18.
Wycoller
19.
The Lizard
Tracks
11 to 19 and Tracks 1 and 2 on CD2 are the continuous album "Carolanne
Pegg" by CAROLANNE PEGG – released April 1973 in the UK on Transatlantic
TRA 266 (no US issue). Note: all songs by CP except "Open The Door"
which is a Judy Collins cover version
CD2
(79:44 minutes):
1.
Man Of War
2.
Winter People
Tracks
11 to 19 on CD1 and Tracks 1 and 2 on CD2 are the continuous album
"Carolanne Pegg" by CAROLANNE PEGG – released April 1973 in the UK on
Transatlantic TRA 266 (no US issue)
3.
The Shipbuilder Part 1 [Side 1]
4.
The Shipbuilder Part 2 [Side 2]
Tracks
3 and 4 are the album "The Shipbuilder” by BOB PEGG and NICK STRUTT – released May 1974 in the UK on
Transatlantic Records TRA 280 (no US issue). Note: the front cover artwork
credits the title of the album as "The Ship Builder” but the label runs
both words together as one
5.
The One-Eyed Merchant [Side 1]
6.
The Map
7.
In The Wood
8.
The Woman On The Road
9.
Darkrider's Song
10.
In The Land Of The Snow Queen
11.
The River
12.
Gipsies' Song [Side 2]
13.
Love Song
14.
The Wild Man Appears
15.
The Wild Man Of The Hills
16.
The Beacon
17.
The Keeper Of The Fire
18.
The Waste Land
19.
The Golden valley
Tracks
5 to 19 are the album "Ancient Maps" by BOB PEGG – released August
1975 in the UK on Transatlantic Records TRA 299 (no US issue)
The
outer card slipcase adds these BGO reissues a distinctive classy look and the
accompanying 24-page booklet is certainly substantial including the foldout
story/lyric insert that came with original copies of the 1974 album "The
Shipbuilder", the photo of Carolanne with fiddle that adorned the rear
gatefold of her solo LP - but not unfortunately the lavish foldout
poster/insert of photos and lyrics that came with the 1975 album "Ancient
Maps". It looked not unlike a large version of those finger-fold origami
paper games we used to make in the schoolyard and was always an impressive
thing to see when we bought in a used copy of the album in Reckless (shame it
isn't here).
JOHN
O'REGAN has provided the liner notes and lifted heavily from named websites
(accredited on Page 23) giving a potted history from their mid twenties
beginnings in 1965 Nottingham Folk Festivals, via Mr. Fox in the early
Seventies and on to a 1996 solo album for Bob (reissued in 2018 with Bonus
Tracks) and a 2001 band project called Goshawk for historian and Cambridge
University musicologist Carolanne – a group named after her own song on the
debut Mr. Fox LP from 1970 - "The Gay Goshawk”. The background filling-in
story is amazingly detailed and will be welcomed by newcomers - these three
artists being obscure to most except those in deep Folk/Folk Rock circles.
In
October 2006 (reissued February 2008) – Castle Music/Sanctuary issued the
superb "Keeper Of The Fire" 2CD Anthology for Bob Pegg which
containing three of the albums reissued here (but no Carolanne) and also had
unreleased Seventies Tracks. But its been deleted years and is upwards of
thirty quid on the open market. So with four vinyl rarities in the one place
(maximum playing time on each CD) and cracking new 2020 sound from BGO's
resident Audio Engineer ANDREW THOMPSON – its time to return to this World of
Folk music.
The
April 1973 Bob Pegg and Nick Strutt self-titled debut saw both men play a huge
range of instruments – Pegg on Whistles, Recorder, Oboe, Guitars, Percussion
and Lead Vocals with Strutt on Acoustic and Electric Guitars, Bass and
Mandolin. That array was augmented by legendary Pedal Steel Guitar player
B.J.Cole (from the Country Rock band Cochise on United Artists) adding his
distinctive moaning sound to "Starchild", "Wildman",
"The Headrow Song" and "Kirkstall Forge" (he also played
Dobro on "Gypsy Stomp"). But what smacks you in the jaw is the
gorgeous sound – original Chipping Norton Studios production values giving us
acoustic guitars and doubled-vocals on the opener "King Dog". The
pretty continues with the rocket-man story "Starchild" – a
terrestrial creature needing loving and sanctuary from the bars on Mercury.
"Wildman" gives us an unhappy Duke returned from war hiding in his
castle waiting for a sign of sorts. We go Amazing Blondel and ye olde England
with the whistle-driven dance "Baroques Off" (a not so subtle in
joke).
Cars
and high street traffic open "The Headrow Song" where a lone busker
tries to be heard – his whistling soon segueing into huge acoustic guitar
strums – wind blowing cold on the Headrow as our hero waits for the 47 bus.
Mary from Ireland tries to comfort him with sugar in his coffee but the curmudgeon
is having none of it. Gorgeous Oboe and clever guitar fills make this Pegg and
Strutt song a genuine melodic stand out on the album in the manner of Mellow
Candle or Criss and Cross (both of their Folk/Rock gem albums reissued by
Esoteric – "Swaddling Songs" and "Bored Civilians" - see my
reviews). Jesus contemplates his father's fate for him in the Lake District –
wondering which of the six-strong choir will roll away the stone. The album
tries an ill-advised bit of Folk Boogie with "Gypsy Stomp" followed
by a very Planxty-sounding mandolin on "The Shipbuilder" extract – a
theme he would return to for a whole album in 1974. The debut ends of the
smiling prettiness of "The Cows And The Sheep" – a young woman
advised to not be afraid of the life she is carrying inside her and all it will
bring.
Cult
reissue label Grapefruit Records smartly used the Side 1 Carolanne Pegg opener
"Open The Door" on the excellent "Across The Great Divide:
Getting It Together In The Country 1968-74" Box Set in 2019. Her Melanie
meets Marianne Faithful voice combines with guitars and banjos as she enthuses
about her man's face and being free. The band on her solo LP (she dubbed The
Wags) featured some cool names – Albert Lee of Heads, Hands and Feet on Guitar
with Dave Peacock of Chas and Dave fame on Acoustic and Bass with her old
mucker from Mr. Fox – Alan Eden on Drums and Percussion. A fruity maid talks
about the man she fancies in "A Witch's Guide To The Underground"
while "The Mouse And The Crow" feels like Fairport Convention
Folk-Rock from their mighty "Liege & Lief". A lady needs her
aching soul and troubled mind soothed in "The Sapphire" by placing
the same on her clothes – hoping it will work as the tomcats howl outside her
door.
The
gorgeous audio and accomplished Folk-Rock continues with the strummed electric
guitars of the Side 2 biggie on Carolanne's debut – the near ten minutes of
"Fair Fortune's Star". Voices of the dead – the wind whispering
softly in her ear – a kindly old man in the trees with an outstretched hand. I
would imagine both Folk-Rock and Acid-Folk aficionados tap into this song on
occasion. Softly softly for "The Lady And The Well" while trees bow
down for the ancient place of "Wycoller" and it all ends on the
jaunty "The Lizard". For sure Carolanne Pegg is no Sandy Denny nor
will her voice and mixture of Rock with Folk appeal to everyone – but it's an
accomplished album and it sounds amazing.
Over
on Disc 2 we get the two lengthy Sides of "The Shipbuilder" LP from
1974 - Bob Pegg and Nick Strutt augmented by Mike Yarrow on Keyboards, Steve
Simpson of Meal Ticket and Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance on Guitars and Violin,
Richard Bull of The Kursaal Flyers on Bass and Dave Hammel on Drums. For sure
side-long pieces of music (18:38 and 19:14 minutes) are not everyone's cup of
Darjeeling - especially a fantasy folk epic that opens its backdrop insert with
"The story begins on a spring evening..." It then goes on to have our
frisky shipbuilder approach a castle half-hidden in a pine forest and have a
wee chat with a mythical beast about constructing a boat strong enough to
withstand the roughest seas. And then the uppity git only falls in love with
the Lady of the Castle (much to the chagrin of the Great White Lord) and they
have naughty non-nuptials in the hull of the big ship (you know, like a typical
Saturday night in Margate).
Musically
we are in a sort of Fairport Convention "Liege And Lief" vs. Traffic
and their "John Barleycorn Must Die" LPs type of territory – only
with longer songs. Side 1 opens and is all thin whistles and shimmering guitars
as Pegg sings the night was cold and the night was still. The shipbuilder
carries his hammer and saw as the guitars go all Prog – quite – back to Prog –
and so on. The lyrics are reproduced in the booklet so you can keep up with the
story – the Lady of the Castle down in the boatyard noticing the shipbuilder –
the Lord upstairs loving his gold more than her. Roundabouts 8:22 minutes, a
particularly pretty passage of acoustic and piano called Hymn Of The Trees comes
sailing in and then in its final phase – gorgeous acoustic and violin from
Steve Simpson. Side 2 opens with rolling acoustic notes and piano tinkles that
become ominous two minutes in as the storm rages in Prog stylee around them.
Things calm and about 5:35 minutes – the bass and piano suddenly get upbeat to
indicate that the tempest is over – segueing into "The Raggle-Taggle
Gypsies" – a Traditional Irish Folk superstars Planxty had featured on
their 1972 self-titled Polydor Records debut. And on it goes to scattered
shavings and the shipbuilder a stowaway on the white Lord’s ship. In the end
the album’s awkward mixture of Folk and Prog will either thrill or bore you,
but it still stands up for me as a worthy adventure.
With
Pegg on just Vocals and Acoustic Guitar, his last concept album of the period
"Ancient Maps" saw Graham Field (ex Rare Earth and part of his own
band Fields) take the Production reins of a huge cast of outside musicians
brought in to create the soundscape across its fourteen songs (they are listed
on Page 13 – Graham Field also plays Harpsichord on some cuts). Once again Pegg
returned to the sounds of olde – Elizabethan rhythms meshing with Prog Rock
flourishes and every tune weighed down with heaps of lyrics. Some like
"The Map" is a short interlude with echoed Monk-like sung-lyrics
while "The Woman On The Road" and "Darkrider's Song"
features brass and tales of the Dark Rider in the woods. I must admit that of
all four albums, door number four is my least favourite because I think those
instruments and the poorman's Jethro Tull feel to the music puts me off on two
counts. Side 2 has much of the same and again, I find most of it hard work and
very dated now (others may be enthralled).
Another
reviewer has problems with the presentation and audio - I've neither. But by
the time I'm at album number four I'm not moved - I'm more tested and that's
just down to personal taste. For me this is a superb reissue of very rare and
rarified material. As the Castle Music/Sanctuary 2CD reissue is pushing too
much money by far, I'd say if you've any interest in Bob Pegg and his folky
cohorts - then plumb for this sweet alternative...
