"Bob Pegg and Nick Strut/Carolanne Pegg/The Shipbuilder/Ancient Maps" by BOB PEGG, CAROLANNE PEGG [both ex MR. FOX] and NICK STRUTT – Four Albums from April 1973 (two), May 1974 and August 1975 on Transatlantic Records – featured guests BJ Cole of Cochise and Albert Lee of Heads, Hands and Feet (guitars), Alan Eden (ex Mr. Fox and Drummer with Magna Carta in 1973), Dave Peacock of Chas and Dave, Mike Yarrow, Steve Simpson of Meal Ticket and Ronnie Lane & Slim Chance, Richard Bull of The Kursaal Flyers with Keyboards and Production from Graham Field of Rare Bird and Fields (29 May 2020 UK Beat Goes On Reissue – 4LPs onto 2CDs – Andrew Thompson Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

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"...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...