"...Hands Of Fate..."
Originally on Bill Leader's
groundbreaking Transatlantic Records, Gordon Giltrap's first two albums of
largely instrumental British Folk from October 1968 and October 1969 have been
reissued on CD like this twice before. First up was August 1993, then November
1997, and in both cases by Essential Music (part of the Sanctuary Group) as
two-albums onto 1CD.
Now it’s the turn of England's
Beat Goes On (BGO) with shiny new 2020 remasters courtesy of Audio Engineer
ANDREW THOMPSON that make Benchley's best virtuoso guitarist shine anew. This
disc sounds gorgeous – those doubled acoustic strings rattling around your
speakers with air-bending intent. Here's the Folky beef...
UK released Friday, 29 May
2020 - "Gordon Giltrap/Portrait" by GORDON GILTRAP on Beat Goes On
BGOCD 1415 (Barcode 5017261214157) offers his first two albums Newly Remastered
onto 1CD that plays out as follows (65:02 minutes):
1. Gospel Song [Side 1]
2. Fast Approaching
3. Don't You Feel Good
4. Birth Of Spring
5. Won't You Stay Awhile
Suzanne
6. Wilderness
7. Adolescent Years [Side 2]
8. Saturday Girl
9. Don't You Hear Your
Mother's Voice
10. Ives Horizon
11. Blythe Hill
12. Willow Pattern
Tracks 1 to 12 are his debut
album "Gordon Giltrap" - released October 1968 in the UK on
Transatlantic Records TRA 175 - Produced by BILL LEADER (no US release)
13. Portrait [Side 1]
14. Thoughts In The Rain
15. Never Ending Solitude
16. Tuxedo
17. All Characters
Fictitious
18. Lucifer's Cage
19. Careful As You Go [Side
2]
20. Free For All
21. William Taplin
22. Hands Of Fate
23. Confusion
24. Young Love
Tracks 13 to 24 are his
second studio album "Portrait" - released October 1969 in the UK on
Transatlantic Records TRA 202 in Stereo - Produced by BILL LEADER (no US
release)
You get the usual card
slipcase on the outside that lends these reissues a wee bit of class while the
16-page booklet features in-depth new liner notes from JOHN O’REGAN. Topics covered
are his 18-year old signing to Transatlantic Records in 1968 through to his
time with Don Partridge and their band Accolade and on to the commercially
successful Prog-instrumental years with The Electric Record Company Label and
his 1977 "Perilous Journey" album breakthrough. It even mentions 26
March 2020 when GG played an acoustic gig from his doorstep to benefit Front
Line Staff in the NHS during the Coronavirus/Covid 19 lockdown. You also get
the album rear sleeve blurbs from Bill Leader (1968) and Don Partridge (1969)
and the colour cover artwork for both albums on the front and rear pages of the
booklet allowing you to invert the booklet if you want "Portrait"
facing out.
However, those expecting the
holiday program theme song and hit single "Heartsong" should look
elsewhere – these tunes are purely Folk and in some cases feature his vocals
which unfortunately wasn’t the greatest of ideas. To the early music of an
emerging talent...
The two debut album tracks
that highlighted his amazing plectrum picking technique on "The
Contemporary Guitar Sampler" budget album of 1969 (Transatlantic TRA SAM
14) are both here - "Fast Approaching" and "Ives Horizon"-
the first showing his extraordinary playing talent as the rapid flicks and
strums come a screaming out of your speakers in lovely clarity – the second
with a wall of doubled guitars. But then comes the voice...
Harmonics ping at the
beginning of "Don't You Feel Good" but the lovely song is quickly
ruined by his whiny voice that is not the strongest (nor are his lyrics). Again
beautiful playing opens "Why Won't You Stay A While, Suzanne?" but
his how-I-need-you lyrics and voice render the playing mute – the same for the
terribly twee "Adolescent Years". Back to racing up and down the
steel strings for the far better "Saturday Night". The debut ends on
the short instrumental "Blythe Hill" – another racer full of great
ideas but fades out on "Willow Pattern" – more bad singing that
really should have been nipped in the bud from the get go.
The 1969 second album opens
on the title track "Portrait" – two and half minutes of lovely
playing with pretty cascading runs up and down the fretboard. The second song "Thoughts
In The Rain" is about jealousy but again his deadpan vocal delivery makes
the song hard to listen to – the same for "Never Ending Solitude" and
"All Characters Fictitious". The big chunky chords instrumental "Lucifer’s
Cage" would be returned to years later for his 1976 "Visionary"
album on The Electric Record Company – here it gets a gimmicky flanging from
speaker-to-speaker treatment that kind of ruins the track had it been left
alone to play out. And on it goes...
All the virtuoso guitar playing
in the world doesn’t help if you don’t have the tunes or in this case – the
voice. For his formative years, Giltrap hadn’t really got either. There are
undeniably beautiful instrumentals on both records, but suffering the others
may prove a step too far for the uninitiated. Fans will love it for sure –
especially the great audio – but others should grab a listen first before
purchase...
