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"...Year Of The Riverboat..."
Although it doesn't say it anywhere on this
latest March 2018 UK/Euro released edition of John Renbourn's much loved 1972
LP "Faro Annie" - what you have here is a reissue of a Castle Music
CD Remaster done in 2002 - released July 2002 on Castle Music CMRCD534 -
Barcode 5050159153428 to be exact (and to confuse matters further - itself
reissued in 2016).
Music On CD Reissues tend to be basic affairs
and this unfortunately is no different - a bare bones gatefold slip of paper as
an inlay which just about tells you who did what. They tend to piggyback on
other people's reissue work and although the Remaster Engineer is not named - I
had the original Castle Music CD reissue for years and its audio was/is
gorgeous - same here (licensed from Sanctuary/BMG). Let's get to the White
House Blues...
UK/EURO released 2 March 2018 - "Faro
Annie" by JOHN RENBOURN on Music On CD MOCCD13553 (Barcode 8718627226605)
is a straightforward 11-Track CD Remaster (2002 version) of his 1972 LP that
plays out as follows (42:13 minutes):
1. White House Blues [Side 1]
2. Buffalo Skinners
3. Kokomo Blues
4. Little Sadie
5. Shake Shake Mamma
6. Willy O'Winsbury [Side 2]
7. The Cuckoo
8. Come On In My Kitchen
9. Country Blues
10. Faro Annie
11. Back On The Road Again
Tracks 1 to 11 are his 7th solo studio album
"Faro Annie" - released February 1972 in the UK on Transatlantic
Records TRA 247 and August 1972 in the USA on Reprise MS 2082. Produced by BILL
LEADER - all tracks are Folk and Blues Traditionals arranged by Renbourn except "Faro Annie" which is written by
Danny Thompson, John Renbourn, Sue Draheim and Terry Cox with three cover
versions by named artists being - "Come On In My Kitchen" by Robert
Johnson, "Country Blues" by Dock Boggs and "Back On The Road
Again" by Ian Campbell.
MUSICIANS:
JOHN RENBOURN - Lead Vocals (except where noted
below), Lead Guitars, Sitar and Harmonica
DORRIS HENDERSON - Vocals on "White House
Blues", "Kokomo Blues" and "Back On The Road Again"
SUE DRAHEIM - Fiddle on "Willy
O'Winsbury", "Little Sadie" and "Country Blues"
PETE DYER - Harmonica on "Come On In My
Kitchen" and "Kokomo Blues"
DANNY THOMPSON - Bass on "Faro Annie"
and "Shake Shake Mamma"
TERRY COX - Drums on "Faro Annie" and
"Shake Shake Mamma"
The gatefold inlay does at least reproduce
Renbourn's short, slightly nutty (and at times very funny) liner notes that
appeared on the rear of the original 1972 LP as well as the photos of his five
guest musicians - including most notably the American lady singer Dorris
Henderson who featured as a duet partner on Renbourn's ultra rare British debut
LP "There You Go!" from 1965 on Columbia Records SX 6001 (she lived
in the UK and once was Lead Vocalist for Elektra's group Eclection). His old
muckers Danny Thompson and Terry Cox from Pentangle are here as is Pete Dyer
who would later join Stray in 1975 over on Dawn Records and Sue Draheim who
would join the ranks of The Albion Band on Pegasus and Island Records (UK
Folkies Ashley Hutchings of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span and Shirley
Collins of the Collins Sisters). To the music at hand...
"Faro Annie" opens with a gorgeous
and simple Folk duet on "White House Blues" – Dorris Henderson and
her paired-back vocals softly accompanying Renbourn's Lead without ever
grandstanding or stealing from it. The Acoustic Audio is gorgeous on this Side
1 starter as is on the next song - his first use of the Sitar on the
Traditional "Buffalo Skinners" - a tune of seven able-bodied men
hitting the Westward Road into New Mexico - a place where their pleasures will
end and their hardship begin. Harmonica playing Pete Dyer (later with Stray)
joins Dorris with John on the jaunty "Kokomo Blues" - a
baby-don't-you-hear-me-cry sexy shuffle that sees JR give it some wah-wah
electric guitar too.
"Little Sadie" is actually a dark
murder ballad with county jails, judges and juries and love in the first degree
- Sue Draheim's fiddle adding a fabulous Americana feel to Renbourn's acoustic
playing. Cleverly arranged - "Shake Shake Mamma" sees Danny
Thompson's trademark Double Bass sound and Terry Cox's Drums come sliding in to
end Side 1. Turns out she’s a North Kentucky big fat woman - hips just like a
snake and our hero's gotta buy that gal a diamond ring (don’t do it Johnny –
resist you pillock). And don't you just love that electric wah-wah guitar
addition Renbourn features throughout.
The King-as-prisoner-in-Spain - "Willy
O'Winsbury" is an exile and birthing-song rolled into one that's been done
in several forms (The Bothy Band and more) - Sue Draheim's fiddle-playing
adding an extra layer of sadness to the tale of woe as his daughter Janet
marries to help Daddy's politics. The second use of Sitar follows with the
slightly sinister "The Cuckoo" - an emotionally cautious tale of
gambling and love. I never could resist Acoustic Blues and when it's combined
with a warbling Little Walter type harmonica - I'm a goner - so his cover of
Robert Johnson's "Come On In My Kitchen" is a fabulous sounding Blues
chugger with Dyer playing a blinder. Legendary Appalachian Banjo picker Dock
Boggs provides the next cover - a fiddle and acoustic duet on "Country
Blues" - a funeral song full of graveyard grounds and such like finality worries.
The self-penned "Faro Annie" provides the albums only Pentangle
moment - a sort of Jazzy Folk-Rock instrumental jaunt with Renbourn taking
Harmonica duty this time while Sue plays second Fiddle to Cox and Thompson on
Drums and Bass. The album ends on an upbeat note - Dorris Henderson once again
joining Renbourn on an Ian Campbell song about a musician's life in "Back
On The Road Again".
For sure Renbourn's voice has never been the
strongest in the world and you'd be hard pressed to find the kind of
guitar-playing histrionics that his pal Bert Jansch would produce on his solo
LPs with ease. But "Faro Annie" is a lovely album - the kind of
record you listen to all the way through – quietly soaking up all those
Americana via Blighty tunes.
And it sounds great on this Music On CD Reissue
too. Job done...
