"The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" by TERRY CALLIER [aka "New Folk Sound" as per the Original LP label credit] – US Debut Album on Prestige Records in Mono – Recorded July 1964 But Belatedly Released Spring 1968 (November 2018 UK Craft Recordings Expanded Edition CD Reissue with Seven Bonus Tracks (Five Unreleased) and Paul Blakemore Remasters) - A Review by Mark Barry...

 

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RATING: ***** (Audio and Content)

 

"…Better Days Coming…You And Me Brother…We Can Make It So…"

 

Reissue specialists 'Craft Recordings of the USA' have been behind two huge sources of musical hero worship for me – Creedence Clearwater Revival and Stax Records (Isaac Hayes, Staple Singers, the Wattstax concerts, Truth Records label, the four complete Stax Singles Box Sets etc). In between those standard-bearers for genre excellence – they have also gone after rarities and releases that scream to be re-heard and re-appreciated.

 

And so it is with the debut album for Soul Hero Terry Callier – a gentle Nick Drake-type Folk LP with a Soulful Unplugged vibe that was recorded in one day in July 1964 with only three musicians – two of whom were playing an Upright Bass alongside Callier on Acoustic Guitar and Vocals (and not a lot else). But despite rear sleeve liner-notes dated May 1965 – the vinyl LP didn't actually appear in US shops until the Spring of 1968 - probably March or April because the producer had absconded to Mexico with the tapes and went on a druggy walkabout for a few years (well of course he did). I think the first known review of the album doesn't show until January 1969 - for whatever reason. Apparently our hero had to be told by a friend that his album was in the shops for sale, because no one from Prestige informed him.

 

In fact - the first most US new-music buyers heard of TC and his beautifully mellow voice/songs was via Psych Rockers H.P. Lovecraft who on hearing "The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" in early 1968 - covered two tunes from it in their July 1968 recording sessions for their second platter "H.P. Lovecraft II". That album saw the US light of day in September 1968 on Phillips PHS 600-279 (April 1969 in the UK on Philips SBL 7872) with covers of Callier's "Spin, Spin, Spin" and "It's About Time" leading the Psych charge as the first two songs on Side 1. The British LP was deleted quickly (April 1970 from a catalogue I have) and I presume the small selling US LP was probably much the same. It is hard to know therefore how many (if any) punters noticed Terry Callier or the misnamed Collier credit on the first two songs of a H.P. Lovecraft LP?

 

Truth told – I'm no knowledge on the Callier debut myself and only after decades has info been gleaned from various sources (the 2018 Jason P. Woodbury liner notes are the first real comprehensive go at its mysterious history). Speaking of reissue history - England’s Ace Records via their Beat Goes Public label imprint smartly reissued the album on CD first – twice in fact. First up was November 1995 on Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 101 (Barcode 029667510127) - a straightforward reissue of the 8-Track Mono US vinyl album on Prestige 7383 (also credited as PRLP-7383 on some original copies). That 1995 CD ran to 37:46 minutes and had no mastering or remastering credits. The sound quality was o.k. - but was made redundant by UK CD issue Number Two - July 2003 on Ace/Beat Goes Public CDBGPM 156 (Barcode 029667515627). An upgraded Joe Tarantino Remaster, that 2003 CD added on Three Previously Unreleased Outtakes from the original session to the album's eight tracks upping the playing time to 55:01 minutes - "Be My Woman", "Jack O' Diamonds" and "The Golden Apples Of The Sun". To now...

 

This latest and greatest version of "The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" by TERRY CALLIER was UK released 23 November 2018 on Craft Recordings CR00098 (Barcode 888072053458) and comes in a Card Digipak for the first time (the first two issues on Ace were jewel cases). Of its Seven Bonus Tracks - "Jack O' Diamonds" and "The Golden Apples Of The Sun" had first appeared on the 2003 Ace CD (as previously mentioned) - while the other five are New Previously Unreleased Alternate Version Outtakes. The Craft Recordings 2018 CD plays out as follows (70:56 minutes):

 

1. 900 Miles [Side 1]

2. Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be

3. Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be

4. Cotton Eyed Joe

5. It's About Time [Side 2]

6. Promenade In Green

7. Spin, Spin, Spin

8. I'm A Drifter

 

BONUS TRACKS:

9. Jack O' Diamonds

10. Golden Apples Of The Sun

11. Promenade In Green [Take 1] *

12. Be My Woman [Take 1] *

13. 900 Miles [Take 1] *

14. It's About Time [Take 2] *

15. Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be [Take 2] *

* PREVIOUSLY UNRELEASED

 

The new eight-page booklet wastes three of them at the rear reproducing the Rent Foreman liner notes for Prestige 7383 that introduced Terence Orlando Callier to the world. Originally dated May 1965 – they give lots of that oh-so-cool Sixties psychobabble about time man and how the brother is a brother and a man of our time yet out of time (etc). But the new JASON P. WOODBURY liner notes are far better - no photos mind - but better. However, the real deal here is the stunning PAUL BLAKEMORE mastering - a name that has turned up on hundreds of Craft Recordings and others as a Remaster Engineer to actively seek out. This is a gorgeous sounding CD (the 2LP set the same) and one that's quite shocking at times in its vocal clarity - the timber of his voice and his humanitarian vibe and ideals - chilling and deeply, deeply affecting.

 

Aged only 23 - "The New Folk Sound Of..." album was recorded by SAMUEL CHARTERS in the Webb Recording Studios in Chicago in just one day - 29 July 1964. There were only 3 musicians - TERRY CALLIER on Guitar and Vocals, TERBOUR ATTENBOROUGH on Bass and JOHN TWEEDLE also on Bass. Another surprise is that almost all the songs are covers - five being Public Domain Traditionals - while the other three were from songwriter catalogues of the time.

 

Side 1 opens with the lovely and lonesome "900 Miles" which sets up his style and the album's overall feel. Although it's just him on Acoustic Guitar with his voice high up in the mix and the other instruments behind him, the effect is more FOLK-SOUL than just Folk or Roots. It's beautifully atmospheric - the kind of album you'd play on a quiet Sunday morning when you just want something soothing on the ear and brain.

 

Some tracks work better than others. It's difficult to hear "Oh Dear What Can The Matter Be" now without thinking of a schoolyard song we used to sing which rudely rhymed a "Lavatory" with "Matter Be". But things get better with the quietly lovely "Johnny Be Gay If You Can Be" and "Cotton Eyed Joe". The difference on the Remaster of "Cotton Eyed Joe" is stark - the vocals soar out of the speakers.

 

One of the album's true masterpieces is Side 2's opener - the plea for racial equality and an end to all war - "It's About Time" (lyrics above). Written by a beat poet and a female US songwriter (Kent Foreman and Lydia Wood) and running to a mere 3:33 minutes, it features a lovely guitar strum, but this time it has the added double bass of TERBOUR ATTENBOROUGH which lifts the song out of it's folk-roots feel into something so much more powerful and substantial. It still sounds awesome to this day - as relevant then as it is now. It's followed by "Promenade In Green" which is a Negro song from Alabama copyrighted by Robert Kaufman and Len Chandler in 1961 (a year before Callier started singing) - it's heart-meltingly lovely. "I'm A Drifter" is excellent too, but probably overstays its welcome at just short of nine minutes.

 

Even though it's easy to see why they were left off the album - the Extras are a revelation and sort of mini album unto themselves. It's not that they're sub-standard - it's just that they were more of the same and something had to give. Which is good news for us some 60 years later because the gambling song "Jack O' Diamonds" is superb. But the real winner is his cover of the Judy Collins song "The Golden Apples Of The Sun" which incorporated the poetry of William Butler Yates into the words. It's gorgeous.

 

Of the five newbee 'Alternate Versions' – you can see from track list above – they are Take 1 and Take 2. Callier probably nailed in on Take 2 or 3 after these – so you can hear the reasons why they were not quite up to snuff – a waver in a vocal here – an acoustic slip of notes there – but they are as lovely as you can hope for. It is also not surprising to me in the least that AUDIOPHILE nuts have been searching out the 2LP set reissued by Craft Recordings in September 2018 of this Expanded Edition CD (Craft Recordings CR00097 – Barcode 00888072053441 to be exact). That 180-grams double goes for real money now.

 

Perhaps also (and as a point of order) – it is informative to point out that not all Sixties recordings in the Blues, Rock and Soul worlds were crude rudimentary ramshackle affairs – some defied that presumption with luxurious productions and a quiet beauty. Sam Cooke's "Night Beat" album originally on RCA Records in September 1963 or the Muddy Waters unplugged Blues album "Folk Singer" from January 1964 on Chess Records jump to mind. When ABKCO USA put out the June 1995 CD of the stunning Sam Cooke album "Night Beat" they also pressed an Audiophile LP on ABKCO 1124-1 – Barcode 018771112419. Mobile Fidelity MFSL 1-201 from January 1994 did the same for the astonishing clarity on the Muddy Waters album - Chess Records not exactly famous as being a seething cauldron of sonic clarity. Alongside Callier – Cooke and Muddy make a fabulous Trio for VINYL Audiophile lovers. I would also look into "Elvis Is Back" on RCA and "Roy Orbison Sings Lonely And Blue" on Monument - both towering Stereo LPs from 1960. 

 

As you've no doubt gathered, I've been soppy about Terence Orlando Callier for years, so perhaps my review is overly gushing - but once your weary lugs actually hear this criminally forgotten gem, you'll understand why.

 

In its new card digipak, this gorgeous and stunning sounding Expanded CD Remaster of "The New Folk Sound Of Terry Callier" from 2018 by Craft Recordings is languishing on Amazon for under six quid. Do yourself a budget room favour and nab his graceful start - and spread the word...

 

PS: see also my separate reviews for the three Terry Callier Soul albums on Cadet Records that followed - "Occasional Rain" (June 1971), "What Color Is Love" (March 1973) and "I Just Can't Stand Myself" (October 1973)