Think Pink! The Island Book Of Records Volume 2 - 1969-1970

Edited by Neil Storey,

Published by Manchester University Press.

reviewed by Stuart Penney.

In late 1970 I took a job as a gofer at the famous classical music publisher Universal Edition.  At age 20 I had little interest in classical music and found the work mostly dull, what with all those Mozart scores and their endlessly confusing Köchel numbers.  But there were the occasional bright spots, such as when I stumbled upon a little-known 18th century Italian composer and cellist by the name of Francesco Zappa.  I’m sure we only sold a handful of his scores during the entire time I worked there, but it was always a thrill to see them sitting in the racks, dusty and neglected, tied up with brown paper and hemp string bearing a faded label reading simply "Zappa."  14 years later the “other” Zappa would record an album of Francesco’s work arranged for Synclavier (an early digital synthesizer) in an attempt to introduce his long-forgotten namesake to the modern world.

As well as the usual Romantic, Baroque and Classical era guys, Universal Edition also published works by a number of 20th century composers including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Richard Rodney Bennett, Harrison Birtwistle and David Bedford whose manuscripts were often unorthodox and fun to examine, even for those who, like me, didn't sight read.  For example, Bedford had a piece wittily titled “Whitefield Music 1 for 12 chime-bars, 12 tuned milk bottles, 4 drums,” and another called “With 100 Kazoos.”  The latter work was commissioned by the BBC to be performed as part of Pierre Boulez's series of concerts at the Roundhouse in 1972.  Boulez refused to conduct the piece.

As for Stockhausen, instead of conventional musical notation, some of his scores used squiggles, symbols and moving parts, including holes cut in the pages behind which cogs and wheels turned, revealing a variety of pictures indicating various random sounds and tempos to be played.  Picture the elaborate revolving sleeve of Led Zeppelin III and you’re still not even halfway there.  Those Stockhausen scores were eye wateringly expensive even in 1970 and I can only imagine how much they are worth today. 

Why am I telling you this?  Well, another 20th century composer whose work UE handled was Béla Bartók, which is where our story begins.

One day I was summoned into the manager’s office at Universal Edition and asked if I had heard of a “pop group” (his words) called Emerson, Lake & Palmer.  The boss was a stuffy old geezer who cared little for popular music, so it seemed a strange question.  I told him that, yes, I was familiar with the group and was also aware that their self-titled Island debut LP had recently been released.  I was tempted to add that I’d also witnessed the second-ever ELP concert at the Isle of Wight Festival in August 1970 but felt this might be over-egging the pudding.

He appeared satisfied with my answer and reaching into his desk drawer, pulled out the petty cash box and handed over two crisp five-pound notes, instructing me to “Go and buy three copies of their gramophone record,” adding “and remember to get a receipt.”  Universal Edition were located in the heart of the West End, literally yards from the Dean Street branch of the famous One Stop Records store, and many a happy lunchtime was spent there browsing the import LP racks. Returning with the trio of ELP albums, I left them on the manager's desk (with the change and receipt) and assumed my task was finished.  But over the following week I was to see a lot more of those records.

It seemed the Béla Bartók estate had become aware that the track "The Barbarian" on the Emerson, Lake & Palmer album was an arrangement of Bartók's 1911 piano piece “Allegro Barbaro.” It was still in copyright, but the record cheekily credited the piece only to ELP. Bartók's widow was understandably miffed at this and contacted the band to request the credit be corrected, which is where the UK branch of Universal Edition came in.

It was bizarre to see three pink label copies of the ELP record spread out on the boss’s desk for days while what I imagined were high powered telephone negotiations went on with someone at Island records or the band’s management regarding the composer credits.  

It didn’t happen right away, but by the time Emerson, Lake & Palmer was reissued on the group’s own Manticore vanity label in 1973, Bartók was correctly listed as co-composer alongside the band members on the sleeve credit for “The Barbarian,” while “Bartók” alone was credited on the label.

Incidentally, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ILPS 9132) was the penultimate UK album to wear the famous Island pink label, the very last one being Tea for the Tillerman (ILPS 9135) by Cat Stevens which closed out the decade in late November 1970.  

I think it’s fair to say British underground rock, folk rock and blues pretty-much began with Island records circa 1967.  In response EMI set up the Harvest label, Philips gave us Vertigo and stuffy old Decca revamped their existing Deram label, which had started life in 1966 releasing mainly MOR material, turning it into a full-blown hippie haven for the likes of the Moody Blues and early releases by Bowie and the aforementioned Cat Stevens. 

All these imprints had their glory years and moments of magic, not to mention a boatload of obscure (ie poor selling) LPs, some of which are now worth a king’s ransom on the collectable vinyl market.  But in my view, none of those major label spin-offs could compete with the proudly independent Island label for quality and consistency. 

Like many an old head, one of the first Island label records I ever owned was the legendary sampler LP You Can All Join In (IWPS-2).  Released in April 1969 it contained a cross-section of artists who went on to do great things (Jethro Tull, Free, Fairport Convention, Traffic) plus a few who fell by the wayside (Wynder K. Frog, Clouds and Tramline).  Ironically, Tramline’s contribution to YCAJI was “Pearly Queen” a Jim Capaldi / Steve Winwood song from the second Traffic album.  It was all a little incestuous, but in the nicest possible way.

1969 and 1970 is considered by many to be the golden era of Island records and this is the period covered in the second volume of Neil Storey’s The Island Book of Records, published at the tail end of 2024 (my copy has only just arrived, courtesy of Amazon, who lost the first order, hence the lateness of this review).  Volume one centered on the label’s earliest years from its calypso, ska and soul inception in 1959 through to 1968 and the start of the home-grown British rock explosion.  

This latest edition examines the legendary pink label releases in all their prog, folk and blues rock glory.  With Fairport, Tull, John & Beverley Martyn, ELP, Free, Cat Stevens et al taking centre stage, every album cover and single sleeve is present and correct (UK and foreign releases), most shown in full 12” LP-size.  They are discussed via brief interview quotes from band members, journalists and those who worked in and around Island during the period.  Author / editor Storey also contributes where clarification is required (see the Bumpers sampler below).  There are also countless music magazine ads, contemporary reviews and press cuttings, ads and other ephemera.

Following a lengthy dissertation on Blind Faith (their sole album may have been on Polydor, but Steve Winwood was still firmly contracted to Island at the time) the book kicks off with Tons of Sobs (ILPS 9089) the debut LP by Free. From there the 430-page hard cover volume works its way chronologically through the pink label years album by album, including all those missing numbers which have confounded archivists for years (Volume one ran to a not-inconsiderable 390 pages).  

For example, folk blues artist Ian A. Anderson who appeared so prominently on the cover of the You Can All Join In sampler was cruelly dropped from the label at the eleventh hour allegedly due to a clash of names with the Jethro Tull front man.  Ian A’s 1969 LP Stereo Death Breakdown, scheduled to be released on Island with the catalogue number ILPS 9094, eventually turned up on the United Artists label instead and the Island number remained unused.  I daresay Anderson has been counting the money this savage blow has cost him ever since.

Other “missing” catalogue numbers include unreleased albums by Hard Meat, Wynder K. Frog and the band Clouds.  Some were issued in the US while other gaps were filled by compilation LPs released only in France.

Once the catalogue hit its stride, however, it was all killer and very little filler.  Few labels can boast Island’s strike rate of blue chip, timeless records from the late 60s and beyond.  It really is hard to find even a mediocre album, never mind a bad one, listed here after 1968.

The bulk of the book is devoted to the legendary pink label era and the records we have treasured for more than half a century.  There is detailed coverage of King Crimson’s In The Court Of The Crimson King, Nick Drake’s Five Leaves Left, Fairport Convention’s Liege & Liege plus other massively influential early LPs by Martyn, Free, Tull, Mott the Hoople, Spooky Tooth and Traffic.  Foreign releases are included along with subsequent UK pressings on the pink rim palm tree label, which superseded the three famous pink label designs in late 1970. 

With their none-more-hippie ethos, Quintessence were a different and somewhat more obscure kettle of fish, and they often seemed out of step with the label’s big names.  But you can count me as huge fan of their heavy raga rock.  And let’s not forget this ragbag outfit from Ladbroke Grove also gave us two of the most elaborate Island album sleeves of the period, one of which opens up from the centre like a Buddhist altar.  For that reason alone, Quintessence should be forever cherished.

I was intrigued and heartened to see White Noise’s An Electric Storm (ILPS 9099) discussed at length.  This early electronic album from 1969 really was an Island oddity, quite unlike anything else coming from the label at that time.  Keen-eyed viewers of Danny Baker’s 2015 sitcom Cradle to Grave may have spotted a giant poster for this little-known album, along with another for Free’s Heartbreaker (ILPS 9217), on the fictional bedroom wall of the 15-year-old Danny.  

As far as it relates directly to the main Island (ILPS) numbering system, the Chrysalis label is also covered here.  Founded in 1967 by Chris Wright and Terry Ellis, Chrysalis (Chris+Ellis = Chrysalis) started life as a management company and booking agency, representing Ten Years After and Jethro Tull.  Early albums by Tull, Blodwyn Pig and Clouds were licensed to the Island label, while TYA were signed to Deram.  Island boss Chris Blackwell promised Wright and Ellis their own label identity should Chrysalis artists reach an agreed number of chart entries, and the target was achieved in fine style when Tull's second album Stand Up (ILPS 9103) sprinted to #1 in September 1969.

The first LPs to wear the green Chrysalis label with its red butterfly logo were Getting To This (ILPS 9122) by Blodwyn Pig and the third Jethro Tull album Benefit (ILPS 9123) released simultaneously in April 1970, although both still carried Island catalogue numbers at this stage. Several more Chrysalis / Island hybrid releases by Tull, Mick Abrahams, Clouds, Tir Na Nog and Procol Harum followed before Chrysalis finally hatched (or should that be metamorphosed?) and flew the nest, launching its own dedicated UK numbering series in August 1971 with Ten Years After's A Space In Time (CHR 1001).

An entire section is devoted to the trio of famous pink label sampler LPs, You Can All Join In, Nice Enough to Eat and Bumpers.  Inspired directly by the 1968 CBS Rock Machine Turns You On samplers which started it all, they were big sellers and introduced the Island catalogue to an entire generation of record buyers. 

Some years ago, I co-wrote a series of Island articles for Record Collector magazine, one of which focused on the sampler LPs (reproduced on my blog HERE). It highlighted the errors, discrepancies and downright cock-ups featured on Bumpers (IDP 1) the only double album to receive a pink label release.  Retailing at a shade under 30 shillings (soon to be £1.50 after decimalisation) it was incredible value, but not quite in the way Island had intended.

Whether it was wildly inaccurate track timings, incorrect mixes or simply bogus and misleading sleeve information, hardly a track on Bumpers was untouched by inconsistency and an already splendid album became an essential purchase.  It’s good to see Storey has listed the errors I first documented, plus a few more besides. 

At around £80 this is not a cheap book, but for Island aficionados it’s worth every penny.  Beautifully designed, lavishly illustrated and forensically researched, the 3kg tome is streets ahead of anything yet published about the label.  We’ve been promised several more volumes taking us through the 70s and into the 80s, each one covering possibly a couple of years of Island’s history.  If this comes to pass I’m sure they’ll all be excellent but somehow I doubt future books will scale the giddy heights of this one.  I maintain 1969-1970 was indubitably Island’s peak period.  And I’ll fight anyone who says differently.

A Complete Unknown - Film Review

by Stuart Penney

It’s often said you simply can’t have too many films about The Beatles.  This is equally true of Bob Dylan, perhaps more so.  A Complete Unknown, James Mangold’s movie of Dylan’s life between 1961 and 1965, is considerably better than most biopics, however.  For one thing it was made with Bob’s co-operation and so had unfettered access to his music.  This fact should not be underestimated.  Recent biopics about Brian Epstein (Midas Man), Jimi Hendrix (All Is by My Side) and others were rendered virtually unwatchable by the absence of original music from their subjects.

For Dylan fans of a certain age, the story covers an era we know as well as we know our own family history.  That means every frame will be scrutinised in forensic detail, for familiarity as much as for accuracy.  Yes, this is a serious business and, given the constraints of fitting it all into a 140-minute movie Mangold has done a fine job, albeit with generous helpings of artistic license, conflating events which happened months (or years) apart. Occasionally the events happened quite differently to how they appear in the film and sometimes they didn’t even happen at all.

Whether this is a true account of Dylan’s life between his arrival in New York in 1961 aged 20, and the musical revolution he ignited at the Newport folk festival four years later is neither here nor there.  The film looks great, and Timothée Chalamet gives a sterling performance as the handsome and enigmatic Dylan.  His hair is perfect, although purists will say the halo of curls is much closer to Bob’s 1966 look than 1965 (much could happen in a year during the mid-60s).  Other details are spot on though.  The overlong and dirty, nicotine-stained fingernails on his right hand (for guitar playing) was a nice touch, as was the green polka dot shirt, neurotic mumbling, Chaplinesque twitches and acerbic put-downs.

The supporting cast is also strong, especially Edward Norton as the uptight but unfailingly decent Pete Seeger.  Norton nails Seeger’s voice and manner and he even shaved the front of his hair to create Pete’s widow’s peak.  Elle Fanning is superb as “Sylvie Russo” a thinly disguised Suze Rotolo, Bob’s first New York girlfriend, as seen on the cover of the Freewheelin’ album.  Dylan insisted she be given an alias in the film, perhaps because he treated her so shabbily.

Monica Barbaro turns in a great performance as Joan Baez even though, like Fanning, she looks nothing like the real thing.  We are told that Monica learned to play guitar from scratch and improved her singing skills just for the role.  Her onstage duets with Dylan are fantastic and a testament to that hard work.  There’s a lovely scene where the up-and-coming Bob visits an already successful Joan in California.  She had two or three albums in the charts by that point and impressed Bob with her big, fancy house, complete with E-Type Jaguar in the driveway (that’s a Jaguar XKE to the Americans).

I wasn’t nearly as convinced by the portrayal of Dylan’s manager Albert Grossman.  In reality he was an imposing bear of a man, not the short, roly poly Jack Black lookalike who appears in the film. 

There’s a scene in a New York club (supposedly around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis) where Dylan is performing the newly written “Masters of War.”  The line “And I hope that you die, and your death will come soon” is mysteriously cut from the song.  It presumably wasn’t edited out for reasons of space because the rest of the verse follows intact.  Modern sensibilities prevailed, perhaps?

But even the scenes which are laughably, patently untrue, such as Dylan bonding with longtime sidekick Bobby Neuwirth in an Irish bar and receiving a punch in the face for his trouble look convincing enough.  The song Neuwirth’s band was playing at the time incidentally was “The Irish Rover” which, although thought of as a traditional tune, dates back only as far as WWII. 

I like to think it was included in the film due to Bob’s love of the Pogues, who recorded it in 1987 with the Dubliners.  It would be churlish to point out that the song didn’t become popular until 1966 (a year after the scene in the film) when it was recorded by the eponymous folk group The Irish Rovers on their debut album.

Thanks to a deal with Gibson, the guitars are as accurate as any film of its kind I’ve ever seen.  Dylan’s early Gibson J50, Gibson Nick Lucas Special, Joan Baez’s Martin 0-45 and Johnny Cash’s Gibson J200 are all are present and looking absolutely correct.  From Fender we got Dylan’s Newport era Stratocaster and Mike Bloomfield’s Telecaster too. They even made sure Bob's Strat arrived in a period correct black Fender guitar case. I recently saw a “making of” documentary which showed Bob playing a Fender Jazzmaster during the recording of Highway 61 Revisited (real photos of him with this guitar do exist) but the scene clearly never made it to the finished film.

Still with guitars, at one point the Bobby Neuwirth character mentions that Bob’s famous Newport Fender Stratocaster was bought in London during the May 1965 UK tour.  I’ve never heard this claim before and very much doubt it's true.  This was the guitar which sold for almost one million dollars at auction in 2013, a world record price at that time.

Rumoured to be a late addition to the film script, Johnny Cash looms large, turning up at Newport in 1964 and 1965.  It’s a fact that Cash was a big supporter of Dylan, covering his songs and encouraging him to go electric.  Boyd Holbrook plays him to a tee as the mad, bad and dangerous to know outlaw country music star.  No matter that Johnny wasn’t even at Newport in 1965, the scene where the hungover Cash fails to recognise Bob, before drunkenly crashing his car was wildly entertaining, if scarcely believable.

The final scenes where Dylan shocks the Newport crowd by going onstage with the Butterfield Blues Band to play a high-octane electric set is handled well.  After the anomalies which preceded it, we can perhaps forgive the inevitable denouement where a crowd member yells “Judas” prompting Bob’s "Play it loud!" instruction to the band leading to an ear-splitting “Like A Rolling Stone.”  In fact, the “Judas” incident happened a year later at the Free Trade Hall, Manchester but, artistic license or not, it’s a fitting and powerful end to the film.

We see the stuffy Newport festival board members frantically trying get Bob to turn down the volume, resulting in the unedifying spectacle of Alan Lomax and Albert Grossman, stout middle-aged men both, going at it toe to toe, trading punches and rolling around in the dirt.  At this point Pete Seeger eyes the row of axes used by an earlier act for a woodchopping song as if he were contemplating cutting the electric cables, before his wife Toshi blocks his path, stopping him in his tracks.  And so the myth remains intact.  Only serious Dylan scholars will get the reference. 

Ultimately, despite the contradictions, anomalies and glaring errors, this is an enjoyable and important film.  Take it at face value and you'll love it too.

Oh, and there was only one mention of the Beatles in the movie, yet Donovan is name-checked twice!  Make of that what you will. 

Stuart Penney first saw Bob Dylan live at the Gaumont Cinema in Sheffield on May 16, 1966. The legendary “Judas” incident happened the following day in Manchester.

Davy Graham – He Moved Through The Fair: The Complete 1960s Recordings

 

Davy Graham – He Moved Through The Fair:

The Complete 1960s Recordings

(Cherry Tree CRTREE8BX28)

CD review by Stuart Penney

Even if Davy Graham had only ever written and recorded one piece of music, his immortality would be assured, thanks to “Angi.”  This timeless guitar instrumental is as ubiquitous in folk music as “Smoke on the Water” and “Stairway to Heaven” are in the world of rock: endlessly copied, but rarely equalled.  I was almost tempted to say “This simple guitar instrumental” but that would be unfair.  Even though every budding folk guitarist must learn to play at least a basic version of “Angi” almost as a rite of passage, to perform it with the flair and dexterity Davy brought to the piece is another matter entirely. 

There are at least three different spellings of the title.  Bert Jansch recorded it as “Angie” on his 1965 self-titled debut LP and his version is arguably even more well-known and influential than Davy’s original.  Bert cleverly added a verse of Nat Adderley’s “Work Song” to his arrangement, a tune Davy had been performing onstage since his earliest days.  A previously unreleased 1961 version of “Work Song” recorded live in Edinburgh can be found here on Disc One (see also Disc Eight). 

Following the year he spent kicking around the London folk clubs, Paul Simon cemented the tune’s worldwide fame when he recorded it as “Anji” on the 1966 Simon & Garfunkel album Sounds of Silence.  Back home, Stan Webb’s blues boomers Chicken Shack also called it “Anji” for their perfunctory electric version on the 1969 LP 100 Ton Chicken.

Starting life on the 1963 Topic EP ¾ AD shared with Alexis Korner, “Angi” fittingly, leads off this magnificent and lovingly compiled box set.  Comprising eight CDs, it claims to feature Davy’s complete 60s recordings.  That adds up to an impressive 162 tracks in all, a healthy number of which are rare and / or previously unreleased. 

Another shared EP From A London Hootenanny gave us “She Moved Through The Fair” and “Mustapha.”  Recorded live in 1963, these eastern flavoured pieces introduced Davy’s famous DADGAD guitar tuning to the folk world and are just as important as “Angi” in the Graham repertoire.  It wasn’t too long before the rock guys began to take notice.  Jimmy Page took “She Moved Through The Fair,” retitled it “White Summer” and made it his solo showcase, first with the Yardbirds and later with Led Zeppelin where it became part of a live DADGAD medley with Bert Jansch’s “Blackwaterside” (retitled “Black Mountain Side.”)  Naturally, neither Davy nor Bert received credit for Page’s appropriation (these were arrangements of traditional pieces after all) but those who knew the truth have been shouting it from the rooftops ever since.

Following five obscure demo tracks funded by comedian Bob Monkhouse (yes, really), Disc One continues with Davy’s first full album, The Guitar Player.  Released in 1963 on Pye records’ budget imprint Golden Guinea, this instrumental collection features a sometimes-uneasy mix of folk, blues, jazz and easy listening pop.  The Latin-tinged “Don’t Stop the Carnival” originated on the 1962 Sonny Rollins LP What’s New (four years before Alan Price made the song a pop hit) while classics “Take Five,” “Cry Me A River” and “Yellow Bird” are also treated to Graham’s fretboard wizardry.  

But it’s on tracks such as “How Long, How Long Blues,” “The Ruby and The Pearl,” “Buffalo” and “Blues For Betty” where things start to get really interesting.  Here we find Davy virtually inventing a style of acoustic guitar which, two or three years hence, would become the gold standard among British folk blues luminaries such as John Renbourn, Wizz Jones, Bert Jansch and others.   

Disc Two contains Davy’s debut Decca solo album and his most acclaimed work Folk, Blues & Beyond.  Released in January 1965, it established him as a major force in the folk blues guitar world.  While the playing here is truly groundbreaking, Davy’s vocals, average at best, are an acquired taste.  This was a common theme throughout his career and probably prevented him becoming a bigger star outside the folk circuit.

Nevertheless, the guitar work is astonishing, especially for 1965.  “Leavin’ Blues,” “Rock Me Baby” and “Ain’t Nobody’s Business If I Do,” while rooted in the pentatonic scale, veer off into dazzling jazz improvisation using complex augmented, diminished, 9th, 11th and 13th chords and God knows what else.  Nobody in the folk world was playing with such confidence and outrageous technique at the time. 

Recorded in 1964 with Shirley Collins, Folk Roots, New Routes forms Disc Three. Clean living Shirley admits to being somewhat intimidated by Davy, who would disappear at regular intervals during recording only to reappear reinvigorated and with a spring in his step.  Before long Davy would deliberately choose to become a junkie, just as his jazz heroes had done before him. 

The drug scene really wasn’t Shirley's world, yet the unlikely collaboration was a triumph: her pure traditional folk voice meshing perfectly with Davy’s virtuosic folk blues guitar, the like of which had never been heard before.  In fact, it was the first time many of these traditional English folk songs had been recorded with a guitar backing.  It’s all tremendous stuff, but “Nottamum Town,” “Hares on the Mountain” and “Love Is Pleasing” are the stand outs, along with two dazzling solo instrumentals from Davy, “Rif Mountain” and “Blue Monk.”

Disc Four sees Davy drawing material from many styles for Midnight Man, his 1966 fourth LP.  Here we find songs by the Beatles (“I’m Looking Thru You”), Herbie Hancock (“Watermelon Man”), Elvis (“Money Honey”) and Rufus Thomas (“Walkin’ The Dog”) along with the usual helping of blues standards (“Stormy Monday,” “Fire In My Soul” etc).  Only the aforementioned underwhelming vocals prevented this from being a major work at the time, but as always Davy’s guitar playing saved the day. 

Disc Four ends with 10 tracks from the CD Live at St. Andrews Folk Club, 8th May 1966.  This set remained unreleased until 2007 and unlike some other live material which has been unearthed in recent years, it’s top-quality stuff.  Both the audio quality and Davy’s performances are excellent.  The remaining 10 tracks from the St. Andrews CD are spread over Discs Six and Seven.

On Disc Five we find After Hours At Hull University 4th February 1967 a 14-track collection, recorded on a Philips domestic tape recorder by Davy’s lifelong friend John Pilgrim in his quarters at Hull University.  Pilgrim (1933-2020) achieved fame, if not fortune, as the washboard player with 50s skiffle band The Vipers, before becoming a journalist, bookseller, jazz and blues expert and many other things besides.

Given the circumstances the audio quality is pretty good, and this recording finds Davy at his most relaxed, chatting between songs and delivering material such as “She Moved Through The Fair” (here titled “She Moved Through The Bizarre,”) “Cocaine,” “Jubilation” and “How Long Blues.”  His playing is superb throughout and the party atmosphere only adds to the enjoyment.  It sounds like only a handful of people were present, so this is what it must have sounded like having Davy play in your front room.

These recordings remained unreleased until 1997 when they appeared on Rollercoaster Records.  I initially thought we’d gained a bonus track here, until I noticed the original 1997 Rollercoaster CD has a typo on the sleeve, listing track 13 twice.

1968’s Large As Life And Twice As Natural arrives on Disc Six.  Featuring the stellar line-up of Danny Thompson (upright bass), Jon Hiseman (drums), Dick Heckstall-Smith (sax) and Harold McNair (flute) this was the first (and probably only) one of Davy’s major label LPs to be released on both sides of the Atlantic, hinting that some kind of US commercial success might be in the wind.  It was not to be, however, although a raga-jazz interpretation of Joni Mitchell’s then-current “Both Sides Now” (released as a single in October 1968) was a bold attempt. 

Elsewhere it was business as usual with material by Lead Belly (“Good Morning Blues,”) Fred McDowell (“Freight Train Blues”) and Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee (“Beautiful City”) sitting comfortably alongside traditional songs “Bruton Town” and “Babe, It Ain’t No Lie.”  Davy also contributed some of his finest original material to date including the instrumentals “Blue Raga” and “Tristano” (this was also released as the B-side of the "Both Sides Now" single).  Overall, this was regarded as his best album since Folk Blues & Beyond. 

The remainder of Disc Six comprises eight more tracks from Live at St. Andrews Folk Club, continued from Disc Four.

The ever-reliable Danny Thompson returns on Disc Seven for the 1969 LP Hat.  This features a strange mix of contemporary pop material.  After a somewhat odd interpretation of the Sgt Pepper track “Getting Better,” we get a brace of Paul Simon songs “Homeward Bound” and “I Am A Rock” plus Dylan’s “Down Along The Cove.”  All are enjoyable enough, but once again, Davy’s vocals are found wanting.

Much better is the blues material, especially a pair of Willie Dixon numbers made famous by Muddy Waters: "Hoochie Coochie Man” and “I’m Ready.”  The final two tracks from Live at St. Andrews Folk Club are tacked on at the end of this disc.

And so to Disc Eight and Davy’s final major label albums The Holly Kaleidoscope and Godington Boundary, both from 1970.  Recorded with Holly Gwinn (his wife at the time) on vocals, The Holly Kaleidoscope was his sixth and last album for Decca.  It has the usual high points - “Blues At Gino’s,” “Sonnymoon For Two,” “Fingerbuster,” “Ramblin’ Sailor” and “Charlie” are all excellent - but two covers apiece by Paul Simon (“Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall”) and Paul McCartney (“Blackbird” and “Here, There & Everywhere”) are less successful.  Holly appears on just a few tracks, but her crystalline vocals (sounding not unlike Joan Baez) make all the difference. 

Godington Boundary originally appeared on the President label, a London-based independent notable for hits by the Equals and Eddy Grant.  This is not one of Davy’s best albums but, as always, the playing is worth the price of admission alone.  He even used an electric guitar here and there on this record. Holly provides vocals on five tracks, including a decent cover of the Incredible String Band’s “Everything’s Fine Right Now.”

Yet again the stand-out tracks are the instrumentals, especially “Forty Ton Parachute,” “Round Midnight” and “Work Song.”  This last was written by Nat Adderley but the sleeve notes mistakenly credit it to his older brother Cannonball Adderley.  These were the last records Davy would make before a growing heroin dependency curtailed his career for a number of years. When he returned to low key recording and performing in the mid-70s he had changed his name to Davey Graham and the glory years were well and truly over. 

Original vinyl copies of Davy's 60s albums now change hands for huge money and although all have previously been available on CD, most are now out of print (and not all are on Spotify), so it’s good to see them all together in one place at last and with a handful of unreleased bonus tracks too.  Cherry Red have done their usual excellent packaging and design job with a 28-page booklet and attractive card sleeves in a chunky CD-sized box. The in-depth and informative sleeve notes are by David Suff. 

Track Listing

DISC ONE

The First Recordings and THE GUITAR PLAYER

1. Angi

2. Davy’s Train Blues

3. 3 ¾ AD

4. Worksong +*

5. Saturday Night Shuffle +*

6. Angi +*

7. God Loves His Children, Brother +*

8. Hey Bud Blues +*

9. She Moved Through The Fair

10. Mustapha

11. Careless Love

12. Hallelujah, I Love Her So

13. Sunset Eyes

14. Southbound Train

15. Take Five

16. Don’t Stop The Carnival

17. Sermonette

18. Take Five

19. How Long, How Long Blues

20. Sunset Eyes

21. Cry Me A River

22. The Ruby & The Pearl

23. Buffalo

24. Exodus

25. Yellow Bird

26. Blues For Betty

27. Hallelujah, I Love Her So

DISC TWO

FOLK, BLUES & BEYOND

1. Leavin’ Blues

2. Cocaine

3. Sally Free And Easy

4. Black Is The Colour Of My True Love’s Hair

5. Rock Me Baby

6. Seven Gypsies

7. Ballad Of The Sad Young Men

8. Moanin’

9. Skillet

10. Ain’t Nobody’s Business What I Do

11. Maajun (A Taste of Tangier)

12. I Can’t Keep From Cryin’ Sometimes

13. Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright

14. My Babe

15. Goin’ Down Slow

16. Better Git It In Your Soul

DISC THREE

FOLK ROOTS, NEW ROUTES

1. Nottamun Town

2. Proud Maisrie

3. The Cherry Tree Carol

4. Blue Monk

5. Hares On The Mountain

6. Reynardine

7. Pretty Saro

8. Rif Mountain

9. Jane, Jane

10. Love Is Pleasin’

11. Boll Weevil, Holler

12. Hori Horo

13. Bad Girl

14. Lord Gregory

15. Grooveyard

16. Dearest Dear

DISC FOUR

MIDNIGHT MAN plus 

1. No Preacher Blues

2. The Fakir

3. I’m Looking Thru’ You

4. Hummingbird

5. Watermelon Man

6. Stormy Monday

7. Money Honey

8. Walkin’ The Dog

9. Fire In My Soul

10. Lost Lover Blues

11. Neighbour, Neighbour

12. Jubilation

13. Rags And Old Iron

14. Jelly Roll Baker

15. Jubilation *

16. Travelling Man *

17. Sally Free & Easy *

18. I’m Ready *

19. Work Song *

20. Rock Me *

21. No Preacher Blues *

22. The Preacher *

23. Sweet Home Chicago *

24. The Cat Came Back *

DISC FIVE

AFTER HOURS, Live at Hull University, 4th February 1967 

1. Work Song*

2. Cocaine*

3. Buhaina Chant*

4. Grooveyard*

5. Bourée In E Minor*

6. Gavotte or Bourée from the D Minor Suite*

7. How Long Blues*

8. She Moved Thru’ The Bizarre / Blue Raga*

9. Miserlou*

10. Hey Bud Blues*

11. Buffalo*

12. Jubilation*

13. Louisiana Blues

14. Afro-Blue

DISC SIX

LARGE AS LIFE & TWICE AS NATURAL plus

1. Both Sides Now

2. Bad Boy Blues

3. Tristano

4. Babe, It Ain’t No Lie

5. Bruton Town

6. Sunshine Raga

7. Freight Train Blues

8. Jenra

9. Electric Chair

10. Good Morning Blues

11. Beautiful City

12. Blue Raga

13. Better Git It In Your Soul*

14. Neighbour, Neighbour*

15. Panic Room Blues*

16. Skillet Good & Greasy*

17. Buhaina Chant*

18. Money, Honey*

19. Maajun*

20. Miserlou*

DISC SEVEN

HAT plus

1. Getting Better

2. Lotus Blossom

3. I’m Ready

4. Buhaina Chant

5. Homeward Bound

6. Love Is Pleasing

7. Hornpipe for Harpsichord Played Upon Guitar

8. Down Along The Cove

9. Hoochie Coochie Man

10. Stan’s Guitar

11. Pretty Polly

12. Bulgarian Dance

13. I Am A Rock

14. Oliver

15. She Moved Through The Fair*

16. Bulgarian Dance*

DISC EIGHT

THE HOLLY KALEIDOSCOPE and GODINGTON BOUNDARY

1. Flowers Never Bend with the Rainfall

2. Wilt Thou Unkind

3. Blackbird

4. Blues At Gino’s

5. Since I Fell For You

6. Sunny Moon For Two

7. Fingerbuster

8. Here, There And Everywhere

9. Ramblin’ Sailor

10. Mary, Open The Door

11. I Know My Love

12. Charlie

13. Bridge Over Troubled Water

14. Little Man You’ve Had A Busy Day

15. I’m A Freeborn Man (Of The Travelling People)

16. The Preacher

17. All Of Me

18. Afta

19. On Green Dolphin Street

20. Dallas Rag

21. ‘Round Midnight

22. Work Song

23. Joe Joe, The Cannibal Kid

24. Everything’s Fine Right Now

25. A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

26. Mother Nature’s Son

27. Grooveyard

28. Forty Ton Parachute

29. Nadu Silma

* live recording

+* previously unreleased recording