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Unsung Forum » John Barleycorn reborn......dark Brittania |
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Nov 13, 2007, 13:28
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If you're looking for downloads of Gaughan etc try either time-Has-Told-Me or Grown-So-ugly. Just in case you didn't already know that like.
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Nov 13, 2007, 14:04
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singingringingtree wrote: I'm as far from "purist" as you like - tell you who i think's an underrated "folk-rock" (ugh!) band = the pogues ... never heard anyone mention them when talking about that horribly-monikered genre They do turn up in Folk Britannia as the next point along in the history. Is it because of specfically Irish roots that they don't get counted in? though Ashley Hutchings era Steeleye span seems to be picking up on a lot of irish material & Mellow Candle are much revered. Could be the punk side. Or more general chronological influence on perception. They were doing something interesting with roots music at a time when folk wasn't hip (though thinking about it there were quite a few roots influenced bands, Cave, The Gun Club, Meat Puppets, Nyah fearties, Triffids, The MOb to name but a few), & I do wonder how widespread an effect they had on the exploration of roots music. Los Lobos said something abouty going back to explore their roots after discovering Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief . I'd be very surprised to find out that there wasn't a similar reaction a generation later on the appearance of the first 2 or 3 Pogues lps. At least in some circles. I know that a lot of the punks in Holy lands Belfast were rediscovering trad Irish stuff though them. I've also heard that the band studied the first waves of recordings from New england based ex-pats in the 1920s and 1930s as source material. There's some really interesting stuff to be heard amongst that. I've got the Proper set Farewell to Ireland which is great. You can hear r'n'r roots amongst the playing in a similar way to blues and hillbilly. stevo
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oxford stu 402 posts |
Nov 14, 2007, 14:34
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Afternoon Been at the Cambridge Folk festival a few times when they have played, and never really been impressed. plus really don't like the country life song. then saw hem again this yr and thought they were excellent, caught them twice and bouht the cd. best wishes stu
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oxford stu 402 posts |
Nov 14, 2007, 14:37
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can't find those, Stevo, any chance of some links? much obliged stu
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Stevo 6664 posts |
Nov 14, 2007, 14:58
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Sure, maybe I should have said they were blogspots http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/ look under artist index I think I saw something on him there in the past though it might have been http://grown-so-ugly.blogspot.com/ He turns up quite a bit in the early part of the Dazzling stranger book. Hanging around the Incredible folk club etc. Stevo
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oxford stu 402 posts |
Nov 14, 2007, 15:03
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thanks Stevo there just isn't enough time in the day for all this music, is there
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Mark Coyle 15 posts |
Dec 21, 2007, 12:22
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Hi this is Mark Coyle who compiled and prepared the John Barleycorn Reborn set. It's worth perhaps mentioning a few clarifications. The label had the 'dark folk' concept before I got involved. Some of the music has a darker touch, but I evolved the concept to look an largely undiscovered folk from the UK and studiously ignored the neo-folk scene largely with artists linked to the right wing, heathenism etc. I used it as a description like 'the dark ages' - a time of cultural development that because it wasn't written down is thought not to have happened, a bit like the view of the media about underground folk, unless it is on Radio 2 they think it's non-existent. The music doesn't sound like that area and much of it isn't dark per se, it covers traditional song, folk rock, psychedelic folk, rural instrumentals, pagan song and many other areas. I tried to pick new or emerging artists smattered with more established ones who are developing into new areas. There are no bandwagon jumpers here, all have been making music in this area for a while but without anyone taking much notice apart from mico-labels / self releases / CDr distribution and sometimes my Woven Wheat Whispers service. One of the key reasons for taking this on was to ensure the 'dark folk' tag didn't become used for occult / nationalistic / right-wing purposes which it so easily could have. There are articles, additional booklets, conceptual essays and more to give a rounded view in the sleevepack (which can be downloaded electronically from WWW for free). The idea of the 'John Barleycorn Reborn' concept was to cover the organic (rather than media led) emergence of the music once again. The music stays away from gimmicky aspects, song titles like 'Wicker Man' might draw you to think of the film, but it actually looks at the original Roman writings and the experiences possibly of the early British. 'Spirit of Albion' is written from a pagan druidic perspective rather than a nationalistic and so on. (I'm not a pagan or have any links to them, but recognise they are part of the broad range of music and that folklore/traditions have great resonance to them). There is an 'otherness' if not darkness to the music, I have encouraged the artists in the brief to explore folklore, myth, tradition, festivity, arcane imagery (green man, three hares etc), seasonal customs, community rites, forgotten lore, aural history etc. The songs were then compiled across moods to give a flow to the music. I wanted to capture a sense of folk as an unreconstituted form of music stemming from the people, rather than a codified sound driven by media conventions. I hope this helps clarifiy some aspects. Thanks for your time. cheers Mark Coyle
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Mark Coyle 15 posts |
Dec 21, 2007, 12:30
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I should also perhaps say that the title and design for the set was inspired by the description of 'Harvest Home' celebrations by Bob Pegg (of the wonderful band Mr Fox) in his book 'Rites and Riots'. Bob has heard the set and given us some very nice words back which was like completing the circle for us. Ironically I've never heard the Traffic album 'John Barleycorn Must Die' I've always gone back to far earlier sources of the song. I can't hear Traffic without wincing, I always feel Stevie Winwood just sold out his ace soul music to hippiedom. How can you go from the storming 'I'm A Man' to 'Hole In My Shoe' within months. As a former Mod it just shouted 'sell out' to me. I'm sure I'm wrong about this, but it was an instinctual reaction. Of course it's probably how Paul Weller justifies his gawd-awful version on 'The Imagined Village' release recently. People also mentioned Dick Gaughn, he told me off mightily once for using green as my site background as he is an advocate of certain web design standards.... but we've stuck with it and got complaints when we dabbled with changing it. cheers Mark
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singingringingtree 964 posts |
Dec 21, 2007, 14:49
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Mark Coyle wrote: People also mentioned Dick Gaughn, he told me off mightily once for using green as my site background as he is an advocate of certain web design standards.... but we've stuck with it and got complaints when we dabbled with changing it. i like how gaughan's a total web nerd now (hence all that WC3 web standards stuff - you know you'll apparently be alienating blind + partially sighted users?) ... no luddite he
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Mule 588 posts |
Dec 21, 2007, 15:01
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singingringingtree wrote: Mark Coyle wrote: People also mentioned Dick Gaughn, he told me off mightily once for using green as my site background as he is an advocate of certain web design standards.... but we've stuck with it and got complaints when we dabbled with changing it. i like how gaughan's a total web nerd now (hence all that WC3 web standards stuff - you know you'll apparently be alienating blind + partially sighted users?) ... no luddite he This is lost on me - very much a luddite - please elaborate!
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