 Surely
this is the definitive folk revival record. The Agincourt Carol is the
high spot of the album closely followed by The Banks Of The Nile - wonderful
stuff. It's nice to see something written by Bert Jansch and John Renbourn
featured here, there's also a Dave Swarbrick track.
Transatlantic TRA SAM 30 1973
- Intro Ductia (Anon) 00:58 - An air which Peter picked up somewhere
in his travels. The title, you will note, is a pun.
- The Barley Straw (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 02:15 - From
the singing of Harry Cox of Norfolk, this is a typical song of rural seduction.
Harry Cox's recent death was a great loss to the British tradition.
- What If A Day (Thomas Campion, arr. Dolly Collins) 02:13 - The arrangement for this art song is by Dolly Collins, who should surely be recognised
as an excellent English composer, although she is best known to the folk
scene as Shirley's sister.
- The Loyal Lover (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 01:15 -This
version is from Lucy Broadwood's collection of West Country songs.
- Entr'acte:Stones In My Passway (Robert Johnson) 01:00 - We thought
that everyone would realise this was a joke, but no, some people actually
complained about the scratches. Listen carefully; they revolve at 78 rpm, and
come from an old record of military marches.
- Idumea (C. Welsey, A. Davidson) 02:07 - An Amercian Sacred Harp
hymn. We Were taught several of these by some devotees in Washington D.C.
They are also known as shape-note hymns, because the music was written
out with triangles, squares, etc., instead of the usual oval crotchets
and quavers, to enable the musically illiterate to sightread easily.
- The Husbandman And The Serving Man (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition)
01:43 - There is a very limited tradition of harmony singing in England:
a notable example is the Copper family of Sussex. this song comes from
the Cantwell brothers of Oxford.
- The Rolling Of The Stones (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 00:54
- This is a fragment of a longer ballad, and was learned from the singing
of Oscar Brand.
- The Bitter Withy (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 02:18 -Peter
learned this version from Audrey Coppard. It gives a far more believable
picture of J. Christ than most of the ballads of his childhood.
- The Banks Of The Nile (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 02:09
- This is a song that all of us knew, but no specific version was used
as the basis for the one recorded here: in fact, much of the arrangement
developed as we were in the process of recording it.
- Wondrous Love (Rev. Robert Seagraves) 02:46 - Another Sacred Harp
Hymn.
- Mediaeval Mystery Tour (Anon, arr. Bert Jansch, John Renbourn)02:14
- The mystery is in deciding which of the three tunes is by Bertand John
(no prizes).
- Divertissement: Upon The Bough (Anon) 00:30 - This is Heather's
musical setting of a short poem by A. P. H. which appeared in Punch. It
is supposedly written by a little old lady who is anti-blood sports. Listen
carefully, and apply your knowledge of natural history.
- Ratcliff Highway (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 01:56 -Pete
says this is a collation (which I always thought was something to eat)
of several versions.
- The Brisk Young Widow (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 01:43
- Heather learned this from Schools Radio - remember Singing Together with
William Appleby? Royston, as they say, got it from her.
- Interlude: The Pembroke Unique Ensemble (Traditional, arr. Dave
Swarbrick) 01:01 - Pembroke for Wales (don't ask me why: it meant something
at the time), unique because there was only Swarb (and Sandy very discreetly
on piano) and ensemble because it was fairly together. the tune is Soldiers
Three.
- John Barleycorn (Traditional, arr. Young Tradition) 02:24 -From
the Cecil Sharpe collection. One of the many sings which we picked up by
a process of osmosis.
- The Agincourt Carol (Anon) 04:38 - King Henry was so appalled by
the cost in lives of the victory of Agincourt that he forbade it to be
made the subject of song, but the author of this carol was spared because
of the quality of his verse. Well, it's a nice story. this song was something
of an endurance test for the musicians who played it straight through without
a break. David Munrow, on shawn, practically collapsed afterwards.
About the album:
"Galleries" was the last album ever released by the Young Tradition. We had recorded three tracks in one fairly leisurely
session, when Nat Joseph suddenly said that if we could finish it by the end of next week, it could be released in time for a forthcoming American tour. So we went into the studio, and emerged twenty hours later with a
master tape.
The concept of the album, interspersed with "mini-tracks' between the songs of our normal repertoire, belongs to Ioan Allen, who was then our manager. He also helped to achieve some of the effects, particularly on The Rolling of the Stones. We wanted to get across some of the irreverent fun we had on gigs. Not sure if we succeeded, but it was an interesting
experiment.
The idea of using early instruments with traditional folk music really came from Shirley and Dolly Collins and John Marshall. If we hadn't had Dolly to do the arranging, w could not have use David Munrow and the Early
Music Consort to such good effect. They said that it was the first recording session they'd been to where they didn't have to wear ties and tails...
The Pembroke Unique Ensemble features Dave Swarbrick on multi-tracked fiddle and mandolin, and, way down in the bass registers, Sandy Denny on piano.
The feet which open Side Two belong to Ian Campbell.
Dedicated to Leslie, Anthea and Adrian.
by Heather Wood
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