Parchment's last member

We've been privileged to hear from Pete Yates-Round, the last band member to join Parchment.

Pete has answered a number of questions for us and also given an account of his time with Parchment and how he came to join the band. It's a great story. We'll report on some of his other answers in the future - as they relate to other topics covered on this site.

Pete places the band's last gig, and effective end, at the Greenbelt Festival in summer 1978, when they ended with a rousing performance of Light Up the Fire.

We asked Pete what it was like playing with Parchment.

His reply: "A fantastic experience: It was a great blessing and honour to be involved with such great people as Sue and John. I think it is fair to say we pushed the boundaries of Christian music during our time together. I know I came in at the tail end but my time with the band was the most concentrated and rewarding time. I met and worked with the best and hopefully the albums which I worked on with the others will stand the test of time and be an inspiration to others.

"As for our public and fans? Brilliant Brilliant Brilliant! The lasting memory of Parchment will always be the final Greenbelt gig when we sang as final farewell 'Light up The Fire' and 30,000 people sang the entire song back to us!"

Pete told us how he came to join the band. Here's his story:
"I think that it is safe to say that Parchment helped change the way that Christian music was accepted by an older Christian generation that was struggling to understand the then modern music culture.

"I remember seeing Parchment from afar at the Festival of Light concert in Hyde Park when they were appearing with Gordon Giltrap and others. I really felt inspired to go back to my church youth group and start writing and singing songs of a more contemporary nature. The Christian music revolution had begun; we suddenly had a bridge that connected our secular tastes with our worship music. We were able to express our beliefs and feelings with our own musical styles. Suddenly we had Christian 'pop stars' and although there was suspicion from some of the older Christian folk that this would lead us all away from the light, others were delighted that suddenly more young people were joining congregations across the country.

"Apart from my local performances in my home town Tonbridge, my Christian musical career really leapt forward when I was asked to join the Christian band Narnia, fronted by the couple Pauline and Jack Filby. We all lived at Cliff Richards house in Little Dunmow, Essex which he donated as a Christian Arts Centre and which was run by Jack and Pauline.

"These were great days as I was able to write and play with great musicians as John Russell (Starship,ATF) Tim Hatwell and of course the hugely talented Pete Banks (After the Fire). We rubbed shoulders with Cliff and guests which included, Mick Abrahams (Blodwyn Pig) Tony Rivers (Strawbs) and even Eric Clapton.

"It was whilst working with Narnia I was first exposed to TV, Radio and appearances at such venues as Upstairs at Ronnie Scott's, The Marquee club and the famous Concerts in St Pauls Cathedral.

"I then had the opportunity of joining an international rock youth group named Credo, (this is where I met and worked with Jan van Srallen, lead guitarist with Whitsuntide Easter, we became firm friends, and it was my influence to include them and new band Voiz onto the Grapevine label) which was based in Holland but then toured Europe and the USA. At 17 (1973) this was a real adventure for me, so I joined and so began my love of being on the road, I lived out of a suitcase for the next eight years.

"After my tour with Credo, I returned to Holland and started to work on the Youth for Christ coffee bar circuit. The Dutch loved the English Christian musicians, and I toured with some great acts, such as Fish Co, Nutshell and of course Parchment.

"I worked for two weeks in Steenwijk with Sue, John, Nick, and Brian as their support and naturally we all got to know each other extremely well. We would jam together and I was overawed that these guys really appreciated my music.

"To complicate matters I was talent spotted by the then CBS label one night and put under contract. The terms insisted that I stay in Holland and wait for my turn to be groomed. I had no real desire to stay and wanted to get back to England and re-establish contact with Sue and John. I did a bunk, and met up with the band in Covent Garden, Brian had decided to leave and they needed a third person for the Chepstow gig. I naturally obliged, and that was the start of the new era."

He added: "You will notice that during those early years a lot of the most gifted and musically influential young Christians' emerged. Paul Field, Steve Rowles, Steve Fairney, Mo Macaferty, Mal Grolsh and many others helped influence and inspire a whole succession of generations to give Christ inspired music the recognition and acceptance that it needed to prove an effective witness."

Pete still lives in Bristol where the band was based in its final years.

He told us: "I stayed in Bristol met my wife and have two grown up girls. I have had a succesfull time in the motorcar business and now work as a consultant to several Prestige manufacturers. I also have a magazine which is just coming up to its first anniversary. I am still involved with the local village Church and community. I keep in regular contact with my great mate Nick Ryan (Bass player writer and producer) and spend quite a lot of time at his mountain home and studio in Kerry South West Ireland writing and recording."

Hollywood Sunset

Hollywood Sunset was released in late 1973 by Pye with publicity in the national music press. In December 1973 BUZZ magazine promised a review of the album and an interview with the band in the next issue.

The interview appeared but not the review. And, remarkably, throughout the interview the new album was never referred to by name but only as "the new album".

Why could this have been? Hollywood Sunset was one of two albums to break the mould of the Jesus music scene at this time. The other was Larry Norman's So Long Ago the Garden. The magazine was similarly dismissive of Norman's controversial album, which, in its various pressings, contained little "evangelistic" material and a great deal of sharp comment and introspection.

Whilst BUZZ's parent organisation, Musical Gospel Outreach had pioneered the use of contemporary music styles, it's name indicates the belief that the music was largely there to support evangelisation.

Hollywood Sunset never once mentioned the name of Jesus or God. Just two songs had an explicit Christian message, Gift and Death in Jerusalem. You are my morning was a worship song with ambiguous lyrics. There was road music, urban angst, mysticism and some mild eroticism.

It was intended to break Parchment out of the Christian ghetto and establish them as serious recording artists. It was a professionally produced, early 70s pop album - but was probably about 12 months too late in terms of the rapidly-shifting 1970s pop tastes. It remains a great album and like all four Parchment albums is best listened to as a whole.

Although its pop-style makes it in some ways more dated than the other three albums, it's also probably the strongest lyrically. Songs like You are my morning, Gift and Getting out of this town are beautifully crafted whilst Dobbie's Song and I'm a Man expressed a thoughtful mysticism. The title track, written a couple of years before Star Wars transformed Hollywood's fortunes, seems quite meaningless now but has a classic Parchment sound whilst Death in Jerusalem's freaky electronic effects make it a psych folk classic.

John Pac told Buzz interviewer Danny Smith: "I think it's wrong to trick people into the concert and then to bang the gospel at them. If the music is related to their lives, they're prepared to listen."

Danny Smith wrote: "Parchment's struggle to retain their artistic integrity has caused concern - even doubts and rumours about their Christian commitment."

Pac responded: "People might feel we've compromised but that's not so..."

Curiously the water-coloured sunset cover was echoed by Sue Mack's band River on their second album Rise Like the Sun.

Here's the review that Buzz could have written: "A mould-breaking second album from our greatest band. You don't think it's a Christian album? Check out the ballad Gift and the barnstorming Death in Jerusalem. The album shows the band at their song-writing best with profound and poetic lyrics in songs such as You are My Morning and sing-a-long melodies on songs like Butterfly. Are Parchment still a folk band? This is as much pop as folk but there are still the distinctive harmonies, the mandolin, the dobro and the furiously played acoustic guitars.This is very much a road album, a bunch of musicians leaving their native Liverpool to see the wider world. But will it break the band out of the Christian ghetto? We fear not but hope they won't give up and will continue to write and record innovative and cutting edge music."

Here is that BUZZ interview in full from January 1974.

Live in 73!

Thanks to Roel Velema for these pictures of Parchment performing live in the Netherlands in the summer of 1973. The pictures show John Pac, Sue McClellan and a third member, who must be Jeff Crow. Crow joined them in 1973 but never appeared on a published album with the band although he may have performed on the third lost album that was never released by Pye.

Here is Roel's account:
"Friesland, Summer 1973. Together with two friends, we sailed the lakes of Friesland (the northwestern province of The Netherlands). One afternoon we tied up the boat in Sneek, a town in Friesland. Soon we discovered that Youth for Christ had tent meetings there. We - convinced and dedicated Christians - decided to visit those meetings.

To our surprise we were treated that evening to a concert of extraordinary quality by a British group I never forgot: Parchment.

Promptly that evening I bought their two records: Light up the Fire and Hollywood Sunset. The group personally signed the latter album and I treasured both albums ever since.

Later Parchment also performed a few songs on Dutch television.

So enjoy the three pictures I took that evening in Sneek."

Note: We're planning a feature on the Hollywood Sunset era in the near future. The album was officially released in late 1973.

More albums

Dave and Dana Come on In 1976/1977. Producer John Pantry. Pilgrim Records?
I've managed to obtain a US version of this lost treasure, distributed by Sound III in Kansas, possibly this duo's first album. It's more patchy in quality than Grapevine's Morning Star, relying heavily on songs written by contemporary gospel stars. However Dana Lee Price's voice and Dave Price's guitar work continue to charm and John Pantry's production skills create some neat effects. Pantry produced all four Parchment albums. Parchment's Pete Yates-Round was on the drums. Best tracks and those most likely to appeal to readers of this blog are the self-penned tracks, Come on In and Remain in Me, the sitar-based Melchisedek, a version of the Meet Jesus Music song, and Troublesome Waters, a US country gospel song turned to acid folk.

Dave Price was a Londoner whilst his wife was from Maryland, USA, but gains the title of honorary Brit for her vocal qualities.

Rufaro Rufaro. 1977. Producer John Pac. Pilgrim 432.
This trio, two guys and a girl, seem to have come from South Africa. Despite the blood-drenched album sleeve, they are not heavy metal, as I previously guessed, but a folk trio in the 60s Peter, Paul and Mary style. Best track is the African song Rufaro. Otherwise mostly rather bland with quite a lot of piano. They issued two other albums with Pilgrim so must have had a decent following. These were Person to Person Pilgrim 450 and Take Away the Stone Pilgrim 480

Three pilgrims

Here's a page from a four page pull out in BUZZ magazine, October 1977, marking the band taking over production at Pilgrim Records and the release of their last album Rehearsal for a Reunion. Oddly the piece did not mention the launch of the Grapevine Label.

Grapevine Records

Here are some samples of lost treasures:
Dave and Dana Morning Star. 1978. Producer Sue McClellan. Grapevine 124.
Terrific breathy vocals from Dana Lee Price, who also demonstrates a great rock and roll voice.
Starts with a funky late 70s style number and then ranges through self-penned songs and standards by well-known song-writers of the period. He's not a rumor is their own rock'n'roller. Enjoyed it enormously. Cannot find any trace of any other work by this couple. A shame.

Kevin Gould Clear Vision. 1978. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 122.
A surprisingly strong offering from this Welsh crooner. Gould had a brief moment of fame on the gospel scene but was not regarded as a top league musician. This album is lyrically strong with decent melodies and strong production. He later became a pastor in Alaska, USA, and continues to produce the occasional album.
Backing vocals are attributed to 'Parchment' and song rights are also attributed to "Parchment Ltd". Wonder what happened to Parchment Ltd. And does this mean this is the last album on which they appear as a band?

Malcolm Wild Broken Chains. 1979. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 131
Despite early promise from the opening track, Love is you, a disappointing solo album by one half of the highly rated Malcolm and Alwyn. The combined talents of three great British gospel combos of the 70s, Malcolm and Alwyn, the Alwyn Wall Band and Parchment, together with numerous other musicians, failed to rescue a production relying too heavily on string arrangements. A classic case of the parts of a great song-writing team not being as good as the whole. Enjoyable enough for hardcore Malcolm and Alwyn fans.

Koinonia Gentle as Morning. 1977. Producer Sue McClellan Pilgrim 427
Perhaps where Sue Mack learnt the choral management skills she later applied with such good effect to her own band River. This was an Irish choir, decked in the long pinafore dresses that were fashionable about five years earlier. An enjoyable gallop through some lesser known worship songs of the period. I cannot find any indication they wrote any of their own material.

Pilgrim Records and the Grapevine Label was owned by the Christian publisher Marshall, Morgan and Scott which in turn was owned by the Pentos Group. I believe Pentos went into liquidation in the mid-90s, so who owns the rights of these labels is an intriguing question.

Do you own a Grapevine Record that's not been reported on this site? Could you submit a short review in the above style? Post it here.

Whitsuntide Easter and Grapevine

This is Whitsuntide Easter performing in their home country of Holland. Although they were advertised as performing at the Kamperland Festival in 1978 they did not attend.

The Heavenly Grooves blog now has Grapevine's Whitsuntide Easter Next Time You Play a Wrong Note...make it a short one album to download.
So we can stop saving our pennies for this rarity of rarities. Production was by John Pac and Pete Yates-Round. The sound? very much progressive rock in the Dutch tradition with long instrumental introductions and the merest smidgeon of folk influence.

I'll be reviewing a range of the less valuable Grapevine albums in the near future. What's becoming clear is how the team from Parchment truly put their stamp on this label, leading to consistently interesting production work over a series of several hundred, very diverse albums.

This was our posting sometime ago with a picture of Parchment playing at the 1978 Kamperland Festival, which was in Holland.

(Download policy: we'll post links to downloads for albums that are not available in CD form or readily on the second hand market. If you're a copyright holder and have objections, please let us know)
(Posting up-dated Jan 2008 to make clear venue was not Kamperland Festival. There's also a discussion on this on the next post)

Voiz and Pete Yates-Round

Thanks to the new Heavenly Grooves blog I've been able to listen to one of the Grapevine albums, Boanerges by the Dutch rock band Voiz.

This was produced in 1978 by Pete Yates-Round the "last" member of Parchment. It's a great album in the classic 70s rock mode - but it also contains traces of the lightness of feel and experimentation that you'd expect from Parchment. The standard review, copied on Heavenly Grooves, praises the flute playing but there's also an astonishing use of a ukelele, mandolin-style.

Pete Yates-Round was discovered by the band playing solo in Holland and it seems that Grapevine maintained strong links in both Holland and Northern Ireland. When Brian Smith left after Shamblejam, the band played as a two piece for a while until they came to Chepstow, when, apparently, the organiser demanded a three-piece. Yates-Round was drafted in and John Pac, quoted in Buzz, recalled: "The guy said it was the best he had ever heard us."

A quick Google search suggests Yates-Round has had a subsequent career either as a publisher or a solo musician - or possibly both.

Voiz seemed to have produced a second album Disaster Electronics, the following year. There is no sign of it on the second hand market but Boanerges is selling for about 200 dollars. Meanwhile that elusive Whitsuntide Easter album goes for about 400 dollars and Reynard's first album is up to $155. Also no sign of Rufaro, which we think is another Grapevine rock album, so expect a scramble when that appears.

We have a number of Grapevine albums on order but are reluctant to say more for fear of prices continuing to rise. We should stress that this site is not in the game of bidding or trading high prices for these albums. Wonder who has the masters and the rights to the catalogue.

Roundabout launch

Phil Janvier is a former member of Roundabout, the Liverpool based arts movement associated with Parchment.

His blog now contains some details of an event on January 30th when plans for the Roundabout 08 event will be shared. There are also some recollections of his time working with the band.

"Come ride upon my roundabout
Come swing upon my swing
Come walk upon the water
Play your part in anything"

Grapevine

After the release of Shamblejam in 1975 the band were at a low ebb, struggling to stay in business.

Although the album was their first to be released in the USA and is one of the great prog folk albums of the 70s, their US-based label Myrrh do not appear to have granted them a US tour. This was not to take place until November 1977.

Sometime in 1976 the British label Pilgrim came to the rescue. Brian Smith had left and John Pac and Sue McClellan took on Pete Yates-Round after meeting him in Holland.

Pilgrim hired the three musicians as a production team with John Pac as head of production. There is some confusion as to what point the Grapevine label was launched as many of the releases seem to have been under the Pilgrim label.

By the time of the release of Rehearsal for a Reunion on Grapevine in late 1977 the trio had been involved in the production of some 40 albums. The three provided guitar, mandolin, drums and backing vocals on many of the records - Pac was the mandolin player and Yates-Round the drummer. The range of output is said to have included choral and classical work.

Examples of the work included: Stewart and Kyle Yours Ever, producer Pac; Koinonia Gentle as Morning, producer McClellan; Ben Forde The Supreme Sacrifice, producer Yates-Round; Rufaro Rufaro, producer Pac.

Stewart and Kyle were quite well known, Koinonia was an Irish choir whilst, judging by their album cover, Rufaro may have been a heavy metal band.

Source: Pilgrim Advertising Feature, Buzz Magazine October 1977

2007

Well we now know one or two people are reading this blog so here's a list of tasks for the coming year

I'm going to get answers to some of my questions and also to some of yours, if you let this site know what they are.

First of all I have an invitation to put some questions to the great John Pac. I'll be in touch with John in due course but probably after some more research.

I've uncovered a stack of old Buzz magazines. This was the British gospel rock magazine and over the years its articles and interviews chronicle the rise and fall of a truly great band. I'll be posting some of those in the near future.

I also want to find out about the environment the band operated in and what their legacy is. In particular I want to find out more about the Grapevine label which emerged from a relatively stodgy British gospel publisher, Pilgrim, and seems to have been given its head to record music from a large number of innovative and not particularly mainstream musicians, such as Reynard.

Ultimately it released Parchment's last album Rehearsal for a Reunion but before that it was using band members in its production studios and seems to have given John Pac his entry into the music publishing business.

Much of this music is now causing excitement and involves bands few people knew about at the time. They cannot be found in the pages of Buzz, for instance. I'm looking forward to hearing samples of the music of the Dutch band Whitsuntide Easter for instance but, regrettably, it is unlikely to be through buying copies of their album which retails for several hundred pounds.

For 2007, both questions and answers are welcome!

River's last gig

...will be on Saturday December 2nd 2006, the band has announced.

It's at Walton-on-Thames Methodist Church, Terrace Road, Surrey (south London) at 7.30pm, admission £5.

Like Parchment, River have produced four CDs since 1998, mostly of Sue Mack compositions.

Here's a picture of them in concert in October 2004, Sue Mack closest to camera:

Will there be a reunion?

I understand there are hopes for a reunion of the Christian "Liverpool Scene" of which Parchment was central.

The event has been styled Roundabout 2008 and aims to reunite the people who worked with Roundabout Multimedia. The musicians cited are Trinity Folk, Parchment, Keith Rycroft and Reynard.

Liverpool is to be the European Capital of Culture in 2008. The Roundabout 2008 website doesn't contain much information but is going to be worth keeping an eye on.

Reynard

This little-known gospel band from Liverpool released two albums of traditional-sounding English folk in the late 70s, using the influence of English carols to create new music.

Their first album from 1976 Fresh From The Earth had major input from members of the last line-up of Parchment. It was produced by John Pac and Sue McClellan and Pete Yates-Round provided backing vocals.

I had never heard of them although they recorded with the same label, Grapevine, as issued Parchment's last album.

Even more interesting is the identity of the band's mandolin player, Dave Rycroft, presumably related to Keith Rycroft, the Parchment founder member who left following the severance of their contract with Pye Records in about 1974.

Fresh From the Earth contains a version of Golden Game which, therefore, predates Parchment's version on Rehearsal for a Reunion and seems to have more lyrics.

Reynard must have been reasonably well known as they headlined at Kamperland, Holland, in 1978 along with Parchment. They released their second album Green Anthem in 1979. Prior to 1975 they were known as Flight.

Their music is hard to come by but is available at this site.

Folk is not a four letter word

Parchment's Son of God will feature on a new compilation CD, Folk is Not a Four Letter Word 2, to be released on November 20th. This is the second compilation of acid folk by Manchester-based musician Andy Votel, I understand.

Odd the way that song, from the Light Up the Fire album, has gained prominence.

Caedmon

Some time ago I came across a directory of Christian music bands which listed just two under the heading of acid folk, Parchment and Caedmon. I assumed they meant Caedmon's Call, a popular and talented US folk rock band. Pandora certainly include them in our Parchment radio station.

Now it turns out there really was a Caedmon. They are more obscure even than Water into Wine Band. They put out their single studio album in 1978 and then disbanded. It was released a year or two ago on CD by the acid folk label Kissing Spell, who also rereleased Water into Wine Band. There is also a live album. According to Kissing Spell it is perhaps "the greatest folk rock album ever".

The album is a work of art in every sense. 1978 is significant. The band consisted of a group of friends at Edinburgh University who played together for four years before being comfortable enough about their music to put out an album. That is a similar history to Water into Wine Band who were at Cambridge University. There was an album and two more tracks released separately on single.

Listening to it, I heard the influence of Wishbone Ash, the prog rock band of the 70s on the album. But there is also much pure folk and, if there is a theme, it is about the Celtic saints, Columba and Caedmon.

Of course by 1978 there was no market for this music, even amongst the captive Xtian audience, unless you were prepared to hack it around the folk festivals. This was Parchment's last year. So Caedmon should be seen as a project rather than an album or a band, reaching its apogee in a classic but little recognised piece of music. A work of art indeed.

Our radio station

Now at last you can listen to the World of Parchment on our own radio station, based on Pandora.com.

There's a couple of Parchment tracks and contemporaries such as Fairport Convention, Steeleye Span and Incredible String Band. There's a great deal of Judee Sill and other versions of great songs such as Pack Up Your Sorrows (the Joan Baez version). There are rarities such as Water into Wine Band and some obscure acid folk bands and modern groups of a similar ilk such as Caedmon's Call. There are influential songwriters such as John Lennon. And there's mandolin and sitar and acoustic guitar but as little blue grass as possible.

Trinity Folk live!

 Some pictures of the Trinity Folk from 1971, showing they were a four-piece band. The linchpin appears to have been John Pac. The first picture is from the Sound Vision in Concert album sleeve from 1971.

The second appears to have been an event, in Liverpool from September 1971.

The caption lists the group members as Pete (guitar, autoharp and mandolin), Sue (guitar),Norman (banjo and guitar) and John (guitar & sitar). So no Keith Ryecroft at this point. Pete and Norman would appear to be the same guys as at Sound Vision but a year later they had been replaced by Keith Rycroft. The puzzle is that the woman looks nothing like Sue McClellan.

 Either the photo has been crudely edited - or Sue McClellan's predecessor was another 'Sue'. Not impossible, but the date suggests the explanation is some crude editing with scissors and pen that went wrong.

Rehearsal's double sleeve

Here's the double sleeve edition of Rehearsal for a Reunion

Rehearsal reunited

Bob Dylan has led me to the discovery that there were two versions of Rehearsal for a Reunion. The album came out originally in a blue double sleeve with a cartoonish depiction of the band on the back. This showed the two guys, at the time John Pac and Pete Yates-Round in a balloon with Sue McCellan on a parachute. This was the one I had originally. The second version was a single sleeve, completely redesigned with new fonts and colours by a second graphics company. The lyrics were on an insert. The only common feature is the photograph, as featured here.

Curiously it is Golden Game which confirms that even the lyrics were typeset for a second time. In the first version the first line is "Keep on Walking Where the Angels Showed", in the second it is "Keep on Walking When the Angels Showed".

Both versions give the hook line of the first verse as "Over the Old Golden Land", changing it later to "Over in the Old Golden Land". However it is clearly sung as 'in' throughout - indicating the flexible nature of the words of this song.

Curious the way the sleeve was redesigned for an album which can't have sold a massive number of copies and wasn't sold in the USA.

* Footnote (March 2007)- Pete Yates-Round explains: "Because of the budget we were entitled to a gatefold and after talking to the designers the sleeve was designed and printed. It didn't turn out how we all imagined it would so due to another pressing of the album it was decided to go to the single one. Incidentally I do not have a copy of the gatefold!"