Caedmon's Return

There's exciting news today that the band Caedmon has re-formed after a gap of some 30 years. Some analysts have listed Caedmon and Parchment as the two Christian acid folk bands of the 70s. It's probably a false categorisation as their musical styles of the two bands, both British, overlapped with a number of other progressive folk bands such as Reynard, Water into Wine Band, Candle Factory.

Here's a YouTube video of the band gigging together over the weekend:


There are plans for a new album and here's their new website, Caedmon's Return.

This is a link to our original posting on Caedmon where there's been quite a lot of discussion about the band's history and the question of whether their album rates as the greatest acid folk album of all time or not. There's a also an account of an unsuccessful attempt to form a kind of Christian acid folk supergroup between members of Parchment and Caedmon in the early 80s.

Ken Patterson of the band tells us they plan to introduce new instruments such as trombone, accordion and drumkit.

A Shamblejam review

Here's a link to an interesting reminiscence about Parchment's third album Shamblejam.

It's an album that enjoys a kind of cult status in the blogosphere. It's unusual name makes it easy to track down references. It was also the only album released directly in the USA by Myrrh so it ended up as an oddity in quite a few collections. Whisky Prajer's comments are typical of what you will find - the listener knew nothing about the band, or even whether Shamblejam was the band or the album, only that here was a unique sound.

I'd find it hard to review the album. As with all the band's albums, my first impressions remain vivid. The first two tracks were familiar ground. The manic mandolin on Denomination Blues, the folk harmonies and pseudo-hippy mysticism on Green Psalm. Then it entered unfamiliar territory, borrowing from other styles and yet still quintessentially Parchment, both cheerful and reflective, even melancholy all at once. Great musicianship, great production, great song-writing and great singing from Sue McClellan. Follow the link for an account that describes this album far better than I can.

Manic Mandolin!

You Were On My Mind was recorded by the band as a single although so far as I can recall it was never released in a general sense.

I'd never heard of it until I spotted it on e-bay a few years ago and obtained a copy. It was then, marvellously, included in the Simply...Parchment CD collection.

Quite likely, the song was recorded because in those days British pop gospel bands tended to latch on to any pop songs with vaguely Christian lyrics. However the Parchment version was anything but reverent!

The original song was written by folk singer Sylvia Fricker, later part of the folk duo Iain and Sylvia, and became a top three hit in the USA in the hands of a beat group called We Five.

You can find both these versions on YouTube. And the Parchment version is nothing like either.

It is frankly, manic. By the time it gets to the refrain: "I got troubles, I got worries, I got crucified" the band is singing in a kind of blues harmony while the mandolin is pinging away. And then there's the fade out with each of the three band members singing parts in a glorious jumble of sound.

It's not on any of the original albums - understandably as it would not have fitted on any of them. If you can hear a copy compare it with Sylvia's original version or We Five. There's a sample at the link to Simply..Parchment on the left or here. Sylvia's original is slow and stately while We Five upped the tempo a little in an artless sort of fashion. The Parchment version is in a different league.

• There's also a Wikipedia entry on the song.
• More info on mandolins here.

RIP Larry Norman

Rocker Larry Norman died a week ago. Larry was the single greatest contemporary performer and writer in modern Christian music, a troubled and radical man of unbroken faith who used his gifts to write great songs that were often as uncomfortable for church-based listeners as for the unconverted.

As many have commented, heaven will be richer for his presence and yet, one feels, Larry will expect to be no more than a busker in the corner of Paradise.

Writing about Hollywood Sunset, we commented on how both Norman and Parchment found themselves, almost at the same time, pushing at the boundaries of what was acceptable, even to those Christian listeners who had enjoyed and adopted contemporary media.

Norman's and Parchment's music were not at all obviously alike. Norman drew on rock and roll, blues and American folk, Parchment on beat, British folk and pop. But as much as any other performers they shared the same vision and challenges.

Keith Rycroft, of Parchment, has posted a tribute to Larry Norman on the CrossRhythms website (this link gives their full obituary). I hope he won't mind us reposting it:
I was in a group named Parchment in 1973 and had the experience of touring with Larry Norman. He was a talented if not a somewhat enigmatic individual. I am not sure what UK christians made of him. He was a larger than life very blond californian christian singer, not singing hymns, but singing 'songs'. Songs they thought they liked but weren't sure they should. He, like us at the time ,was attempting to inject a contemporary musical agenda into 'christian music'. I am sure he will be missed but not forgotten.

The Strange Parallel World...

Ken Patterson, of Caedmon, has mentioned a recent programme on BBC Radio 4.

Presented by Paul Bayley, it's entitled The Strange Parallel World of Christian Pop and lasts just 30 minutes. Amazingly it manages to get through 30 minutes without referring to Cliff Richard or Graham Kendrick!

Starting with the CrossBeats in Liverpool, Paul gives an excellent tour of the way gospel musicians in the 60s and 70s pushed at the boundaries of music - and explains why so much has become so collectible recently. And yes there is reference to Parchment and the band's appeal to acid folk collectors.

You can find it here.

Caedmon

Ken Patterson, of the mega-obscure and mega-talented Scottish band Caedmon, has been contributing to an earlier post, from 2006, about this remarkable group.

You can find it all here.

Vision

This song from Rehearsal for a Reunion is the first track on the Simply...Parchment CD collection. It's an interesting and significant choice.

I found myself in a car with a tapeplayer the other day and listened to Rehearsal straight through for the first time in ages. It's an under-recognised album, notable for its new songs and in particular for show-casing Sue McClellan's gift for melody and song-writing and her ability to render her own songs in a peerless fashion.

As if by coincidence I'd been in church the day before and we'd had a medley of the new worship songs. Now it's easy to sound fogeyish about new music and the truth is that in each generation, when there's an outpouring of new music, a lot of its dross and a small amount will last for ever. Nevertheless it struck me forcibly how badly constructed two of the songs were. In one case they had a verse and a melody that wasn't too bad but after a few lines it launched into the chorus. To sing the chorus - and I'm no musicologist - you had to launch immediately into a kind of ecstasy, singing in quite a high register. A lot of people aren't willing to do that, certainly not in a forced fashion. Then back to the next verse. And I thought, how much better it would have been if the song-writer had let the congregation build up gradually - singing the first verse, which wasn't too bad, and then just raising the pitch a little, allowing the singers to contemplate the words so they were ready for the grand finale of the final chorus...and then repeat it spontaneously if you like.

And then the next day I had Rehearsal on the tape and Vision came on. In the lyric sheet it seems to have just two verses and a refrain. The melody is driven by the metre of the words:
Slowly I stand, a vision I see

Taking my breath away it's open to me

Streets filled with life confusion and tears

Music so heavenly the heart only hears.

Then, lyrically, comes the five lines of the refrain (or perhaps not the refrain), No more you weep the angel commands.

Then the second/third verse comes in and the way that's treated, with harmony and playing with the melody, you think that's the refrain, building up to its last line.
When Jesus comes again be ready be wise

And it may be ..or maybe not.

For a second rendering of the refrain follows:
No more you weep the angel commands

Light like a mystery shines from his hands

Jesus is here, the waiting is done

Lay down your heavy hearts

A new world has come

Then the second verse is repeated twice, without the refrain, so that the line

When Jesus comes again be ready be wise

is the hook line.

So it's not a classic verse-chorus construction at all. In fact, treating it as if it has three verses, the construction is:
1,2,
3,2,
3,3

That's how you build a song!

Okay, this song would probably be murdered if used for congregational singing - but then I don't suppose anyone has ever tried to use the songs from Rehearsal for this purpose.

I would say that many of the phrases from Rehearsal have stayed with me all my life. They are those kind of songs. It was a good final album. Another example is Talking to You. Simple and to the point lyrics, beautifully rendered:

Talking to You is part of my day

I'm talking to you and all my fears wash away

Talking to You seems to make my dreams come true

And I know that I don't want anyone else but you

Once you've heard it on the album, it's unforgettable.

And the song-craft was later repeated when Sue McClellan wrote a series of songs for River. The same gift for melody and for rendering of songs is seen on the four River albums, probably most notably on the third short one, Shadow and Flame.

There's one other notable feature of Vision. It has a mandolin intro, making it an ideal candidate to kick off the compilation set.

2008

A year ago we set this site a number of tasks, little realising how well things were going to develop!

2007 was a terrific year and it's been a pleasure to hear from members of the band and from other musicians associated with the Grapevine label. Several people have submitted recollections, pictures and reviews. One or two promised them but haven't got round to it...so please don't give up. We're still waiting.

By January we'd worked out that Grapevine was, in effect, Parchment and therefore set out to find out more about its output. Over the year there have been reviews of albums and we've heard from artists such as Kevin Gould and Dave Kelly, who recorded what seems to have been the last album released by Grapevine. The development of music blogs elsewhere has made it possible for some of this music to be shared widely, as well as raising some difficult copyright issues.

We promised to post some of the features about the band from Buzz magazine. So far have three have gone up.

And we'd heard from John Pac. And a few weeks ago John came on the site and posted a number of comments and recollections, including some details of the lost third album. We also heard from the band's last member Pete Yates-Round and from Jeff Crow, who took over from Keith Rycroft and whose output was lost with the third album.

We've also during the year done work on the archive site, posting track listings for the four vinyl albums along with a Grapevine discography (which remains incomplete).

So what would we like to see happen this year?

First of all lots more contributions and photos!

Secondly we've got more Buzz material to post, especially from the Light Up the Fire era. There's probably also scope to mine material on album inserts and sleeves that not everyone has access to.

It would be good to have more detailed reviews and appreciations of Parchment albums and songs. Our posting on Hollywood Sunset led to a terrific analysis being submitted by an anonymous poster.

The search for the Grapevine story continues. There are still albums and bands to find out about and stories to recount - alongside the work the band did with the Pilgrim label.

We'd also like to know more about the band's early years, especially the story of Trinity Folk.

Then of course there's Roundabout 2008 in Liverpool which is already throwing up memorabilia but also seeking to foster new talent and fresh breath in the city of culture. It's already backing one young artist Rachael Wright and I guess a few people are looking forward to hearing her work. Let's pray for more.

Roundabout 2008

Liverpool's year as European City of Culture was launched today and over at Roundabout 2008 there are some developments too.

Of special interest is a collection of archive photographs. They include several taken at the Greenbelt Arts Festival, two of Parchment, one of Reynard, and several of Keith Rycroft.

The photos of Parchment are taken during a marquee performance, not mainstage. It's difficult to make out which line-up it is but it's not the original

Roundabout was - and I think still is - an arts project and drama group, which also provided a focus for some of the talented musicians who came together to form Parchment and other bands, such as Reynard.

The Roundabout 08 project seems to have developed slowly but also seems to be alive. There's one big event advertised so far, a concert by gospel veterans The Blind Boys of Alabama.

While in Liverpool, we should signpost another interesting site related to the city. This is the Crossbeats site which is packed with archive information from the 1960s and is where we obtained one of the pictures of the Trinity Folk that was posted earlier.

Happy Christmas!

Angel voices singing high

Angel voices singing low

Pointing upwards to the sky

Showing us the way to go

Angel voices sing your song

Sing it loud, sing it clear

Telling us it won't be long

'Til the Holy One is here

from Rehearsal for a Reunion

A very happy and joyful Christmas to all and thanks to those who have participated in this site over the year.

The lost third album

Sometime ago we commented on the mystery of the lost album, the existence of which John Pac revealed in the sleeve notes of Simply...Parchment. The album was to have been the third released by the band on Pye.

Today John's been on the site adding a number of interesting comments, including some information about the lost album. He can't remember all the tracks but has recalled several. Here they are:

Chicago North West, originally recorded by Juicy Lucy.
Fast train byJohn Pac ( similar to Getting Out of This Town on Hollywood Sunset, he says; that would make it uptempo and acoustic).
How can a poor man stand such times as this (a Ry Cooder great, sung by Sue McClellan).
Money Honey, which was "a brilliant version of a classic".
Denomination Blues, a Ry Cooder song later recorded by the band on Shamblejam.
People and Places, the band's own song, later recorded on Rehearsal for a Reunion.

He says there were some "great classic tracks" but the album was unfinished. I wonder if the album had a name or artwork.

John adds: "Unfortunately the 2 inch masters were also missing at least those that had
vital tracks on them, and there has been no sight of the rough mixes. Believe me I've
searched everywhere and asked everyone."

Well the songs give a flavour of the band's direction at the time but given the band's ability to make other people's songs entirely their own, only a part flavour. Let's be sure this album's waiting in heaven if it's not going to turn up down here!

John also separately tells the story of the band's dobro. You can find that here.

Finally a message for you, John! Randy, the Liberation Suite drummer, has tried to reply to your email but his reply's been blocked by an anti-spammer. He's on a gmail account.

Interesting blog posting

A folk-oriented blog, Time Has Told Me, has posted the album of Light Up the Fire, for downloading. The posting has generated some interesting comments and recollections, especially one about the band playing at someone's school and the headmaster commenting that their (acoustic) sound was "a little loud".

There's got to be mixed feelings about the album being posted for a free download. Some download blogs aim to select albums that are not available on CD and almost all will remove a posting if approached by copyright holders. A lot of bands are delighted to see their work being circulated to new audiences and, of course, in many cases it is very hard to track down the copyright-holders.

In the case of this album almost all the tracks are available on the Simply...Parchment CD. I picked up a CD version a few years ago but it seems to have been a pirate. I believe there was a CD release in the early 90s and I saw a copy change hands on ebay a few weeks ago for a little over £10, rather more than the original vinyl fetches. There's no reason why the posting would deter people from buying Simply...Parchment as the collection encompasses all four albums and some of the singles too. So the effect may well be the opposite and collectors may rush to discover the rest of the band's music and even the wonderful songs released by Sue McClellan through her more recent band, River.

Fish Co - A Grapevine star

Fish Co. Beneath the Laughter. 1977. Producer John Pac. Grapevine 114.

A few weeks ago I got a listen of Fish Co's first album, which was everything I expected - enjoyable, poppy, easy listening songs performed by a Simon and Garfunkel style duo.

Produced by John Pac, the album, Can't Be Bad, included Sue McClellan and Peter Yates-Round on backing vocals on the track goodnight brothers. The sleeve actually records Sue M as "Sue (Won't you come out of that field and stop writing poetry) McClellan".

Now some samples of their Grapevine-issued second album Beneath the Laughter have become available. According to Ken Scott, the expert on the genre, this album is "altogether much darker" than the first. The duo had transformed into a full scale band

Getting Fish Co was a triumph for Grapevine and a mixed blessing. Grapevine may have been the most progressive Christian label but Fish Co, led by the eccentric and much lamented Steve Fairnie, had its sights on the avant garde.

According to some accounts, the band had transformed itself into a new post-punk electro-band, Writz, even before Beneath the Laughter hit the shops. By the time I saw them perform at Greenbelt 1980 they had changed again into Famous Names.

There's now a website which documents Fairnie's amazing and brave career and also offers the samples I have listened to.

These are a revelation, especially if you are looking for the Parchment legacy. Great songs backed by blues guitar, folkie, harmonising female backing vocals by Bev Sage and Barbie Benson of the kind that Parchment specialised in and amazing fade-outs. The sound is that of Shamblejam.

You can listen to Fish Co's first, Myrrh-issued album, Can't Be Bad, here, at the Ancient Star Song Blog.

You can find the Beneath the Laughter samples and the Fairnie story here at fairnie.net. This link takes you directly to the story of the album.

Grapevine's last album?

Dave Kelly, whose album Crowning of a Simple Man, was, we believe, released as Grapevine 142, has been in contact.

Dave has generously shared some of his experience of that time, giving a terrific insight into the life of a musician of the period and paying tribute to John Pac's skills. Pac produced a flute and fiddle player from Ireland and a bagpiper for the album. Other backing music came from Dylan's then backing band. Sadly the release of the album was overshadowed by an awful personal tragedy which hit Dave. You can find his account here.

The album was initially released by Pilgrim America and presumably was put on Grapevine for a UK release. So far as we believe it was the last release on the Grapevine label although information about the last round of releases in 1980 has been hard to come by.

Dave has supplied the album's tracklisting:
Side One
1/ King of Love
2/ God Knows Your Heart
3/ Tonight
4/ Supernatural Man
5/ Dead or Alive

Side Two
1/ Turn Your Back
2/ Love Night and Day
3/ Trouble
4/ Sandy
5/ Ballad of J.C.

Kevin Gould

Kevin Gould, who was responsible for the marvellous Clear Vision album on Grapevine has been in touch with a number of sites seeking archive material. Kevin's bringing out a new album and it sounds like an interesting project. He plans to link it with a website and is looking for pictures of his early career, which kicked off in 1973. The 1978 Clear Vision album had Parchment providing backing vocals as a band and we wondered if this was the last recording of them performing together as a band.

If you can help, you can find more details at the Ancient Star Song

Pace - The Trial

Pace. The Trial. 1976. Grapevine 104
For their fourth album on the Grapevine label, the team embarked on a musical with a group called Pace. This depicted the trial of Jesus Christ. John Pac joined the performers on mandolin and Pete Yates-Round on the drums. I think I would have enjoyed it in 1976. Now it just seems like a Jesus Christ Superstar imitation, including that annoying way in which rock performers declaimed dialogue during musicals, and doesn't seem to add much to it. It's been posted by the Heavenly Grooves blog. You can download it from there and there's more information also.It would be interesting to know the background - was it written for a touring production?

Some Grapevine goodies

Unity. Changes. 1978.
Producer: John Pantry. Grapevine 123.
A terrific Abba style album of mid-70s pop. Side one bops all the way through. Side 2 is slower, mainly devoted to beautifully sung ballads, but its first track Mr Goodlife is a disco classic which sounds as much like the contemporary Scissor Sisters as anyone else.

This band seems to have hailed from Ayr, Scotland, and included somewhere between 16 and 18 members, of whom five sung as soloists. The mainstays were the Goudie brothers and the drummer Ray Goudie has continued to be influential musically, writing the musical Luv Esther.

As for the rest of the band members, this is their group picture from the back of the album. A group of denim-clad mid-70s young people. Are you among them?

Full tracklistings

There are now full tracklistings for the four original Parchment albums posted on the archive site. The listings link back to some of the earlier postings on this site with commentaries on individual albums or songs. The next step, I think, is to post the authorship of each song.

There are also comments posted on several of the Grapevine postings with links to other work by the artists or source material for the albums.

Hollywood Sunset

We've spent months working on an article on Hollywood Sunset. It's just been posted but the way the blog system works it's posted when it was first drafted back in March. So follow this link to see it.

Grapevine Discography

There's now a discography of the Grapevine label posted on our archive pages here. There are some gaps so if you can help fill them, please let us know.