Fellside Records - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Fellside Records was a record label

Record label

In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

formed and is still run by Paul Adams and Linda Adams

Linda Adams

Linda Adams is an English folk singer, and co-founder of "Fellside Records".Linda Adams was born in Cumbria. She rarely sings now, but is well represented on CD, on her own record label...

, in 1976

1976 in music

-January–February:*January 5 – Former Beatles road manager Mal Evans is shot dead by Los Angeles police after refusing to drop what police only later determine is an air rifle....

in Workington

Workington

Workington is a town, civil parish and port on the west coast of Cumbria, England, at the mouth of the River Derwent. Lying within the Borough of Allerdale, Workington is southwest of Carlisle, west of Cockermouth, and southwest of Maryport...

, Cumbria

Cumbria

Cumbria , is a non-metropolitan county in North West England. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local authority, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. Cumbria's largest settlement and county town is Carlisle. It consists of six districts, and in...

. Paul had toured semi-professionally with the Barry Skinner Folk Group in his teens. Paul and Linda married in 1974. Starting as a folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

/acoustic label. They issued jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

under the name "Lake" and Children's records as "small folk". In 2007, BBC radio celebrated the company with a program called "30 Years of Fellside". The magazine "The Living Tradition" wrote "Bravo! Here's to the next thirty!". Three of their acts, 'John Spiers & Jon Boden', 'Nancy Kerr & James Fagan', and 'Kirsty McGee' were nominated for BBC Folk Awards and two of the acts were winners on the night.

Most of the Fellside catalogue was recorded and produced by Paul Adams which is an amazing achievement. The label has won many awards including 12 For Excellence from the Music Retailers Association. Paul Adams is widely regarded as one of the best recording engineers for acoustic music of his generation. Linda Adams' role as the office manager has meant that her singing skills have taken a back seat, but she is one of the best singers around and could have been the Kate Rusby of her day. A natural harmony singer she has over the years contented herself with the occasional track on a compilation or added harmonies to other peoples' albums

The Amazon website lists over 130 titles still in print, including albums by Spiers and Boden

Spiers and Boden

Spiers and Boden are an English folk duo. John Spiers plays melodeon and concertina, while Jon Boden sings and plays fiddle and guitar while stamping the rhythm on a stomp box.-Biography:...

, Nancy Kerr

Nancy Kerr

Nancy Kerr is an English folk musician, specialising in the fiddle and singing. She is the daughter of London-born singer-songwriter Sandra Kerr and Northumbrian piper Ron Elliott....

& James Fagan, Dr Faustus, 422

422

Year 422 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Honorius and Theodosius...

, Fribo, Hughie Jones

Hughie Jones

The Venerable Hughie Jones was an eminent priest in the second half of the 20th century. Jones was educated at William Hulme's Grammar School and the University of Wales. He was Warden and Lecturer at the Bible Training Institute, Glasgow and Minister of the John Street Baptist Church, Glasgow...

, A. L. Lloyd

A. L. Lloyd

Albert Lancaster Lloyd , usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s....

, Peter Bellamy

Peter Bellamy

Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls...

, James Keelaghan

James Keelaghan

James Keelaghan is a Juno award-winning Canadian folk singer-songwriter. Born in Calgary, Alberta and now based in Winnipeg, many of his songs, such as "Kiri's Piano", about the internment of Japanese Canadians, and "October 70", about the FLQ crisis, are inspired by events and figures in Canadian...

, Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson

Clive Gregson is an English singer/songwriter, musician and record producer. He has toured in bands, provided backup for well-known musicians, and written songs that have been covered by Kim Carnes, Norma Waterson and Nanci Griffith.-Solo:At the end of 1984 Gregson released his first solo record,...

, The Queensberry Rules, Jez Lowe

Jez Lowe

Jez Lowe is an English folk singer-songwriter. Lowe was born and raised in County Durham, in a coal mining family with Irish roots. He is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in North-East England, particularly in his hometown of Easington Colliery. He performs both as a...

, Last Orders

Last Orders (band)

Last Orders is a four piece folk band originating from Newcastle upon Tyne and Cumbria. The four members of the band met when they were all members of Folkestra, a youth folk ensemble at the Sage Gateshead....

, Bram Taylor, and Grace Notes

Grace Notes

Grace Notes is a novel by Bernard MacLaverty, first published in 1997.-Plot summary:The book centers around the postpartum depression of its female protagonist, Catherine McKenna, a Northern Irish music teacher and composer living in Scotland...

. Their anthologies have included songs by Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior

Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:...

, Richard Thompson, Frankie Armstrong

Frankie Armstrong

Frankie Armstrong is a singer and voice teacher.She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work...

, John Kirkpatrick and Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy

Martin Carthy MBE is an English folk singer and guitarist who has remained one of the most influential figures in British traditional music, inspiring contemporaries such as Bob Dylan and Paul Simon and later artists such as Richard Thompson since he emerged as a young musician in the early days...

. The company is probably among the top five labels for traditional music in the UK.

On the jazz side, Lake Records is the leading UK label specialising in British Traditional and Mainstram Jazz. Their roster includes George Melly

George Melly

Alan George Heywood Melly was an English jazz and blues singer, critic, writer and lecturer. From 1965 to 1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer and lectured on art history, with an emphasis on surrealism.-Early life and career:He was born in Liverpool and was educated at Stowe...

, Digby Fairweather

Digby Fairweather

Digby Fairweather is a British jazz cornettist and broadcaster.-Biography:Fairweather has been a professional jazz musician since 1 January 1977, but worked for seven years previously with several local jazz bands in the Essex area and recorded his first album in 1975...

, Ottilie Patterson

Ottilie Patterson

Ottilie Patterson was a Northern Irish blues singer best known for her performances and recordings with the Chris Barber Jazz Band in the late 1950s and early 1960s.-Biography:...

, Phil Mason, John Hallam

John Hallam

John William Francis Hallam was a Northern Irish character actor.- Career :He appeared in many film and television roles including Nicholas and Alexandra , Murphy's War , The Pallisers , The Mallens , Flash Gordon , Dragonslayer , the BBC television adaptations of Prince Caspian...

, The Fryer-Barnhart International All Star Jazz Band, The Savannah Jazz Band, Spats Langham, Debbie Arthurs and Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols

Keith Nichols is a jazz multi-instrumentalist and arranger, a player of the piano, trombone, reeds, and accordion.Born in Ilford, Essex, UK, Nichols was a child actor and an award winning accordionist in his youth. Keith tends to play mostly ragtime tunes, gaining notoriety in the 1970s in London...

. In 2004 they started reissuing recordings from the defunct jazz label "Record Supervision". This included the reissue of deleted albums by Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Lyttelton

Humphrey Richard Adeane Lyttelton , also known as Humph, was an English jazz musician and broadcaster, and chairman of the BBC radio comedy programme I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue...

, Acker Bilk, Alex Welsh

Alex Welsh

Alex Welsh was a Scottish jazz musician, who played the cornet, trumpet and sang.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Welsh started playing in the teenage 'Leith Silver Band' and gigged with Archie Semple's 'Capital Jazz Band'. After moving to London in the early 1950s, Welsh formed his own band...

, Ken Colyer

Ken Colyer

Kenneth Colyer was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.-Biography:...

, Chris Barber

Chris Barber

Donald Christopher 'Chris' Barber is best known as a jazz trombonist. As well as scoring a UK top twenty trad jazz hit he helped the careers of many musicians, notably the blues singer Ottilie Patterson, who was at one time his wife, and vocalist/banjoist Lonnie Donegan, whose appearances with...

, Terry Lightfoot

Terry Lightfoot

Terry Lightfoot is a British clarinettist and bandleader, and together with Chris Barber, Acker Bilk and Kenny Ball was one of the leading members of the trad jazz generation of British jazzmen.-Early life:Lightfoot started his musical career as a vocalist during school-life, singing popular songs...

, Sandy Brown

Sandy Brown (musician)

Sandy Brown was a noted Scottish jazz clarinetist band leader and acoustic engineer who performed mostly New Orleans style and mainstream. He had a particular interest in African music, which was reflected in his compositions.-Biography:Brown was born in India of Scottish parents where his father...

, and Archie Semple

Archie Semple

Archibald Stuart Nisbet "Archie" Semple was a Scottish jazz clarinetist active principally within the trad jazz idiom....

. "Singsong" described this set of reissues as "A milestone in British jazz". They have a 'Vintage' Series as well as a series recorded at the legendary Dancing Slipper Jazz Club in Nottingham in the 1960s.
"Lake" has won a "BT British Jazz Award" and Paul was nominated for a "BBC Jazz Award".

The Catalogue

Terry Docherty: "The Teller of Tales" (FE001)
The Border Country Dance Band: "The Border Fiddler" (FECD3)
Sisters Unlimited: "No Bed of Roses" (FECD10)
Martyn Wyndham-Read: "Emu Plains" (FECD27)
"Selection From the Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs" (various artists) (FECD47)
Ken Campbell: Going Solo (FE063)
Cockersdale: "Doin' The Manch" (FECD72)
Jez Lowe: "Briefly on the Street" (FECD79)
Gill Bowman: "City Love" (FECD80)
Hughie Jones: "Hughie' Ditty Bag" (FECD81)
"English Traditional songs" (various artists) (FECD87)
Ian Walker & Setana: "Crossing the Borderlines" (FECD88)
The Paul Brennan Band: "Fire In the Soul" (FECD90)
Wizz and Simeon Jones
Wizz Jones
Raymond Ronald Jones better-known as Wizz Jones is an English acoustic guitarist, singer and songwriter. He has been performing since the late 1950s and recording from 1965 to the present...

: "Late Nights and Long Days
Late Nights and Long Days
Late Nights and Long Days is a 1993 CD album by the noted British Folk musician Wizz Jones and his son, Simeon Jones. The album was recorded at Airwave Studios, London in 1989 and Metcalfe Studios, London in 1992...

" (FECD91)
Bram Taylor: "Further Horizons" (FECD92)
Christine Kidd: "Heading home" (FECD93)
Jez Lowe
Jez Lowe
Jez Lowe is an English folk singer-songwriter. Lowe was born and raised in County Durham, in a coal mining family with Irish roots. He is known primarily for his compositions dealing with daily life in North-East England, particularly in his hometown of Easington Colliery. He performs both as a...

: "Bede Weeps" (FECD94)
Heather Innes: "Coaineadh - Songs From the Heart" (FECD99)
Cockersdale: "Been Around For Years" (FECD101)
Martyn Wyndham-Read: "Sunlit Plains" (FECD102)
Peter Oakley: "Ghost In The City" (FECD103)
Sisters Unlimited: "No Bed of Roses" (FECD104)
Sandra and Nancy Kerr: "Neat and complete" (FECD107)
Bob Fox and Benny Graham: "How Are you Off For Coal?" (FECD111)
The Rufus Crisp Experience: "Chickens Are a-Crowing" (FECD113)
Martyn Wyndham-Read & No-Man's Band: "Beneath a Southern Sky" (FECD115)
Frankie Armstrong: "'Till the Grass O'ergrew The Corn" (FECD116)
Gordeanna McCulloch: "Sheath & Knife" (FECD117)
Keith Kendrick: "Home Ground" (FECD118)
Liliana Bertolo, Evelyne Girardon, Sandra Kerr: "Voice Union" (FECD119)
Bram Taylor: "Pick Of The Grinner" (FECD120)
The John Wright Band: "Other Roads" (FECD121)
Bob Davenport & The Rakes: "The Red Haired Lad" (FECD122)
Cockersdale: "Wide Open skies" (FECD123)
Bob Fox & Stu Luckley: "Box Of Gold" (FECD124)
"Wassail! - A Traditional Celebration of an English Midwinter" (various artists) (FECD125)
Grace Notes: "Red Wine & Promises" (FECD126)
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: "Starry Gazy Pie" (FECD127)
Keith Hills: "Recovery" (FECD128)
Gordon Tyrrall: "A Distance From the Town" (FECD129)
Peggy Seeger
Peggy Seeger
Margaret "Peggy" Seeger is an American folksinger. She is also well known in Britain, where she lived for more than 30 years with her husband, singer and songwriter Ewan MacColl.- The first American period :...

& Irene Scott: "Almost commercially viable" (FECD130)
"Fyre & Sword - Songs Of The Border Reivers" (Various artists) (FECD131)
Ushna: "Twice Brewed" (FECD132)
Rick Kemp
Rick Kemp
Rick Kemp is an English bass player, songwriter, vocalist and record producer, best known for his work with the pioneering electric folk band, Steeleye Span.-Projects:...

: "Spies" (FECD133)
Steve Tilston
Steve Tilston
Steve Tilston is an English singer-songwriter.-Early years:Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and raised in Leicestershire. Tilston was a graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, living in Bristol at the time, where he recorded his first album "An Acoustic Confusion". In the early...

: "Solorubato" (FECD134)
John Conolly & Peter Summer: "TRawlertown" (FECD135)
Simon Haworth: "Coast To Coast" (FECD136)
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr is an English folk singer.Sandra Kerr was born in Plaistow, Newham, London. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963 to 1972.She sings and plays English concertina, guitar, appalachian dulcimer and autoharp....

, Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: "Scalene" (FECD137)
Buz Collins: "Water And Rain" (FECD139)
"Rolling Down to Old Maui" (various artists) (FECD140)
Clive Gregson
Clive Gregson
Clive Gregson is an English singer/songwriter, musician and record producer. He has toured in bands, provided backup for well-known musicians, and written songs that have been covered by Kim Carnes, Norma Waterson and Nanci Griffith.-Solo:At the end of 1984 Gregson released his first solo record,...

: "Happy Hour" (FECD141)
Kathy Stewart: "Celestial Shoes" (FECD142)
Johnny Silvo & Diz Disley
Diz Disley
Diz Disley was an Anglo-Canadian jazz guitarist and graphic designer. He is best known for his jazz guitar playing, strongly influenced by Django Reinhardt, and for his collaborations with the violinist Stéphane Grappelli....

: "Blues In The Back Yard" (FECD143)
Frankie Armstrong: "The Garden of Love" (FECD144)
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: "Steely Water" (FECD145)
Martyn Wyndham-Read and No Man's Band: "Beyond The Red Horizon" (FECD146)
Hugh Jones: "Seascape" (FECD147)
Bram Taylor: "The Bram Taylor Collection - Singing!" (FECD148)
Mad Hatter: "Grand Hotel" (FECD149)
Tryckster: "When the Stone Is Exposed" (FECD150)
Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong
Frankie Armstrong is a singer and voice teacher.She has worked as a singer in the folk scene and the women's movement and as a trainer in social and youth work...

: "Lovely On The Water" (FECD151)
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr
Sandra Kerr is an English folk singer.Sandra Kerr was born in Plaistow, Newham, London. She was a member of The Critics Group from 1963 to 1972.She sings and plays English concertina, guitar, appalachian dulcimer and autoharp....

: "Yellow, Red And Gold" (FECD152)
422: "One" (FECD153)
Alistair McCulloch: "Highly Strung" (FECD154)
Peta Webb & Ken Hall: "As close As Can Be" (FECD155)
"Flash Company" (various artists) (FECD156)
Martyn Wyndham-Read and No Man's Band: "Where Ravens Feed" (FECD157)
"Voices In Harmony: English Traditional Songs" (various artists) (FECD158)
Bram Taylor: "Fragile Peace" (FECD159)
Swan Arcade
Swan Arcade
Swan Arcade were a British folk music vocal group formed in 1970. "A leading light of the British folk revival" they sang a wide variety of songs, including blues, pop and rock and roll, as well as traditional folk music, mostly performed a cappella. Swan Arcade also performed with The Watersons...

: "Round Again" (FECD160)
John Spiers
John Spiers
John Spiers is an English melodeon, concertina and bandonion player.-Career:He plays with the duo Spiers and Boden and the band Bellowhead, and used to be a part of Eliza Carthy's old band The Ratcatchers.-Personal life:...

& Jon Boden
Jon Boden
Jon Boden is an multi-instrumental musician and English folk singer.-Career:Boden plays fiddle as part of the duo Spiers and Boden, the band Bellowhead and up until 2007, Eliza Carthy's band The Ratcatchers. In 2009 he toured with his new backing band The Remnant Kings. He has also written a...

: "Through And Through" (FECD161)
Peter Bellamy
Peter Bellamy
Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls...

: "Mr Bellamy, Mr Kipling and the Tradition" (FECD162)
Grace Notes: "Anchored To the time" (FECD163)
Little Johnny England: "Little Johnny England" (FECD165)
Little Johnny England: "Marcs & Cherokees" (FECD166)
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: "Between the Dark and Light" (FECD167)
Altar Native: "Cumbria Odyssey" (FECD168)
Clive Gregson: "Carousel Of Noise" (FECD169)
Roy Harris: "The Rambling Soldier" (FECD17)
Kirsty McGhee: "Honeysuckle" (FECD170)
422: "New Numbers" (FECD171)
Simon Haworth: "Taking Routes" (FECD172)
A. L. Lloyd: "England & Her Traditional Songs" (FECD173)
Andy May: "The Yellow Haired Laddie" (FECD174)
John Spiers & Jon Boden: "Bellow" (FECD175)
"Song Links" (various artists) (FECD176D) (double album)
Dr Faustus: "The First Cut" (FECD177)
Folkestra North: "Folkestra North" (FECD178)
Alistair McCulloch: "Wired up" (FECD179)
Witches of Elswick: "Out of Bed" (FECD180)
Clive Gregson: "Long Story Short" (FECD184)
Dr Faustus: "Wager" (FECD189)
"Song Links 2" (various artists) (FECD190D) (Double album)
422: "Major third" (FECD191)
John Spiers & Jon Boden: "Tunes" (FECD192)
Spiers & Boden: "Songs" (FECD194)
Martyn Wyndham-Read & No Man's Band: "Oceans In The Sky" (FECD197)
Hughie Jones: "Liverpool Connexions" (FECD198)
Nancy Kerr & James Fagan: "Strands of Gold" (FECD199)
"Landmarks: 30 Years of a leading Folk music Label" (various artists) (FECD203)

The FTSR series of albums

Johnny Collins: "The Early Years" (FTSR1)
"Trip To Harrowgate" (various artists) (FTSR2)
"Enlist For a Sailor" (various artists) (FTSR3)
"The Bold Navigators" (various artists) (FTSR4)
"Seasons, Ceremonies & Rituals" (various artists) (FTSR5)

Jazz albums on "Lake"

The Controversial Bruce Turner
Bruce Turner
Bruce Turner was an English saxophonist, clarinetist, and bandleader.Born Malcolm Bruce Turner in Saltburn, he learned to play the clarinet as a schoolboy and began playing alto sax while serving in the Royal Air Force during World War II...

: "That's the Blues, Dad" (LACD49)
"The Great Revival - Traditional Jazz 1949 - 58" (various artists) (LACD136)
"The Great Revival - Traditional Jazz 1949 - 58 Vol 4" (various artists) (LACD137)
"The Great Revival - Traditional Jazz 1949 - 58 Vol 5" (various artists) (LACD158)
Bruce Turner Jump Band: "Jumpin' For Joy" (LACD159)
Dutch Swing college Band: "Vintage Vol 1 1948 - 49" (LACD177)
Bruce Turner: "The Jump Band Collection" (LACD184)
Ken Colyer
Ken Colyer
Kenneth Colyer was a British jazz trumpeter and cornetist, devoted totally to New Orleans jazz. His band was also known for skiffle interludes.-Biography:...

's Jazzmen: "New Orleans to London & Back to The Delta" (LACD209)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band: "International classic concerts" (LAVCD210D) (double album)
T.J. Johnson: "TJ Johnson Presents Bourbon Kick" (LACD214)
Alex Welsh
Alex Welsh
Alex Welsh was a Scottish jazz musician, who played the cornet, trumpet and sang.-Biography:Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Welsh started playing in the teenage 'Leith Silver Band' and gigged with Archie Semple's 'Capital Jazz Band'. After moving to London in the early 1950s, Welsh formed his own band...

And His Band: "Echoes of Chicago" (LACD215)
Humphry Lyttelton & his Band: "Blues In The Night" (LACD216)
Sims Wheen vintage Jazz: "Band High Spirits" (LACD217)
Aker Bilk & The Stan Tracey Big Brass: "Blue Acker" (LACD218)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band: "Best Yet!" (LACD219)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band: "Jazz Sacred and Secular" (LACD222)
Ruby Braff with Alex Welsh & his Band: "Ruby Braff with Alex Welsh & his Band" (LACD223)
Monty Sunshine's Jazz Band: "A Jazz Club Session" (LACD224)
Harry Gold & His Pieces of Eight: "Bouncing Back" (LACD225)
Spats Langham & Martin Litton: "Lollipops" (LACD226)
Buck Clayton with Humphry Little & his Band: "Le Vrai Buck clayton" (LACD227)
Ken Colyer's Jazzmen & skiffle Group: "Ken Colyer 1956" (LACD241)
Chris Barber's Jazz Band: "Chris Barber 1956" (LACD246)
"The Traditional Jazz Clarinet Collection" (various artists) (LACS2)
"The Traditional Jazz New Orleans Collection" (various artists) (LACS4)

The themed albums

"English Traditional songs" (various artists) (FECD87)

All the singers here are what are termed Revival singers having come into this style of singing through the folk song revival. Many were probably influenced by singing traditions within their own families, but they have also turned to books, recordings and other revival singers as well as the whole gamut of 20th Century musical culture, to develop their style. They will also have used as their focal point what are termed ``source singers: people who have grown up in a culture where singing songs (traditional or otherwise) was part of the life which went on around them. Various source singers are mentioned in the notes to the songs and the listener is encouraged to seek out what recordings are available. There are almost four generations of revival singers represented here: starting with the late A.L. Lloyd, on to Cyril Tawney, Hughie Jones and Martin Carthy to Jez Lowe and The Wilson Family right up to young singers such as Damien Barber and Eliza Carthy who have joined the continuum. It is hard to find a stereotype folk singer here. A wide variety of styled and techniques are used. All have absorbed from, and paid their dues to, the tradition. This album does not set out to represent all types of traditional songs. The singers were asked to contribute a song of their choice. In fact you will find examples of sea songs, broken token ballads, rustic idylls, industrial ballads, ritual songs and classic ballads. The sources include songs from the early collections of Cecil Sharp, from the continuing traditions of families such as the Coppers from Sussex and from other singers who are still alive. Are traditional songs relevant today? This subject could occupy many pages, but suffice it to say that you will find in these songs madness, abduction, sex, transvestites, songs about work, tall tales, love, war and all the other things we read about in our daily papers which have interested folk for centuries.

"Rolling Down to Old Maui" (various artists) (FECD140)

The traditional songs of this association with the sea can be divided into three types: work songs (usually called Shanties), fo'csle songs (songs sung by mariners in their leisure time) and shore songs (about the sea, ships, sailors etc but probably originating on land). Such divisions can be very arbitrary and there could be a fair amount of cross-over. The approach with all these songs has not been to go for authenticity. They have been treated as songs for singing and/or listening to. Where appropriate we have indicated the type of job for which a particular song in its original form would be used. For anyone interested in shanties the best text on the subject is Shanties Of The Seven Seas by Stan Hugill.

"Song Links" (various artists) (FECD176D) (double album)

'Song Links' is a project that was conceived when Martin Wyndham-Read realised that certain Australian traditional songs were related to those of the British Isles. The history of Australia is of course tied to that of the British Isles, and with so many people having come from there to Australia, voluntarily or involuntarily, many of their songs have inevitably travelled with them. Often these songs would have been the only source of solace to the convicts, early settlers, migrants, or goldrushers. It could be, for instance, that a Sussex shepherd, transported for some petty crime, took with him the knowledge of the Bonny Bunch Of Roses-O, and sang it to others. Over time, the words altered as they were passed along orally and people forgot or mentally re-wrote certain parts, so that for instance the phrase "beaten by the drifting snow" has become replaced by "overpowered by grief and woe"; but the basic structure of the song has remained the same. Such a combination of differences and common elements makes the comparison between Australian versions of these songs and their counterparts from the British Isles a fascinating study.

"Trip To Harrowgate" (various artists) (FTSR2)

Tunes & songs from Joshua Jackson's book - 1798. In Yorkshire lives a family called Jackson, millers and farmers in the Harrogate area for many generations. Fiddler ancestor Joshua Jackson kept a manuscript book from the late 1700s, with tunes, dance instructions and songs, and it is some of these which have been recorded here. With fiddle, concertina, mandolin, harmonium, small pipes, whistle, melodeon, banjo, guitar, and vocals a grand album has been produced. A piece of musical history with a strong Yorkshire accent.

"Enlist For a Sailor" (various artists) (FTSR3)

Not just pretty old songs about muskets and cockades, swordsmen and battle chargers, but the stark reality of current loss of life in Ireland, and the ridiculous atrocities of the Falklands War. Gunners, light horsemen, female drummers, foul sergeants, conscription and present-day insanities. Three hundred years and more of soldiering songs sung to appropriately stark accompaniment.

"The Bold Navigators" (various artists) (FTSR4)

The Story of England's Canals in Song. The period from the early 1760s through to the 1800s was a time of massive expansion of the English canal network - the motorway system of the day. The navvies recorded their triumphs, and more frequent trials and tribulations, in song. Recorded mainly in 1974 and now re-released, The Bold Navigators records the difficulties, the dreams, the realities and the results - a fascinating album of folk-song in its socio-historical setting.

"Seasons, Ceremonies & Rituals" (various artists) (FTSR5)

Here is an album which places the songs - most of them Northern English - in their seasonal context. Such favourites as The Boar's Head Carol, Trunkles, and Country Garden are joined by other less well-known songs played and sung by local artistes.