PETER BELLAMY Merlins isle Orig UK Argo Folk LP Promo

£ 41

$ 54

£ 41 Sold For

Nov 28, 2010 Sold Date

Nov 21, 2010 Start Date

£ 5 Start price

10 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

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Description

Peter Bellamy

Merlin's Isle of Gramarye

Very Rare Original UK Folk LP released on Argo Records in 1972. 1st UK Test pressing with Custom hand written demo labels, the sleeve is laminated on the front.

Matrix No's

Side One - ZRG-3785-1G

Side Two - ZRG-3786-1G

Bellamy was one of the English folk revival's greatest voices. He was born in Norfolk in 1944. In the early days of 1965 he moved to London, where he met up with Royston Wood and Heather Wood, and the three got a regular gig at a club whose name they would eventually adopt -- The Young Tradition. In flamboyant costumes, with witty presentation, and with the startling power of Bellamy's voice backed by his companions, they entertained a lot of audiences, recorded a pair of albums, gained a reputation for excellence, and were still unable to make a living as performers. So, in 1969, they broke up. As Bellamy would later point out, they became important and influential, even legendary, after they had ceased to exist.

In 1970 the idea first struck Bellamy to set the poems of Kipling to music. This fascination with Kipling continued until Bellamy's death, resulting in no fewer than five albums of Kipling songs. Also in the '70s, Bellamy composed The Transports, a ballad opera in the mold of Ewan MacColl's work, and recruited such people as Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, A. L. Lloyd, and Cyril Tawney to record it. It was released as an album in 1977 and also had several stage runs in England.

Peter Bellamy's second album of settings of Rudyard Kipling's verse, 1972's Merlin's Isle of Gramarye, is entirely based on Kipling's two children's books, Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies. These books are Kipling at his most playful, and Bellamy rises to the occasion with a puckish set of original tunes based on traditional British folk forms. Unlike the more spartan Oak, Ash and Thorn, Bellamy's first collection of Kipling settings, Merlin's Isle of Gramarye makes use of the talents of a wide variety of British folk luminaries, including Nic Jones, Dolly Collins, and Chris Birch, who add vocal and instrumental accompaniment to Bellamy's richly nuanced vocals. Among the highlights are the wry "Smugglers Song" and two of Kipling's portraits of military life, "The Queen's Men" and "Eddis Service," each given multi-layered performances that match the levels of irony in Kipling's verses.

TRACKS ARE :-

Side One

1. Puck's Song
2. A Smuggler's Song
3. The Run Of The Downs
4. Eddi's Service
5. The Queens men
6. The Bee-Boys Song
7. Harp Song of the Dane Woman
8. Song of The Men's Side

Side Two

1. The heavens Above us
2. Prophets at Home
3. Who Shall Judge The lord
4. St. Helena (A St. Helena Lullaby)
5. The Way Through The Woods
6. The Brick layer and The Shipwright
7. Song of The Red Warboat