It’s one of the most significant musical rediscoveries of recent years and, on its own, makes Dust on the Nettles indispensible. “The Seagulls Scream” by Christine Quayle is track 10 on the first disc of this box set of psychedelically inclined British folk or folk-inspired music. Quayle intones desolately of “a human in bed [who] is singing his prayers in his head, his mind is dead.” Eleswhere in the disconsolate lyric, a child asks his mother for love but “beneath his skin, his body is fighting to win but hope is thin”. Her only accompaniments are a distant, echoey, barely strummed acoustic guitar, the sounds of waves on a beach and seagulls crying.
As an intense musical evocation of despair, “The Seagulls Scream” is on the same level as the most desiccated moments of Ed Askew’s debut album from 1968, Sibylle Baier’s early Seventies recordings, Big Star’s “Holocaust” and Joy Division’s “Decades”.
Until now, “The Seagulls Scream” was deeply obscure. Surprisingly, the track has barely any internet presence. Quayle, 17 when she recorded it, had been brought to a studio to tape a contribution for the 1970 compilation album Sounds Like West Cornwall. Though the song became her only solo recording, she was busy and precocious.
Living with her family in Zennor, Cornwall, Quayle ran the local Mermaid Folk Club - described in its flyers as a “Way Out Club” - in 1968. For some of her solo live shows, she played as Chrissie, though Sounds Like West Cornwall credited her as Christine Quayle. She turned up as Chrissy Quayle in the Cornish, but London-based, folk rock band Daylight, who made one album, issued in 1971. Earlier, she was briefly in the unrecorded Temple Creatures alongside former Incredible String Band co-founder Clive Palmer. She also contributed vocals to the Spirit of Love album by another of Palmer's bands, C.O.B. After Daylight folded, she returned to Cornwall, worked in theatre and with a rock ‘n’ roll revival band, but later attracted some attention in the late Seventies/early Eighties with Metro Glider. Nowadays, she lives in Andalucía and plays with Celtic-Latin duo Masque. The picture of her here (left) is the only one known from the period of recording “The Seagulls Scream”.
Although everything collected on Dust on the Nettles is top drawer, Quayle’s existential masterpiece is the standout. The three-disc clamshell box set is a companion piece to last year’s Love, Poetry and Revolution, which billed itself as “A Journey Through the British Psychedelic and Underground Scenes”. Dust on the Nettles, billed as “A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene ”, is similarly no frills, with each disc in a card sleeve. There is a very tightly designed CD-sized booklet, with pithy track-by-track annotation in tiny print. In close to four hours, 63 tracks are heard.
The stated mission is to demonstrate and soundtrack folk taking on psychedelia and, in turn, show how musical voyagers drew from folk. In essence, this new release goes further into what was introduced on discs three and four of the pioneering 2005 box set Anthems in Eden (there are track duplications). A few tracks sit uncomfortably with the whole (baroque singer-songwriter Duncan Browne, the blues-based Kevin Coyne and the rocky Gerald Moore), but this diligently represents the many, disparate facets of folk in its turned-on state, what passed for folk or drew from folk, and is a more even listen overall than Love, Poetry and Revolution.
Naturally, The Incredible String Band feature, as do Fairport Convention (both with alternate versions of familiar songs that were issued in the Sixties). Some Fairport offshoots like Steeleye Span and the fantastic Trader Horne (pictured above right, with ex-Fairport Convention singer Judy Dyble on the left) are also collected. The set opens with The Pentangle. Among the better known names are Joan Armatrading (with the spine-tingling “Visionary Mountains”), Anne Briggs, Vashti Bunyan, Shelagh McDonald, Bill Fay, Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Bridget St. John, Mick Softly, Trees and Tyrannosaurus Rex
Of the lesser-knowns, cults and barely knowns, Comus, with the rare single-only track “Winter is a Coloured Bird”, are reliably and terrifyingly pagan. Country Sun’s “The Colour is Blue”, originally issued on John Peel’s Dandelion label, is shimmeringly beautiful. “Wizard Shop”, by The Sun Also Rises, sounds exactly and uncannily like The Incredible String Band. From Plymouth, Frozen Tear’s “You Know What Has to be”, from a 99-edition 1969 single, is the otherworldly definition of psychedelic folk.
This new mini-box set, subtitled A Journey Through the British Underground Folk Scene, boasts 63 tracks and a running time of nearly four hours. The emphasis is on the genre sometimes referred to as “acid folk,” or contemporary folk music inspired by the psychedelic experience much as “acid rock” was for the heavier rock idiom. This countercultural style of folk particularly blossomed in the United Kingdom, incorporating both acoustic and electric sounds, traditional and newly-written tunes, and everything from religious-oriented to pagan-inspired lyrics. The array of artists here pushed the envelope even if most weren’t rewarded with considerable commercial success.
Tracks have been drawn from a wide variety of labels including CBS, RCA Victor (and its progressive-minded Neon imprint), Pye (and its Dawn subsidiary), Andrew Loog Oldham’s Immediate, and John Peel’s Dandelion Records. A number of rare and previously unissued demos also are brought together to tell the story. Naturally, many “heavy hitters” feature on the diverse track list, most notably Fairport Convention (a 1969 demo of “Fotheringay”), Pentangle (1968 single “Let No Man Steal Your Thyme”), The Incredible String Band (a 1967 demo of “First Girl I Loved”), Vashti Bunyan (“Winter is Blue”), Joan Armatrading (1972’s “Visionary Mountains”), Steeleye Span (1970’s “All Things are Quite Silent”), Tyrannosaurus Rex (the duo’s 1967 recording of “Highways (Misty Mist),” and the recently-rediscovered cult hero Bill Fay (an early 1969 demo of “Garden Song”).
Steve Peregrine Took, one-half of Tyrannosaurus Rex, is also represented with “Amanda,” a 1969 track from his post-Rex group Shagrat, founded with Larry Wallis and Tim Taylor. Incredible String Band founding member Clive Palmer gets a solo cut here with 1967’s “Stories of Jesus,” an adaptation of a 19th century hymn. (There are actually more hymns on this collection than one might expect!) Palmer also reappears on “Music of the Ages” from his band C.O.B., or Clive’s Original Band. “Curious Crystals of Unusual Purity” is reprised from Bridget St. John’s time on Dandelion; her entire output for the label was recently collected on a box from Cherry Red. Bias Boshell, who went on to later fame as the writer of “I’ve Got the Music in Me” for Kiki Dee, wrote “The Garden of Jane Delawney” which he performs with his early band Trees.
This collection, packed with surprises. Rarities and five previously unreleased tracks, includes a lavishly-illustrated 36-page booklet with an introduction by compilation producer David Wells and track-by-track liner notes for each and every track. Simon Murphy at Another Planet Music has remastered all songs and Andy Morten has handsomely designed the set. The three discs are housed in individual paper sleeves within the box.
Disc 1
01. LET NO MAN STEAL YOUR THYME - The Pentangle (Transatlantic TRA 162, 1968)
02. WILLOW’S SONG (FROM THE WICKER MAN) - Magnet (rec. 1972, first issued 1998)
03. COME ALL YOU TRAVELLERS - Wight (French Festival SPX 147, 1970)
04. LOVE IS A FUNNY THING - Spirogyra (B&C CAS 1042, 1971)
05. IMAGES OF PASSING CLOUDS - Gary Farr (rec. 1968, previously unreleased)
06. PEEK STRANGELY AND WORRIED EVENING - Synanthesia (RCA Victor SF 8058, 1969)
07. GLASS OF WATER - Bob & Carole Pegg (Galliard GAL 4017, 1972)
08. WINTER IS BLUE - Vashti Bunyan (Instant INL 002, 1968)
09. WINTER IS A COLOURED BIRD - Comus (Dawn DNX 2506, 1971)
10. THE SEAGULLS SCREAM - Chrissie Quayle (Sentinel SENS 1001, 1970)
11. STORIES OF JESUS - Clive Palmer (rec. 1967, first issued 1999)
12. AMANDA - Steve Peregrin Took’s Shagrat (rec. 1969, first issued 1990)
13. CURIOUS CRYSTALS OF UNUSUAL PURITY - Bridget St. John (Dandelion 63750, 1969)
14. ROSES FOR COLUMBUS - Mark Fry (Italian ZSLT 70006. 1972)
15. TILL THE MORNING COMES - Dando Shaft (RCA Neon NE 5, 1971)
16. BLACK GIRL - Mary-Anne (Joy JOYS 162, 1970)
17. THE GARDEN OF JANE DELAWNEY - Trees (CBS 63837, 1970)
18. WEIRDSONG OF BREAKING THROUGH AT LAST - Principal Edwards Magic Theatre (Dandelion DAN 8002, 1971)
19. MINAS TIRITH - Oberon (Acorn OBE LPS 1, 1971)
20. PRISONERS, VICTIMS, STRANGERS, FRIENDS - Paper Bubble (rec. 1970, previously unreleased)
Disc 2
01. PILGRIM - Gerald Moore (rec. 1972, first issued 1999)
02. RIVER LANE - Melton Constable (rec. 1972, previously unreleased)
03. WAY OUT HERMIT - Moonkyte (Mother SMOT 1, 1071)
04. ALL THINGS ARE QUITE SILENT - Steeleye Span (RCA SF 8113, 1970)
05. UPON REFLECTION - Heron (Dawn DNLS 3010, 1970)
06. LOVE IS COME AGAIN - Parchment (Pye NSPL 18388, 1972)
07. STARGAZER - Shelagh McDonald (B&C CAS 1043, 1971)
08. THERE ARE NO GREATER HEROES - Tony Caro & John (private label, no cat. no., 1972)
09. VISIONARY MOUNTAINS - Joan Armatrading (Cube HIFLY 12, 1972)
10. GLOW OF THE FIRELIGHT - Tuesday (rec. 1972, previously unreleased)
11. SEARCHING FOR LAMBS - Warm Gold (Sentinel SENS 1011, 1972)
12. SAMANTHA CAROL FRAGMENTS - Benjamin Delaney Lion (Hollick & Taylor, no cat. no., 1969)
13. FOTHERINGAY - Fairport Convention (rec. 1969, first issued 2000)
14. YOU KNOW WHAT HAS TO BE - Frozen Tear (RA 5001, 1969)
15. MEANWHILE BACK IN THE FOREST - Hunt Lunt & Cunningham (Pye 7N 45125, 1972)
16. FIRST GIRL I LOVED - The Incredible String Band (rec. 1967, first issued 1998)
17. HALFDAN’S DAUGHTER - The Moths (Deroy LP, no cat. no., 1970)
18. THE MUTANT - Trader Horne (Dawn DNLS 3004, 1970)
19. MEETING BY THE MOONLIGHT MILL - Dry Heart (rec. 1970, previously unreleased)
20. HIGHWAYS (MISTY MIST) - Tyrannosaurus Rex (rec. 1967, first issued 1991)
21. GABILAN - Duncan Browne (Immediate IMS 018, 1968)
22. SAND ALL YELLOW - Kevin Coyne (Dandelion 2310 228, 1972)
Disc 3
01. GARDEN SONG - Bill Fay (rec. 1969, first issued 1999)
02. MUSIC OF THE AGES - C.O.B. (CBS 69010, 1971)
03. A SONG FOR THE SYSTEM - Everyone Involved (Arcturus ARC 4, 1972)
04. THE COLOUR IS BLUE - Country Sun (Dandelion 2485 021, 1972)
05. SILENT VILLAGE - Wild Country (Trafalgar TRAF1, 1970)
06. WELCOME TO THE CITADEL - Marc Brierley (CBS 63478, 1969)
07. THE EVIL VENUS TREE - The Occasional Word (Dandelion DAN 63753, 1970)
08. STANDING ON THE SHORE - Anne Briggs (CBS 64612, 1971)
09. KIND SIR - Agincourt (Merlin HF 3, 1970)
10. EAGLE - Mick Softly (CBS 64098, 1970)
11. ROSEMARY HILL - Fresh Maggots (RCA SF 8205, 1971)
12. THE HAPPY KING - Music Box (Westwood MRS 013, 1972)
13. ME AND MY KITE - Fuchsia (Pegasus PEG 8, 1971)
14. WIZARD SHEP - The Sun Also Rises (Village Thing VTS 2, 1970)
15. SCARBOROUGH FAIR - Folkal Point (Midas MR 003, 1972)
16. PRISONER - Marie Celeste (no label, no cat. no., 1971)
17. PATRICE - Simon Finn (Mushroom 100 MR 2, 1971)
18. GIRL OF THE COSMOS - Shide & Acorn (Solent SM 011, 1971)
19. ELEGY TO A DEAD KING - Chimera (rec. 1968, first issued 2004)
20. SILENCE RETURNS - Beau (Dandelion DAN 8006, 1971)
21. ORANGE DAYS AND PURPLE NIGHTS - Mother Nature (B&C CB166. 1971)
Disc 4 (Extra Bonus Disc)
01. Zior - I Was Fooling (1971)
02. Zakarrias - The Unknown Years (1971)
03. Wooden Horse - Celebration Song (Unreleased Album 1973)
04. Wil Malone - At The Silver Slipper (1970)
05. Whistler - See What The Future Brings (1971)
06. Unicorn - Cosmic Kid (1971)
07. Trevor Lucas - On The Banks of The Condamine (1966)
08. Trees - Streets Of Derry (1970)
09. Tim Hart & Maddy Prior - Serving Girls Holiday (1971)
10. Thunderclap Newman - The Reason (1970)
11. The World - Things I Could Have Said (1970)
12. The Way We Live - Squares (1971)
13. Quiet World - First Light (1970)
14. The Machine Gun Co. with Mike Cooper - The Singing Tree (1972)
15. The Humblebums - Continental Song (1970)
16. Tennent & Morrison - Death In A Distant Country (1972)
17. John Williams - London Town (1968)
18. John & Beverly Martyn - Parcels (1970)
**Enjoy**
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