All Shall Be Well by Virginia Astley.

Tuesday morning and I sit in my little yard gazing indolently at four cabbage white butterflies who are performing an aerial ballet. They appear to be dancing to the sound of my new CD which is drifting from the kitchen. It is called All Shall Be Well by Virginia Astley. It is an excellent album, but not the album by Virginia Astley that I really wanted. That one is called From Gardens Where We Feel Secure. Sadly though, that album is unavailable and second-hand copies sell for amounts that are far beyond my pocket. I first heard of Virginia Astley when her name kept cropping up alongside the likes of Bridget St John and Vashti Bunyan and also on radio stations such as BBC 6 Music. I listened to the album on YouTube. It uses natural sounds such as birdsong and church bells to accompany Virginia’s improvised playing. It reminded me slightly of Granchester Meadows by Pink Floyd or English classical composers such as Delius. I wanted a hard copy but could not get one. I settled for All Shall Be Well, but even that cost me quite deep in the purse for a second-hand CD. I think it is high time Virginia’s back catalogue was reissued.

The opening track My Smallest Friend has a cello introduction. I have always liked the sound of the cello. The ‘smallest friend’ in question is her daughter Florence who would have been about four years old when this album was made in 1992. She can be heard singing towards the end of the song. I believe that Florence grew up to be an accomplished cellist herself and accompanies her mother at poetry readings. I am not sure how to describe the music on this album. I have heard it described as dream pop, but I would not say that. It is kind of ambient chamber folk music. A string quartet play on the album which gives it a pastoral English feel. Virginia’s father Edwin (Ted) Astley was a noted English composer who is best known for writing the theme music for such TV series as The Saint & Danger Man. He wrote the arrangements here for three of the tracks My Smallest Friend, Although I Know, and I Live For The Day.

Virginia had a classical music education and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and that is an obvious influence on this album. I think it was at university that she met Kate St John and Nicky Holland where they formed a group called The Ravishing Beauties. I have been a fan of Kate St John for a long time, especially when she was in Van Morrison’s band and with The Dream Academy. Kate plays oboe and cor-anglais on this album and vocals on Blue Sky, White Sky which she co-wrote with Virginia. It is my favourite track and based on a theme by Mozart.

The final track is an instrumental version of the opening song. I have enjoyed listening to this album today. In recent years Virginia seems to spend more time pursuing other interests such as poetry, nature writing and photography. She has recently published a book called The English River. I still think that From Gardens Where We Feel Secure should be re-released though.

Judy Dyble R.I.P

A friend messaged me today with the sad news that Judy Dyble has died aged 71. Judy was the original singer in Fairport Convention. She is also known for the band Trader Horne and she recorded with Giles, Giles & Fripp who later became King Crimson. She also made some excellent solo albums. I was interviewed on Radio Cambridgeshire a couple of years ago about the music scene in Peterborough and they asked me to choose a song which reminded me of the Cloud 9 club in the early 70’s. I chose Jenny May from the Morning Way album by Trader Horne because I saw that band give a memorable performance at Cloud 9. I messaged Judy about that interview, and she listened to it and was really pleased and thanked me. I am now listening to Morning Way. I have written a couple of reviews of Judy’s work previously, so I thought I would dust them off by way of a tribute to a very nice talented lady.

Summer Dancing by Judy Dyble & Andy Lewis. I didn’t know this album was even being released until I saw it in my local record shop. I expected the album would be a sort of simple folky thing with male & female vocals and acoustic guitar. I was pleasantly surprised to find it is nothing like I imagined. It is a sophisticated lush production. Andy would appear to be the production wizard. I liked the album from the first track He Said / She Said. As an old hippy from way back I loved the psychedelic sound and even the birdsong mixed into the song. Judy’s voice reminds me a little bit of Vashti Bunyan who I also like. She has not got the strongest voice, but she uses it very effectively and enunciates every word beautifully.  Judy’s voice is haunting & beguiling. To my ears her voice is as good now as it was in the olden days with Trader Horne. I loved the jazzy keyboards on Night Of A Thousand Hours. This album is on the Acid Jazz label which seems quite appropriate. Another track that stands out for me is A Net Of Memories (London) with the sounds of London crowds and even radio traffic reports cleverly mixed in very evocatively. My Electric Chauffeur is very upbeat with drums to the fore and Treasure has a very lush production with a nice rhythmical sequence. I enjoyed every single track on this album. The vocals are great and the production first class. It is awash with violas, recorders, glockenspiel, hand drums, timbale, guitars, synthesizers, & percussion. A most enjoyable album indeed. Well done to all involved in the project.

Morning Way by Trader Horne.

A band that made a real impression on me at Cloud 9 were Trader Horne. That was on March 15th, 1970 over 50 years ago. I know the date because I looked it up on the internet. I was already a big fan of Fairport Convention. Trader Horne were Judy Dyble who was the original singer with Fairport and Jackie McAuley who had been a member of Them with Van Morrison. After Judy left Fairport, she was a member of Giles.Giles and Fripp who became King Crimson. After Van Morrison left Them, they carried on for a while eventually becoming the Belfast Gypsies who were quite popular on the continent and made three albums.  When they broke up Jackie roamed around Europe and Morocco for a while before meeting up with Judy in Notting Hill and forming Trader Horne. The night I saw them they were very tired, but still performed a great show. Jackie asked the audience if anyone could put them up for the night. They had played at Van Dyke's in Plymouth the night before and had driven all the way to Peterborough which is a long way and Jackie had done all the driving.

They had just released their album Morning Way and after seeing them that night I meant to buy it, but I never did. There was so much great music about in those days somehow, I never got around to buying that album. Forty-one long years went by until one night I stumbled across them on YouTube and I wondered if their album was available and lo and behold it was. I think because of the internet it is becoming worthwhile for record companies to re-release little known gems from the past and with pay-pal you can pay instantly and a couple of days later a CD plops through your letter box, voila! What could be easier? so I treated myself to Trader Horne's album. I must say it is quite magical. The opening track Jenny May is very catchy, I think Jackie wanted to write a children's album originally. The next two tracks are quite Tolkienesque, The Children Of Oare with the sounds of waves crashing on the shore. and Three Rings For Elven Kings. The next track really reminded me of The Incredible String Band's The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter, an album Judy actually sang on. Growing Man is a great song with Judy and Jackie sharing vocals. The next track is called Down And Out Blues which is an old Bessie Smith song and I think although it is sung superbly by Judy it doesn't quite fit in on this album. 

The next song is The Mixed Up Kind which has some nice harpsichord and I ought to mention that Ray Elliot  and John Wilson from Them  play on this album. Better Than Today is the next track featuring some nice flute playing. In My Loneliness is a wonderful song and Sheena is catchy and was released as a single. It is great pop music. I have seen this album described as Acid-Folk. The Mutant is very psychedelic, a brilliant piece of work. Morning Way the title track is next with Judy and Jackie sharing vocals. Velvet To Atone was co-written by Judy and Martin Quittinton who went on to write Maggie May with Rod Stewart. Like That Never Was is another upbeat song with amazing vocals. Here Comes The Rain and Goodbye Mercy Kelly are great songs to end the album, The album is very pastoral, very English but the last track is very Irish. Such a shame this album didn't get the recognition it deserved when it came out. I have enjoyed listening to this record and I'm pleased I finally got around to buying it 41 years after seeing the band live.