The Necklace Of Wrens

The Gloaming.

The weather has been wonderful the last few days. I have spent most of the time sitting in the yard, soaking up the sun listening to music and reading. My soundtrack yesterday was Judy Collins, Bob Dylan Highway 61, Handel’s Water Music and The Gloaming. In case you haven’t heard of The Gloaming they are an Irish Folk group. This album was released in 2014 to critical acclaim. Although the music is hundreds of years old, they make it sound very modern. I find it very spiritual, refined and sophisticated music. I highly recommend you listen to it. One of the tracks is called The Necklace Of Wrens. I liked that title so much I think I’ll call this blog by that name.

Not sure of the name but I like it.

A friend of mine called yesterday evening, so I opened a bottle of wine. Then we went for a drink. It was a nice evening and I think I had four pints of cider. When I got home, I polished off the last of the wine. Consequently, I didn’t get up today till 11.00. I spent the afternoon outside again. Today I listened to Norma Waterson. It is an album from 1996 and has some great songs on it such as Black Muddy River and St Swithin’s Day. I also listened to L’Atlantic by Moussa Kouyate. He is a Kora player from Senegal. I bought the cd from him when I saw him busking in Bath quite a few years ago. I bumped into him again a couple of years ago in Bristol, looking a bit older but still busking. The Kora is a beautiful sounding instrument. The other cd I played this afternoon was It’s Too Late To Stop Now, Vol 1V by Van Morrison. It is 78 minutes of brilliance.

I planted a few dahlias as well. I think I have enough plants now for this year. I don’t think I have room for anymore. I have just got to sit back and watch it all grow now. Anyway, I finally came inside at about 7.30 after doing a bit of watering. I think tomorrow is also forecast to be nice, so better make the most of tomorrow as well. See you later.

Sunny Tuesday.

Another fine Spring morning, the sun is shining, the birds are singing, and all is well in the world. Well, actually all is not well in the world, far from it, but at least all is well in my tiny little bit of it. I was up and about early today. I had sold my Bruce Springsteen, Born To Run book and a book about cricket, so I took them to the post office. On the way back I walked past Andrea’s plant shop and bought a Salvia and a geranium plant. Andrea said the salvia is really good for attracting bees which is good. If we lose the bees we lose everything. Those two plants are having a good soak in a bowl of water at the moment. I’ll plant them a bit later on.

I went over to Warminster again yesterday. I found a book signed by Peter Ustinov. 

Geranium & Salvia.

That might be worth a few bob. I’ll put it in my shop today. At the moment I am listening to an album by Judy Collins called Fires Of Eden. I don’t think it is one of her best albums but very pleasant. My plan for the rest of the day is to do a bit of gardening, then sit in the sun, read a book and listen to music. That’s not a bad plan. See you later.

I Set Out One May Morning.

It has been a very nice sunny, warm Sunday. When I got up this morning, I found I had won £30 for getting three numbers on the lottery. It’s not much but it all helps to ward off the evil day. Also, I sold my Roger Moore signed book, I’ll post that in the morning. Brilliant, I was £60 up on the day and only just got out of bed! After breakfast I decided to go for a long walk to start my Get Fit For Glastonbury campaign. I put my camera in my pocket and a Picnic Bar in case I reached the energy gap. One of the nice things about Westbury is that you only have to walk for a few minutes, and you are in the countryside.

My original intention was to walk up to the White Horse but when I reached the top of Alfred Street, I was already getting hot and the walk looked a bit steep, so I changed my mind and decided to walk along the Lower Westbury Road to Bratton. I was going to have a pint in the Duke pub and walk back. When I reached the golf course, I changed my mind again because I thought I could have a pint in the club house before continuing. I walked around the edge of the course and reached the club house bar and ordered a pint of cider. It tasted great, really refreshing and I ate my Picnic as well. 

I sat outside, enjoying the sunshine and the nice view. I was tempted to have another one but was sensible and had a slow walk home via the lakeside. I stopped to say hello to some horses and cows on the way. Eventually I reached Lidl and they had a nice display of plants for sale, so I treated myself to a Hosta for £3.99.

I had a nice snooze when I got home. Then I went to The Crown for one drink. I came home and planted my Hosta and watered my garden and communed with my fishes. What a nice Sunday it had been.

What A Beautiful Place by Catherine Howe.

I had intended going for a long walk today but due to the inclement weather I remained indoors. The rain was quite fortuitous as it turned out because it gave me a chance to have a good listen to my new CD. It is called What A Beautiful Place by Catherine Howe. I discovered this album quite by chance during a conversation with a friend about great singers from the past who deserved more recognition than they received. He said I should check out this album, so I ordered it and I’m glad I did because this album should be celebrated as a lost treasure rediscovered.

Catherine was born in Halifax, Yorkshire in 1950. She moved to London and went to drama school and had TV roles in such programmes as Doctor Who and Z-Cars. The family moved to Swanage in Dorset where the beautiful coastline inspired many of her songs. She headed to London again with a bunch of her songs and landed a recording deal with the small Reflections Records label. They hired American producer Bobby Scott to work on the album. He is best remembered for writing He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother and also won a Grammy for A Taste Of Honey. No expense was spared, top session musicians were hired as well as The London Symphony Orchestra to play on Bobby Scott’s arrangements. I must say they all did a wonderful job.

I don’t think the album was originally conceived as a ‘concept’ album, but Bobby Scott persuaded Catherine to have a spoken word prologue, interlude and epilogue, speaking her own words. It does have the effect of binding the album together as a whole and she has a lovely speaking voice. After Prologue the first song is Up North which I guess is a homage to her hometown of Halifax. It is very evocative of the gritty grimy landscape of satanic mills and dirty rainy streets. It reminds me in a way of the song Life In A Northern Town by Dream Academy and Kate St John’s cor anglais. On A Misty Morning displays Catherine’s shimmering vocal to full effect. I was reminded momentarily of Linda Perhac’s album Parallelograms. Bobby Scott has to be commended for the lush sophisticated arrangements. Nothing More Than Strangers is one of my favourite songs on the album, a short, simple, sad, wistful reflective song and one of the folkier tracks (See video below). My Child is also an ethereal atmospheric song which seems to fit perfectly with a rainy dark day such as today.

After the spoken Interlude the next song is It’s Not Likely which has a very dramatic arrangement behind Catherine’s restrained singing. I like the woodwind instruments on this album. Words Through A Locked Door is as haunting and mysterious as a Bronte novel. It immediately reminded me of The Pond And The Stream by Fotheringay. Not because it sounds familiar but because of the emotion that it evokes. The title track What A Beautiful Place by contrast is much more vibrant, upbeat and jazzier. I looked on youtube for this song and found a nice video of Catherine singing it live quite recently and I must say she is still in great voice. The lyrics suggest that this song was inspired by her Dorset home.  The Innocence Of A Child has a timeless quality that all great music has. It has the feel of a jazz standard but is a Catherine Howe original. It Comes With The Breezes is another fabulous song in which the shimmering orchestral accompaniment brilliantly evokes the sea and the wind. It is incredible to think that this album was recorded nearly half a century ago because it sounds so fresh. The spoken Epilogue is next, followed by the bonus track In The Hot Summer which is just as wonderful as the rest of the album.

On it’s original release in 1971 the album was only available for a few short weeks because the record label went bankrupt. Catherine did make other albums, none of which sold in large numbers and she gradually retired from the music business. She raised a daughter and gained a first-class honours degree and has published books. I’m pleased to see that she still performs occasionally, sometimes with Ric Sanders who I have seen quite often in recent years with Fairport Convention. I highly recommend this album. I’m not surprised that The Guardian described her as ‘Kate Bush before her time’. I think if you like music by Nick Drake, Bridget St John, Sandy Denny and people like that then you will love this album.

Nothing more than strangers - Catherine Howe

Catherine Howe and Vo Fletcher - What a Beautiful Place

I Can't Let go - Evie Sands