Review: Glamour In The Grey by The Magpie Arc.

A friend of mine who knows I like Folk-Rock music recently recommended a band to me that I hadn’t heard of before called The Magpie Arc. I’m always open to hearing something new so ordered their album called Glamour In The Grey. I have played it three times now and it has grown on me with every listen. It was recorded in Sheffield in 2022. The Magpie Arc are Nancy Kerr vocals and fiddle, Martin Simpson vocals and electric guitar, Alex Hunter bass, Findley Napier vocals and guitars, & Tom Wright vocals, drums, percussion and keyboards. I have heard of Nancy before, I think she used to live near here on a boat on the Kennett & Avon Canal. I have heard her previously singing songs by Leon Rosselson who wrote some of my favourite songs including World Turned Upside Down. I am also very familiar with the work of Martin Simpson. You may recall I reviewed his The Prodigal Son album some time ago. I must admit I hadn’t heard of the other three members before.

I have never heard Martin sounding like he does on this album though. I always thought of him as an acoustic guitarist and singer, but this album rocks. The opening song All I Planted is aptly named because when I heard the opening chords I thought it sounded like Led Zeppelin. Nancy co-wrote this song with Tom Wright, and she has a lovely folk-rock voice, a bit like Maddy Prior. There is a quite psychedelic interlude towards the end of the song. I have an album by an Irish band of the 1970s called Mellow Candle which I was also reminded of at times listening to this CD. Findley Napier wrote and sings the next track called Don’t Leave The Door Open. The blistering guitar intro could almost be a solo by The Edge in U2. Pans Of Biscuits is a traditional American Folk song with Martin on vocals. Hedy West and Kate Campbell have recorded it before, but this sounds like a folk-rock band of the 1970s. 

Wassail is one of three songs here that Nancy wrote with Alex Hunter. To my ears there are also echoes of Jacquie McShee in her voice. Tough As Teddy Gardner is another great song written and sung by Findley. The guitar riff could easily have been recorded by Deep Purple in about 1970. Teddy Gardner (1922-1977) was a British champion flyweight boxer. He also ran the Half Moon pub in Spennymoor. Long Gone is a much gentler song than most of the tracks, with almost CSN type harmonies. It features Adam Holmes on a handmade Fylde Beltar guitar. The Gay Goshawk is a traditional song about a bird that takes messages to a maiden, and she feigns death to be with her love. The relentless rhythm driving the song reminds me of Matty Groves by Fairport Convention. Jack Frost is a Mike Waterson song again with Martin on vocals. Nancy’s fiddle gives the song an eerie haunting quality (See video below). 

The Cutty Wren is another trad song, also known as The Hunting Of The Wren. Nancy’s fiddle playing is featured again. I Ain’t Going Nowhere was co-written by Findley with M.O. O’Connor and sung by him. It is a country-tinged ballad which brings this most enjoyable album to a close. I wish I had known about this group a few months ago because I found out only a few days ago that they played in Bradford On Avon in February and I would certainly have gone along to see them. I don’t know if they have plans for any more live dates because they have their own busy solo careers. Thank you to my mate Kevin for giving me the heads up on this multi-talented band.

The Magpie Arc - Jack Frost

Van & The Spiritual Tourist.

Sorry that I haven’t written anything for ages, but I have been quite busy with one thing and another recently. I have been out and about with friends visiting, and went to some great gigs such as seeing Robert Plant, also Cara Dillon, but those memories are already fading into the mists of time, so I won’t be telling you about that. As I’m not going out today, I thought I’d tell you about a book I have enjoyed reading of late. It is called The Spiritual Tourist, a personal odyssey through the outer regions of belief by Mick Brown. The reason I thought I’d tell you about it is because there is quite a lot of Van Morrison content in the book, and I know that a lot of you are Van fans. Mick Brown is an English journalist and book writer. Early in his career he was primarily a music journalist. In the early 1980s he interviewed Van Morrison about Van’s latest recordings. As they talked, they discovered a mutual interest in subjects like the Beat writers, theosophy, mysticism, and the meaning of life in general. For a while Mick and Van became quite good friends. I believe (although I don’t remember hearing it) that one of their interviews was recorded and released as promotion for Van’s No Guru, No Method, No Teacher album. Van would occasionally phone Mick to talk about a book he had been reading or some esoteric philosophy. 

One day Van invited Mick to accompany him to a meeting to listen to a man called Benjamin Crème, so one evening they drove to a Quaker Meeting House on the Euston Road in London where Mr Crème had hired a room to give his talk. Mr Crème claimed that the messiah who he called Lord Maitreya had returned to Earth. He had been living in a remote community in the Himalayas but was now living in the East End of London and would shortly reveal himself to the world!. Then Mr Crème went into a trance and claimed to be taken over by the spirit of Maitreya. As they drove home later, Van said, “It’s all a load of baloney, isn’t it”. 

Even worse was when they went to see a Swami from Sri Lanka who was touring ashrams and temples in England. This Swami was reputed to be able to produce a holy ash called Vibhuti out of thin air. Mick and Van went along to a house in North London to meet him. After the Swami gave a short talk Mick and Van were invited to have a personal meeting with him. Mick went in first while Van sat on the stairs outside. As Mick went to shake hands at the end of his short meeting Vibhuti poured from the Swami’s fingertips into Mick’s outstretched hand. Then Van went in. His meeting seemed to last a lot longer. Finally, Van reappeared looking very pale and pushed past Mick to the exit. On the journey home Van was silent, apart from saying, “What a f***ing joker”, and never mentioned it again.

Van gets other smaller mentions in Mick’s Odessey, especially in a section about Alice Bailey who influenced several songs on his Beautiful Vision album. Even without the Van content it is a fascinating read. I especially enjoyed reading the accounts of Mick’s visits to India, Puttaparthi to see Sai Baba (contemplating Baba) and Adyar to learn about The Theosophical Society, Madame Blavatsky, Annie Besant and Jiddu Krishnamurti. Mick and Van were both great admirers of Krishnamurti who I have written about previously on this blog site. What I particularly like about the book is that Mick is so openminded, not cynical, even when some people he meets are obviously deluded in their beliefs. There is a lot of humour in the book, also some of the writing is very eloquent and moving.

After I finished reading the book I discovered that Mick compiled an album of spiritual music to accompany the book which I had to order and have enjoyed listening to it for the last couple of days. It is mainly what you would call New-Age or ambient music. The only artists I recognised were Jean-Philippe Rykiel who I remember from Glastonbury 1982 and Terry Riley who I have an album by called Rainbow In Curved Air. I have put video of a live performance of Krishna Das playing Om Nama Shivaya below if you want to hear it. I think this type of music is called Kirtan. It starts slowly, but builds relentlessly with the whole audience joining in. Anyway, I would highly recommend the book and the album to anyone who is at all interested in spiritual matters. Cheers.

Om Namah Shivaya - Krishna Das Live! Songs With Lyrics

Cara Dillon, The Parting Glass. Wiltshire Music Centre, Bradford On Avon...

Happy Easter. Van Morrison Transformation.

Happy St Patrick's Day. Van Morrison & The Chieftains, 1987