Fly On Strangewings by Jade.

It is a quiet Sunday afternoon. I have been listening to my new 2CD set which arrived yesterday. It is called Fly On Strangewings by a band called Jade. It was only recently on 27^th of May that I first heard of this group. I was looking on Wikipedia to find some info about Pete Sears bass player with Jefferson Starship. I was surprised to find out that he was English. In the resume of his career it said, ‘In early 1969, Sears along with Terry Cox of Pentangle, Jeff Beck's drummer Micky Waller, Jimmy Litherland of Coloseum, John Wetton of King Crimson, and Pete York of the Spencer Davis Group, recorded a folk rock album with Marian Segal and Jade. The album, Fly on Strangewings is considered one of the seminal British folk rock albums of the 1960s and is highly valued by collectors’.

That aroused my interest because as you know I like Folk-Rock and I also like discovering rare gems from the past that most people have not heard of. I found out that the album had been re-released in 2009 on the Sunbeam label, so I ordered myself a copy. It is a most attractive package indeed. There are two CDs. The original album from 1970 and a bonus CD of 13 other songs by the band. There is a nice booklet as well, stuffed with photos and copious notes written by the group’s leader and songwriter Marian Segal. In the USA there was already a band called Jade, so the album was released in the States under the name Marian Segal & Silver Jade. The band were a trio of Marian Segal, Dave Waite & Rod Edwards, but on the album they are helped out by a cast of some of the best UK musicians, most of them went on to have very successful careers in music.

As soon as I heard the first song Amongst Anemones, I knew I liked this album. It reminded me of Fairport Convention during the time of Sandy Denny. Marian wrote all the songs on the album by the way. On Raven Marian shares the vocals with Dave Waite. The title track Fly On Strangewings is next. Why Strangewings is all one word I do not know. This track especially with the piano of Rod Edwards reminds me slightly of a band I used to like called Arrival. Also, Bridge Over Troubled Water came to mind. The album has a very lush production by Jon Miller with string arrangements and no expense spared. Mayfly has some great banjo playing on it. I think my favourite song at the moment is Alan’s Song which is a very atmospheric moving song about a friend of Marian’s who died aged 16 in a motorcycle accident. (I have shared this song to this blog page if you would like to hear it) Bad Magic in contrast is a very upbeat spacey song that you could describe as psychedelic acid folk-rock. Clippership continues in the upbeat mode. Five Of Us is a nostalgic song about when Marian and some friends stayed in a spooky house in Norfolk. Reflections On A Harbour Wall paints a picture of Marian’s love of a seaside town. Mrs Adams is a lively song about the demise of a neighbour. It features some electric violin playing by John Harper which reminds me of Fairport & Dave Swarbrick. Another contender for my favourite song would be Fly Me To The North which is a lovely duet between Marian and Dave which deserves to be better known. The final track is Away From The Family which seems to be about youthful yearning to escape from a dull family life and experience the world.

The second CD doesn’t reach the heights of the original album but is still very interesting with more of Marian’s original songs and covers of Joni Mitchell, James Taylor and even Paul Rodgers of Free fame. Sadly, Jade broke up in 1971 when Rod Edwards left to pursue other projects. Marian & Dave carried on as a duo for a few years, but with the advent of punk rock it became difficult for a folk-rock duo to find an audience. Marian changed her name to Marianne Segal and still performs to this day. I would certainly go and see her if she played at a folk club around here. I am really pleased that I discovered this album. If you like music such as Fairport Convention, Pentangle, Curved Air, Mellow Candle, Trader Horne or any other folk-rock music then I think you would enjoy this album as well.