Martyn Wyndham-Read, Danny Spooner, Gordon MacIntyre and Peter Dickie "A Wench, a Whale and a Pint of Good Ale" 1966 LP Mono

This is the first of the albums that featured Danny Spooner. This time he is again in company with Martyn Wyndham-Read. Additionally, they are joined by another British ex-pat, Gordon MacIntyre. Gordon was very active in the Australian folk scene for many years; sadly passing away in 1999. Peter Dickie is also acknowledged but he is a complete enigma to me. The LP provides no details as to his actual input - can anyone help with some information on him?
This LP is self-statedly intended to provide greater British Isles folk input to the Australian scene which was then strongly influenced by the north American (US and Canadian) folk scene.
Again, we owe thanks to Denis for making and providing a recording of this LP.  There are some minor problem but it has edited well for such an old and well-loved LP.

Song List
1. The Farmer's Boy
2. The Apprentice Song
3. The Miller and the Maid
4. Er Fa La La Lo
5. The Devil and the Ploughman (Child 279 variant)
6. Greenland Whale Fishery
7. The Hog's-Eye Man
8. Ale Ale Glorious Ale
9. Banks of the Roses
10. I Drew My Ship
11. The Nightingale
12. Whip Jamboree
13. The Oggie Man (No More)
14. The Coast of Peru
15. Ay Waukin Oh
16. Farewell to Tarwarthie


Download with Graphics MP3 192-224VBR

One of our US visitors has kindly pointed out that Peter Dickie is mentioned in Malcolm J Turnbull's history of the Australian folk movement (no - not the pollie Malcolm Turnbull) and you can find the relevant section at this link (click here).

Danny Spooner with Mick Farrell "in "Limbo" and other songs and places" 1978 LP

Danny Spooner surely did like putting out his early LPs in company with others. On this occasion he teamed up with one Mick Farrell who provides musical backing to Danny's guitar and also has some solo moments on the Uilleann Pipes.
I know, and can find, nothing about Mick Farrell other than in respect of his performance on this LP.  The LP notes advise that he was born in Sussex (England) and has Irish and Scottish ancestry.
I am a bit of a fan of the uilleann pipes (and also the Northrumbrian smallpipes). In the 1970s, interest in uilleann pipes was quite low despite the historically proficient performances by such greats as the then mostly retired Seamus Ennis (died 1982), Willie Clancy (died 1973) and Leo Rowsome (died 1970). The Dubliner maker, then in his eighties, Matt Kiernan, from whom Farrell says he obtained his pipes in 1975 was one of only a handful of active makers back then. Fortunately, the situation has improved greatly since then with lots of makers and players.
Obviously, Mick Farrell would have been a rarity in Australia in 1978. He states in the LP that "the chanter is pitched a little below C and this style is called the 'singing chanter' because of its felicitous compatibility with the human voice". In fact, he uses only the chanter (the drones are turned off) even in the solo parts. Regardless, he accompanies Danny brilliantly. (If interested there are some good clips featuring great uilleann pipes players on YouTube)

Track List
1. I drew my Ship (English traditional)
2. Limbo (British broadside)
3. The Newgate Stone (part English traditional)
4. Morrison's Jig (traditional)
5. The Maids of Cuil Mor (Irish)
6. Kishmul's Galley (a free translation of a Gaelic traditional)
7. Arthur McBride (Irish traditional - many versions of this)
8. Donald MacGillavry (Scottish traditional of the Jacobite era)
9. The Dancing Master (Irish instrumental)
10. Sean O Dubhir an Ghlenna (Sean O'Dwyer of the Glen) (Air and Song) (Irish Rebel Song)
11. The Lothian Hairst (Scottish traditional)
12. Felton Lonnin (Northrumbrian - Geordie)

I was provided with a great copy of this LP by one of our loyal visitors and the graphics but another visitor subsequently provided a cleaned up copy of the same LP and this is the version posted (I try not to do too much work if I don't have to). Many thanks to the both of you.

Download with graphics

Merry Christmas All

Just taking this moment to wish all my visitors a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

May all your good wishes come true and may the season be kind to you and yours.

A suggested New Year resolution:- Go to a folk festival and enjoy yourselves!

The Larrikins "A Larrikin History of Australia" 2 LP set 1987

These 25 tracks of "Bush Music, Songs and Bulldust to stop the Chooks laying for a Week" were performed live in Sydney in 1987 by the Larrikins then consisting of Warren Fahey, Cathie O'Sullivan, Dave de Hugard, Cleis Pearce, and Michael Atherton.
This is a very nice mix of tracks including Aussie traditionals, modern folk compositions, dance tunes etc. Tracks include The Death of Ben Hall. The Morning of the Fray, Norfolk Whalers, The Rabbit Trapper, Jim Jones at Botany Bay, The Freehold on the Plain, Banks of the Condamine, My Name is Edward Kelly, and Wee Pot Stove.
This is a good rip MP3 at 192 CBR. The total size with graphics is 126Mb. It is not one of my rips but I would be proud to claim it. Many thanks to whoever did this one. This is a very enjoyable album.

Download with graphics

Martyn Wyndham Read and Danny Spooner "All Around Down Under" Stereo LP 1989

As previously advised in this Blog, Danny Spooner has been resident in Australia for many years. His companion on this LP, Martyn Wyndham Read, has, spent several years in Australia developing a very respectable repertoire of Australian folk and traditional songs.
Again, we owe thanks to Denis for copying these tracks from off his LP and for the cover scans. The cover is very faded and I have greyscaled it for a little additional clarity.
There are some very good performances on this LP - They might be Brits but they do have a very good feel for these Australian songs.

And a small reminder - one of our visitors, Garry Gillard features Danny Spooner details on his website (click here)

Track List
1. Look out below (Danny)
2. Brisbane Ladies (both)
3. Our Jack (came home today) (both)
4. Four Little Johnny Cakes (Danny)
5. Put a Light in every Country Window (both)
6. When the Brumbies come to water (Martyn)
7. Lachlan Tigers (both)
8. New Life (Martyn)
9. Shearing in a Bar (Danny)
10. I don't go Shearing now (Martyn with Danny joining chorus)
11. The Pommy's Lament (Danny)

Download with graphics MP3 192-224 VBR

Danny Spooner "I got this one from ..." 1986 LP

Danny Spooner is an ex-pat Brit who has called Australia home since about 1962. He has produced several albums and featured on many compilations mainly as a singer of British Isles folk songs. He is still an active performer in Australia and overseas and his longevity as a performer is ample evidence of his continuing excellence as a great, no-nonsense, no-frills, folk singer. If you get a chance to see him perform, jump at it.
This LP was produced in 1986 and has long been out-of-print but you can get his more recent CDs - just Google! These tracks are courtesy of Denis who provided great copies of the LP sides. Many thanks Denis.  Graphics are included with the download. The rear of the LP cover is a bit faded but is well worth a read for Danny's comments.

Tracklist
1. Noble Lord Hawkins (aka Pretty Polly)
2. Rolling down Old Maui
3. The Rambler from Clare
4. The Bloody Red Hand
5. Gentle Annie
6. Aboard a Man o' War
7. Deep Sea Tug
8. Just as the Tide was flowing
9. Crooked Jack
10. Reynolds the Fox
11. A Man's a Man (for all that)

Download MP3 192-224 VBR

Downloading and unzipping files

Lately there have been some visitors who do not know about the fact that these music blogs usually put whole albums into a compressed file, usually a ZIP or an RAR (there are others but these are the most popular) for uploading and downloading. For those of you who have little use for compression/decompression software, you can download a freebie called 7-ZIP from the web and once installed, it will readily decompress the files into their individual folders (albums) and mp3 tracks.  A double left click on the downloaded file will result in the unzipping software opening the files so the other files within it can be extracted. select "extract" or similar and, if you wish, nominate where you want the file to be extracted to 

"While The Billy Boils - A Panorama of Australian Folklore" 1981 2LP set

Featuring various artists, this is a Larrikin 1981 two LP compilation (LRD 9012) containing 30 tracks of traditional and contemporary Australian Folk songs and two instrumentals.
I presume this album was marketed to benefit from the Warren Fahey scripted ABC radio series "While the Billy Boils" as it also carries the ABC Logo on the rear of the LP slip.
It is a great compilation unfortunately marred to some degree by varying sound levels, not only between tracks, but also within individual tracks.  I have improved the problem with the different album sound levels but some downloaders might prefer to "normalise' some of the tracks (I am definitely not a fan of "normalising" but I could understand its use in a couple of these tracks).

The artists and their tracks are:
Dave de Hugard - 10,000 miles away, Then give me a hut in my own native land, Ballad of the Kelly gang, The tent poles are rotten.
Declan Affley - I've been to Australia-O, Mulga Maxims, The Cutters Lament, The whip and the spurs, The meat pie song
Warren Fahey - Colonial Experience, Freehold on the plain, Cain killed Abel, Two professional hums, Tumba-bloody-rumba
Trevor Shearston -  Moreton Bay, The Bullockies Ball
Cathie O'Sullivan - Castle Hill, Kanaka Love Song (poor quality track), Banks of the Condamine (horsebreaker version), Bluey Brink, The Ham Fat Man (delightful)
Mike Jackson - Coming down the flat
Jacko Kevans - Sign-on Day, The limejuice tub, The overlanders
The Larrikins - (instrumentals) Mudgee Scottische, Manchester Gallop
Andy Saunders - Five and a Zack, Woolloomooloo (Lair)
John Dengate - The Randwick Races, My Name's Bill

Full cover grapics provided including inner graphics, notes and comments.
All tracks stereo MP3 encoded at 192-224 VBR

Download from Megaupload

Lionel Long "Close Up" LP 1970

A somewhat mixed LP this one - not really country, not really folk and hardly a "close up" of the usual Lionel Long offerings.  And with a rather strange LP cover and rear having absolutely no bearing to the music, most of which is of American country and western origin, prominently by Merle Haggard so I guess it should be categorised as country but the overall production is certainly not country.

In my opinion, it definitely is not Lionel's best work.  I suspect that this might be why he broke with EMI after the production of this LP and, with Columbia, returned to his folk side. Still there are a couple of good tracks on this album with the standout being "Ned Kelly" by Shel Silverstein.  The tracks are "Ribbon of Darkness" (Gordon Lightfoot), Merle Haggard's "Sing me back Home"; "Mama Tried"; "I take a lot of Pride in What I am"; and "Shade Tree Fix-it-man", "Wildwood Flower" (Carter Family), "Ned Kelly" (Shel Silverstein), "The Great White Horse" (Buck Owens and L Scott), "The Mule Skinner's Son" (from Jimmy Rodgers and George Vaughan, "I am off to Kambalda" (Ken Neate), and two tracks composed by Lionel Long, namely, ""Sugarcane Country Blues", and "Believe me Lord".  Mary Jane Boyd performs with Lionel on "The Great White Horse" and assists with "I am off to Kambalda".

This LP was published as being Stereo but I guess it only meant it could be played on stereo pickup because it was very definitely mono in all respects other than subsequent defects - so it's MP3 mono VBR 196-224 - 51Mb

Download:

From Megaupload

"An Evening with Mike McClellan - Live" LP 1977

Mike McClellan was a very active entertainer in the 1970s abundantly displaying superior singing, guitar playing, and song-writing skills. His range included popular, folk, and country music.  In 1979, he went on to host a television country music show.  In 1982, he toured overseas returning in 1983 to focus on an advertising career. Since then, he has performed and released albums very infrequently.

None of his releases are currently available for purchase and, as far as I can detect, a proposed 2010 CD release has not yet eventuated.

This LP features his 1977 live performance of the more popular songs appearing on his first three albums. The originals were studio produced with full sophisticated musical backing.  However, the live performance was very different allowing McClellan to amply display his considerable talent.  Other than for the one track where Graham Lowndes assists, McClellan performs solo accompanying himself very competently on acoustic guitar.  It is such a pity for music lovers that he did not have a more prolific output both as a performer and a song writer.

You may notice that many Australian and overseas performers have done covers of some of his songs, The tracks are:-
1. Jelly Roll Baker - traditional
2. Saturday Dance (McClellan)
3. Midnight Flight (McClellan)
4. The One I love (McClellan)
5. High Flyin' Bird (Billy Ed Wheeler)
6. Rock 'n' Roll Lady (McClellan)
7. California Cool (McClellan)
8. Hot Chilli (McClellan) (instrumental)
9. You're going to need somebody on your bond. (traditional - accompanied by Graham Lowndes)
10. Mr. Bojangles (Jerry Jeff Walker)
11. Song and Danceman (McClellan)

Download with graphics MP3 VBR 192-224

From Megaupload