response 131 of 157:

Feb 15 15:48 UTC 2004

Damn -- that I missed.

response 133 of 157:

Feb 16 01:12 UTC 2004

No, he wasn't.  We were pretty surprised.  Happy, though. :)

response 135 of 157:

Feb 18 20:15 UTC 2004

Well, I am glad I saw them at the Ark last year, then. I was kind of hoping
to try Cropredy some year, but .... 
Wow.

response 137 of 157:

Feb 18 21:48 UTC 2004

  It might be a small part of the misfortune of the divorce, but how sad
  to have to break up the instrument collection.

response 139 of 157:

Feb 25 07:13 UTC 2004

Pegg says he's selling the instruments voluntarily, so that he can give 
his wife 50% of the proceeds.  It wasn't forced on him in the 
settlement.

Sad that this may be the end of Cropredy, but all things have to.  I 
went to one festival, the 25th in 1992, and had such a good time that I 
never went back.  The combination of the great music (for they had a 
lineup particularly to my tastes that year) and the novelty of it kept 
me happy, and kept me from noticing things like the discomfort of 
living in a wet cow pasture for three days.  I feared that if I went 
back, the wet and the cow pies would become my chief memory, and I 
didn't want that to happen.

response 141 of 157:

Mar 10 20:14 UTC 2004

Something new which finally straggled in:  I'd been thinking about 
ordering it since late November, finally ordered it in late January
and then Amazon.co.uk took over a month to deliver it.

The album is by Skilda, title is "13 Dreams."  Scottish folk-sortof
with a heavy flavoring of dance pop percussion and electric guitars.
Four songs are traditional, the rest are original but in a consistent
enough style that I can't tell which are the traditional ones.
I'm a sucker for electric guitars in a folk context.
 
The band is a protege' of Capercaille, their album is released through
Capercaillie's label Survival Records, and Skilda are promoted somewhat
on the Capercaillie web site last I looked.
 
The Scots certainly seem to be the market leaders in folk-techno.
Needless to say, I first heard this on BBC Radio Scotland, probably
on the Celtic Connections show.

Now I have to make some time for the Anna Massie album, also from 
Scotland.

response 143 of 157:

Apr 28 05:47 UTC 2004

Steeleye's "They Called Her Babylon" has made its way here.  The band 
sounds good: Maddy Prior is in fine voice, Rick Kemp's vocal croaking 
is managable despite there being way too much of it, and new guitarist 
Ken Nicol fits in well to a still-cracking instrumental sound.

But the songs are another matter.  Except for "Heir of Linne", there's 
not a one I didn't like better on first listening than on second.  That 
is a very, very bad sign.

response 145 of 157:

Aug 18 02:20 UTC 2004

That's probably my cue, and I don't have much to offer; I've picked
up a number of Jansch's albums from his 40?-year career but nothing
leaps out, he's very consistent.   
 
Bert Jansch first comes to light as part of the British folk/acoustic
blues scene in the 1960s; a cover of Davy Graham's instrumental tune
"Angi" made his initial reputation.  He's still active; today 
I heard a new song on BBC Radio Scotland.   The only band he was
in was Pentangle; the classic lineup from 1966?-1971?, and then  
he was in the reunion band for a few years in the 1980s.

I'll have to google the name of that cover 
and see if I can find out where Jansch originally recorded it.

response 147 of 157:

Aug 18 18:14 UTC 2004

I can't recall if I have that CD or not.  amazon.co.uk has samples
from the first 4 or 5 tracks.

response 149 of 157:

Aug 18 20:57 UTC 2004

Likely it is; Paul Simon was hanging out with the British folkies in 
that mid-60s period; it's long been known that he borrowed Martin
Carthy's arrangement of "Scarborough Fair."   
 
Chumbawamba borrowed "Anji" and wove it into a song on their "Readymades"
CD, which makes extensive use of British folk samples, riffs and guest
vocals.

response 151 of 157:

Aug 19 16:58 UTC 2004

  I don't imagine it would be easy to find thousands of people who strongly
  dislike Simon & Garfunkel's recording of "Scarborough Fair / Canticle"

response 153 of 157:

Sep 24 16:31 UTC 2004

Well poot.  The Ark says that Richard Thompson's "1000 Years of Popular
Music" show is sold out, nearly one month in advance.  Grrr.  
I suppose I should check Ticketmaster, but I don't even know where there
is a ticketmaster outlet any more.  
 
On the positive side, I just saved $70 on the two tickets.
 :/

response 155 of 157:

Mar 28 10:23 UTC 2005

Having realized that I'd completely forgotten Steeley Span's "They
Called Her Babylon" in the year since it arrived (and the year since I'd
listened to it), I got out all four Steeleye albums I have from the last
7 years and gave them all a good listen.

Verdict: The two albums without Maddy Prior are utterly hopeless.  Gay
Woods is a good singer but not outstanding.  Bob Johnson tries to sing
material completely unsuited for him.  Tim Harries' songwriting is
unattractive.  However good Dave Mattacks was as a drummer for Fairport,
he's not suited for Steeleye: overbearing without the tightness of Liam
Genocky.

The two more recent albums are much better.  "Present" is the one that
sounds like an old pair of shoes: just pleasant.  "They Call Her
Babylon" improves on further relistening, although with only one
outstanding track, "Heir of Linne", it's not a great Steeleye album. 
But at least it has the sound and spirit of the early-mid 1990s albums.

If I ever write another history of Steeleye, I think I have the names
for the periods:
The Early Years (1970-72)
The Golden Age (1973-76)
The Interval (1977-78)
The Fallow Period (1980-89)
The Silver Age (1990-96)
The Black Years (1998-2000)
The Third Revival (2002-  )