"Beneath the Smoke - A Gathering of Nations" c1984 LP

Beth and Kevin Baker (Currency Folk) of the Australian industrial city of Wollongong (hence "Beneath the Smoke") put together this LP with a view to featuring the songs of different ethnicities within the area.  The result includes Australian artists singing traditional and modern folk songs (The Billabongers and the Bakers); Chileans Fernando and Sonia Aranciba with friends performing songs and instrumentals of rebellion; An Italian immigrant, Gerardo De Liseo, performing traditional songs of his original homeland; Vince Brophy, an Irish immigrant, singing two British Isles traditionals and also one of his compositions "Tug Boat"; and an English immigrant, Val Whittaker, also performing British Isles traditionals.

Track List
1. The Sandy Maranoa (Billabongers)
2. Seeds of Tomorrow (Beth Baker)
3. Amici, Amici (De Liseo)
4. Tug Boat (Brophy)
5. Goriza (De Liseo)
6. Elegia a los Caidos (Elegy for Freedom Fighters) (Fernando Arancibia)
7. La Palummeddha Janca (De Liseo)
8. The Rabbiters (Billabongers)
9. El Calameno (Arancibia's)
10. If I was a Blackbird (Whittaker)
11. Bogies Bonnie Bell (Brophy)
12. Will You go Laddie go (Whittaker)
13. Men of Kemira (Kevin Baker)
14. Geordie (Brophy)
15. Black is the Colour (Whittaker)
16. Gracias a la Vida (Arancibia's).

It was a well-packed LP with almost an hour's music.  The recording quality is variable but I found myself really enjoying the Italian and Latin American tracks.  Other than for  El Calameno, the download includes the lyrics of the Italian and Chilean songs with English translations.

Download with Graphics and Lyrics  MP3 192-224 VBR
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Tina Lawton (Untitled Album) LP 1965

The very popular Tina Lawton, folk singer and artist, was 21 years old when this, her first album was released in December 1965.  On it she featured traditional songs of the British Isles, accompanied, amongst others by the harpist Huw Jones and Andy Sundstrom on guitar.

She went on to appear in the ABC film "The Restless Years" in 1966 and to release a further two albums "The Singing Bird" and "Fair and Tender" and also toured in Vietnam and other locations entertaining troops.  In 1968, she took up full-time art studies in Edinburgh but still performed intermittently in the UK.

In December 1968, she visited a friend in Kenya where on the 22nd December, she died in a small plane crash.  Truly a great loss to the world of music.

Sadly, I do not have access to her other two LPs which show a greater professional maturity.  Can anyone help?  This LP was very "dirty" but it has "cleaned" to a sort of listenable level.

Track List

1. Marie's Wedding

2. Spinning Wheel

3. One Morning, One Morning

4. Bonnet trimmed with Blue

5. The Lowlands of Holland

6. Mr. McQuire

7. Castle of Dramore

8. Spanish Lady

9. Trotting to the Fair

10. Lord Gregory

11. The Bird's Courting Song

12. Welsh Lament

13. Blacksmith Song

14. She moved through the Fair

15 Cuckoo Song

MP3 mono 192 VBR with Graphics

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Mike Jackson comments on Mike and Michelle Jackson postings

Mike Jackson (click here for his website) previously of Mike and Michelle Jackson has commented on the postings of their two folk albums on this blog, namely "Patchwork" and "The Roaring Days of Henry Lawson", from rips supplied by Ian of Adelaide and Paul fom Brisbane.  Mike's comment is:-

Thanks for the kind words chaps and chappesses,
So nice to see this bit of my past still freely available. No, we didn't make it with money in mind! Long live music. :)
And while I'm at it, bless Warren Fahey Larrikin Records/Folkways for making this and dozens of other projects preserving and promoting Australian Folk Music possible.

Lionel Long "The Bold Bushrangers" 1963 (2 LP Set)

The Bold Bushrangers was a two LP set issued in 1963.  All but two of the tracks were specifically penned for this project by the Australian author Kenneth Cook (best known for "Wake in Fright").  Somewhat paradoxically, whereas Long previously recorded traditional material with modern-style musical backing, this contemporary material has a very folky backing often with just Long accompanying himself on guitar.  Some tracks also feature that superb five-string banjo player, Dave Guard, an original member of the Kingston Trio who migrated to Australia in 1962 and backed several Australia performers (sometimes under other names e.g with Tina Date as Dynamite Finkelstein).

Kenneth Cook's wife, Patricia Cook is the soloist on three of the tracks and performs a duet with Long on one other. I know nothing about this lady but she gives a strong performance with a distinct Irish style highly reminiscent of the legendary Delia Murphy, the "Queen of Connemara" who was very well-known in Australia as she had accompanied her husband Tom Kiernan when he was appointed as the first Irish Ambassador to Australia in the post WWII years and often performed especially on ABC radio.

There have been some difficulties in getting reasonable LPs of this set.  Finally, Ian of WA, has provided me with copies of both volumes (thanks Ian),  Volume 1 is mono whereas volume 2 is stereo and in far better condition than 1 which had three fairly worn tracks on side two (the first three) causing some minor distortion which I can't correct.

Ian has also kindly provided text of the rears of the LPs. and these are included in the download.

The two traditional tracks are "The Wild Colonial Boy" and "Moreton Bay" and Kenneth Cook has written some really great songs for this set. My favourites are "The Drifting Smoke of the Mountain" and "Sir Frederick Pottinger" but others are also enjoyable.

MP3 @ 192-224

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Trevor Lucas "See That My Grave Is Kept Clean" LP 1964

Graphics provided thanks to Luke R Davies (see later posting)

Album cover

We have previously met Trevor Lucas in this blog featuring his album "Overlander" which he did in his early days in England.  This LP was his first and was done in the year before he left Australia.

It is somewhat of an eclectic mix as you will observe from the below tracklist.  This rip was performed and provided by our first Victorian contributor so many thanks for this album.  (Notes about the album are included in the download)

Tracks (all traditional except as noted)

   1. Hey Nellie Nellie (Silverstein and Friedman)
   2. Bluey Brink
   3. John Hardy
   4. One Kind Favour
   5. World War III Talking Blues (Bob Dylan)
   6. Casey Jones
   7. The Voyager (Gary Shearston)
   8. John Henry
   9. Cocaine Blues (Gary Davis)
  10. The Flash Stockman
  11. Follow You Down

MP3s @ 160CBR
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