Declan Affley "The Day the Pub Burned Down" LP 1974

Declan Affley has appeared on several albums previously featured on this blog and here is one of his albums.

Declan became a legend in Australian folk circles but sadly died unexpectedly in 1985. He was born in 1939 in Wales to parents of Irish heritage. He took to music early. He joined the British merchant navy at 16 and jumped ship in Sydney in 1960 then becoming involved in the early folk revival movement here.

Google him if you wish to know more - it will be worth the effort.

This album a fairly eclectic mix of tracks but that was typical of his range of music, songs and poetry.

Tracklist:
1. When Jones's Ale was New (first appeared as an English Broadside in the 1590s and many versions in the folk tradition - this one was collected in Australia)
2. Jug of this (an old English drinking song)
3. Shickered as he can be (Australian collected version of Child 274 - Our Goodman, four nights drunk etc)
4. Jog Along Till Shearing (A classic Australian traditional)
5. Carrickfergus (The very popular Ulster traditional)
6. In a white man's shoe (Australian collected dance tune perhaps deriving from Old Dan Tucker)
7. The day the pub burned down, (A New Zealand song written by a Bob Edwards in 1931).
8. John Barleycorn (A traditional song possibly of great antiquity - several versions but no Australian collected ones to my knowledge)
9. Yellow Bittern (An bunnan bui)  (An Irish drinking song og known authorship)
10. Jolly Farmer (Stated to be probably of English origin)
11. Shanties by the Way (collected in both Australia and New Zealand)
12. Whether or No. (Irish traditional).
13. Hard Tack. A collected song about the rigours of shearing sheep for a generous wine grower.
14. The Lush Land (A Don Henderson composition promoting drinking - written for a competition)

Backing music was provided by Jamie Carlin mainly on concertina, Ken Greenhalgh on flute and whistle, and Don Henderson provided 2nd guitar and chorus backup for "The Lush Land".

Graphics are included in the downloads.

Click here to download MP3 256VBR version 46MB
Click here to download FLAC (lossless) version)  143MB
You need to decompress your downloaded file to get the contents.
File not available - Let me know by email to mr.stockman@gmail.com

NFF 2xCD Compilation "35 years" (1967-2001) Released 2003

Merry Christmas all. This 2 CD set is a selection of tracks representing performances at what is now known as the National Folk Festival across its first 35 years (1967-2001). The greater majority are by Australian based performers (foreign born or otherwise). As such it provides a good sampling of local performers and the wide range of their offerings. This set has long been out-of-print but releases by some of these artists are still readily available from commercial or internet sources. Of course there are artists whose work could not be featured on this set and other artists have emerged since 2001.
Some of the featured artists have sadly gone to "Fiddlers Green" but they live again in these recordings.
All tracks are MP3 @320VBR. In total, just over 200MB.

Download CD1 and Graphics Folder- From MediaFire
Download CD2 - From MediaFire

You will need to decompress these files to be able to play the tracks.
Contact mr.stockman@gmail.com if files become unavailable.

Various Artists "3 Floors Down" LP 1972

This LP featured artists who associated with the Cellar, three floors down, in the YWCA building in Sydney. This was then the venue for PACT which in 1972 still operated as an adult co-operative theatre and music space. PACT has changed somewhat over the years and is now the "PACT centre for emerging artists" now situate at Erskineville in Sydney.

It is a really mixed offering with psychedelic folk, bluegrass, an Irish traditional, a Spanish language protest song of the 1960s (shades of "Quantanamera"), a blues number, and a few country/folk contemporary numbers.

Many of these artists have featured for other albums on this blog, most notably, Marian Henderson, Declan Affley, and John Currie. All tracks are studio performances.

This is another of the albums ripped by the Victorian Bush Folkie and edited by me. There were a lot of clicks on this LP but most have been eliminated and it is now of good listening quality.

Track List
01 - Reuben James - Hamilton County Bluegrass Band
02 - No Other Name - Tom Taylor
03 - Porque Los Pobres Nos Tienen - Jeannie Lewis
04 - Fillemorrieooie-ay (Working on the Railway) - John Currie
05 - Australia Square - Bernard Bolan
06 - Island in the River (Bitter Bread, Weevils in the Flour) - Declan Affley
07 - Pity Me - Dogsbody, Bloodbus, Kratch, Dank and Snug
08 - Moon and Mice - Marian Henderson
09 - Goin' Home - Margaret RoadKnight
10 - Oldest Man Blues - Kerry Lyons and Steve Martin
11 - Strawberry Sunshine - Al Head
12 - Missed the Seasons Rain - John Currie

Click here for MediaFire download - MP3 224-256 VBR 48MB
.
The file will need to be decompressed before playing.
Let mr.stockman@gmail.com know if the file is not available for download and I will re-up it.

Various Artists "Folk Concert on Campus" Sydney University 1964 LP

Quite an impressive lineup here. This folk concert was held by the Sydney University Folk Music Society over three days in December 1964 at the University's Union Hall. RCA attended and recorded sessions. I am guessing that the contents of this album represent the best of the performers and the tracks are said to be in performance order. I presume the album was released in 1965.

The first of the artists was Beth Schurr who is mentioned by Warren Fahey as being an early folk participant especially in respect of live TV performances.

Declan Affley, despite passing away far too early in 1985 is very well known in Australian folk circles. Born in Wales to parents of Irish heritage, he became a merchant seaman but jumped ship in Australia in 1959 and became fully immersed in the Australian folk scene. There is some distortion in some of his tracks and I suspect that he was then a sound recordists's nightmare.

Roy Waterson (aka Watterson) was, like Affley, a young migrant to Australia. He was born a Liverpudlian in 1935 but was reared in Wales whose culture he readily adopted. He sings beautifully on his two tracks accompanied by Irish harpist Astrid Frost, an immigrant from Dublin. Roy was a persistent performer including opera, concerts and clubs but always at the edges of true success. Eventually, he developed and ran the very successful "Good Old Days Concerts" aimed at senior audiences and received both Australian and Welsh awards. He died in Sydney in 2013.

Jean Lewis was almost 20 when she performed at the Concert. At the time she was a student at the University and a activist supporting the National Aborigines Day and the Freedom Ride on 1964. As "Jeannie" Lewis, she went on to a very successful musical and stage career. She featured on the Come Listen to Australia album featured on this blog for "Red Dust".

Paul Marks was an occasional folk singer but was more into jazz, skiffle, blues and spirituals. He migrated from the UK in 1956. He abandoned music probably not that long after his performance at the concert.

Last but definitely not least is the late Marian Henderson performing four numbers. Look elsewhere on this blog and the web for more details about her.

I received this album in MP3 at 320 CBR in the rough. I have managed to get some of the glitches out but the recordings had some of the typical problems of live performances and there is variation specific to each artist. I eliminated the introductions and the massive amounts of applause as most, if not all, of it was "canned" applause with absolutely no vocal noise at all - just clapping.  I guess that RCA thought that was much neater.

It is not all that surprising that in 1964, the students involved in the Society were far more interested in performances of non-Australian folk songs. Only two of the 18 tracks are Australian. "Emu Plains" by Lewis and "Bluey Brink the Shearer" by Henderson. Speaking of "Emu Plains" - can someone please tell me what instrument is providing the backing? (Agreed to be harmonica)

Tracklist
By Beth Schurr
1. The Keys of Canterbury
2. The Next Market Day

By Declan Affley
3. Cruiskeen Lan
4. The Moonshiner
5. Brian O'Lynn
6. God Bless England

By Roy Waterson with Astrid Frost on Irish Harp
7. Counting the Goats
8. Fair Liza

By Jean Lewis
9. The Lag's Song
10. Roberta
11. Emu Plains

By Paul Marks
12. Tom Pierce
13. Sipping Cider through a Straw
14. The Frog and the Mouse

By Marian Henderson
15. Old Joe Clark
16. The Cat and the Mouse
17. The Devil and the Farmer's Wife (Child 278)
18. Bluey Brink the Shearer.

Click here for Download Link of the album which is a compressed file needing to be decompressed into its folder and tracks. (I get asked often why the download file does not play)
Tracks are Mono MP3 224-256 VBR Mono 34Mb

Various Artists - Seventh Australian Folk Festival (1973) - LP

This is another album kindly provided by Victorian Bush Folkie. Thanks again.

The National Folk Festival (as it is now known)  commenced in 1966 originally in Victoria and, after about a decade, moved to Canberra. The 50th Festival will be held there in March next year (2016). Their website can be reached by clicking here. 

I believe that they usually put out an album of performers for most, if not all years and an occasional commemorative album. I suspect that there will be one of those for the 50th festival featuring selected artists from various years.

Of course, these festival albums can only feature artists who can, and do, give permission for their live festival performances to be used.

This album is a typical example of recorded live performances in the 1970s. The sound quality varies quite a lot and sound equipment and performances are far more sophisticated nowadays. Incidentally, the sound technicians at these festivals are mostly volunteers and they deaserve a lot of praise for their contributions over the years.

Tracklist
1. Rawhide by Country Express (bluegrass - not the series theme song)
2. Fiddlers Green by Declan Affley
3. Tell it to me by John, Juanita and Marnie Sheehan.
4. Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham (Child 139) by Hugh Macewan
5. The Conservationist by The Ramblers (members listed on graphics)
6. EE, AYE AA CUD HEW and Find the Cost of Freedom by Danny, Gordon & Shayna
7. Address tae the Haggis Recitation by Richard Leitch (mostly incomprehensible to me)
8. Sean Ryan's Hornpipe and The Cuckoo's Nest" Instrumentals - Jacko Kevans on concertina and Bob MacInnes on fiddle.
9. Sugar Momma by John Crowle
10. Before I met You  by Country Express - bluegrass
11. Fair Flower o' Northumberland (Child 9) by Rhonda Mawer
12. Bright Morning Star An Appalachian Hymn sung by a Workshop Audience (presumably not a singing workshop - included to complete album - rapid deletion recommended)

Click Here to go to the download host MediaFire to get compressed file containing the album and the LP graphics. Needs to be decompressed. 56Mb MP3 224-256 VBR.

If download does not work - let me know by a comment on this entry or email mr.stockman@gmail.com.

"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 MediaFire 

Link failed? Then please leave a comment or contact mr.stockman@gmail.com

Various Artists "Game as Ned Kelly" Larrikin Record LRF50 1980

For our international visitors, it is probably sensible to give a quick postage-stamp view of Ned Kelly and the Kelly Gang.  Edward ("Ned") Kelly was born in the state of Victoria. His father was a transported convict.  Starting out as a horse thief, he went on to lead a bushranging gang in the 1870s.  This gang mainly operated in Victoria with one significant incursion to Jerilderie in New South Wales.  His final robbery involved the capture of the Victorian town of Glenrowan.  He became aware that a trainload of troopers (mounted police commonly known as "traps") were travelling by train to capture him.  He then removed train tracks to derail the train but the troopers were informed, left the train, and walked to Glenrowan where the gang was beseiged.  Most of the gang were killed in a shoot-out.  Ned Kelly, wearing heavy metal armour then confronted the police firing as he came.  He was brought down by bullet wounds to his exposed legs, captured, tried, and hung at the old Melbourne Gaol.
He is regarded by some romantics as a bit of a folk hero fighting against the villainy of authority.  In the Jerilderie Letter, he presents himself as continuing the Irish Catholic fight against the Saxon hordes - a view somewhat spoilt by the fact that he had no hesitation ambushing and killing a group of Irish-born troopers.
As with all romantic figures, he features in several songs over the decades including some written and sung during his bushranging days.  Warren Fahey, on this LP, includes a good range of those songs.

Track List
My Name is Edward Kelly (Declan Affley)
The Ballad of Ned Kelly (in three parts) (Andy Saunders) Tune of "Wearing of the Green"
Stringybark Creek (Andy Saunders)
Farewell to my Home in Greta (Declan Affley)
The Jerilderie Letter (part) (recitation by Declan Affley) backed by Ian McKenzie on Uilleann pipes playing "Moreton Bay"
Kelly was their Captain (Dave de Hugard)
Ye Sons of Australia (Phyl Lobl)
Farewell Dan and Edward Kelly (Jacko Evans) Tune of 1865 US Civil War song "Just before the Battle, Mother"
Ned Kelly was born in a Ramshackle Hut (Graham Seal singing a Tex Morton composition of the Depression Years)
Ned Kelly was a Gentleman (Warren Fahey recitation of WWII poem) (Not the Slim Dusty song of the same name)
Poor Ned Kelly (Graham Seal and Andy Saunders singing another Depression years song this time written by Billy Blinkhorn)

MP3 Mono at 192 VBR

Apparently there has been a DCMA complaint about this particular album - my very first.  The supposed email with the details of the complaint has apparently been sent by Blogger but I have not received it.  I'm quite surprised that someone took such action over this LP but so be it.  No more downloads folks! Obviously there are some people who would rather that this music remains lost in oblivion.   If its been republished, I'd love to receive some details so I can post them.