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

Marian Henderson "Cameo" 1970 LP

I have been trying to get this LP for years but have been totally unsuccessful. The problem has been that the few copies that are occasionally offered for sale are far too expensive for my budget especially considering the risk that the LP may not be up to a standard I might need.

Consequently, I am now publishing a rip of that album which I downloaded from some obscure source overseas some month ago, as is. (Many thanks to the regular who pointed me to its listing). It is an unedited rip at 320 CBR so there are some defects which, after much consideration and some experimentation, I have decided to accept. Really, the quality is fairly good.

Two tracks have some light clicks and pops, namely tracks 5 and 6 ("Fotheringay" and "Streets of Forbes") and are quite acceptable. Track 12 "Sprig of Thyme" has serious distortion issues which render it painful to listen to.The other issue I have with this rip is that the album has been "normalised" to produce a relatively even sound level throughout the tracks and over the entire album. My view is that the decision to normalise should be left to individual downloaders. It is easy to do but impossible to undo. I am, of course, unable to estimate the overall effects of normalising in this instance. Hopefully, not much.

Still, do not be put off by this because there are some superb vocal performances by the masterful Marian Henderson ably assisted by appropriate musical backing. This album is often labelled as 'psych folk' but that is not really useful. It appears to be an eclectic mix of traditional folk, contemporary folk and modern ballads as can be seen by the below tack list. Anyway, to sum it up it is a delight to listen to Marian Henderson's deft handling of these varied tracks. Enjoy!

Track List
1. Antique Annie's Magic Lantern Show
2. Miss Otis Regrets
3. Stranger Song
4. Lady of Carlisle
5. Fotheringay
6. Streets of Forbes
7. First Boy I loved
8. Country Girl
9. Guess Who I saw Today
10. Bald Mountain
11. Convict Maid
12. Sprig of Thyme

I only have a small graphic of the album front included.

Click here to download compressed file (101Mb)

Marian Henderson "Australian Folk Songs" (PIX series) 1964 2 EPs

Marian Henderson had some background as a jazz singer and this was often reflected in her folk singing. By 1963, however, she was a major folk performer in Sydney. In 1964, the Australian Broadcasting Commission (ABC) commenced a weekly television series Jazz meets Folk with Marian as a regular folk music performer. This brought her into contact with jazz musicians including two noted jazz performers, Don Burrows (wind instruments) and Lyn Christie, a double bassist. PIX, a weekly popular magazine (now long defunct) commissioned these three to produce four EPs for distribution as freebies with the magazine. Two of the EPs featured Australian folk songs (posted here) and the other two were international folk songs (not seen yet - anyone?). Marian was the vocalist and guitarist; Burrows played flutes and Christie was on Bass. It sometimes makes for a strange mixture and occasionally the music overpowers the vocals but Henderson readily displays her considerable talent. There were 8 tracks in all.
Australian Folk Songs volume I
A1 Botany Bay A2 Springtime, It Brings on the Shearing
B1 Old Bark Hut B2 Peter Clarke
Australian Folk Songs volume II
A1 Waltzing Matilda A2 Jim Jones of Botany Bay
B1 Euabalong Ball B2 Van Dieman's Land

As most Australians would be aware, Don Burrows has gone on to collect several honours and awards for his jazz and swing music and has twice been named as an "Australian Living Treasure". Lyn Christie (Dr Lyndon van Christie - a medical practitioner) moved to the USA not that long after these EPs were produced becoming a successful jazz performer and jazz teacher there. So, all in all, it was a very talented line-up but I do regret that the backing was not more traditional. There are no graphics with the EPs. Most likely, there would have been some accompanying pictures and blurb in the magazines but I am not hopeful of obtaining them.

Download MP3 192VBR 8 tracks
From MediaFire

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