My next instalment of my book telling the story of Rock Music concerns the amalgamation of folk and rock that took place in the sixties.
I hope this whets your appetite to give it a whirl!
Rock Routes: Amazon.co.uk: Goodwin, Opher: 9781514873090: Books
British Folk Rock
The underground Folk Rock scene came out of the acoustic scene. It was inevitable that this should be the case because of the close connection between the Folk and Rock acts in the underground clubs, college circuits and festivals. It was not at all unusual to find an acoustic act like Roy Harper on the same bill as Free or Pink Floyd.
With Dylan and Donovan going electric and the advent of US Folk Rock acts like the Byrds there was a precedent set. Indeed nearly all the acoustic singers developed an electric format on heir later work. Some, like Al Stewart, found this to be their greatest period of creativity and success.
The result of this was the establishment of a number of Folk Rock bands spanning a large number of different styles. These included bands such as Pentangle, the Incredible String Band, the Strawbs, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Fotheringay, Fairport convention, the Humblebums and Lindisfarne.
Some of these developed out of aggregations of established solo singers while others were new to the field and attracted in musicians from other genres like Jazz, Blues and Rock.
Pentangle grew out of an informal gathering of musicians at the Three Horseshoes pub in Charing Cross road. John Renbourn and Bert Jansch had already been playing together producing their ‘Baroque Folk’ style. They added in the lilting voice of Jacqui McShee, the Jazzy double bass of Danny Thompson and the drumming of Terry Cox. It was a type of Folk Jazz fusion.
The Incredible String Band started as a trio with Clive Palmer but soon became a duo with Robin Williamson and Mike Heron. They later incorporated their partners Licorice McKechnie and Rosie Simpson. The trio had started up playing at Clive’s ‘Incredible Folk club’ in Glasgow. They were the house band – hence the name. Joe Boyd took them on and recorded them. They were renowned for their ability to play a multitude of instruments – the stage was littered with them. They produced a great happy sound gleefully blending Buddhist and Christian themes with scientology to create a mystical music full of great glee reflecting the spiritual awareness of the times. The music bounced and bubbled along delightfully. Lyrically they were interesting, enlightening and complex. Under Joe Boyd’s direction they produced a highly distinctive style that was psychedelic folk on albums like ‘The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter’ and ‘Wee Tam and the Big Huge’. They were always uplifting and inspiring and were highly influential on bands like Led Zeppelin.
Tyrannosaurus Rex were a folk duo featuring Marc Bolan and Steve Peregrine Took creating a sound based on bongos and acoustic guitar to Marc’s songs which were based on mythology and dragons. It went down very well with stoned out Freaks. They were very quaint with Marc’s wavering vocals and with the support of the prophet and seer John Peel they established themselves as a top act with minor hits with ‘Deboraarobed’ and ‘Salamanda Palaganda’ and albums like ‘My people were fair and had the sky in their hair but now they’re content to wear stars on their brows’. Steve got into the psychedelic scene with the Deviants and Pink Fairies and wanted his songs featured on future albums. It led to a fall out with Marc – Steve left and Marc morphed the band into a glam Rock unit and went on to gain huge success on the teeny-bop scene.
The Strawbs started off as a bluegrass band called the Strawberry Hill boys. They soon began doing their own stuff and became the Strawbs including Sandy Denny on vocals. Sandy left to form Fairport Convention and the Strawbs moved on to produced a couple of albums with Dave Cousins ‘The battle’ and ‘The man who called himself Jesus’ being stand out tracks before morphing into a Rock band.
Fairport Convention is probably the most important Folk Rock unit to come out of Britain. With Ashley Hutchins, Simon Nicol, Richard Thompson, Ian Matthews, Dave Swarbrick and Sandy Denny in its incarnations it had an incredible folk super-star status. The band was named after Simon Nicol’s house ‘Fairport’ where they had first convened. With their dual male and female vocalists they were greatly influenced by the West Coast sound, particularly Jefferson Airplane and yet remained quintessentially British.
Lindisfarne was a Newcastle Folk Rock band who hit big in 1970 with Alan Hull being hailed as a major songwriter.
Fotheringay were formed by Sandy Denny when she left Fairport Convention. They only released one album.
The Humblebums consisted of Billy Connolly with Gerry Rafferty as a mad Folk duo.
Steeleye Span was formed by Ashley Hutchins when he left Fairport Convention. It was a more traditional based band and also more commercial.
| Artist | Stand out tracks |
| Pentangle | Night Flight Let no man steal your thyme Pentangling The time has come Once I had a sweetheart Sally go round the roses Lord Franklin |
| Incredible String Band | Maybe someday October song Smoke shovelling song Way back in the 1960s Hedgehog song Painting box First girl I loved Little cloud A very cellular song The minotaur’s song Air Ducks on a pond The half remarkable question Douglas Traherne Harding Maya Cousin caterpillar Log cabin in the sky Puppies The iron stone The circle is unbroken |
| Tyrannosaurus Rex | Debora-arobed Salamanda Palaganda Hotrod mama Mustang ford She was born to be my unicorn |
| Strawbs | The man who called himself Jesus The battle Oh how she changed |
| Fairport convention | Meet on the Ledge Si vous dois partir I’ll keep it with mine Fotheringay Who knows where the time goes Percy’s song Cajun woman Matty Groves Tamlin |
| Lindisfarne | Lady Eleanor Meet me on the corner Fog on the Tyne |
| Fotheringey | Nothing more Too much of nothing |
| Steeleye Span | Blackleg miner Gaudette Dark eyed sailor The blacksmith |
| Watersons | Boston harbour The North country maid The ploughboy The Whitby lad |