Bill Leader Discography

Key

∆ - producer

∂ - co-producer

Ω - recording engineer 

ø - assisted at session(s) 

† - collections with Bill Leader-produced tracks 

∑ - executive capacity
≠ - supervisory capacity 

◊ - misattribution
º - original recordings from the collection of Bill Leader
÷ - sleeve notes by Bill Leader
√ - cover art by Gloria Leader
∫∫ - cover art by James Boswell
ƒ - cover design and/or photo by Brian Shuel 

V - cover art/photo by Sal Shuel
# - cover photo by Bill Leader
~ - cover photo by John Harrison
§ - cover art/design by Janet Kerr
π - reissued on the Highway label, circa 1979
¡ - reissued by the graces of Dave Bulmer

(Discs in the Discography are 12” LPs, unless otherwise stated.) 

1956 

RLP 12-618 A. L. Lloyd, English Drinking Songs [Riverside, US]  Ω ø  

TRC98 Jack Elliott, Talking Miner Blues b/w Pretty Boy Floyd [Topic, 10” 78] ø

TRC99 Margaret Barry, The Blarney Stone b/w If You Ever Go to Ireland [Topic, 10” 78] Ω ∆

TRC100 John Hasted, The Bridge Below the Town b/w Al Jeffery and Ted Andrews Keep Talking [Topic, 10” 78] Ω ∆ 

TRC101 Hylda Sims & the City Ramblers, Round and Round the Picket Line b/w Nine Hundred Miles [Topic, 10” 78] Ω/∆ 

1957

TRC103 Jack Elliott, Old Blue b/w Rambling Blues [Topic, 10” 78] ø

TRC104 Jack Elliott, Streets of Laredo b/w Boll Weevil [Topic, 10” 78] ø

TRC105 Wendy Corum with Elsie Bracher, Villikins and His Dinah b/w Wendy Corum with John Hasted, The Coachman [Topic, 10” 78] Ω ∆ 

T5 Jack Elliott, Woody Guthrie’s Blues [Topic, 8” LP] ø √

10T6 Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, Street Songs & Fiddle Tunes of Ireland [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆ ÷ √

10T6 Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, Street Songs & Fiddle Tunes of Ireland [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆ ÷ 

T7 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, Row, Bullies, Row [Topic, 8" LP] ≠ √

T7 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, Row, Bullies, Row [Topic, 8" LP] ≠

T8 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, The Black Ball Line [Topic, 8" LP] ≠ √

T8 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, The Black Ball Line [Topic, 8" LP] ≠

10T9 Peggy Seeger, Peggy Seeger [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆ 

7T10 Nancy Whiskey, Nancy Whiskey Sings [Topic, 7” LP] Ω ∆

10T11 John Gibbon, John Gibbon’s Disc [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

RLP 12-642 Ewan MacColl w Peggy Seeger, Bless 'Em All & Other British Army Songs [Riverside, USA] Ω †

1958 

TRC106 Alex Eaton with John Hasted, The Collier’s Rant b/w The Row Between the Cages [Topic, 10” 78] Ω ∆ 

TRC107 Peggy Seeger, Freight Train b/w Cumberland Gap [Topic, 10” 78] Ω ∆

Fred and Betty Dallas at Cecil Sharp House 

digital album, available at http://karldallas.bandcamp.com/album/fred-betty-dallas-at-cecil-sharp-house

10T14 Jack Elliott & Derroll Adams, The Rambling Boys [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆  √

10T14 Jack Elliott & Derroll Adams, The Rambling Boys [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

10T15 Jack Elliott, Jack Takes the Floor [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

10T17 Paul Robeson (w Winifred Harrison), Paul Robeson's Transatlantic Concert [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆ (A side only)

7T19 The Jeffersons, Round and Round With The Jeffersons [Topic, 7” LP] Ω ∆

10T21 Zimra Ornatt w Leon Rosselson, Israeli Songs [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

10T24 Guy Carawan, Mountain Songs and Banjo Tunes [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

10T25 Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger, Second Shift: Industrial Ballads [Topic, 10” LP] Ω

10T26 Ewan MacColl w Peggy Seeger, Barrack Room Ballads [Topic, 10” LP] Ω † √

10T26 Ewan MacColl w Peggy Seeger, Barrack Room Ballads [Topic, 10” LP] Ω † ∫∫

TOP27 Stan Kelly w Leon Rosselson and Geoff Rose, Liverpool Packet [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  

10T28 Dominic Behan w John Hasted, Irish Songs Recalled [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

RLP 12-652 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, Champions & Sporting Blades: British Songs of Sporting and Gambling [Riverside, US LP] Ω

10T30 Sonny Terry, Harmonica Blues [Topic, 10” LP] ∑

12T30 Sonny Terry, Harmonica Blues [Topic] ∑

1959 

10T36 Ewan MacColl & A.L. Lloyd w Steve Benbow, Peggy Seeger & John Cole,  Bold Sportsmen All [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

12T39 Fisk Jubilee Singers, Spirituals [Topic] ∑

12T41 Ewan MacColl & Dominic Behan, Streets of Song [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T44 Dominic Behan w John Hasted, Easter Week and After [Topic] Ω ∆ 

RLP 12-820 Dominic Behan, Easter Monday, 1916: Songs of the Republican Army [Riverside, USA issue of 12T44 with some additions and some omissions] Ω ∆ 

10T49 Pieris Zarmas w Margaret Humphreys & Peter Ramm, Songs From the Aegean [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆

1960

12T35 Dominic Behan w Peggy Seeger, Leon Rosselson & Ralph Rinzler, Down By the Liffeyside [Topic] Ω ∆  ∫∫

12T35 Dominic Behan w Peggy Seeger, Leon Rosselson & Ralph Rinzler, Down By the Liffeyside [Topic] Ω ∆  ƒ

10T50 Ewan MacColl & Isla Cameron, And Still I Love Him [Topic, 10" LP] Ω √

10T50 Ewan MacColl & Isla Cameron, And Still I Love Him [Topic, 10" LP] Ω ∫∫

12T51 A.L. Lloyd, Outback Ballads [Topic] Ω ∆ ∫∫

10T52 Jeannie Robertson, Jeannie Robertson [Topic, 10” LP] Ω ∆ √

12T53 Various: The Music of New Orleans, Vol. 1 [Topic] ∑

12T55 Various: The Music of New Orleans, Vol. 3 [Topic] ∑

TOP56 Perry Friedman, Vive La Canadienne [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

GLP-604 Paul Robeson (w Winifred Harrison), Paul Robeson's Transatlantic Concert [La Gloria, New Zealand, 12” LP issue of 10T17] Ω ∆ (A side only)

GEP 305 Paul Robeson, The Best Of [La Gloria, EP, NZ; contains selections from GLP-604] Ω ∆  

12001Various: Songs Against the Bomb [Topic] Ω ∆ √

STOP101 The Galliards, Black and White b/w Bahnuah [Topic, 7"] Ω ∆

12T16 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, Chorus From the Gallows [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T16 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, Chorus From the Gallows [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

1961 

TOP60 Stan Kelly, Songs for Swinging Landlords To [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP60 Stan Kelly, Songs for Swinging Landlords To [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP64 The Tine Rozanc Ensemble, Yugoslav Dances [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ 

TOP66 A.L. Lloyd, All For Me Grog [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ø  ∫∫

1962 

TOP67 Ray & Archie Fisher, Far Over the Forth [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP68 Dolina MacLennan & Robin Gray, By Mormond Braes [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP69 The Liverpool Spinners, Songs Spun in Liverpool (Live) [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP69 The Liverpool Spinners, Songs Spun in Liverpool (Live) [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

TOP70 Davy Graham & Alexis Korner, 3/4 AD [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆  ƒ

TOP71 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, Gamblers & Sporting Blades [Topic, 7" EP] Ω

TOP72 Peggy Seeger, Troubled Love [Topic, 7" EP] Ω

TOP73 Peggy Seeger, Early in the Spring [Topic, EP] Ω

TOP74 Louis Killen Johnny Handle w Colin Ross, The Collier’s Rant [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP75 Louis Killen Johnny Handle w Colin Ross, Northumbrian Garland [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆

TOP76 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Ceilidh at the Crown [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

TOP77 Leon Rosselson, Songs for City Squares [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆

TOP78 Johnny Handle, Stottin Doon the Waall [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T79 Ewan MacColl w Peggy Seeger, The Jacobite Rebellions [Topic] Ω ∆

TOP81 Enoch Kent, The Butcher Boy [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

TOP82 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Songs of Protest [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆

TOP83 Bob Davenport and The Rakes, Wor Geordie [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T84 The Willett Family, The Roving Journeymen [Topic] Ω ∂ ƒ

TRA 105 Tony Britton & Isla Cameron, Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living [Transatlantic] ø

5808 Tony Britton & Isla Cameron, Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living [London, US issue] ø

TRA 106 Sheila Hancock with Sydney Carter, Putting Out the Dustbin [Transatlantic] ø

TRA 108 Cy Grant, Folk Songs & Cool Songs [Transatlantic] ø ƒ

TRA EP 114 Adrian Mitchell, Poems [Transatlantic EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

1963

TOP85 Dominic Behan, Peelers and Prisoners [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

WMA 101 The Massed Choirs of the Glasgow Socialist Singers and the Glasgow Y.C.L. Choir, The Internationale, The Red Flag b/w The Red Flag, England Arise [WMA, 7” EP] Ω ∆  ∫∫

12T86 Various: The Iron Muse [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

EKL 279 Various: The Iron Muse [Elektra, US issue] Ω

12T86 Various: The Iron Muse [Topic, reissue] Ω ∆

12T87 The McPeake Family, Irish Traditional Folk Songs & Music [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TOP89 Willie Clancy and Michael Gorman with Margaret Barry, Irish Pipe and Fiddle Tunes [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∂ ∫∫

12T91 Joe Heaney, Irish Traditional Songs in Gaelic & English [Topic] ∆ ƒ

TOP92 The McPeake Family, Wild Mountain Thyme [Topic, 7" EP] Ω ∆ ÷ ƒ

12T93 Jack Elliott,  Talking Woody Guthrie [Topic, reiss. of T5, together with TRC98 and one side of TRC103] ∆  ∫∫

TOP94 Anne Briggs, The Hazards of Love [Topic, 7” EP] ∆ ƒ

TOP95 Shirley Collins, Heroes in Love [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T96 Jeannie Robertson, The Great Scots Traditional Ballad Singer [Topic] Ω ∆ √

12T96 Jeannie Robertson, The Great Scots Traditional Ballad Singer [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TOP97 Judith Silver, The Summertime is Over [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

TOP 98 A.L. Lloyd, Ewan MacColl & Harry H. Corbett, Blow the Man Down [Topic, 7" EP]  ≠ ◊ 

TOP 99 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, A Hundred Years Ago [Topic, 7" EP]  ≠ ◊

TOP 100 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, The Coast of Peru [Topic, 7" EP]  ≠ ◊

TOP101 Dominic Behan, Dominic Takes the Floor [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆

F.11618 Sheila Hancock, My Last Cigarette b/w Landlord and Tenant [Decca, 7"] Ω ∂

TRA 107 Annie Ross & Tony Kinsey, Loguerhythms: Songs From The Establishment  [Transatlantic] ø

TRA EP 112 Annie Ross & Tony Kinsey, Go to the Wall [Transatlantic, 7" EP] ø

LK 4546 Various: Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol.1 [Decca] Ω

STOP 102 The Ian Campbell Group, The Sun is Burning b/w The Crow and the Cradle [Topic, 7”] Ω ∆

1964 

TRA 110 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, This Is The Ian Campbell Folk Group [Transatlantic] ∂ ƒ

EKL 268/EKS 7268 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, The Ian Campbell Folk Group [Elektra, US issue of TRA 110 with two songs omitted] ∂

LK 4563 Various: Edinburgh Folk Festival Vol.2 [Decca] Ω

TOP112 The Tine Rozanc Ensemble, Macedonian & Albanian Dances [Topic, 7” EP] Ω ∆

12T103 A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, English and Scottish Folk Ballads [Topic] Ω ∆

12T104 Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger, Steam Whistle Ballads [Topic] (contains selections from 10T13 and 10T25) † ƒ

12T105 Jack Elliott and Derroll Adams, Roll On Buddy [Topic] Ω ∆  ∫∫

12T106 Jack Elliott, Muleskinner [Topic] Ω ∆  ∫∫

FW 8501 Ewan MacColl and Dominic Behan, The Singing Streets [Folkways, US issue of 12T41] Ω ∆

12T110 Various: Farewell Nancy [Topic] Ω/∆

TRA 116 The Dubliners, The Dubliners [Transatlantic] Ω ƒ

SP 1 The Dubliners, The Wild Rover b/w Rocky Road to Dublin [Transatlantic, 7"] Ω

TRA 117 Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, Red Hot From Alex [Transatlantic] Ω ƒ

TRA 118 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Across the Hills  [Transatlantic] ≠ ƒ

TRA 120 Leon Rosselson et al, Vote For Us [Transatlantic] Ω

LK 4633 Various: Irish Folk Night [Decca] ∆

LL 3414 (mono), PS 414 (stereo) Various: Irish Folk Night [London, USA issue of LK 4633] ∆

12T113 Tom Paley & Peggy Seeger, Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

EKL 295 Tom Paley & Peggy Seeger, Who’s Going to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot? [Elektra, US issue of 12T113] Ω  ∆ ƒ

TPS114 Various: Topic Sampler No.1 Folk Songs - An Anthology [Topic] † 

STOP 115 Dominic Behan, The Patriot Game b/w Erin Go Brath [Topic, 7"] Ω ∆ 

1965 

12T117 Hedy West, Old Times & Hard Times [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T118 A.L. Lloyd, First Person [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA 111 Jean Hart, My Name Is Jean Hart And I Sing [Transatlantic] ø ƒ

[Record No.1] Billy Cooper, Walter Bulwer, Reg Hall, Daisy Bulwer, Mervyn Plunkett, Russell Wortley English Country Music [private pressing] Ω #

LK 4683 Various: Folk Now [Decca] † 

TRA EP 128 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, A Sample of... [Transatlantic, 7” EP] †

TRA SP 5 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, The Times They Are A Changin' b/w Across the Hills [Transatlantic, 7”] ∂

TRA 125 Bert Jansch, Bert Jansch [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1001 New Lost City Ramblers, New Lost City Ramblers [Xtra] ÷

XTRA 1004 Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee, Big Bill Broonzy, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee [Xtra] ÷  

XTRA 1006 Pete Seeger & Big Bill Broony, In Concert [Xtra] ÷

XTRA 1007 Art Tatum, Art Tatum [Xtra] ÷

XTRA 1008 Memphis Slim, Memphis Slim [Xtra] ÷

TRA SP 6 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Come Kiss Me Love b/w The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face [Transatlantic, 7”] ≠ 

12T120 The Campbell Family, The Singing Campbells [Topic] Ω ∆

12T122 Lou Killen, Tom Gilfellon, Johnny Handle, Maureen Craik, Colin Ross, Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T123 Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, Her Mantle So Green [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T123 Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, Her Mantle So Green [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T125 Harry Boardman, Maureen Craik, The Waterson Family, New Voices  [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T126 Louis Killen, Ballads and Broadsides [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T128 Archie Fisher, Ray Fisher, Robin Gray, Enoch Kent, Dolina MacLennan, Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn [Topic, gathers TOP67 and TOP81 with other material of Scottish origin] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T128 Archie Fisher, Ray Fisher, Robin Gray, Enoch Kent, Dolina MacLennan, Bonny Lass Come O’er the Burn [Topic] Ω ∆

12T130 Ewan MacColl w Peggy Seeger, Bundook Ballads [Topic, expanded reiss. of 10T26] Ω †

12T133 Gordeanna McCulloch, Norman Kennedy, The Exiles, New Voices from Scotland [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T134 Jesse Fuller, Move On Down the Line [Topic] ø (side 1 only)  ∫∫

12T138 The Stewart Family, The Stewarts of Blair [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T139 Paddy Tunney, A Wild Bee’s Nest [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA EP 128 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, A Sample Of [Transatlantic, 7” EP] †

TRA EP 129 The Dubliners, A Sample of The Dubliners [Transatlantic, 7" EP] Ω † ƒ

1966

12T135 A.L. Lloyd, Anne Briggs, Frankie Armstrong, Bird in the Bush [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T136 The Watersons, Frost and Fire [Topic] Ω ∆ V

EKS-7321 The Watersons, Frost and Fire [Elektra, US issue] Ω ∆

12T137 The Fisher Family, The Fisher Family [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T142 The Watersons, The Watersons [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T143 The Exiles, Freedom, Come All Ye [Topic] Ω ∆  

TPS145 Various: Topic Sampler No.2 Folk Songs - An Anthology [Topic] † ÷

TRA 142 The Young Tradition, The Young Tradition [Transatlantic] Ω ƒ

TRA 143 Bert Jansch, Jack Orion [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T146 Hedy West, Pretty Saro [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T147 Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger, The Manchester Angel [Topic] Ω ∆  ∫∫

12T150 Fred Jordan, Songs of a Shropshire Farmworker [Topic] Ω ∆

12T151 Isabel Sutherland, Vagrant Songs of Scotland [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T153 Paddy Tunney, Arthur Kearney, Frank Kelly, Joe Tunney, Ireland Her Own [Topic] Ω ∆ 

BY 6029 Leon Rosselson, Songs for Sceptical Circles [Bounty] (re-recorded and issued under the same title in 1970 on Acorn CF 206) Ω ∆

TRA EP 109 Isla Cameron, Lost Love [Transatlantic, 7" EP] (extracted from TRA 105) ø

12T165 Paddy Tunney, The Irish Edge [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TPS166 Various: Topic Sampler No.3 Men At Work [Topic] † ÷

12T167 The Watersons, A Yorkshire Garland [Topic] Ω ∆

TPS 168 Various: Topic Sampler No.4 From Erin’s Green Shore [Topic] † 

XTRA 1031 Various: The Best of British Folk [Xtra] † 

TRA SP 7 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Guantanamera b/w Mary Anne [Transatlantic, 7”] ∂

TRA 144 Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, Bert and John [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA 149 John Renbourn, Another Monday [Transatlantic]  Ω ƒ

TRA EP 145 Bert Jansch, Needle of Death [Transatlantic, 7" EP] † ƒ

VSD 79212 Bert Jansch, Lucky Thirteen [Vanguard, US issue] †

TRA EP 146 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Four Highland Songs [Transatlantic, 7” EP] ∂

XTRA 1042 Tony Britton & Isla Cameron, Songs of Love, Lust and Loose Living [Xtra, reissue of TRA 105] ø

XTRA 1047 Various: The Mike Raven Blues Show [Xtra] ≠ ƒ

XTRA 1049 Annie Ross, With the Tony Kinsey Quartet [Xtra, reissue of TRA 107] ø ƒ

WLP 711 Ewan MacColl, British Army Songs [Washington, USA, reiss. of RLP 12-642] Ω †

1967 

TPS 169 Various: Topic Sampler No.5 A Prospect of Scotland [Topic] †

12T163 Hedy West, Ballads [Topic] Ω ∆ §

BY 6040 Jimmy Power, Irish Dances [Bounty] Ω

233 003 Jimmy Power, Irish Dances [Clan, reiss, of Bounty BY 6040] Ω

VRS 9246/VSD-79246 The Young Tradition, The Young Tradition [Vanguard, US, a compilation of TRA 142 and TRA 155] Ω ƒ † 

XTRA 1053 Various: The Best of Scottish Folk Music  [Xtra] †

12T164 The Exiles, The Hale & The Hanged [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

FSA-32 Hedy West, Old Times & Hard Times [Folk-Legacy, US issue of 12T117] Ω ∆

TRA 154 Dave & Toni Arthur, Morning Stands on Tiptoe [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA 155 The Young Tradition, So Cheerfully Round [Transatlantic] Ω ƒ

TRA 159 The Glenside Ceili Band, All-Ireland Champions, Fleadh Ceoil, 1966 [Transatlantic] ∆

TRA 160 The Grehan Sisters, On the Galtymore Mountains  [Transatlantic] Ω ƒ

TRA SP 14 The Grehan Sisters, Save the Old Home b/w Victoria [Transatlantic, 7"] Ω

7N 17251 The Tinkers, Carrickfergus b/w Sean South (of Garryowen) [Pye, 7"] ø

12T170 Shirley Collins, The Sweet Primeroses [Topic] Ω ƒ

12T172 Frank Harte, Dublin Street Songs [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

BY-6030 Dave Swarbrick, Rags, Reels & Airs [Bounty] Ω

236514 Dave Swarbrick, Rags, Reels & Airs [Polydor, reiss of BY-6030] Ω

583 009 Javier Márquez, Variations in Classic Flamenco [Polydor] Ω

236 541/2/3 Various: The Soul of Spain [Polydor, 3 LP box set contains reissue of 583 009] Ω †

XTRA 1056 John Pearse, John Pearse [Xtra] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA SP 13 John Pearse, Guitar Train (Theme from 'Hold Down a Chord') b/w You Were On My Mind [Transatlantic, 45] Ω ∆

XTRA 1058 Frank Shaw & Dick Williams, Gospels in Scouse [Xtra] Ω ∆  ƒ

BIG 103 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Private Harold Harris b/w Lover Let Me In [Big T, 7"] ∆

TRS 2 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Private Harold Harris b/w Lover Let Me In [Transatlantic, Rhodesia, 7"] ∆

12T175 Willie Clancy, The Minstrel From Clare [Topic] Ω ∆

TRA158 The Dubliners, The Best of The Dubliners [Transatlantic] †

1968

XTRA 1061 Ian & Lorna Campbell, The Cock Doth Craw [Xtra] ∆

12T176 Various: Paddy in the Smoke [Topic] Ω ƒ

12T176 Various: Paddy in the Smoke [Topic] Ω ~

12T177 Seán Mac Donnchadha, Pádraic Catháin, Tomás O Neachtain Feichín O Connluain, Grand Airs of Connemara [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1060 Peter Bellamy, Mainly Norfolk [Xtra] Ω ∆

12T179 The Stewart Family, The Travelling Stewarts [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1070 Archie Fisher, Archie Fisher [Xtra] ∆ ƒ

FW 8756 Ewan MacColl, Songs of Two Rebellions [Folkways, US issue of 12T79, replacing 'Maclean's Welcome' with 'The Wee, Wee German Lairdie'] Ω

TRA SP 20 The Grehan Sisters, Cricklewood b/w God Save Ireland [Transatlantic, 7"] Ω

TRA SAM 1 Various: Here’s to the Irish Vol.1 [Transatlantic] †

12T180 Various: Back O’ Benachie - Songs and Ballads from the Lowlands of Scotland [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T181 Various: Festival at Blairgowrie [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T183 Willie Scott, The Shepherd’s Song [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T184 Various: The Breeze From Erin [Topic] Ω ∆

12T186 The High Level Ranters, Northumberland For Ever [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TLP 2059 Ewan MacColl with Peggy Seeger, The Manchester Angel [Tradition, USA issue of 12T147] Ω ∆  ∫∫

VSD 6506 Bert Jansch & John Renbourn, Stepping Stones [Vanguard, US issue of TRA 144] Ω ∆ 

TRA SP 18 Matt McGinn, I Have Seen the Highlands b/w I’ll Be Coming Home to Glasgow [Transatlantic, 7"] ◊ ("Never heard it before.")  

XTRA 1073 Watt Nicoll, Watt is a Four Letter Word [Xtra] Ω ∆ ƒ

SFL 13061 Roy & Val Bailey w Leon Rosselson, Oats & Beans & Kangaroos [Fontana] ∆

SFJL 971 The Dundonald, Scots Wha Hae Nae [Fontana] Ω ∆

TRA 168 Finbar & Eddie Furey, Finbar & Eddie Furey [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ ÷ 

TRA 170 Sweeney’s Men, Sweeney’s Men [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ

TRA 171 Adrian Mitchell & Leon Rosselson, A Laugh, A Song and a Hand-Grenade [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

SFXL55 Various: The Big Folk [Fontana] †

TRA 172 The Young Tradition, Galleries [Transatlantic] ∆

TRA 175 Gordon Giltrap, Gordon Giltrap [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TRA EP 164  The Young Tradition, Chicken On a Raft [Transatlantic, 7" EP] Ω ∆ ƒ

201028 John Pearse, Guitar Train [Metronome, German issue of TRA 1056] Ω ∆

12T188 Various: Deep Lancashire [Topic] Ω ∆ 

12T189 Louis Killen, Johnny Handle & Colin Ross, Along the Coaly Tyne [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

12T190 Dave & Toni Arthur, The Lark in the Morning [Topic] Ω ƒ

1969 

TRA SP 19 Sweeney’s Men, Sullivan’s John b/w Rattlin’ Roarin’ Willy [Transatlantic, 7"] ∆ 

12T185 Lizzie Higgins, Princess of the Thistle [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1072 John Pearse & Dick Poons, One More City [Xtra] ∆ ƒ÷ 

12T191 The Batish Family, North Indian Folk and Classical Music [Topic] ∆

XTRA 1075 Peter Bellamy, Fair England’s Shore [Xtra] Ω ∆

XTRA 1077 Finbar Furey, Traditional Irish Pipe Music [Xtra] ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1076 Stan Kelly,  Oh Liverpool We Love You [Xtra] Ω ∆ ƒ

XTRA 1078 Matt McGinn, Little Ticks of Time [Xtra] ◊ 

TRA SAM 4 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Sampler [Transatlantic] † ƒ

TRA SAM 5 Various: The Milke Raven Blues Sampler [Transatlantic] ≠ ƒ

SING 1001 Terry Gould, Several Kinds of Loving [Sing] ∆ #

XTRA 1084 Don Bilston, Farewell to Steam [Xtra] Ω ∆  §

TRA 186 The Humblebums, First Collection of Merry Melodies [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ

BIG 122 The Humblebums, Saturday Roundabout Sunday b/w Bed of Mossy Green [Big T, 7"] ∆ 

XTRA 1094 Hamish Imlach, Ballads of Booze [Xtra] ∆ #

TRA 191 Finbar & Eddie Furey, The Lonesome Boatman [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ ÷ 

TRA 202 Gordon Giltrap, Portrait [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ ƒ

H-2016 The Westland Steel Band, The Sound of the Sun [Nonesuch] ∆

TRA SAM 7 Alexis Korner’s All Stars, Blues Incorporated [Transatlantic, reissue of TRA 117] Ω ƒ

201.007 Alexis Korner, This Is Alexis Korner [Metronome, German issue of TRA 117) Ω

TRA SAM 10 Bert Jansch, The Bert Jansch Sampler [Transatlantic] † ƒ

TRA SAM 11 Various: Here’s to the Irish Vol.2 [Transatlantic] † V

TRA SAM 12 Ian Campbell Folk Group, Sampler Vol.2 [Transatlantic] † ƒ

TRA SAM 13 The Young Tradition, Sampler [Transatlantic] (contains the whole of TRAEP 164) Ω ƒ

TRA SAM 14 Various: The Contemporary Guitar Sampler Vol.1 [Transatlantic] †

LEA 4001 Jack Elliott, Jack Elliott of Birtley [Leader] ∆ §

LER 3002 Archie Fisher and Barbara Dickson, The Fate O’ Charlie [Trailer] Ω ∆ ÷ 

TRA 200 Sweeney’s Men, The Tracks of Sweeney [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ

TRA 201 The Humblebums, The Humblebums [Transatlantic] ∆

LST-7636 The Humblebums, The Humblebums [Liberty, US issue of TRA 201] ∆

BIG 127 The Humblebums, Coconut Tree b/w Her Father Didn’t Like Me Anyway [Big T, 7"] ∆ 

LEA 2003 Seamus Heaney, Seaumus Heaney [Leader]  Ω ∆ 

LEA 2004 Martin Byrnes, Martin Byrnes [Leader]  Ω ∆ 

LER 2007 The High Level Ranters, The Lads of Northumbria [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

1970 

TRA SAM 15 Various: The Contemporary Guitar Sampler Vol.2 [Transatlantic] †

TRA SAM 14/15 Various: Superb Super Guitar Session [Transatlantic, Fr., 2 LP issue of TRA SAM 14 & TRA SAM 15] †

TRA SAM 17 Various: The Great Scots Sampler Vol.1 [Transatlantic] †

TRA SAM 20 John Renbourn, Sampler [Transatlantic] † ƒ

TRA SAM 21 Various: The Great Scots Sampler Vol.2 [Transatlantic] †

VSD-6544 Bert Jansch, Jack Orion [Vanguard, USA issue of TRA 143] Ω ∆ 

LEA 2005 Seamus Tansey, Seamus Tansey [Leader] Ω ∂ §

LER 2009 Martyn Wyndham-Read, Ned Kelly & That Gang [Trailer] Ω ∆ §

LER 2011 Robin and Barry Dransfield, The Rout of the Blues [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

LER 1 Dave and Toni Arthur, Bushes and Briars b/w Laszlo Feher [Trailer, 7"] Ω ∆

TRA SP 21 Stan Kelly,  Ballad of Armagh Jail b/w Kelly From Killane [Transatlantic, 7"] ◊ (produced by Nathan Joseph and not Bill Leader, despite the label credit)

 2870 314 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, Presenting the Ian Campbell Folk Group[Contour] (reissue of TRA 110) ø ƒ

TRA 218 The Humblebums, Open Up The Door [Transatlantic] ∆ ƒ

LST-7656 The Humblebums, Open Up The Door [Liberty, USA issue] ∆ ƒ

BIG 130 The Humblebums, Shoeshine Boy b/w My Apartment [Big T, 7"] ∆

ST 6195 The Humblebums, Shoeshine Boy b/w My Apartment [Start Records, Belgium, 7"] ∆

5C 006-91384 M The Humblebums, Shoeshine Boy b/w My Apartment [Stateside, Netherlands, 7"] ∆

A 7167 The Humblebums, Shoeshine Boy b/w My Apartment [Astor, Australia, 7"] ∆

UAST 7216 The Humblebums,  I Can't Stop Now (mono) b/w I Can't Stop Now (stereo) [United Artists, 7"] Ω

TRA 223 Stefan Grossman, The Ragtime Cowboy Jew [Transatlantic, 2 LPs] ∆

BIG 133 Stefan Grossman, A Pretty Little Tune b/w Little Sally Walker [Big T, 7"] ∆

TRA 224 John Renbourn, The Lady and the Unicorn [Transatlantic] ∆

RS 6407 John Renbourn, The Lady and the Unicorn [Reprise] ∆ (US issue) 

TRA 226 Mr Fox, Mr Fox [Transatlantic] ∆

BIG 135 Mr Fox, Little Woman b/w Join Us in Our Game [Big T, 7"] ∆ 

TRA 228 Pentangle, Cruel Sister [Transatlantic] ∆ 

RS 6430  Pentangle, Cruel Sister [Reprise] ∆ (US issue)

 CL 3 Various: Fleadh Cheoil NahÉireann Lios Tuathail 1970 [Comhaltas Ceoltóiri Éireann] †

LEA 4012 Various: Blue Ridge Mountain Field Trip [Leader] ∑ §

LER 2013 Tony Rose, Young Hunting [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

LER 2014 Nic Jones, Ballads and Songs [Trailer] Ω ∆  § π

LER 2019 Various: The Folk Trailer [Trailer] Ω ∆  # §

LER 2020 The High Level Ranters, Keep Your Feet Still Geordie Hinnie [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

1971 

LEA 4006 Billy Pigg, The Border Minstrel [Leader] ∆ ≠ §

LER 3008 Bob Davenport and the Marsden Rattlers, Bob Davenport and the Marsden Rattlers [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 3010 Lea Nicholson, Horsemusic [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

LER 3015 Leon Rosselson with Martin Carthy & Roy Bailey, The Word is Hugga Mugga Chugga Lugga

Humbugga Boom Chit [Trailer] ∑ §

LER 3016 Bob & Carole Pegg, He Came From the Mountains [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2017 Dave and Toni Arthur, Hearken to the Witches Rune [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

LER 3018 Rosemary Hardman & Bob Axford, Second Season Came [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

TPS201 Various: Topic Sampler No.6 Ballads & Broadsides [Topic] † (8/12)

12T202 Seán Mac Donnchadha, Pádraic Catháin, Tomás O Neachtain, Feichín O Connluain, More Grand Airs From Connemara [Topic] Ω ∆ ƒ

TPS205 Various: Topic Sampler No.7 Sea Songs & Shanties [Topic] † V

TRA 236 Mr Fox, The Gipsy [Transatlantic] ∆

TRA 240 Pentangle, Reflection [Transatlantic] ∆

TRA 247 John Renbourn, Faro Annie [Transatlantic] ∆ §

TRA 235 Bert Jansch, Rosemary Lane [Transatlantic] Ω ∆

ILPS 9153 Tír na nÓg, Tír na nÓg [Chrysalis] ∆

XTRA 1121 Hamish Imlach, Old Rarity [Xtra] ∆   

LER 3021 Roy Bailey, Roy Bailey [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 3022 Aly Bain & Mike Whellans, Aly Bain - Mike Whellans [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

LER 2024 Tony Rose, Under the Greenwood Tree [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2025 Pisces, Pisces [Trailer] ∑ §

LER 2026 Robin and Barry Dransfield, Lord Of All I Behold [Trailer] Ω ∆ §

LER 2027 Nic Jones, Nic Jones [Trailer] Ω ∆  § π

LER 2028 Martyn Wyndham-Read, Martyn Wyndham-Read [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2029 Dave Burland, A Dalesman’s Litany [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2030 The High Level Ranters, High Level [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

IDLP-1-1/1-2 Various: El Pea [Island, 2 LPs] † 

H7-11 Various: The Nonesuch Explorer – Music from Distant Corners of the World [Nonesuch, 2 LPs] † 

LEAB 404 The Copper Family, A Song For Every Season [Trailer, box set] Ω ∆  §

1972 

LER 2023 Derek & Dorothy Elliott, Derek & Dorothy Elliott [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 3031 Keith Roberts, Pier of the Realm [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2033 John Kirkpatrick, Jump at the Sun [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 3034 Roger Nicholson, Nonesuch for Dulcimer [Trailer] Ω ∆

LER 2038 Ray Fisher, The Bonny Birdy [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2039 Mike Harding, A Lancashire Lad [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LEA 4040 Tex Isley, Ray Craig & The North Carolina Ramblers, North Carolina Boys [Leader] ∑ §

LEA 4041 Charlie Wills, Charlie Wills [Leader] Ω ∆  §

LEA 2043 John Doonan, Flute for the Feis [Leader] Ω ∆ § 

2383 160  Barry Dransfield, Barry Dransfield [Polydor] Ω ∆

LEA 2044 The Coleman Country Traditional Society, Music from The Coleman County [Leader] ∑ §

ZFB 37 Peter Bellamy with Louis Killen, Won't You Go My Way [Argo] # (back cover photo)

LEA 4050 Joseph Taylor, Unto Brigg Fair [Leader] ∑ §

LEA 4055 Various: Folk Ballads from Donegal and Derry [Leader] ∑ §

TRA SAM 23 Pentangle, History Book [Transatlantic] † ƒ

TRA/SAD 18/19 Various: Heads & Tales [Transatlantic, 2 LPs] †

2870 313 Various: Best of British Folk [Contour] † ◊ (erroneously gives Leader credit for 'History of Football', by Hamish Imlach)

2870 315 Various: The Exciting World of Transatlantic [Contour] †

LED 2067 The Copper Family, A Song For Every Season [Trailer, sampler] Ω ∆  §

LER 2072 Dick Gaughan, No More Forever [Trailer] Ω ∆  § π

LER 2073 Al O’Donnell, Al O’Donnell [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2074 Alistair Anderson, Plays English Concertina [Trailer] Ω ∂  §

LER 2075 Rosie Hardman, Firebird [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LES 2076 Mike and Lal Waterson, Bright Phoebus [Trailer] ∆  § π

BIG 507 Mike & Lal Waterson, Rubber Band b/w Red Wine & Promises [Transatlantic, 7"] ∆ 

LER 2077 Pete & Chris Coe, Open the Door & Let Us In [Trailer] ≠ §

LER 2078 Vin Garbutt, The Valley of Tees [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2079 Tom Gilfellon, Loving Mad Tom [Trailer] ∆  §

LER 2082 Dave Burland, Dave Burland [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 3035 Christy Moore, Prosperous [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

TARA 1000 Christy Moore, Prosperous [Tara Records, Irish issue] Ω ∆ # §

LER 3036 Tim Lyons, The Green Linnet [Trailer] Ω ∆ # §

TRA SAM 27 Bert Jansch, Box of Love: Sampler Vol.2 [Transatlantic] †

1973 

LER 3032 Swan Arcade, Swan Arcade [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2037 The High Level Ranters, A Mile to Ride [Trailer]  Ω ∆  §

LEE 4062 John Maguire, Come Day, Go Day, God Send Sunday [Leader] ∑ §

LEA 4042 George Dunn, George Dunn [Leader] Ω ∆  §

LED 2053 Various: Virginia Reel - Fiddle & Banjo Tunes [Leader] ∑ §

TRA SAM 28 John Renbourn, So Clear: Sampler Vol.2 [Transatlantic] †

TRA SAM 29 Pentangle, Pentangling [Transatlantic] †

TRA SAM 30 The Young Tradition, Galleries Revisited [Transatlantic] (reissue of TRA 172) ∆

TRA SAM 31 Hamish Imlach, All Round Entertainer [Transatlantic] †

TRA SAM 32 Billy Connolly, Words and Music [Transatlantic] †

LER 2080 The Taverners, Blowing Sands [Trailer] ∑

12T218 Frank Harte, Through Dublin City [Topic] Ω ∆

TPSS221 Various: Topic Sampler No. 8 English Garland [Topic] † (4/15)

LED 2051 Jimmy Power, Tony Ledwith, Tom Power, Paul Gross, Reg Hall, Irish Music from The Favourite [Leader] Ω ∆  

LEA 2052 Da Forty Fiddlers, Cullivoe Traditional Players, Tom Anderson, Aly Bain, Shetland Fiddlers [Leader] Ω ∆  §

LER 2081 Vin Garbutt, The Young Tin Whistle Pest [Trailer] Ω §

LER 2083 Jon Raven, Tony Rose, Nic Jones, Songs of a Changing World [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2084 Marie Little, Marie Little [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2085 Muckram Wakes, Map of Derbyshire [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2086 The Boys of the Lough, The Boys of the Lough  [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2088 Bob Davenport, Pal of My Cradle Days [Trailer] Ω ∆

VTS 21 Chris Thompson, Chris Thompson [Village Thing] †

SPA 307 Various: The World of Folk Vol.2 [Argo] †

1974 

LEE 4065 Various: A People’s Carol [Leader] Ω  §

LER 2090 The Boys of The Lough, Second Album [Trailer] ∆  §

JSS-13 Alexis Korner's All Stars, Blues Incorporated [Just Sunshine, US issue of TRA 117] Ω 

H-72048 Finbar Furey, The Irish Pipes of Finbar Furey [Nonesuch, US issue of XTRA 1077] ∆ ÷ 

H-72059 Finbar & Eddie Furey, Irish Pipe Music [Nonesuch, US compilation of TRA 168 and TRA 191] ∆ ÷

EC001 Various: North By North East [Evening Chronicle] †

12TS227 Various: Wild Hills O’ Wannie - The Small Pipes of Northumbria [Topic] Ω †

12TS240 Various: Boscastle Breakdown - Southern English Country Music [Topic] Ω †

XTRA 1144 Various: If It Was'nae For Your Wellies [Xtra] †

DALP 2/1958 Various: Irish Folk Scene [Transatlantic, 2 LPs, Gmny] † 

1975 

LET SAM 2087 Various: Our Folk Music Heritage [Trailer] Ω

LER 2089 Peter Bellamy, Tell It Like It Was [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LEA 4045 Lonnie Austin & Norman Woodlieff, Lonnie Austin & Norman Woodlieff [Leader] ∑ §

LEE 4054 Cecilia Costello, Cecilia Costello [Leader] ∑ §

FOLK 1001 Various: Electric Muse - The Story of Folk Into Rock [Island/Transatlantic, 4 LPs] † 

TRA 303 Mr Fox, The Complete Mr Fox [Transatlantic, 2 LP reissue of TRA 226 and TRA 236] ∆

LED 2063 Walter Pardon, A Proper Sort [Leader] Ω ∆  # § ÷

LED 2071 The Rakes, The Rakes [Leader] Ω ∆  § ÷

CF 249 Leon Rosselson, Palaces of Gold [Acorn Records; reiss. on Fuse Records CF 249 in 1979] ÷ 

LEE 4056 The Holme Valley Beagles, A Fine Hunting Day [Leader] Ω ∆  §

LEE 4057 Various: Far Canadian Fields [Leader] ∑ §

LER 2092 Martyn Wyndham-Read, Maypoles to Mistletoe [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

1976

LER 2093 Muckram Wakes, Muckram Wakes [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LED 2068 Stephen Baldwin, English Village Fiddler [Leader] ∑ §

12T296 Billy Cooper, Walter Bulwer, Reg Hall, et al. English Country Music (Topic, reissue] Ω #

LED 2070 Eddie Butcher, Shamrock, Rose & Thistle [Leader] ∑ §

12T44 Dominic Behan w John Hasted, Easter Week and After [Topic, reissue] Ω ∆ 

LER 2094 Roger Nicholson, Jake Walton & Andrew Cronshaw, Times and Traditions for Dulcimer [Trailer] Ω ∆

LER 2095 Cyril Tawney, Down Among the Barley Straw [Trailer] ∑ §

LER 2096 Tommy Dempsey & John Swift, Green Grow the Laurel [Trailer] ∑  §

LER 2098 Pete and Chris Coe, Out of Season, Out of Rhyme [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2099 Martin Simpson, Golden Vanity [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2100 Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise, Balcanquhal [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2101 Tony Rose, Banks of Green Willow [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2102 Vin Garbutt, King Gooden [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

FS 107 Various: The Second Folk Review Record [Folksound] Ω

LER 2106 Jean Redpath, There Were Minstrels [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

9286 143 Mike Harding, One Man Show [2 LPs, Philips] Ω

SIF 1002 Peter Bellamy, The Barrack Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling  [Green Linnet] Ω

TRA324 Various: Folk Festival [Transatlantic, 2LP] †

1977 

LED 2060 John J. Kimmel, Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Dance Music[Leader] ∑ §

FRR 014 Peter Bellamy, The Barrack-Room Ballads of Rudyard Kipling [Free Reed] Ω

MU 7428 Swan Arcade, Matchless [Stoof Records] ø

LER 2091 Nic Jones, The Noah’s Ark Trap [Trailer] Ω ∆  § π

LER 2097 Bill Caddick, Sunny Memories [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2103 Dick Gaughan, Kist of Gold [Trailer] Ω ∆  § π

LER 2104 Andrew Cronshaw, Earthed in Cloud Valley [Trailer] Ω ∆ π 

LREP 1 Andrew Cronshaw, Cloud Valley [Trailer, 7" EP] Ω

LER 2105 Various: Fylde Acoustic [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LER 2108 Peter Bond, It’s All Right for Some [Trailer] Ω ∆  §

LED 2111 Walter Pardon, Our Side of the Baulk [Leader] Ω ∆  §

LEA 2069 The Beresford Band, Yorkshire Dales Dance Night [Leader] Ω ∆  §

12T319 Bob Smith's Ideal Band, Ideal Music [Topic] º

XTRA 1171 Various: Rosin The Bow [Xtra] †

TRA SAM 37 Sweeney’s Men, Sweeney’s Men [Transatlantic] (reissue) ∆

TRA SAM 40 Sweeney’s Men, The Tracks of Sweeney [Transatlantic] (reissue) ∆

1978 

LTRA 501 Al O’Donnell, Vol.2 [Transatlantic] Ω ∆  §

LTRA 502 Various: The Dulcimer Players [Transatlantic] Ω ∆  §

LTRA 503 Christopher Jones, No More Range to Roam [Transatlantic] Ω ∂

TS-38005 Christopher Jones, Sin Campos Que Cabalgar [Transatlantic, Sp. issue of LTRA 503] Ω ∂ 

LTRA 504 Bandoggs, Bandoggs [Transatlantic] Ω ∆  § π

LTRA 505 Various: First o’ t’ sort [Transatlantic] ∑ §

LTRA 506 Mick Ryan and Jon Burge, Fair Was the City [Transatlantic] Ω ∆  §

LTRA 507 Nic Jones, From the Devil to a Stranger [Transatlantic] Ω ∆ § π

LTRA 508 Andrew Cronshaw, Wade in the Flood [Transatlantic] Ω ∆

6641 798 Mike Harding, Captain Paralytic & The Brown Ale Cowboy [dbl, Philips] ≠

FMP 1 Bob Pegg, The Werewolf of Old Chapeltown b/w The Chapeltown Hawk [Full Moon Records, 7"] Ω ∆ 

LTRA 511 Mick Linnard & David Hughes, Russell Square [Transatlantic] Ω ∆  §

SRCR 101 Various: Mrs Casey’s Choice [Rocking Chair Records] †

TRS 107 The Humblebums, The Humblebums [Transatlantic] (reissue. of TRA 201) ∆

TRA T 288  The Humblebums, The Humblebums Complete [Transatlantic] (3 LP reissue. of TRA186, TRA  201, TRA
218)

MOGO 4002 Gerry Rafferty, Gerry Rafferty [Logo] (collects the Gerry Rafferty tracks from The New Humblebums and Open Up the Door) ∆ †

VISA 7006 Gerry Rafferty, Gerry Rafferty [Visa] (US issue of MOGO 4002) ∆ †

HD001 Landini Consort, Nowell Nowell [Hill and Dale] Ω ∆

HD 002 Gordon Tyrrall, Farewell to Foggy Hills [Hill & Dale] Ω ∆

12TS368 John Doonan, At the Feis [Topic] Ω ∆

MTRA 2001 Various: Transatlantic - The Vintage Years Vol.1 [Transatlantic] †

MTRA 2003 Various: Transatlantic - The Vintage Years Vol.3: Best of Scottish Folk [Transatlantic] †

MTRA 2004 Various: Transatlantic - The Vintage Years Vol.4: Best of The Blues [Transatlantic] †

MTRA 2005 Various: Transatlantic - The Vintage Years Vol.5: Best of English Folk [Transatlantic] †

MTRA 2006 The Humblebums, The Humblebums [Transatlantic, reissue of TRA 201] ∆

MTRA 2007 Bert Jansch, Anthology [Transatlantic] †

1979 

SHY 7006 Bill Caddick, Reasons Briefely Set Downe by th’ Author, to Perswade Every One to Sing [Highway Records] Ω ∆

SHY 7007 Pete and Chris Coe, Game of All Fours [Highway] # (back cover photo)

SHY 7008 Peter Bond, See Me Up, See Me Down  [Highway] Ω ∆

6625 041 Mike Harding, Komic Kutz [dbl, Philips] ≠

MTRA 2010 The Dubliners, Anthology [Transatlantic] †

LER 3002 Archie Fisher and Barbara Dickson, The Fate O’ Charlie [Highway/Trailer, reiss. of LER 3002 with new sleeve design] Ω ∆ π

KM/TRA 334 Bert Jansch, Best Of [Kicking Mule/Transatlantic, USA] †

MTRA 2015 Stefan Grossman, Anthology [Transatlantic] † ◊

HD 003 The Aire Valley Singers, Out of the Aire [Hill and Dale] Ω ∆

HD 004 Plexus, Life Up the Creek [Hill and Dale] ∑

1980 

HD 004 Tony & Jenny Reavill, Revelation [Hill & Dale] Ω ∆

GVR 209 The McCalmans, The Ettrick Shepherd [Greenwich Village] Ω

TPL 0001 Frankie Armstrong, Kathy Henderson, Sandra Kerr, Alison McMorland, My Song Is My Own [The Plane Label] Ω

GEB 8751 Gill Burns, A Loan At Last [Nosuch] Ω ∆

ESL 1 Ecclesfield School Concert Band, Overture For Band [Ecclesfeldian] Ω

0044.014 Alexis Korner, The Original [Transatlantic, reissue of TRA 117] Ω  

1981 

CF381 Leon Rosselson, For the Good of the Nation [Fuse] Ω ∆

HD 006 Arthur Howard, Merry Mountain Child [Hill & Dale] ∑

SFA 106 Dick & Sue Miles, The Dunmow Flitch [Sweet Folk & Country] Ω

DIN 316 Carolyn Robson, Banks of Tyne [Dingle’s] Ω

GVR 223 The Wilson Family, Jim & Anni Mageean, Alan Fitzsimmons, Benny Graham, Aall Tegithor Like the Foaks O'Shields [Greenwich Village] Ω

DIN 312 Pyewackett, Pyewackett [Dingle’s] Ω

HD 008 Bluewater Folk, A Lancashire Life [Hill & Dale] ∑

HD 009 Bluewater Folk, Waiting For One b/w Lancashire Wakes [Hill & Dale, 7"] ∑

RCM 001 Members of the Royal College of Midwives (Leeds & District Branch), Vita Donum Dei b/w The Holy Infant - Jesus [RCM, 7"] Ω

1982

HD 101 Kings Korner Band, March Past [private pressing] Ω

B004D88UAC Robert Graves I, Claudius read by Derek Jacobi [Argo, 2 cassettes] Ω 

GVR 211 Jim Couza, Brightest & Best [Greenwich Village] Ω

GVR 218 Tundra, Songs From Greenwich [Greenwich Village] Ω

ESL 2 Various: High Spirits - Music at Ecclesfield School [Ecclesfeldian] Ω

SHY 7020 Kitsyke Will, Devil’s Ride [Highway] Ω ∆

DEROY 1462 Mike Slater, I’m In a Dancing Mood [Deroy] Ω

CF 382 Roy Bailey, Hard Times [Fuse Records] Ω

CR 052 Various: Best of British Folk [Cambra, 2 LP compilation of Transatlantic recordings] †

CR 055 Various: Contemporary Folk Guitar [Cambra, 2LP compilation of Transatlantic recordings] †

CR 056 Bert Jansch and John Renbourn, Renbourn and Jansch [Cambra, 2LP compilation of Transatlantic recordings] †

CM007 Archie Fisher, Archie Fisher [Celtic Music, reissue of XTRA 1070] ∆ ƒ ¡

1983

CRO 205 Allan Taylor, Circle Round Again [Black Crow] Ω 

HD 012 The Slaughterhouse Seven/Wet Look String Vest Band, By Popular Request [private pressing] Ω 

1984

SCM 005 Various – Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais [Le Chasse-Marée, France, 2 LPs] †

1985

HD 851 Holme Valley Tradition, Bright Rosy Morning [Hill & Dale] Ω ∆

1986 

LEA 2006 Billy Pigg, The Border Minstrel [Highway Records, mysterious reissue of LEA 4006]  ∆ ≠ §

ORL 8654 John Renbourn, The Lady and the Unicorn [Transatlantic] ∆ (reissue of TRA 224)

0886909945 Robert Graves I, Claudius read by Derek Jacobi [Newman Communications, 2 cassettes, reissue of B004D88UAC] Ω

1987 

TRA 602 Pentangle, Essential Pantangle Vol.1: Let No Man Steal Your Thyme [Transatlantic] † 

CCSLP 165 Finbar & Eddie Furey, The Collection [Castle Communications, 2 LP compilation culled from XTRA 1077, TRA 168 and TRA 191] †

BRAD 001 Various: We Singers Make Bold [RSLJ] Ω ∆

IT47 Various: Just a Mish Mash [In Tape: including Implied Consent, ‘Resident Rat’] †

TRA 603 John Renbourn, Essential Vol. 1: The Soho Years [Transatlantic, LP & CD] † 

TRA 604 Bert Jansch, Essential Vol. 1: Strolling Down the Highway [Transatlantic, LP & CD] † 

1988

TRANDEM 1 Bert Jansch, Bert Jansch [Demon] Ω ∆ (reissue of TRA 125) Ω ƒ

TRANDEM 4 Sweeney's Men, The Legend Of Sweeney's Men [Demon] Ω † ƒ

1989 

TRANDEM 5 Young Tradition, Young Tradition [Demon]  Ω † ƒ

TRANDEM 6 John Renbourn, A Mediaeval Almanack [Demon]  Ω † ƒ

Freak Beat #6 [psychedelic fanzine, contains free flexi-disc including Bargepole, ‘Can You Hear Me, Mother?’] † 

1990

FECD78 Anne Briggs, Classic Anne Briggs: The Complete Topic Recordings [Fellside, CD] † ƒ

2-12T455/6 Scan Tester, I Never Played to Many Posh Dances [Topic] Ω † ƒ

TSCD136 The Watersons, Frost and Fire [Topic CD, reissue of 12T136] Ω ∆ 

KTSC136 The Watersons, Frost and Fire [Topic cassette, reissue of 12T136] Ω ∆

1992 

010CD Shirley Collins, Fountain of Snow [Durtro, CD] †

1993 

TSCD463 Ewan MacColl, The Real MacColl [Topic, CD]  Ω †

TSCD464 Various: Blow the Man Down: A Collection of Sea Songs and Shanties  [Topic, CD]  Ω †

TSCD465 The Iron Muse: A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music  [Topic CD, reissue of 12T86] Ω ∆ 

1994

TSCD472 The Watersons, Early Days [Topic CD, gathers Watersons tracks from 12T125, and most of 12T142 and 12T167 plus an unreleased track] Ω ∆ † ƒ

522 176 4 Robert Graves I, Claudius read by Derek Jacobi [Argo, 2 cassettes,  reissue of B004D88UAC] Ω

OSS CD 103 Ewan MacColl, The Jacobite Rebellions [Ossian CD, reissue of 12T79] Ω ∆

TSCD474 Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, Her Mantle So Green [Topic CD, reiss. of 12T123 with extra tracks]  
Ω ∆ ƒ

048248309127 Willie Clancy, The Minstrel From Clare [Green Linnet CD, US issue of 12T175]  Ω ∆ 

1995

TSCD476 Shirley Collins, The Sweet Primeroses [Topic CD, reissue of 12T170, with additional tracks sourced from TOP95] Ω †

R2 72160 Various: Troubadours of British Folk Vol.1: Unearthing the Tradition [Rhino, US CD] †

R2 72161 Various: Troubadours of British Folk Vol.2: Folk into Rock [Rhino, US CD] †

TBX CD 531 Various: The Folk Box [Kaz Records, 3 CDs] †

TSCD481 Various: The Folk Collection 2 [Topic, CD] †

TSCD701 Various: Celtic Voices [Topic, CD] †

1996

TSCD479 A.L. Lloyd, Anne Briggs, Frankie Armstrong, The Bird in the Bush [Topic CD, reissue of 12T135, with additional selections from 12T126, 12T178 & 12TS216] Ω ∆ 

TSCD702 Various: Irish Voices [Topic, CD] †

TSCD703 Various: Scottish Voices [Topic, CD] †

TSCD704 Various: Ancient Celtic Roots [Topic, CD] †

TSCD480 Various: English and Scottish Folk Ballads [Topic, CD] †  

ESMCD 357 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, This Is The Ian Campbell Folk Group/Across the Hills  [Castle, CD reissue of TRA 110 and TRA 118]  ∂ ≠ ƒ

ESMCD 409 The Young Tradition, The Young Tradition/So Cheerfully Round [Castle, CD reissue of TRA 142 and TRA 155]  Ω ƒ

ESBCD 416 Various: New Electric Muse - The Story of Folk into Rock [Castle, 3 CDs, expands FOLK 1001] †

ESMCD 437 Stefan Grossman, The Best of the Transatlantic Years [Essential/Castle CD] †

FECD105 Peggy Seeger, Classic Peggy Seeger [Fellside, CD] †

TSCD600 Various: Hidden English [Topic, CD] †

TSCD705 Various: The Voice of Folk [Topic, CD] †

1997

FECD122 Bob Davenport and The Rakes, The Red Haired Lad [Fellside, CD] ø 

ESMCD 524 Finbar and Eddie Furey, Finbar and Eddie Furey/The Lonesome Boatman [Castle, CD reissue of TRA 168 and TRA 191]  Ω †

HILLCD 17 Alexis Korner's Blues Incorporated, Red Hot From Alex [Wooded Hill, CD reiss of TRA 117] Ω

TSCD483 The High Level Ranters, Northumberland Forever [Topic CD, reissue of 12T186] Ω ∆  

HILL CD 18 Dave & Toni Arthur, Morning Stands on Tiptoe [Wooded Hill Recordings CD, reissue of TRA 154] Ω ∆ ƒ

TSCD 603 Various: Paddy in the Smoke [Topic CD, reissue of 12T176] Ω ~

LEAC 4001 Jack Elliott, Jack Elliott of Birtley [Leader, cassette reissue of LEA 4001] ¡

TSCD484 Lou Killen, Tom Gilfellon, Johnny Handle, Maureen Craik, Colin Ross, Tommy Armstrong of Tyneside [Topic CD, reissue of 12T122] Ω ∆

ESMCD 461 The Young Tradition / Royston & Heather Wood, Galleries / No Relation [Castle, reissue of TRA 172 with the non-Leader produced TRA 342] Ω †

B000005936 Hamish Imlach, The Definitive Transatlantic Collection [Essential, CD] † 

ESBCD 517 Various: New Electric Muse II - The Continuing Story of Folk into Rock [Castle, 3 CDs] †

1998 

MT CD 301-2 Bob Hart, A Broadside [Musical Traditions, 2 CDs] Ω

TSCD495 A.L. Lloyd & Ewan MacColl, Bold Sportsmen All: Gamblers & Sporting Blades [Topic, CD, gathers 10T36 and TOP71 plus additional material w Roy Harris] Ω †

TSCD 496 A. L. Lloyd, English Drinking Songs [Topic, CD, reissue of RLP 12-618]  Ω ∆ 

TSCD498 Louis Killen, Johnny Handle & Colin Ross, Along the Coaly Tyne [Topic CD, reissue of 12T189] Ω ∆ 

TSCD502 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger, Chorus From the Gallows [Topic CD, reissue of 12T16] Ω ∆

RGNET 1018 CD Various: The Rough Guide to English Roots Music [World Music Network CD] †  

TSCD 651 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 1 - Come Let Us Buy the Licence [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 652 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 2 - My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 653 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 3 - O’er His Grave the Grass Grew Green [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 654 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 4 - Farewell My Own Dear Land [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 655 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 5 - Come All My Lads That Follow the Plough [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 656 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 6 - Tonight I’ll Make You My Bride  [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 657 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 7 - First I'm Going to Sing You a Ditty [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 658 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 8 - A Story I’m Just About to Tell[Topic, CD] †

TSCD 659 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 9 - Rig-a-jig-jig [Topic, CD] † 

TSCD 660 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 10 - Who’s That At My Bed Window [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 662 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 12 - We’ve Received Order to Sail [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 663 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 13 - They Ordered Their Pints of Beer and Bottles of Sherry [Topic, CD †

  

TSCD 664 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 14 - Troubles They Are But Few  [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 665 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 15 - As Me and My Love Sat Courting [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 666 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 16 - You Lazy Lot of Bone-Shakers [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 667 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 17 - It Fell On A Day, A Bonny Summer Day [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 668 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 18 - To Catch a Fine Buck Was My Delight [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 670 Various: The Voice of the People Vol. 20 - There is a Man Upon the Farm [Topic, CD] †

TSCD706 Various: English Originals: A Defining Collection of English Folk Song [Topic, CD] †

TSCD 751 Various: The Voice of the People - A Selection [Topic, CD] †

LEDCD 2060 John J. Kimmel, Early Recordings of Irish Traditional Dance Music [Leader, CD reissue of LED 2060] ∑ ¡

72140 John Renbourn, The Transatlantic Anthology [Castle Music, USA, 2CDs] †

RGNET 1018 CD Various: The Rough Guide to English Roots Music [World Music Network, CD] †

1999

0015707654425 Bert Jansch, Jack Orion [Vanguard, CD reissue of VSD-6544, USA] Ω ∆ 

FRTCD 14 Peter Bellamy, Wake the Vaulted Echoes [Free Reed, 3 CDs] †

TSCD504 Anne Briggs, A Collection [Topic CD] † 

TSCD517 Dave Swarbrick w Martin Carthy & Diz Disley, Rags, Reels and Airs [Topic CD, reissue of BY-6030] Ω

TSCD818 Davy Graham, Fire in the Soul [Topic CD] † Ω

TSCD707/8 Various: The Folk Collection [Topic, 2CDs] †

2000

TSCD514 Walter Pardon, A World Without Horses: A Portrait of a Traditional Singer [Topic CD] †  

TSCD607 Billy Cooper, Walter Bulwer, Reg Hall, Daisy Bulwer, Mervyn Plunkett, Russell Wortley, English Country Music [Topic CD, reissue of Record No.1/ 12T296] Ω

LESCD 2076 Mike and Lal Waterson, Bright Phoebus [Trailer, CD reissue of LES 2076] ∆ ¡

LERCD 2038 Ray Fisher, The Bonny Birdy [Trailer/Leader, CD reissue of LER 2038] Ω ∆  ¡

CMEDD009 Bert Jansch, Dazzling Stranger: The Bert Jansch Anthology [Castle, 2 CDs] † 

VAMP1 Rosie Hardman, The Lost Leader [private pressing, CD] Ω

R2CD 40-106 Various: And We'll Have Tea... English Folk Anthology [Proper/Retro, 2 CDs] †

2001 

CRESTCD 068 Z-UK Al Jones, Alun Ashworth-Jones [Mooncrest, CD reissue of Parlophone PMC 7081 with extra tracks from an unreleased Leader session in 1971] † Ω ∆

TSCD505D Michael Gorman, The Sligo Champion [Topic, 2 CDs) † 

MACCD 001 Tony MacMahon, MacMahon from Clare †

[?] Bob Davenport with Roger Digby, Send Your Best Men Forward [private pressing, CD] †

TSCD521 Various: A Woman's Voice: First Person Singular [Topic, CD) †

TSCD606 Various: Round the House and Mind the Dresser [Topic, CD) †

2002

823107214220 John Renbourn, The Definitive Transatlantic Collection [Castle, USA, CD] †

TSFCD 4001 Various: The Acoustic Folk Box [Topic, 4 CDs) †

NEST 5001 Shirley Collins, Within Sound [Fledg'ling, 4 CDs] †

SPINNEY003 Barry Dransfield, Barry Dransfield [Spinney, vinyl reissue of 2383 160] Ω ∆

SPINNEY003CD Barry Dransfield, Barry Dransfield [Spinney, CD reissue of 2383 160] Ω ∆

2003

VTD148CD Fred Jordan, A Shropshire Lad [Veteran, 2 CDs] †

HPO6006 Ewan MacColl, The Definitive Collection [Highpoint, CD]  Ω †

CMRCD 293 Alexis Korner’s Blues Incorporated, Red Hot From Alex [Sanctuary, CD reissue of TRA 117] Ω  

79726 Westland Steel Band, Trinidad: The Sound of the Sun [Nonesuch, CD reissue of H-72016] Ω 

2004 

TSFCD4002 The Watersons, Mighty River of Song [Topic 4 CD box set] †

B00063ZQ1Y Mr Fox, Join Us In Our Game [Sanctuary, CD, gathers TRA 226 and TRA 236] Ω ∆

? Frank Harte, Dublin Street Songs/Through Dublin City [Hummingbird, CD, gathers 12T172 and 12T218] Ω

HPO6008 Shirley Collins, The Classic Collection [Highpoint, CD] †  

HCD8175 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, The Lost Topic Tapes: Cowes Harbour 1957 [HighTone Records, CD] Ω ø

HCD8176 Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, The Lost Topic Tapes: Isle of Wight 1957 [HighTone Records, CD] Ωø

CMDD932 Sweeney's Men, The Legend Of Sweeney's Men [Castle Music, 2 CDs] Ω †

CD-32 Hedy West, Old Times & Hard Times [Folk-Legacy, CD reissue of FSA-32] Ω ∆

2005 

LEACD 2044 The Coleman Country Traditional Society, Music from The Coleman County Revisited [Leader, CD reissue of LEA 2044, augmented with commentary from Seamus Tansey and some overdubbing] ∑ § ¡

LEACD 2004 Martin Byrnes, Martin Byrnes [Leader, reissue of LEA 2004] Ω ∂ ¡ 

CMDDD1038 Stefan Grossman, Those Pleasant Days: Anthology [Castle Music, 2 CDs] † 

CDDDD1072 The Ian Campbell Folk Group, The Times They Are A-Changin' [Castle Music, 2 CDs] †

CMDDD1211 The Humblebums, Please Sing A Song For Us: The Complete Humblebums [Castle Music, 2 CDs] Ω †

TSCD477 Ramblin' Jack Eliott, Ramblin' Jack [Topic CD, reissue of 12T93, with selections from 12T106 and 12T105] Ω †

HJRCD19 Various: Never the Same - Leave-Taking from the British Folk Revival 1970-77 [CD, Honest Jons Records] Ω † ƒ

HJRLP19 Various: Never the Same - Leave-Taking from the British Folk Revival 1970-77 [2 LPs, Honest Jons Records] Ω † ƒ

2006 

CMDDD1387 Bob Pegg, Keeper of the Fire - The Anthology [Castle Music, 2CDs] †

CMXBX1030 Various: Anthems in Eden [Castle, 3 CD box set] †

2007 

BOW HAND 003 Bobby Casey, The Spirit of West Clare [Bow Hand, CD] Ω

TSCD563 The Watersons, Frost and Fire [Topic CD, reissue of 12T136, with extra photos] Ω ∆ 

TREDD 404 John Renbourn, Nobody's Fault But Mine: The John Renbourn Anthology 1966-2005 [Sanctuary, 2 CDs] †

2008 

5016073054227 Billy Connolly & Gerry Rafferty, Best of The Humblebums [Sanctuary, 2 CDs] ∆ †

FECD 216 Peter Bellamy, Fair England’s Shore [Fellside, 2 CD reissue of XTRA 1060, XTRA 1075 and 12T200] Ω ∆ †

CDLF001 Oddfellows, Monday Night at Nine [Limefield, CD] ∆ ÷

531 276-9 Various: The All New Electric Muse - The Story of Folk into Rock [Universal, 3 CDs] †

NOT2CD264 Various: The Best of British Folk [Not Now Music, 2 CDs] †

2009

TOPIC70 Various: Three Score & Ten [Topic story & catalogue w 7 themed CDs]  † ƒ

TSCD126 Louis Killen, Ballads and Broadsides [Topic CD, reissue of 12T126] Ω ∆ 

TSCD581D Scan Tester, I Never Played to Many Posh Dances [Topic CD, reiss. of 2-12T455/6] Ω † 

TSCD583 The McPeake Family, Wild Mountain Thyme [Topic CD, reiss. of 12T87 and TOP92] Ω ∆ ƒ

2010

GUESS 031/GUPEN 012 Barry Dransfield, Barry Dransfield [Guerssen, Spanish vinyl reissue of 2383 160] Ω ∆

B0045NC9IE Stefan Grossman, The Best of The Transatlantic Years [Sanctuary, CD] † 

NOT2CD332 Ewan MacColl, The Anthology [Not Now Music, 2 CDs, contains reissue of 10T50]  Ω †

2011

LFCD 0088 Oddfellows, Oddfellows [Limefield, CD] ∆

0004 The Woodbine & Ivy Band, The Woodbine & Ivy Band [Folk Police, CD] ø

M60 06 Picnic Area, You Know You Want It [M60 Recordings, CD] ∆

FECD 241 Hedy West, Ballads and Songs from the Appalachians [Fellside, 2 CDs comprising 12T117, 12T146, 12T163]  Ω ∆

PMA 014-2/CFCD077 Leon Rosselson, Rosselsongs 1960-2010: The World Turned Upside Down [PM Press/Fuse Records, 4 CDs] † #

2776140 Bert Jansch, Angie: The Collection [Spectrum Music, CD] †

ESF CD 654 Various: The Transatlantic Story [Sanctuary Records, 4 CDs] † 

LFCD012 Ian Reynolds, Shreds [Limefield, CD] ∂

? Desi Friel, The Knowing of You [Limefield, CD] ∂

2012

? Dead Belgian, Love and Death: The Songs of Jacques Brel [Limefield, CD] ∂

? Rioghnach Connolly, Black Lung [Limefield, CD] ∂

EDEN1 Various: Electric Eden - Unearthing Britain's Visionary Music [Umc, 2 CDs] †

2013

0602517734227 Pentangle, The Time Has Come 1967-73 [Sanctuary Records, 4 CDs] † 

CMRCD206 Pentangle, Cruel Sister [Sanctuary, CD reiss. of TRA 228] ∆ 

STOP2013 Davy Graham & Alexis Korner, 3/4 AD [Topic, EP, reissue of TOP70 on Record Store Day, 20 April] Ω ∆  ƒ

? Hunter Muskett, That Was Then, This Is Now [Limefield, CD] ∂

5017261211033  The Young Tradition, The Young Tradition/So Cheerfully Round/Galleries + Chicken on a Raft [Beat Goes On, 2 CDs] ∆, ç Ω †

STOP2095 Shirley Collins, Heroes in Love [Topic, 7” EP: vinyl reissue of TOP95 as part of Topic Records' 75th anniversary] Ω ∆ ƒ

2014

ACMEM274CD Annie Ross & Tony Kinsey, Loguerhythms: Songs From The Establishment [Él, CD, reissue of TRA 107 with extra tracks] ø

2015

? Trevor Hyett, Eager & Anxious [Limefield, CD] ∆

PWCD 80007 Micho Russell, Rarities & Old Favourites [The Pennywhistler's Press, 2 CDs] †

AMU 0007 Matt Owens, The Aviators' Ball [All Made Up Records, CD] ø   

                                                                                            

                                                                                           2016

TSCD 679T Various: The Voice of the People - "It Was Mighty!": The Early Days of Irish Music in London [Topic, 3 CDs] †

TSCD 680T Various: The Voice of the People - "It Was Great Altogether!": The Continuing Tradition of Irish Music in London [Topic, 3 CDs] †

CRTREEBOX16 The Ian Campbell Folk Group The Complete Transatlantic Recordings [Cherry Red, 4 CDs] †

2017

5056083200085  Archie Fisher, Archie Fisher [Chariot Records, CD, reissue of XTRA 1070] ∆ ƒ

0887830010214  Mike and Lal Waterson, Bright Phoebus [Domino, single LP reissue of LES 2076] ∆  § 

0887830010238 Mike and Lal Waterson, Bright Phoebus [Domino, deluxe edition with extra LP of LES 2076] ∆  § 

0887830010207 Mike and Lal Waterson, Bright Phoebus [Domino, 2 CD set of LES 2076] ∆  §



Finally, some European compilations with an uncertain date of issue – 

BYG 25 Various Artists: John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Pentangle [BYG, 2 LPs, Fr.: side 2 comes from TRA 125 (Leader); side 1 and record 2 come from TRA 135 and TRA 162 respectively (non-Leader)] †  

TRA 89503/4 The Pentangle, The Pentangle [Transatlantic, 2 LPs, Fr.] †

TRA 89505/6 Various: Contemporary Guitar [Transatlantic, 2 LPs, Fr. issue of TRA SAM 14 & TRA SAM 15] †

TRA 89507/8 John Renbourn, John Renbourn [Transatlantic, 2 LPs, Fr.] †

TRA 89509/10 Bert Jansch, Bert Jansch [Transatlantic, 2 LPs, Fr.] †

TRA 89511/12 Various: Acoustic Garden [Transatlantic, 2LPs, Fr.] †

200.168 Various: Here’s to the Irish [2001? Transatlantic, Gmn issue of TRA SAM 1] †

200.197 Various: Here’s to the Irish Vol.2 [2001? Transatlantic, Gmn issue of TRA SAM 11] †

The compiler is indebted to Alistair Banfield for guidance and loyal support, Reinhard Zierke of the excellent Mainly Norfolk website (https://mainlynorfolk.info/), an invaluable resource, and to Bill Leader, the man himself. 

Phil Minton at Kraak

Manchester, Jan 17  

We're agreed that Phil Minton is a giant, a force of nature and a singular character. He belongs to that heroic generation of British musicians who carved an individual language out of the materials they inherited. Think Stan Tracey, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Derek Bailey, Maggie Nichols. 

It seems to be the fate of true originals to be discovered and adopted by each new generation, to the exclusion of preceding generations and with not a hint of a wide audience. So it was that Minton appeared in Manchester's Kraak Gallery - an unconventional and unheated space in a warehouse situated between Stevenson Square and Ancoats - with a devoted following of feral boho types in hoods. He performed in a duo with Luke Poot, who might be described as Little Phil, as he fills much the same role that Little Frank provided for the late Frank Sidebottom. 

As those few in attendance all needed an outlet for their own creative efforts, there was a lengthy list of support acts, with interminable gaps in-between them . SN IV BH actually weren't bad: guitar excursions in an acid-tinged rambling style, given structure and form by irregular tap tappings on various percussive oddments and the floor of Kraak. 

Roases aka Gareth Alan Howells looped feedback noise, and well, fed it back, at a hideous volume. It was radical in theory, insufferable in execution, and a severe endurance test for some of us. Howells considered it a great success. 

The word for Belied Gunaiko aka Kelly Jones is shamanistic. She produced eerie electronic noises by tapping a wired-up flute and, when she finally blew into it, instead of the expected woodwind trill, out came some ancestral voice, senior to Jones by several hundred years, intoning in a ritualistic, spooky way. It was impressive, glacial and joyless, and proves conclusively that shamanism and swing are mutually exclusive activities. 

I was reminded (there was plenty of time for reflection) of a free jazz gig many years ago, when improvising trombonist Alan Tomlinson appeared with an avant-garde combo that happened to include the promoters. He played percussion and she played trombone, if I remember aright. Let's call them Steve and Judy. Anyway, Steve and Judy left in haste at the end of the night to catch a screening of Night of the Demon on TV. "That's the trouble," said Tomlinson, turning to the nearest person, who happened to be me. "This business just attracts fucking dilettantes!" I clucked sympathetically, before dashing off to catch Night of the Demon myself.

And so to the long-awaited finale. Phil Minton has single-handedly created a rich earthy kind of body music. A typical performance will contain a variety of shrieking, burping, spitting, gasping, moaning, whining, hissing, belching, squalling, hooting, snorting, cooing and choking (I'm indebted to Christian Marclay for this partial list). His acolyte, Luke Poot, has reduced this to the simple business of retching, doubtlessly honed to perfection by his Saturday night revels. He was a distraction. Like Derek Bailey, Minton's radicalism is in inverse proportion to actual volume. He is very, very quiet; he achieves his effects by purely acoustic means, and demands complete attention. He didn't get it this evening. A chap from the audience invaded the space, and was moved to slap a cushioned stool and ululate ineffectually. 

Has anyone seen Themroc? It was a bit like that. 

In short, the evening was full of prat-like behaviour both before and during Phil Minton's set, which was too short to redeem such a very long evening, and Little Phil effectively sabotaged Big Phil. 

Babylon and Bernstein

After devising a first-rate programme of music films for a free day-long cinema fest at Band on the Wall (Friday, Jan 4), the genial Clive Hunte came into flak when the schedule ran behind and film-lovers who turned up at 7pm expecting to see the coruscating Babylon, were treated to half the documentary The Making of West Side Story. 

Gang warfare is a peripheral theme of both, but there the similarity ends. Actually, Leonard Bernstein is more menacing than anyone in Babylon, and his temper tantrum after Jose Carreras fluffs 'Maria' is as scary as the famous Joe Pesci scene in Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas (you can imagine: "I'm funny how? Funny, like I'm a conductor?"). But whichever way you cut it, Kiri Te Kanawa makes an unconvincing streetwise Puerto Rican teenager. 

Whereas Babylon is an authentic depiction of the Black British experience, and without a false note anywhere. It is gritty and naturalistic and then, without any apparent shift of gear, it slips into magical film-making. The climactic battle of the sound systems is a case in point, as the crowd sway in unison to wild reggae as the police batter down the doors. Is the echo that of the revolutionary Potemkin by Eisenstein or the incendiary Battle of Algiers by Pontecorvo? Babylon holds its own in such distinguished company (actually, I much prefer it to the former). 

The music adds immeasurably to the impact (hats off to Dennis Bovell). One can understand how it acts as a trigger of transcendence for the hero Blue (Brinsley Forde) and for his Brixton posse, trying to negotiate the path to manhood with some shards of integrity as the pressure ratchets higher and higher.  

Made in 1980, Babylon nails the dishevelled yet optimistic spirit of the seventies. Any successor today would have an unlistenable soundtrack (different drugs), and would be far too harrowing to watch. The extremes of God and Gangsterism are acknowledged in Babylon, but now there's no room for the middle ground. The antithetical G's are no longer satisfied with mere lip service; both demand your soul.       

So Clive, thanks for the movies and sorry for giving you a hard time. 

Confessions of an eBay Trader #2: Black Sabbath by Black Sabbath, Two Virgins

It can be a dispiriting business, selling folk LPs on eBay, when a wonderful and rare record like A Mayflower Garland by Cyril Tawney offered at the price of £5.99, in mint condition mind, attracts one watcher in all the the world. Even more dispiriting, he or she might snap it up at that price. Really, it's enough to make you examine your vocation. 

So I thought I would change tactics and act like a proper dealer. 

Q. What's the most collectable label in the world? A. Vertigo with the swirl label, of course. Q. And who is the biggest rock 'n' roll icon of them all? A. John Lennon, natch. 

If there's any connection between Vertigo and John Lennon, I don't know of it, but I intend that the next two eBay offerings shall be the eponymous Black Sabbath LP from 1970, and John Lennon's Two Virgins from 1968. 

In my book, the former is the definitive Sabbath album. The striking gatefold Keef cover and the hilarious sub-Dennis Wheatley sleevenotes just edge it over Paranoid. 

Surely the famous Vertigo swirl is the most eye-catching label design ever. Roger Dean will live in infamy forever for designing the spaceship horror that succeeded it.

Alas, my copy is not in great nick, but the surface noise is consistently drowned out by industrial levels of heavy metal, and it only becomes an issue on the quiet bits (!), notably the tolling of the bell at the very beginning, and the spaces between the seven tracks, although where 'Sleeping Village' ends and 'Warning' begins has always been a deep mystery.

'Warning', lest we forget, was written by Lancashire blues legend Victor Brox. He once told me the story of how he first encountered the Sabbath version. It chanced to be playing as he and Aynsley Dunbar strayed into an 'underground'-style club sometime in 1970 (sorry, I'm a bit fuzzy on the detail, it would have been a hippy haunt like UFO or Middle Earth). 'Warning' had already been released as a single by The Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation. Hearing it blind, and presumably entering at a non- Ozzy moment, Victor assumed it was the Retaliation. He turned to Dunbar and remarked how he hadn't noticed that he (Dunbar) was having such an off-day when they recorded it. 

As for Lennon, well Two Virgins was universally viewed as the ultimate rock-star folly. Essentially a sound collage like 'Revolution No.9' from White Album, though not as tightly structured, Two Virgins was criticised as unlistenable and self-indulgent, and a sad comment on Lennon's state of mind at the time. What interest it possessed was purely prurient (you can see Lennon's willie on the cover). 

And yet… Well, you have to applaud the man's defiant experimentalism and marvel that 'She Loves You' was, what?, only five years distant. Some redeeming features: Yoko One remains the best screamer in the business (Fly is the one). Plus it offers insights into John's home-life and I think it's meant to be taken lightly:  more Goon Show than Edgard Varèse.

Unfortunately this is a USA reissue, possibly from the eighties, with recurring surface noise almost certainly due to low quality vinyl stock. It's unlikely to have received much needle-time. 

Sigh! Fortune my foe! That's an LP by Goliard by the way. On the Broadside label. 1978. Mint condition and a starting price of £5.99. Are there any takers?

The Great John Fahey Debacle: A Cautionary Tale

John Fahey's ill-fated UK tour of 1999 virtually defines the word 'debacle'. With its sorry mixture of self-delusion, malevolence, naivety and depravity, it is probably the archetypal rock 'n' roll horror story. This account, from an inside perspective, has been revised from original publication in the December 1999 issue of the Worpt Wire Service (the Newsletter of the Friends of Abner Burnett). 

I don’t understand what you are worrying about. I have been touring this year in Japan, Germany, Holland, and there hasn’t been any kind of trouble anywhere. I’m not a “no-show”. Three months ago I decided I like touring and hate staying home  and am going to tour the rest of my life. I don’t drink anymore, don’t take non-prescription drugs. I’m trusting you to do a good job, why not trust me to do a good job? - John Fahey to Paul Kelly and Mike Butler, July 24, 1999  

Fahey is freaking out about his new love. The travel agent says that from what she has seen when they show up to confuse the travel logistics, the romance is much more heated on his side of the stove. If Hitomi abandons our artist, we may be conductors on the dark diesel blinds that ride mighty John Fahey into storied oblivion. He may deliver a series of performances so despondent that Worpt is remembered as the promotion company upon whose mount the Grim Reaper rode to extinguish all enthusiasm for all time for “Roots Americana”, If so, and he is depressing, I will outdo him measure for measure: macabre, lurid, sordid, self-absorbed negativity - Abner Burnett to Mike Butler and Paul Kelly, August 31, 1999  

[Mike Butler writes] I was (still am) a music writer and back in the day I promoted the occasional UK tour by Abner Burnett. I was Abner's agent, sort of, and it was my life's goal to raise the public profile of the Texas attorney, Mexican tree nursery proprietor, and - most relevant for our purposes - the most gifted songwriter ever to toil in obscurity. My vehicle to achieve this was Worpt UK, a branch of Abner’s little agency in the USA, Worpt. 

To extend the dramatis personae of our story, Paul Kelly was a psychiatric nurse (now retired) with a responsibility for the criminally insane. I knew him as a face, sometimes the only other face, from free jazz (improvised) concerts in our hometown of Manchester. When Paul Kelly proposed that Worpt sponsor a tour jointly headlined by John Fahey and Derek Bailey, I willingly listened. Fahey’s music had been a passion since schooldays, and Derek Bailey was a radical sexagenarian who had carved a new language for the guitar. The pairing of these maverick musicians was an inspired idea, and I resolved to do all in my power to make it happen. 

From the go, a question-mark hung over Kelly’s integrity. In 1998 Helter Skelter published Like The Night by CP Lee, which centred around Bob Dylan’s historic concert at Manchester Free Trade Hall on May 17, 1966. The book contained photographs of the gig by Paul Kelly (then 16 years old). Indeed, these photographs were deemed such a selling point that Kelly claimed co-authorship with Lee. Alas, another photographer emerged, Kelly's school companion, who was merrily snapping away on the next seat. The attribution of the images became the subject of litigation. Kelly gave me his side of the story, and I naively believed him. Anyway, he soon proved his worth as a promoter, finding venues across the UK, contacting regional promoters and booking accommodation. An itinerary was soon sketched out. All that was needed was an investor to back the venture. The phrase "seed money" now became Kelly's mantra, often mentioned in conjunction with the name Abner Burnett. 

Abner Burnett is a lawyer by day who occasionally represents widows when their husbands are killed in the oilfields. Drilling crews often drop heavy objects on each other or just blow each other up. Having recently settled a case and picked up his usual exorbitant fee, Burnett is eager to piss it away on a musical mystery tour called ‘Guitar Excursions into the Unknown’ - from 'Henry's Take on the Tour', an unpublished account of the tour by Henry McCarty (aka Abner Burnett). 

The name of the John Fahey tour, Guitar Excursions into the Unknown, derives from a track on his rare 1966 LP, The Great San Bernadino Birthday Party and Other Excursions. A company, Worpt UK Ltd, is formed to oversee the operation. Abner Burnett, Paul Kelly and Mike Butler become the legal directors of Worpt UK Ltd. The wheels are now ready to roll, or, more accurately, ready to fall off the wagon. 

First, Derek Bailey withdraws after a fee dispute. This may only have been a handy excuse. Bailey, a cultivated fellow with a lifetime’s experience of playing to empty halls, may have had a presentiment of trouble ahead. Then the drafting of a contract with Fahey’s Nashville-based agent, Mark Linn of Do Easy Booking, proved to be an exceptionally arduous business, and made the company name seem a dark, ironic joke. 

We are on the edge, which is where all courageous rock ’n’ roll lunatics should hang. Everybody get tense. If you’re feeling at ease, find and take some poorly manufactured speed, something with that strychnine veneer - Abner Burnett to Mike Butler and Paul Kelly, August 25, 1999 

The hunt for passport details uncovers the fact that Fahey’s middle name is Aloysious. His mysterious ‘assistant’, whose airfare Worpt UK Ltd is contractually obligated to provide, is eventually identified as one Hitomi, a young girlfriend Fahey acquired during his recent tour of Japan. The course of this Winter/Spring romance is not running smoothly. 

“I got past the saddest music in the world, and I decided to do the angriest music in the world,” declares Fahey during the course of our phone interview, intended for pre-tour publicity . The date: Monday, September 6, 1999. Fahey is speaking from the hotel where he lives in Salem, Oregon. Standard questions receive standard replies. The conversation isn't sparking. Fahey seems preoccupied and distant. Then, with no warning, his fluting voice cracks with emotion. “I’m sorry to tell you, but my Japanese girlfriend broke up with me.” I offer words of consolation, but, to be honest, I'm more the Concerned Impresario than Good Samaritan. “How will it affect your playing?” I ask. “I play better when I’m mad,” Fahey replies. “And I’m as mad as hell. It should be excellent.” 

Could I call up Hitomi in Tokyo? “I don’t want her to think she’s going to get away with this,” said Fahey, the whine replaced with menace. “And tell all your friends to phone,” he growls. Now, at last, the ringing of the alarm bells could not be ignored. Curiously, alarm bells failed to jangle when I read Fahey's quote about the recently deceased Jerry Garcia in Mojo # 39: “The more people like that who die the better.” Somewhat insensitively, l enjoyed the outrageous nature of this remark. Sociopathology, however, is more disquieting at close range. 

Mike’s Tour Diary, written from the thick of it

Tuesday, September 14, 1999 

Our Guitar Excursions immediately plunge into the Unknown. The travel agent in Oregon (or Fahey himself?) makes a blunder with the ticket. Fahey arrives at Glasgow Airport 24 hours early. I accept reverse charges on a series of increasingly desperate phone calls. The guitarist is homeless, tired and hungry. To cap it all, his wallet has been stolen on the flight, so he is also penniless. “You gotta rescue me, man!” he whines in a pitiful falsetto. He is calling from The Post House Hotel at Glasgow Airport. On my third attempt I manage to circumvent the automated switchboard and talk to a real human being. Fahey, a diabetic, is given food and care. Paul Kelly, already on the road in a hired VW carriage, picks up the stranded artiste some three hours after his premature arrival. 

Wednesday, September 15, 1999 

How quickly gratitude turns to enmity. I meet John Fahey for the first time in the foyer of our hotel, the Ibis (or ‘the Abyss’, as Abner prefers), in Edinburgh. The guitar legend is due to play at the Queen’s Hall, a medium sized venue in the city, on the following night. I notice Fahey through the glass frontage. He is wearing dark glasses, and there is no mistaking his obese form. He has two companions with him. There is Paul Kelly, sure enough, who cuts a distinct figure himself, with his bald pate, little round glasses, extravagant walrus moustache, and portly build. But who is the little fellow in the shell suit, buzzing around Fahey like an anxious fly? I enter. 

The little fellow vanishes before I clear the door. I gather myself and offer Fahey a handshake and my most ingratiatingly smile, doubtless a bit strained because of my nervousness. My hand is left dangling, and my smile is left to wither and die. “Sit down!” barks Fahey, pointing to a chair. Kelly smirks and excuses himself, pleading an appointment elsewhere. Fahey betrays unease. 

“I thought you were going to stay, man." And, in a quieter undertone, "I’m not sure of the figures.” 

“Oh, you can take care of it, John,” says Kelly, and exits. 

I sit down with mounting apprehension, alone with my hero of old. Fahey removes his dark glasses. Oh horror! His gaze is dead and his eyes are pure yellow, streaked with blood. He delivers an ultimatum. 

He has, he explains, no faith in Worpt UK or our ability to manage the tour. If the money for the first four gigs is not immediately forthcoming - he glances at some hastily scribbled figures, and mentions the sum of £4,400 - the tour is off. This behaviour is more than just unprofessional. 

In the past months, Abner had conferred with travel agents about the feasibility of a round-trip for Fahey and his fiancée - from the USA to Japan, thence to Scotland and back to the USA. Fahey's calls became such a nuisance that Susan, Abner’s partner, finally refused to take them. 

“Let me put it like this,” Abner wrote. “If you look up professional in the dictionary, Fahey is not even mentioned in the footnotes. Whereas if you looked up flaky as shit, it might have his picture.” 

In life, Fahey doesn't look in the least bit flaky. His flesh, so gross and abundant everywhere else, seems to run out at the neck. His skull is clearly visible beneath the pallid skin. Grey whiskers sprout from his jowls in haphazard clumps and his grey beard is dirty and unkempt. His t-shirt and baggy shorts, an unchanging uniform, are permanently stained with spilled juice and body fluids. The omnipresent sunglasses sit oddly, like some accessory of a calavera in a Posada cartoon for Día de los Muertos. And this death's head is scowling at me. 

"You better check in," he says, by way of dismissal, having relieved me of £250 (all the money I have on me and all the money available until the bank opens in the morning). I retreat to the sterility of the hotel double-room, and recline on the bed and brood, and readjust my image of John Fahey from old-time hero to horrible old man.    

Thursday, September 16, 1999 

Abner Burnett is providing support for the first four dates of the tour. He has other places to be - in fact, he's marrying Susan in Texas in ten days' time - but he also has a professional and financial interest in the success of the tour. When Abner steps off the plane at Glasgow Airport to be greeted by Paul Kelly, he is approximately $10,000 "in the grease" (oh, hire of halls, the considerable cut taken by DFEE, hire of instruments and equipment, touring van, hotels etc etc). 

Kelly had fallen prey to the delusion of self-importance. He had somehow gotten hold of the businessman's earring, a cellular phone. It clashed however with his work shirt and baggy green corduroys. Burnett had a cell phone also, but hadn't thought to haul it out for the occasion - from 'Henry's Take on the Tour', ibid. 

John Aloysious Fahey is no friendlier when Abner and I visit his hotel room in the afternoon. The old misanthrope is sitting up in bed eating his breakfast. Also in attendance are a couple who trade under the name of the House of Dubois (dubbed by Abner the House of Doodoo), and promote concerts in the Glasgow region. I recognise the little fellow in the shell suit from the foyer. He introduces himself as Bob Mills. Actually, we've spoken over the telephone. Bob has been Worpt's man on the ground, an intermediate with the venue. His motivation was unclear to me. "What's in this for you, Bob?" I asked. "Oh, I'm happy to work for love of the music alone,"  replied Bob, his tone suggesting that he was hurt by the question. Right now, he and his business partner, Chris (a female Chris), are cowering under Fahey's scan as he finishes demolishing a pizza and proceeds to frozen dessert. 

Abner goes over the terms so painstakingly negotiated with Do Easy Booking. Fahey pauses between scoops of ice cream. "I don't have a contract with you. I'm talking about what that fucker over there promised me." This, with a gesture to me. Abner walks out of the room in disgust, and I follow. Chris runs after us with a compromise solution: Fahey will take £1,400 as an advance. He insists on payment in cash. The figure represents all the money in the Worpt coffers. 

Ratfarts are probably seldom heard or identified by smell. They waft around the back doors and hallway exits. They mix in the kitchen with the better odours of well-planned dinners. It may have been that each player in the game had been pure hearted and intent upon a successful tour up to the point of confrontation in Fahey's room. Maybe the bad smell was only ratfarts. More probably though, it was a rank stew of fear that would do anything, worship gone sweaty and stale, 'ornery pride that denied its own odour and the bad breath of one pissed-off jet-lagged Texas lawyer - from 'Henry's Take on the Tour', ibid. 

Upon our return from the bank - it entailed a tramp down the Royal Mile in the rain - Abner fails in his first attempt to give Fahey the advance fee. We meet in the foyer, but before the transaction can be concluded the guitarist turns tail and runs. 'I can't take the money now," he wails, "I'm going to vomit!" 

And so the exchange is deferred until after Fahey's appearance on the Brian Morton Radio Show. He cuts an imposing figure in the foyer (oh, that Abyss foyer), hitching up his baggy shorts, dangling a bare leg over a chair arm, and fingering an unplugged solid-body guitar. Fahey announces his displeasure at Brian Morton's producer, who has had the temerity to request short pieces. He's not so much flexing his fingers by way of warm-up, more hammering out a single note obsessively, whilst muttering: "They're imposing a compositional form on me, and I don't like that. You'll be sorry. You'll be sorry." 

The troupe take identical positions in the foyer a few hours later, after the live broadcast  of the Brian Morton Radio Show. Fares are organised to take the company to the Queen's Hall, where crowds are already beginning to gather. Fahey seems in no hurry, as he counts, re-counts and arranges his Scottish pound notes on top of his guitar-case according to denomination. Kelly, in full Albert Grossman mode, is lobbying a harried BBC producer to get John Fahey onto Later with Jools Holland. He drops the phrase "a force of nature" and Fahey nods approvingly. Emboldened, he takes another dig at Abner. "I don't have a contract with anyone," he taunts. Abner seethes with impotent rage, to Fahey's visible satisfaction.

Half an hour later Abner Burnett carries his first drink of the evening onto the stage of the Queen's Hall; a double shot of Bell's with ice. Bugs are already all over the project. Stray dogs languish by the fly-covered carcass panting and staring idiotically - from 'Henry's Take on the Tour', ibid. 

If Abner is lacklustre in performance, then Fahey is lamentable. Turgid single-line licks are strung together to be resolved, or not, with crushing banality. 'Juana', a pretty tune, is stretched beyond its natural length, and an attempt at 'Samba de Orfeo' is fumbled and abandoned. The Fender Strat, carried across the Atlantic by Abner as stipulated by the contract, is ignored in preference for a cheap model hired for the radio session. It's difficult to tell the difference between the incessant tuning and the desultory improvisation that follows. 

"God-damn," says Abner beside me in the back row. The walk-outs grow in number until a trickle swells into a stampede. "Absolute mince," says one defector. "God-damn," says Abner again, before joining the flow. 

I stay until the end, which is not long in coming. Fahey stops in mid-tune, suddenly deciding that the performance has exceeded the one and a quarter hours so painstakingly negotiated with Do Easy Booking. "I'll quit while I'm ahead," he announces. This is asking for it. "Ahead of what?" rejoins a heckler from the crowd. The remark has the effect of unnerving the artist, who, unsure of his exit, becomes entangled in the stage curtain. Patrons file out stupefied and mildly dazed.  

Abner meanwhile, is consoling himself in the Queen's Hall bar with a beer chased by double whiskey. "You're not Derek Bailey," says someone. (The names 'John Fahey' and 'Derek Bailey', are printed on the tickets: just another cock-up.) "You're in big trouble." 

"Buy me a drink and tell me about it," says Abner. 

All around, the recent concert is the subject of conversation. 

"The most puerile guitar playing I have ever heard," says one dissenter. "My seven year old grandson can play better and put more feeling into the music." "Perhaps he was drunk," replies his companion, obviously a charitable soul. "Either he was drunk or he couldn't be bothered to play coherently." Another speaker volunteers: "John Fahey is on another planet, I think." 

Paul Kelly is present, and as the tenor of the discussion becomes clear, he gets redder and redder, and madder and madder. A reformed alcoholic and strict abstinence man himself, Kelly has a pathological intolerance of drink, and the widely-held belief that his star is drunk is more than he can bear. He looks around for a drunk to abuse and spots Abner Burnett. "He's not even a real drunk, he's just posturing as a drunk," fumes Kelly, and advances menacingly.      

It transpires that Abner's new acquaintance is Tim Hardin's road manager, and the two, along with a party of friends, are getting along famously. Abner is theorising that John Kennedy was shot by the retired football coach of his high-school in Midland, Texas, when all merriment dies at the approach of a mean-looking Kelly. He obtrudes his bulk between Abner and his companions, and out pours a jet of abuse, at close enough range to douse Abner with spittle. 

This is too much. Abner grabs Kelly's collar. Tim Hardin's road manager pulls the two men apart. Kelly's bellicose ranting subsides in a moment. Spluttering hysteria is replaced by a smirk. He has what he came for. 

Meanwhile, I have to go back to the hotel for a cheque-book to pay the sound-crew. On my return, the Hall is deserted except for these same technicians, busy packing up for the night, and one other: a figure is stretched out on the stage. It is the original American Primitive, snatching a moment of peace from the chaos all around. He is belly-up as I enter. I duly pay Alex the Soundman. At the sound of my voice the living bulk on the stage stirs. 

The Malodorous Plenipotentiary of Takoma now settles on his side and props his head on his elbow. He stares directly at me, and, hemmed in by aisles on either side, there is no escape from the penetrating intensity of that horrid gaze, undimmed by his sunglasses. I search for words, but am struck dumb. What can I say? "You were marvellous, John"? I calculate the distance to the exit. I manage the words, "'Ello John," and make a dash for it. 

And so the official part of the stormy opening night of Guitar Excursions into the Unknown is over. It only remains for Abner, the bogus drunk, to get drunk for real. The two of us head for Whistlebinkies, an after-hours bar with live music on South Bridge, to drown our sorrows. During the course of the night, a honky-tonk band play 'Pancho and Lefty' three times. Abner claims he sung it from stage once, but I have no recollection of this. It might be true. The scene got slightly fuzzy. 

I do remember that Abner's conversation touched upon the case of a sheriff in a small Texas community who had lately been exposed as a paedophile. Apparently the bad sheriff had been dragged out of his office weeping and howling, and shouting, "Jesus Christ! I'm a Christian!" Thereafter, the music of the honky-tonk band at Whistlebinkies is periodically interrupted by cries of "Jesus Christ! I'm a Christian!" These come from Abner. 

"Every silly son of a bitch who contributed to this debacle is going to get shovelled into the furnace for a long time," he continues. "Myself included." 

After several more beers and whiskey chasers and a turn at reading the palms of our hands, his thoughts return to religion. "Luckily, I'm a Buddhist. A little mound of particles which disperses into oblivion where more little mounds are being made." 

At 3am, we return to the Abyss, with the stated intention of taking advantage of the residents' all-night bar. Abner's voice is slurred but he is still sensible. "Going up in smoke is my stock-in-trade," he says, before collapsing on the floor, with his final beer and double whiskey chaser unfinished. I and a hotel employee carry him to our room. 

On the one hand I've never seen a man so determined to relive the day he refused to eat his supper. On the other hand there's a man who knows he's dead no matter what, but keeps waiting around trying to get heard - from 'Henry's Take on the Tour', ibid. 

"When a situation is really, really ugly," I had earlier asked Tim Hardin's road manager, "what do you do?" (I imagine life on the road with Tim Hardin wasn't all Misty Roses.) "Get out at once," he replied, without hesitation. 

And now I'm looking at an envelope which has 'WORPT' written in pencil on the front, and, in another hand, a message in block letters in ink on the back. It reads: 

DONT LOOK BACK IN ANGER 

NOR FORWARD IN FURY 

BUT AROUND YOU WITH 

AWARENESS & OVER 

YOUR SHOULDER 

JUST 

IN 

CASE 

LOVE & HUGS DEBI 

This reassuring note came from the partner of Tim Hardin's road manager. 

Friday, September 17, 1999, early morning 

Abner is whirling around the room like a dervish and hurling half-empty bottles of alcohol and mineral water to the four corners. "God-damn!" he yells, "I'm on tour with two assholes!" For the first time, I begin to understand the rock 'n' roll ritual of hotel-room demolition. "Don't do it!" I plead, as Abner's attention turns to the merchandise and several scattered boxes of CDs. In the absence of the John Fahey reissues, kindly provided by Ace Records on a sale or return basis, he directs his ire on a box of his latest, Calavera. He shows every sign of wanting to propel the box through the window. "Don't do it! It's Calavera, it's a masterpiece!" This only provokes him all the more. And then, in an instant, he flops on top of the nearest bed, out like a light, and proceeds to snore very loudly.  

Friday, September 17, 1999

It's the lobby of the Abyss again, at mid-day, and Paul Kelly is loudly proclaiming to everyone in earshot, including several bystanders not directly involved with the tour, that he is not prepared to do further business with a violent, drunken, dangerous… He searches for the worst possible insult he can think of. "…bar room singer!"  

Deaf to entreaty, Kelly refuses to let Abner ride in the van. This is particularly hard as the hire of the van has been paid with Abner's visa card.

I try to assimilate the latest bit of bad news. Worpt UK Ltd, I was informed by the management of the Queen's Hall that morning, cannot receive a penny of the takings of the previous night's concert because Bob Mills signed for the Hall on behalf of the House of Doodoo. 

Now the scene divides into a chaos of overlapping altercations. I demand the money from the ticket sales from Bob Mills. Abner is roaring, "Ring the police! Ring the police!" If he can't ride the van when he hired it, then he will report it as stolen. Mills loses his nerve and produces a wad of bank-notes. "Ring the police!" reiterates Abner. But this is not a simple operation, because Abner left his mobile phone in the States, and the public phones at Abyss only operate with a WorldCom Global Phone Card. We finally manage to get through to Edinburgh's finest. A disembodied voice sweetly explains that an authorised person cannot be prevented from driving a hired vehicle. In reasonable tones, it explains the difference between a civil and a criminal offence. 

Fraud and deception and bad faith, it seems, are civil rather than criminal offences. Actually, Kelly at this point had passed into criminality. Abner had been asked to provide a DAT recorder - along with the guitar that Fahey never used - to capture the concerts for posterity. He bought one with his own money and duly put it to use. I remember Alex the Soundman returning the DAT recorder to Abner in the Queen's Hall bar. There was some bantering talk about blackmail. 

The DAT recorder had been left in the changing-room, along with guitars, CD merchandise, a camera and other odds and ends, waiting to be loaded into the van. Every item is accounted for, with the exception of the DAT recorder. Now, as patrons and staff of the Abyss stare in incredulous dismay, the two factions divide their possessions jealously. The amplifier - another item paid with Abner's visa - goes Kelly's way, and we get the merchandise. Kelly makes an offer to carry the CDs to Manchester (the next stop of the tour). I have to decline. "Have you got your DAT recorder?" Kelly sweetly inquires, with a smirk.   

John Fahey? He doesn't take a role in any of the preceding unpleasantness. He just sits to one side, looking inscrutable in his shades. I never see him again. Indeed, it's a couple of years before I see Paul Kelly again. With the exit of Fahey and Kelly, driving to the borderlands in a hired van, the most sensational part of our story draws to a close. But back to the tour diary, which is now a non-existent tour diary… 

Abner hires a car to take us to Manchester. The sun sets in the Lakes as we drive. The fate of Guitar Excursions is more than unknown, but it feels like freedom not be sharing a carriage with the odious F and K. Abner talks me through Beethoven's String Quartet #13, playing on the car hi-fi. Later, we arrive at my Manchester pad and pick up my voice-mail messages. 

The tour is off, says a short message from Kelly. Fahey has flown back to the States. He, Kelly, has disassociated himself from Worpt UK Ltd and resigned his directorship. We are to notify the tour venues and cancel existing hotel bookings. Calls to Kelly's home for clarification are in vain. Once when we ring, Kelly picks  the phone up and resorts to mimicking an answer-machine to avoid discussion.     

  

Saturday, September 18, 1999 

Playing the part of an itinerant with some conviction, Abner Burnett busks outside the Royal Northern College of Music to a few disappointed music-lovers expecting to see John Fahey. An elderly woman of middle-European heritage declares her love for the singer. She tries a variety of dance-steps, and abandons the polka for some wayward gyrations she calls "the Elvis Presley". She is mad in a refreshingly benign way. 

Sunday, September 19, 1999 

Taking advantage of the unexpected downtime, Abner and I visit Blackpool. The Lancashire resort has been a source of fascination for Abner since he chanced to see the Lee Evans film, Funny Bones. The first sight of Blackpool Tower from the road draws an excited response. "God-damn! This is it!" he says, slapping his thigh with one hand and holding the wheel with the other. 

We brave the wet and cold in the cheerful way special to day-trippers. Alas, Abner's enthusiasm wears down and expires completely in a cowboy theme-bar on the seafront. Upon entering, he is told to remove his freshly purchased jester's cap. This rankles, but the Confederate flag finally does for him. "Don't these idiots realise they're glorifying a culture that sanctioned slavery?" he moans.

A Tammy Wynette tear-jerker plays on the jukebox. "Should I confess," says Abner, "that my real interest in music lately is composition through use of fractals and chaos? Or just write a fucking country song about it?" 

In the evening, friends, singers, musicians and a bull terrier gather for an impromptu singaround in honour of Abner at the Temple of Convenience, an old public lavatory converted into a bar, just off Oxford Road. The raw stench of failure is dispelled by the deodorant of camaraderie and song. Thank you for the support, Helen Pendry, Marcus Hickman, Clive Mellor, Mark Greer, Kirsty McGee, Scott Alexander, Kaisa Jokinen, Juha Halinen, Sheila Seal, Al Parry and Oscar the bull terrier.     

   

Monday, September 20, 1999

More information trickles through about the real state of affairs. Contrary to Kelly's message, it seems that Fahey and Kelly are still at large, honouring some dates and cancelling others. [Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds are "no-shows". Fahey fulfils his engagements in Newcastle, Belfast, Stamford and London, mostly co-promotions with established promoters, with Fahey on a flat-fee. The London show is promoted by Serious.] A live radio session for Andy Kershaw is cancelled at short notice. The broadcaster drops a pointed remark about enigmatic guitarists between record plays. 

Abner, with a true lawyer's instinct, inserted a clause in the contract to state that all disputes are to come under the jurisdiction of Ector County, Texas. He derives some satisfaction from picturing John Aloysious in front of a jury of common folk from Ector County, Texas. [The legal action is derailed when Fahey dispenses with the services of Mark Linn of Do Easy Booking and replaces him with… Paul Kelly.] 

The management of the Queen's Hall consult their legal team and opt to pay the local promoter. [Bob Mills, if one is to believe his subsequent bleating and whining, sincerely desires to reimburse Worpt UK Ltd, but events kept conspiring to prevent him: oh, postal strikes, post-dated cheques that bounce when the day arrives, an entire street burnt to the ground, including the venue where his Casper Brotzmann gig was taking place, etc etc.) 

Over a meal at Yang Sing Restaurant in Chinatown, I brood over Kelly's duplicity. The tour has been the cause of great pain and produced small gain and, with the best intentions, I succeeded only in introducing a terrible pestilence into the world. I am inconsolable, and Abner isn't going to let me off the hook. 

"It couldn't be worse," he is saying. "It's worse than going to jail." He casts around for comparable misfortunes. "It's worse than standing at a crap table where you can't get more credit because you've just pissed away 3000 dollars." He refills his cup of shushi. "It's worse than your girlfriend playing mattress slam dunk with your best friend." A graceful manoeuvre with the chopsticks. "It's worse than picking a fight and getting the shit kicked out of you." 

An unworthy thought about the relaxed standards of the Ector County Bar Council flits across my mind. 

We're trying to get through this with enough of our asses left over to be able to grab with both hands. I know that each of you has worked hard to get this rolling. I believe we can pull it off. Woe to whomever wrongfully takes advantage of the situation. I don't exactly understand the nature of it, but time's revenge seems to flow justly over the carcasses of the unrighteous - Abner Burnett to Mike Butler and Paul Kelly, August 27, 1999. 

Where are they now? 

Derek Bailey RIP, December 25, 2005. It was an inspired idea (credit where it's due), to pair Bailey and Fahey. Both were outsiders and both grew more radical with age. Which is not to say they were compatible. Bailey's style, astringent and flinty, was surprisingly elegant in his late period, and he even started using conventional jazz harmonics, doubtless as a valedictory and affectionate nod to his youth.

John Fahey RIP, February 22, 2001, after undergoing a sextuple bypass at Salem Hospital, Massachusetts. Poor sod. He had his reasons. Not least a sexually abusive father. The beauty of his American Primitive guitar always had a compensatory function. His late music - he told me so himself in that publicity interview - was more faithful to the bitter, damaged fuck-up he always had been. Roughly speaking, the change from transcendentalism to inchoate barbarism came with his adoption of the electric guitar. 

Abner Burnett gave up ambulance-chasing for human rights, and since 2007 has enjoyed the position of Chief Public Defender in Willacy County, Texas, for Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid. He still sings and performs and his most recent album, which he threatens is his last, is It Ought to Be Enough, on Worpt Records (2008). His motto is still "All Merit for Freedom".   

Paul Kelly relocated to Newcastle, where he helped jazz promoter Paul Bream with On The Outside, then an annual festival of improvised music. He started Music Stuff, a booking and management agency. The great NY 'New Thing' drummer, Sonny Murray, was a client. But it seems that all business relationships end in bitter recrimination, and all promotions end in black farce. Horror stories filter down to me from time to time.  

Bob Mills. Current whereabouts unknown.  

Mike Butler lives and works in Manchester, and is writing a book about legendary folk producer Bill Leader. Many years after the Fahey debacle he turned on the radio and, by chance, 'The Death of the Clayton Peacock' was playing. It was his first exposure to Fahey's music since 1999. He steeled himself to listen, for the shock therapy value as much as anything, and found himself strangely enjoying it, to his surprise. "That was 'The Death of the Clayton Peacock' by Leo Kottke," said Verity Sharp, the announcer. Ah, that explains it then. 

  

GoGo Penguin, Matthew Halsall Trio

GoGo Penguin, Matthew Halsall Trio

Band on the Wall, November 29, 2012 

The first tune was characteristically frenetic, full-on and storming, but GoGo Penguin are nothing if not dynamic, and calm entered with a springy bass solo by Grant Russell. The occasion is the official launch of GoGo Penguin's debut album, Fanfares (on the Gondwana label), and the trio are cooking. 

What is the secret of the distinct GoGo sound? It might be that each player reaches their point of flammability at a different temperature. No matter how voluble drummer Rob Turner and bassist Russell get, Chris Illingworth is never less than measured and graceful on piano. And just as temperatures collide in a positive way, so rhythm is also mercurial and unpredictable. Rob Turner's absorption of urban hip-hop rhythms gives a modernistic sheen. Then there's Illingworth's confidence in melody, and a sense of dramatic structure that owes more to prog-rock than straightahead jazz. They also insist on giving listeners something to feel - a real rock 'n' roll imperative - and every piece is a journey into mystery. The strangely freaky bits that est used to achieve by electronic means are here deployed on strictly acoustic instruments, using skin and ivory, which is another plus. 

Whereas the Matthew Halsall Trio harness the full panoply of electronica, with Taz Modi simultaneously manipulating a bass synth and electric keyboards. A box of wires enables Halsall's trumpet to vault the gates of heaven. Or, at other times, a ghost Halsall spars with the flesh and blood Halsall. The music flits between inner-directed reverie and spellbinding grandeur. Listeners either surrender to mesmerism or vote with their feet, with the latter a definite minority, and mainly from the mouldy olde fig camp. 

Two covers indicate the expansiveness of Halsall's vision: 'Acrid Avid Jam Shred' by Aphex Twin and 'Ode to the Big Sea' by The Cinematic Orchestra (indeed, The Cinematic Orchestra's own Luke Flowers is on drums). "I love this tune," said my neighbour, as 'Big Sea' was announced. So it's not all Miles and modalism as Halsall's recorded output suggests. If I didn't surrender completely, it was only because Flowers comes from the John Bonham School of Jazz Drumming. Possibly I'm turning into a mouldy olde fig myself.

The Golden Age of Comedy Records

Some thoughts on British Comedy (circa '59-'61) occasioned by the listing of four comedy LPs on one-for-every-fair-and-rainy-day, my little eBay trading post -

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/150953063955ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1558.l2649

‘The Blood Donor’ (Hancock, NPL 18068) is immortal, but  do writers Galton and Simpson have to be so cruel and pitiless while dissecting the petty vanities, hopes and fears of one ineffectual little guy. Poor Tony Hancock is so vain he wants a medal for donating blood; he’s a casual racist, bragging of his pure British stock, and crows in conceit when he finds he belongs to a rare blood group. He’s also self-pitying (“A pint, but that’s an armful!”) and cranky (“it might be a prick to you, but it’s life and death for somebody, mate”). 

The humour of Hancock’s Half Hour is savage. And bitter too, as you’re expected to mock the pretensions of this poor, self-deluded fool. But why shouldn't Hancock wish to improve himself with Bertrand Russell or escape the rat-race to fulfil his creative potential (as in the feature-length film, The Rebel)? 

Tony Hancock’s genius was to instil dignity to the character. His identification was so complete that the comic creation and the actor/comedian actually shared the same name, blurring the boundary between fiction and reality. There was always a clear delineation between Phil Silvers and Sgt Ernie Bilko, even if one was self-evidently a projection of the other. But Hancock wasn’t allowed that fig-leaf, even as Galton and Simpson heaped weakness and misfortune onto his frail psyche. His end was tragic. Remember the suicide note? “Things just went wrong too many times.” There’s a pithy summation of the human condition for you. 

Which is why the laughs of ‘The Blood Donor’ don’t come cheaply. 

But at least there are laughs, which is more than can be said for Peter Sellers. 

Some of the good points of Songs for Swingin’ Sellers (PMC 1111)and Peter and Sophia (PMC 1131). Ah, Matt Monro does a nice Frank Sinatra impersonation on the former. Sophia Loren is thankfully under-used on the latter, and the co-credit was presumably just a gambit in Seller's vain wooing of the Italian starlet. The funny Clousseau voice first appears on ‘Shadows on the Grass’ (from Swingin’ Sellers), that’s if you think French accents are inherently funny. The latter sketch is written by, and co-stars, the wonderful Irene Handl, who brings a bit of humanity to (another) study in self-delusion. There might actually be a real person in there. 

And because a lot of the material spoofs the contemporary music scene, it acts as a vivid snapshot of its time, blithely evoking trad jazz with ‘Ukelele Lady’ (and borrowing the Temperance Seven to do it), and targeting skiffle with ‘Puttin’ On the Smile’, although the irritating Lonnie Donegan defies parody. 

And, ah, that’s all the good points. 

Well now, The Goons. We’re back in drab, grasping, penny-pinching post-war England again, redeemed by a sense of the absurd, albeit tinged with desperation.  The Goons were (are) worshipped by jazz musicians for the way they used sound to suggest 101 impossible things before the inevitable moment when Eccles got "drownded in the water". But ‘Tales of Old Dartmoor’ and ‘Dishonoured’ (The Best of the Goon Shows, PMC 1108) seem ill-supplied with sonic and engineering innovation, and Ray Ellington and Max Geldray have been excised from the proceedings altogether. Talk about mean-spiritedness.   

(I guess I'm not alone in my opinion: nobody's bidding on them.)