#davy graham

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Davy Graham - Maajun (A Taste of Tangier) (1964)

From pioneering British folk guitarist Davy Graham's LP Folk, Blues & Beyond, this one is definitely in the "beyond" category. Cool stuff.

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Hares On The Mountain - Shirley Collins & Davy Graham

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Listed: James Waudby

Photo credit: Matthew Sturgess

James Waudby has been in bands for decades, starting in the late 1990s with Salako, which made three records and a Peel Session and toured with Pavement. Pavement drummer Steve West later tapped Waudby for his Marble Bay project and the musician also sings lead in Horse Guard Parade. On the Ballast Miles, however, resembles none of these projects. It’s a spare, lovely 1960s’ influenced folk classic and one of the best albums of 2023 so far. In his Dusted review, Christian Carey observed, “Waubdy’s guitar-playing, in particular, displays an intricacy that belies its dynamic level. Harmonics, pitch bends, dissonant verticals, and drones create an atmosphere that sits astride blues and folk.”

Here’s a list of some of the albums that I continually return to. I suppose they could be filed under good tunes played in an interesting way.

Royal Trux — Cats and Dogs

I used to listen to John Peel’s late-night Radio One show in the early nineties when one night, as I was dozing off, “Spectre” by Royal Trux came on and it totally changed everything. I realized there were no rules and nothing was off limits. You could write a good tune and play it any way you liked.

Townes Van Zandt — S/T

I listen to Townes Van Zandt, and I believe everything he says. Undiluted, raw song craft. Some of the bleakest songs, but also very beautiful. “Waitin' Around to Die” is the classic, but every song on this record is genius.

Shirley Collins and Davy Graham — Folk Roots New Routes

The arrangements on this album are mind blowing. In some songs they fit together effortlessly and in other songs you marvel at how Davy Graham came up with such inventive arrangements. And throughout, Shirley Collins’ voice serenely sings in her own beautiful style. It must have been amazing to hear this album when it first came out.

Matthew J Rolin — S/T

Matthew J. Rolin by Matthew J. Rolin

There’s so much great instrumental guitar music coming out at the moment and all the players have their own style, but Matthew J Rolin is always so tuneful. I love all his records, but this one just pips the others as my favorite.

Neil Young — On the Beach

If I could only listen to one artist for the rest of my life it would have to be Neil Young. There’s so much depth in his work, especially the first decade period. I could have chosen any album, live record, or bootleg, but the lyrics on this LP are some of his best. Another week I might have chosen After the Gold Rush. It’s all amazing.

Plush — More You Becomes You

It is so hard to make an album sound this simple and convey so much feeling in such a short selection of piano-led song sketches. Just stunning from start to finish.

Karen Dalton — In My Own Time

This album is perfect. Not sure there is anything else I can say about it.

Toby Hay — New Music for the Twelve String Guitar

New Music For The 12 String Guitar by Toby Hay

A brilliant Welsh guitarist who has been producing some great instrumental records on his own and with Jim Geddes. I think this one works the best as a whole piece of work. The recording envelops you and he has a beautiful guitar.

Robert Wyatt — Ruth is Stranger than Richard

This album should be a multi-million seller. I can’t understand why it is never in the top ten lists of all-time best albums. Robert Wyatt’s body of work will stand the test of time, but this record stands out. Playful, great tunes, insightful lyrics — what more could you want?

Bert Jansch — Jack Orion

The best album ever made? I think so. With similar tunings throughout, and the same guitar riffs reappearing, the album feels like a suite of folk music rather than a collection of songs. Tracks like “First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and Jansch’s masterpiece, “Blackwater Side,” stand out, but the sequencing of the songs to create an ebb and flow draws you in so you can’t stop listening until every note has finished.

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The Bassist: A Tribute To Danny Thompson (1968-1994)

A great idea for a mix from a great mix-maker. Musicophilia’s Danny Thompson tribute takes us from Pentangle to Kate Bush, from Davy Graham to Talk Talk. A lot of stuff you might be familiar with, a lot of stuff you might not be familiar with. Either way, it’s a fantastically eclectic collection and a testament to Thompson’s deep bass skills. He’s one of those musicians to look for in the credits — if you see his name, it’s basically a trademark of quality. 

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Comus: First Utterance (1971)

One of the freakiest, scariest records you’ll ever hear -- guaranteed! -- Comus’ First Utterance presents the darkest facet of the late ‘60s’ British Folk Revival.

A genuine nightmare in musical form (starting with the disturbing cover art, drawn in ballpoint pen by band leader Roger Wootton), these largely acoustic, definitely progressive acid-folk trips spiked with flute, oboe, violin, and Indian percussion obey few traditional norms with their unpredictable, disconnected passages.

This is particularly true on ten-minute-plus excursions like “The Herald,” which pauses midway through for a stark flat-picking section of spine-shivering beauty, and “Drip Drip,” which, decades later, supplied Opeth with a title for their third LP, My Arms, Your Hearse:

“As I carry you to your grave, my arms your hearse.”

Which brings us to Comus’ lyrics, which obsess on the occult (“The Bite”), murder, insanity (“The Prisoner”), even rape, in the case of their (not surprisingly) ill-fated single, “Diana” -- though it probably went to No. 1 on the Hades Hit Parade.

And then there’s Wootton’s eerie vocals, which frequently declaim his demented rhymes in the nasal, mewling whine of some depraved woodland munchkin -- almost verging on the comical, except it’s so darn unsettling, especially when countered by haunting female backing vocals

This disorienting clash of beauty and terror pervades everything on hand (also see the sublime “Bitten”), and reflects the group’s chosen name, taken from the Greek god of revels and nocturnal dalliances; of excess, anarchy and chaos; a son and cup-bearer for Dionysus himself -- it’s all right there in “Song to Comus.”

So, I can pretty much promise that you’ll instinctively recoil in horror when first exposed to Comus’ jarring, unnatural sense of songwriting, but repeat listens (ideally interrupted by a few years’ rest) of First Utterance may eventually seduce the open-minded.

Or possess their souls, I dunno, so consider yourselves warned!

More Unsettling and/or Adventurous Music, Folk & Otherwise: Agalloch’s Pale Folklore, Tim Buckley’s Starsailor, Coven’s Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls, The Damnation of Adam Blessing’s The Second Damnation, Diamanda Galás’ The Litanies of Satan, Hammers of Misfortune’s The August Engine, Horslips’ The Táin, King Crimson’s In the Court of the Crimson King, Lord Buffalo's Holus Bolus, Negură Bunget’s ‘N Crugu Bradului, Opeth’s Ghost Reveries, Secos & Molhados’ Secos & Molhados, Sixteen Horsepower’s Sackloth ‘n’ Ashes, Today is the Day’s Temple of the Morning Star, Ulver’s Bergtatt.