Caedmon – together again
Well, we finally managed it. This weekend, Caedmon got together at a remote, not to say exclusive, location and spent three blissful days (it was a long weekend) making music as if thirty years had flown by in a day.
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In 1978, a small christian folk rock band in Edinburgh released a farewell album to celebrate six years of making music together. The album was made on a shoestring budget and only 500 copies were pressed. The musicians went their separate ways.
Forty years on, the record remains a collectors item. A new re-release on the Guerssen record label is due and it has been described as one of the best folk rock albums of the seventies.
The band started writing again for the 2008 30th anniversary of the album, and produce ‘A Chicken to Hug’ on CD and on-line.
And with the 40th anniversary they are producing a new package on vinyl called RARE, a 12″ LP and 7″ single in a sleeve with insert: seven new songs, six from 1975 and a surprise track.
So, with all the hype and the misinformation that seems to have followed it, we found ourselves obliged to set the record straight. And what better way than our own web site.
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‘WEBLOG’ for current activity, ‘NOW’ for news of new music making, ‘THEN’ for a historical perspective, and ‘LINKS’ to migrate to other related websites.
Forty two years have passed. The band has got together to record seven new songs in an album called ‘RARE’. These is teamed with six unheard Caedmon tracks from 1975/78 in a vinyl package reminiscent of their first album: a 12″ LP and a 7″ single.
‘RARE’, title track, reflects upon the story of the ’78 album. Originals command four figure prices in the vinyl collecting world and they have become a grail for Acid Folk collectors.
On the 30th anniversary of the break up on the band they reformed meeting for weekends in Weardale, Co. Durham, in the north of England.
Caedmon was always a weird mixture of musicians and their musical influences jostling to find some space to work together. With thirty years to establish and cement those disparate styles, what did this bizarre mixture bring to the table?
Jim doesn’t use a fuzz box to try and rock out quietly, Ken plays everything including the cello, Simon has dropped the bongos for a full drum kit, Sam now plays a gut throbbing five string bass, and Angela… well Angela, initially reluctant, has been persuaded to get behind a mic again. Now she’s a working vet, and possibly the only member of that student band that actually does what she trained for at university.
So how has the music changed in those thirty years? The evidence of their toil is now available on Amazon, iTunes, and eBay in a smart digipak-ed limited edition CD or as download: ‘A Chicken to Hug’
Initial reviews find a connection between the old and new in their music. Also, thankfully, there’s a sense that Caedmon’s music has progressed expressing maturity, variety and novelty.
Find out more about the history of the Acid Folk group Caedmon that started in 1973.
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The album, Other recordings, The band, Classifying Caedmon, The facts,
The gigs, ’73 – ’75, ’75 – ’76, ’76 – ’77
The history, 1973 – 1978, 1979 – 2008
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One of the things about having been involved in making an album which, years later, sells for hundreds of pounds (or dollars) is the nagging thought that its value has more to do with its rarity than its quality.
Caedmon ‘Live’: Kissing Spell
Kissing Spell followed up their rerelease of the Caedmon 1978 album with live tracks from two concerts in 1977 / 1978. London Psalm is everyone’s favourite on blogs.
The tracks are:
1.) London Psalm Sam Wilson, 05 mins 56 secs
2.) Ivory Tower Jim Bisset, 05 mins 16 secs
3.) Worlds and Friends Ken Patterson, 04 mins 47 secs
4.) Aslan Simon Jaquet 05 mins 13 secs
5.) Sea Song Simon Jaquet 05 mins 48 secs
6.) The Garden Caedmon 07 mins 58 secs
7.) Caedmon Hymn Jim Bisset 04 mins 38 secs
8.) Sunchild Jim Bisset 04 mins 41 secs
9.) Heaven Haven Poem: G.M. Hopkins, Music: Simon Jaquet 02 mins 46 secs
10.) Ten Maidens Fair Ken Patterson 04 mins 19 secs
11.) Maker Man Ken Patterson 03 mins 02 secs
12.) Storm Caedmon 06 mins 19 secs 1978
13.) Beyond the Second Mile Sam Wilson 06 mins 48 secs
14.) Columba Jim Bisset 02 mins 42 secs
The Netherbow Recordings
We recorded a whole bunch of tracks in the Netherbow Arts Centre in 1975?. The Netherbow had a small broadcast studio in the top level, and although it was never really designed for recording bands, it was our first attempt at proper studio recording.
Five of these tracks now appear on RARE.
The farewell concert was also recorded but never published.
December 1973
Caedmon’s first public concert, Pollock Halls, Edinburgh University.
Andy Love: guitar from Aberdeen
Angela Naylor: vocals from Brighouse, Yorkshire
Ken Patterson: ‘cello, keyboards and guitar from Newcastle upon Tyne
All three were veterinary students.
1974
Simon Jaquet: mandolin, guitar, clarinet and bongoes from Sellindge Kent (a student of French)
Sam Wilson: guitar and bass guitar from Prestwich, Manchester (a student of Chemical Engineering)
Both join the band in early 74. First concert as a 5-piece in Pollock Halls, Baird House common room round about Easter 74. At the end of the summer vacation there is a slightly abortive week’s rehearsal at Elm How, a pink cottage in the Lake District. Andy and Ken can’t make it because of failed resits. Angela, Simon and Sam jam for hours and spend a lot of time walking to the shops which are about 4 miles away. Andy leaves vet school for home in Aberdeen and Ken transfers to Psychology.
Late in 74 Jim Bisset, electric guitar, from Crieff, Perthshire joins the band. He’s studying Divinity.
1975
Simon’s course takes him to France. Fiddler Alan Torrance plays with Caedmon in his absence. Jim, Ken and Sam move into a flat together along with Jim’s sister. They tour widely in a borrowed Austin Maxi and a Volkswagen Caravette. Alan Stevens (another Vet student) helps with sound.
1976
Caedmon appear at the Edinburgh Fringe for a week of late night concerts at The Netherbow Arts Centre on The Royal Mile, with Gordon Strachan (photography), Carolyn Dougill (sound) and George Anderson (lighting).
They start to play weekly in The Mitre pub on the same street. Tony Welbrock starts to sound mix for the band.
1977
Second year at the Edinburgh Fringe for a week of concerts.
At the end of the week they travel overnight in their Ford Transit van ‘Abysilda’ to perform the following afternoon at the Greenbelt Festival in a marquee. Squeezed by programming needs into a meagre slot to accommodate ‘Nutshell’.
1978
They record their eponymous LP to celebrate their five years as a band. They spend two weekends in Barclay Towers Studio in a garret in Bruntsfield. Twelve tracks are mixed down. Ken designs sleeve, Sam the sleeve notes, Angela the lyric sheet and a photo is taken on Arthur’s Seat. Twelve tracks proves to be too much for one album so a 45 rpm single is included in the package. 500 copies are made. They are sold at the Farewell Concert in George Square, Edinburgh in the month of March, to friends and fans. Ken and Angela leave Edinburgh.
1979
Sam and Simon in Cahoots. Jim in Ever After, then on a national tour with Nutshell.
1980
Sam and Simon in The Buskin’ Band. Jim moves to London, then Manchester.
1981
Ken’s work in The Nethrbow Restaurant leads him to buy a Tea Room in Rothbury Northumberland and becomes Egon Ronay Recommended in the ‘Just a Bite Guide’. He assists with the running of Linden Folk with Tony Welbrock, Rod Clements of Lindisfarne and Geoff Heslop of Black Crow records.
1982
Sam and Simon in ‘The Wilde Cigarillos’ and ‘The Fairly Solid Theatre Co.’
1983
Ken sets up ‘Pineapple Agogo’ carnival and dance band with Dodgy Clutch Theatre Co. www.dodgyclutch.com. Albums ‘Big in Winnipeg’ and ‘No Tripe Por Favor’ follow. Jim goes out to Harare, Zimbabwe, teaching English.
1984
Jim returns from Zimbabwe, settles down and gets a real job; discovers computers.
1986
Simon works on a youth project in Botswana and records an album in the Kalahari Desert with Duncan Senyatso and the Kgwape Band playing his own brand of highlife mandolin.
1987
Jim gives up the day job and forms Bernie Hot Hot with David Dunne and Pete Condor.
1988
Ken forms the Heaton People’s Band bringing the first steel pans set to the North East of England. The People soon choose to be called The 10th Avenue Band. www.tenthavenueband.co.uk.
1990
Jim forms Reel Funk Inc with Pete Condor and Shairon Rodgers.
1992
Kissing Spell shows an interest in releasing the 1978 album as a CD.
1993
Simon records ‘Private’ with Dave Heavenor as ‘The Night Visitors’. www.davidheavenor.com.
1994
Kissing Spell releases CD of ‘Caedmon’.
1996
Ken forms The Newcastle All Stars Steel Orchestra an 18 piece teenage band. www.newcastleallstars.org.uk
1998
Simon and Sam form Flaming Nora Ceilidh Band. www.flamingnora.org.uk
2000
Ken coordinates ‘Making Music On the Line’ with Folkworks, Channel 4 and Oxfam. A band of ten musicians from Shetland, Northumberland, Gascony, Catalonia and Burkina Faso perform on a year long project in each of their countries. (Catriona Macdonald, Alison , Sandra Kerr, David Oliver, Pierre Schidt and Les Sous Fifres, Cati Plana, Francina Turon, Salif Ouedrago and Mama Kouyate).
Jim forms the Jazzrascals with Peter Condor, a studio based band who publish their music on the web: www.jazzrascals.com
2001
Ken works with Richard Scott (Grand Union) in Rich Pickings and 4 Corners Music Network. 4cornersmusic.com. The network includes Yousuf Ali Khan, Gerry Hunt, Graham Raine, Cheng Yu and Zed Morgan.
2002
Kissing Spell releases a Caedmon Live CD.
Ken acts with Theatre Sans Frontieres in ‘Le Tour de France’ in a national tour. He starts a relationship with the company composing and music directing. www.tsf.org.uk
2003
Ken composes ‘Tyne Times’ for a Tyneside International Streetband Festival. A massed band of 100 musicians (Germany, France, Netherlands, UK and USA) plays the piece by the Millennium Bridge in Gateshead.
2004
Ken acts in ‘Round the World in 80 Minutes’ a further collaboration with TSF, filmed in Cameroon, Tunisia, Belgium, Switzerland and Quebec for a multi media theatrical show.
Jim sets up the ‘James Bisset: Fiftieth Anniversary Edition’ project.
2006
Ken composes music for TSF’s ‘La Pelota Magica’.
2007
Ken composes music for TSF’s ‘Les Contes Dores”.
May 2008
Jim, Ken, Sam and Simon meet for 3 days of jamming to develop an album of new material in Weardale, England.
Oct 2008
Jim, Ken, Sam and Simon back to Weardale to record over two weekends in October, working up some of the material started in May
Nov 2008
Ken and Simon go to Walsall, England, and record Angela’s vocals on four tracks
Feb 2009
Jim, Sam and SImon work on the mix in Edinburgh, Scotland.
July 2009
The band meet in Weardale, jam and decide to record with a producer and released completed demos on this website only
November 2009
The band meet in Weardale to write / perfect 12 tracks for the future album
January 2010
The band meet in Weardale to write / perfect 12 tracks for the future album
March 2010
Whole band rehearses stage set in Weardale Primary School for weekend
25th April – 2nd May 2010
Jim, Ken, Sam and Simon record at Durisdeer with Steve Butler
7th & 8th May 2010
Two nights of Caedmon in concert at The Scottish Story Telling Centre Edinburgh
Angela records vocals for album in Simon’s attic.
July 2010
Jim, Ken, Sam and Simon record at Durisdeer with Steve Butler, Steve continues to mix over next few weeks.
Oct 2010
One day of final mixing with Simon, Ken and Steve.
Dec 2010
‘A Chicken to Hug’ is released on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and as a digipak CD.
2015
Simon and Sam in davesnewbike release ‘wanderlust‘ cd album with Tom Houston and Kris Jozajtis
2016
Friend Peter Ryder challenges Caedmon to write a version of the ‘Dream of the Rood’. They meet up, write and record in Newcastle and Edinburgh and release a demo version on Soundcloud.
2017
Simon and Sam in davesnewbike release ‘The Tin Can and the Flood‘ cd album with Tom Houston and Kris Jozajtis
2019
The whole band meets and makes series of documentary videos with locations around Edinburgh. They work on ‘Runaway’ for the album that is to become ‘RARE’.
They meet a few times to write and record in Edinburgh. Simon and Dave Heavenor look through old 1/4″ tapes from the ’70s and the they are taken to be digitised.
2019
Guerssen Records approach Caedmon for permission to release a vinyl version of the 1978 album (including a 7″ single special INSET and limited edition gold vinyl albums) and Jim remasters from the original 1/4″ master.
2020
New album ‘RARE’ is completed and is released on vinyl and as a CD. Caroline Brown (Simon’s wife) and Sally Jaquet (Simon’s daughter) both contribute with vocals on some of the new tracks.
The 1978 album is available on streaming services for first time as well as the Guerssen rerelease.
2020
Simon and Sam in davesnewbike release ‘Smiling at the Croft’ cd album with Tom Houston and Kris Jozajtis.
2020
Ken creates an animated cartoon version of ‘Sea Song’.
The band meets up and starts on demos four new songs before COVID 19 scupper their plans.
Acid Folk, Prog Folk Rock, Psychedelic Folk, Wyrd Folk are all used on widespread websites to describe Caedmon’s music.
Classification genres are surely made up by collectors and not by musicians. But it is interesting that clear criteria can be worked up.
Here’s some definitions summarised from psychedelicfolk.homestead.com. I suspect that they’ve all been coined some time after the heyday of the folk rock revival of 1965 – 1980.
Acid Folk: acoustic music that doesn’t reproduce or start from traditional elements…a reinvention of folk, producing a mind-freeing experience.
Folk Rock: typified by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span… a combination of folk and rock based upon traditional tunes, Folk Music with some electric guitars and drums.
Psychedelic Folk Music : “psychedelic” as a musical genre is often associated with “mindexpanding experiences”, which are absolutely not necessarilly drugs-experiences. There are musical effects used, to express such an experience. In acoustic music, this could mean a somewhat open tuning and freedom for jamming improvisation, there are casual eastern influences.
Progressive Folk : when the “progressive” elements are very well worked out in instrumentation, but the basic use of acoustic instruments is still important.
Wyrd Folk: it’s something like acoustic music with an open, intuitive idea, acid folk music with purity, honesty, etc. without that it necessarily has to be psychedelic or completely free.
Caedmon’s music does, in some way, match up to all these different classifications. They never met Stone Angel, Mellow Candle, Comus and the other names which nestle together in histories of Acid Folk and so on. To be honest I’m only just starting to listen to them now, after thirty years.
So, bands that never knew each other, where there was no ‘cross pollination’ in performance or otherwise, can now be parcelled together. Listeners have found similar sounding bands through ‘wishlist’ culture: an ‘if you like this….. then you’ll like this’ approach. The commonalties no doubt arise as a result of the fusion of influences heard at the time of music making, the sounds made on vinyl by major bands with recording contracts.
What were the musical influences for Caedmon in the years leading up to 1978?
I followed Pentangle (I saw them playing live in the early seventies three times …. including a show with an all electric guitar line up ….. with Orange combo back line amps). Simon was a Fairport Convention devotee, and I remember being impressed on hearing Sam’s Yes Album for the first time….. Jim played Humble Pie at great volume on Saturday mornings in the band flat progressing to Sly and the Family Stone, Rufus and Funkadellic in the period up to 1978.
Is interest in Caedmon because of their instrumentation?
Current reviews of the Caedmon album dwell upon instrumentation: ‘This scottish outfit released this sole album in 1978, and it is one of the best and rarest psychedelic folk albums of the uk. Tasteful use of cello, acoustic guitars, mandolin, bongos and some wild fuzz assaults’. We used what skills we had (including Simon’s clarinet playing, not featured on the 1978 album) without feeling the need to emulate more conventional instrumentations: e.g. lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass and kit or a folk line up of fiddle, whistle, guitar and bass, that were in the music we listened to. Angela’s pure voice, Jim’s ‘fuzz guitar’, Simon’s mandolin and songs, Sam’s bass guitar virtuosity, and Ken’s ‘cello…….. make Caedmon ‘Acid’ or ‘Psychedelic.
The lack of drum kit, is surely a key factor in the 70’s Caedmon sound?
Also reviews comment upon layered voices: ‘This is a worthy complement to Fairport or Pentangle, containing some exquisite male and female vocals’….. this again reflected the times we had enjoyed in our teenage years: The Beatles, America, Crosby, Stills and Nash & even The Carpenters were an influence upon vocal arrangements as well as the ear harmony tradition of folk music.
Classification of Caedmon in 1978: Christian Folk Rock
In 1973 – 1978 we saw our music as Christian Folk Rock. We were often described as ‘Gospel Music’ a classification which would now indicate black choral music. The Acid, Prog, Psychedelic and Wyrd tags had not been coined.
The Encyclopedia of Contemporary Christian Music (2002) defines Christian Folk Rock as “music that appeals to self-identified fans of contemporary Christian music on account of a perceived connection to what they regard as Christianity”.
In our approach to writing and arranging new songs, we were post-Beatles in our thinking with an ‘anything goes’ attitude resulting in an eclectic mix of styles. There was, however, a need for us to justify the lyrical content of our songs to the Christian community we served. I remember much debate in the band about whether we were musicians whose faith became evident in writing, or Christians whose prime mission was to ‘spread the word’ through the medium of music. We, as individuals, represented a broad church of Christian views from low church to high, evangelical to conservative, so our make up was complex in more than just musical style.
In parallel with secular musical influences, the lyrical content was affected by similar Christian artists and bands: Parchment, Nutshell, Larry Norman, Randy Stonehill, After the Fire, the bands who were at the forefront of the genre.
But I think it was our peers who performed in Edinburgh at the time who influenced our approach to lyric writing and presentation the most. David Heavenor and Jamie ………. regulars at Charisma, Ricki Ross who played piano and wrote songs with ‘Under the Sun’ in Dundee before his Deacon Blue success, and ‘Miracle Road’ who became ‘Ever After’.
Also we were influenced by those who visited Edinburgh and performed alongside us: e.g. Adrian Snell, then a pianist singer song writer and `The Water into Wine Band’ from Cambridge.
We were over earnest and young, we were naive, but we were original. And if you were the blog reviewer who wrote ‘I mean, come on, what’s with the Caribbean-Celtic tracks?!?’ …… my reply to you is: we were just experimenting with all that was about us and having a good time. There were no rules about genre mix.
Had we known that in 20 years the internet would provide a distribution network for our LP to large numbers of listeners, we would have laughed and gulped and then spent more time recording it. We certainly could have ironed out the slips in intonation and meandering tempos (which we as performers of course listen to most) …… but perhaps some of the freshness would have been lost.
Acid Folk: an anecdote.
In 1977 we played a week of successful late night concerts at the Edinburgh Fringe. We packed up after the last gig, a Saturday night, and set off in our grey Ford Transit for Bedfordshire after midnight. We were hitting the ‘Big Time’, playing at The Greenbelt Festival. We shared driving through the night, noticing that the headlights were gradually dimming: some sort of alternator, dynamo, battery problem. We kept on going, there wasn’t much traffic and we had our important gig to make in only a few hours time.
At 4am we took a ‘comfort break’ in a lay by. A police car pulled up out the gloom. The police seemed convinced that drugs were to be found. We wore denim, had long hair, & were in a beaten up old Transit. In the time that it took him to interrogate us about possible substances, dawn broke and we eventual set off without having to switch on the pitiful lights which, if the officer was trying to make a conviction, were a much better line of enquiry.
The long arm of the law seemed convinced of our classification as ‘folk on Acid’.
We didn’t drink, do drugs or have any psychedelic experiences.
(Does Mac Barren’s Scottish Mixture count? Jim, Ken and friend Lance Stone enjoyed a pipe smoking phase….. a curious and unpopular pastime …… ‘Who’s that smoking custard?’)……..