News

>A varied selection of links to sites about Caedmon and the band members…

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

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.