The Young Tradition   •   "Galleries" Revisited

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  • "Galleries" Revisited
    • 1973- Transatlantic TRA SAM 30 LP (UK)
  • Side One
    1. Intro: Ductia (Anon)
    2. The Barley Straw (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    3. What If A Day (Thomas Campion Arr. Dolly Collins)
    4. The Loyal Lover (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    5. Entr'acte: Stones In My Passway (Robert Johnson)
    6. Idumea (C. Wesley, A. Davidson)
    7. The Husbandman And The Serving Man (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    8. The Rolling Of The Stones (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    9. The Bitter Withy (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    10. The Banks Of The Nile (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
  • Side Two
    1. Wondrous Love (Rev. Robert Seagraves)
    2. Mediaeval Mystery Tour (Anon. Arr. Jansch, Renbourn)
    3. Divertissement: Upon The Bough (Anon)
    4. Ratcliff Highway (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    5. The Brisk Young Widow (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    6. Interlude: The Pembroke Unique Ensemble (Trad. Arr. Swarbrick)
    7. John Barleycorn (Trad. Arr. Young Tradition)
    8. The Agincourt Carol (Anon.)

  • The Young Tradition
    • Heather Wood: Vocals & Whistle
    • Royston Wood: Vocals, Tambour & Tambourine
    • Peter Bellamy: Vocals, Whistle, Guitar & Concertina
  • The Ensemble Including
    • David Munrow: Shawm
    • Roddy Skeaping: Viols
    • Adam Skeaping: Viols
    • Chris Hogwood: Percussion
    • Dolly Collins: Portative Organ
    • Dave Swarbrick: Fiddles & Mandolin
  • Credits
    • Produced by Bill Leader
    • Recorded at Livingston Studios, 1968
    • Augmented Arrangements: Dolly Collins
    • Art Direction: Ann Sullivan
    • Illustration: David Dragon — Flying Colours
    • Co-ordination: Laurence Aston
    • Transatlantic Records Ltd., 86 Marylebone High Street London W1M 4AY
    • Sleeve printed and made in England
    • originally issued as "Galleries", TRA 172 in 1969 [sic]

Song Notes

Intro: Ductia — An air which Peter picked up somewhere in his travels. The title you will note, is a pun.

The Barley Straw — From the singing of Harry Cox of Norfolk, this is a typical song of rural seduction. Harry Cox's recent death was a great loss to the British tradition.

What If A Day — The arrangement for this art song is by Dolly Collins, who should surely be recognised as an excellent English composer, although she is best known to the folk scene as Shirley's sister.

The Loyal Lover — This version is from Lucy Broadwood's collection of west country songs.

Entr'acte: Stones In My Passway — We thought that everyone would realise that this was a joke, but no, some people actually complained about the scratches. Listen carefully; they revolve at 78 rpm, and come from an old record of military marches.

Idumea — An American Sacred Harp hymn. We were taught several of these by some devotees in Washington, D.C. They are also known as shape-note hymns, because the music was written out with triangles, squares etc., instead of the usual oval crotchets and quavers, to enable the musically illiterate to sightread easily.

The Husbandman And The Servingman — There is a very limited tradition of harmony singing in England: a notable example is the Copper family of Sussex. This song comes from the Cantwell brothers of Oxford.

The Rolling Of The Stones — This is a fragment of a longer ballad, and was learned from the singing of Oscar Brand.

The Bitter Withy — Peter learned this version from Audrey Coppard. It gives a far more believable picture of J. Christ than most of the ballads of his childhood.

The Banks Of The Nile — This is a song that all of us knew, but no specific version was used as the basis for the one recorded here; in fact, much of the arrangement developed as we were in the process of recording it.

Wondrous Love — Another Sacred Harp hymn.

Mediaeval Mystery Tour — The mystery is in deciding which of the three tunes is by Bert and John (no prizes).

Divertissement: Upon the Bough — This is Heather's musical setting of a short poem by A.P.H. which appeared in Punch. It is supposedly written by a little old lady who is anti-"blood sports". Listen carefully, and apply your knowledge of natural history.

Ratcliff Highway — Pete says that this is a collation (which I always thought was something to eat) of several versions.

The Brisk Young Widow — Heather learned this from Schools Radio — remember Singing Together with William Appleby?? Royston, as they say, got it from her.

Interlude — The Pembroke Unique Ensemble — Pembroke for Wales (don't ask me why: it meant something at the time), unique because there was only Swarb (and Sandy very discreetly on piano) and ensemble because it was fairly together. The tune is Soldiers Three.

John Barleycorn — From the Cecil Sharp collection. One of the many songs which we picked up by a process of osmosis.

The Agincourt Carol — King Henry was so appalled by the cost in lives of the victory of Agincourt that he forbade it to be made the subject of song, but the author of this carol was spared because of the quality of his verse. Well, it's a nice story. This song was something of an endurance test for the musicians, who played it straight through without a break. David Munrow, on shawm, practically collapsed afterwards.


About the album

"Galleries " was the last album ever released by the Young Tradition. We had recorded three tracks in one fairly leisurely session, when Nat Joseph suddenly said that if we could finish it by the end of next week, it could be released in time for a forthcoming American tour. So we went into the studio, and emerged twenty hours later with a master tape.

The concept of the album, interspersed with 'mini-tracks' between the songs of our normal repertoire, belongs to loan Allen, who was then our manager. He also helped to achieve some of the effects, particularly on the rolling of the stones . We wanted to get across some of the irreverent fun we had on gigs. Not sure if we succeeded, but it was an interesting experiment.

The idea of using early instruments with traditional folk music really came from Shirley and Dolly Collins and John Marshall. If we hadn't had Dolly to do the arranging, we could not have used David Munrow and the Early Music Consort to such good effect. They said that it was the first recording session they'd been to where they didn't have to wear ties and tails . . .

The Pembroke Unique Ensemble features Dave Swarbrick on multi-tracked fiddle & mandolin, and, way down in the bass register, Sandy Denny on piano.

The feet which open Side Two belong to Ian Campbell.

Dedicated to Leslie, Anthea and Adrian


About the group

The Young Tradition disbanded on 29th September 1969, after just over four years. Which is longer than most marriages.

For those of you who never saw us — we were a trio of heads who happened to dig traditional folk music. Really, it all stemmed from that: the way we dressed, the way we acted and the way we sang. And it was fun. No (with apologies to Tom Rush and Edith Piaf) Regrets. And no reincarnation.

Peter Bellamy is doing what he always really wanted to do — singing solo. He has made a couple of albums of his settings of Kipling's poems, and has also continued to enlarge his repertoire of traditional songs.

Royston Wood has recently joined Swan Arcade, with Dave and Heather Brady from Bradford. Remember all the hassles because Royston and I had the same surname? Well, Heather Brady and I are guaranteed two different people.

I work for Dolby Laboratories, who are in the noise reduction business. Makes a change. Do I miss singing? Yes — but there's always the bathtub.

Now that the group is over, and I'm not in the business any more, I can say that I think the YT was a Good Thing. We happened at the right place at the right time (we couldn't have done it without the Watersons, or Louis Killen with Frankie Armstrong and Cyril Tawney). So this reissue of our last album gives me a chance to say a variety of thankyous:

To all the people in all the clubs and concerts and colleges who paid to see us and encouraged us so that we could continue singing. Especially Southend, and the now defunct Les Cousins, and all our friends in Washington, D.C.

To all the people who wrote nice things about us — Karl Dallas, Eric Winter et al.

To the other singers who helped and advised and sang along (as we with them) — Bert Lloyd who when we were Very Young said "Do whatever you want to do with a song, just be sure that it feels right", Ann Briggs, The Watersons, Cyril, Louis, Shirley and Dolly.

To our illustrious succession of managers — Bruce Dunnett, Roy Guest, Julia Creasy, Arthur Gorson, Bennett Glotzer, loan Allen.

To the Copper family of Sussex who really started it all.

Heather Wood
March 1973