March 2008
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Editorial March 2008 |
I haven't got your new CD, but I have an old tape of Baldwin recordings (labelled Upton Bishop 1952), and they are one tune once through, generally, but are also on a down-tuned fiddle, and the G (normal key) tunes come out in F. So, what have I got? Kennedy's original recordings, before he speeded them up?Greg's tape was a compilation of recordings of English fiddlers, passed on to him by Dave Lyth (Lancaster fiddler) 20-odd years ago. It was a copy of a tape he had been given by Keith Chandler. Keith now confirms that, on his old Folktrax cassette, Stephen Baldwin does indeed play one tone lower - just as he did on the Russell Wortley recordings - making it obvious that Peter Kennedy had speeded up the recordings when transferring them to CD format.
I would imagine that it was done to enable players to learn the tunes without having to re-tune their fiddles. I would have no problem with this, provided that CD 115's insert notes made clear what had been done to the recording and why. What seems to me to be extremely dubious is to 'doctor' what purchasers would expect to be an accurate field recording of a traditional player.
This being the case, I have now slowed down the Kennedy recordings by one tone, so they now play in F rather than G, and are at the tempo at which Stephen Baldwin would have originally played them. All new versions of the Musical Traditions CDs will be supplied with these corrected recordings, and I am willing to supply new CDs, gratis, to any customers of mine who bought the Musical Traditions Stephen Baldwin CD.
Rod Stradling - 9.3.08
New Volume 9 Magazine CD-ROM now availableAnd as you will see from the accompanying cover shot, this is the Quarter Centenary edition ... yes, it has been 25 years since Keith Summers first published a paper magazine called Musical Traditions, back in 1983. Things have grown a little in that quarter of a century: MT now contains 211 Articles; 812 Reviews; 60 Enthusiasms; 21 pages of Letters; 39 pages of News; 2,795 graphics images; 1,366 sound files; plus loads of other things like Links; Obituaries; Mondegreens; Sessions; Picture pages, Discographies ... the list goes on and on.
For anyone who's not tried it before, the CD-ROM is a really good way of having all the 261Mb of the magazine instantly to hand, with no ISP charges and no waiting for downloads - a very pleasant user experience. Everything is presented as Web pages, exactly the same as on the Net - so you already have all the software required, and you know how to navigate to what you want.
Just pop a tenner in the post to me, or go to the MT Records website if you want to use a Credit/Debit Card, and yours will be on its way to you the same day. You know it makes sense!
1.1.08
We started with the double, Keith Summers in Suffolk - a story to tell; Paul Marsh's superb selection from the Summers Suffolk collection and his wonderful transcription of Keith's conversations telling the first-person story of how it all happened.
Mark Wilson's 4-CD set of Kentucky music and song is, in some ways, a very similar piece of work (although Mark is, happily, still with us to tell the story). Meeting's a Pleasure can also be seen as a companion-piece to Mike Yates' 4-CD set, Far in the Mountains, of Appalachian material we published back in 2002 - two splendid sets of comparatively modern American recordings which clearly show the similarities and differences in folk music and song on either side of the Atlantic.
Most recently, we produced our first 3-CD set ... a project I had been working on for a number of years. The Brazil Family - Down by the Old Riverside is just the sort of thing which MT Records was set up to publish - important music which is unlikely ever to see a commercial release. It was most gratifying to find every one of the reviews were extremely positive ... Keith Chandler wrote: this really is the most important release showcasing the English tradition to have appeared in many a long day. I cannot stress it enough : absolutely essential.
So, nine CDs in a year! - our largest output so far, I think. Nor did we do badly on the magazine front. 2007 has seen the publication of 19 new Articles, 5 Enthusiasms, 3 pages of Letters, 2 pages of News and 31 Reviews. Not a bad year's work.
It's also rather pleasing to note that our efforts are reaching quite a number of people - the website had almost one and a half million visitors in 2007!
Once again, I'll remind you that Musical Traditions Internet Magazine exists to share our love of traditional music and musicians; if you have something to say about any traditional activity with a musical content, from anywhere in the world, please send it to me - the contact information is at the foot of the page.
So - in hopes of an equally active 2008, may I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a very happy New Year.
23.12.07
Elaine's subsequent assumption about Kennedy not needing to be concerned about the cost of the tape was thus incorrect, and also flies in the face of Kennedy's well-known practice of rarely recording any tune more than once-through from his traditional musician sources.
Another point which we didn't labour in the booklet concerns the keys in which Stephen Baldwin played, and the tempo of his playing. We did make the point that Baldwin, like so many other of the older country musicians, tuned his fiddle one tone flat ... yet the Kennedy recordings are all in the 'standard' keys and played approximately 1/8th faster than the comparable Wortley ones. Now, a tune actually played in F, speeded up by 1/8th, comes out in G! Without overtly stating that Kennedy had speeded up his recordings (which we could not prove), we hoped that readers would be able to draw their own conclusions from this information. If this were true (as I'm certain it is), it might well have a bearing on Elaine's comment that 'he sounds more relaxed in the earlier session.' As any recording engineer will tell you, the easiest way of making a slightly shaky performance sound better is to speed it up a bit!
Kennedy was well-know for his attitude of knowing far better than his sources with regard to what they 'should' have sung or played - he frequently added lines to 3-line verses, removed them from 5-line ones, and put melodies into the 'correct' keys. I am certain that the speed and keys of his Baldwin recordings are just another example of this dubious activity.
4.12.07
Topic Records has acquired the rights to the Peter Kennedy recordings and will be working towards releases of as much of the material as is commercially viable. This will obviously take some time but they hope that these releases will happen early in 2009 - Topic's 70th year.My understanding is that Topic will be producing a Voice of the People, part 2 set, drawn mainly from the Peter Kennedy recordings. And if that's not exciting enough for you, I can also reveal that our own Musical Traditions Records will have access to the material not used for the new VotP set to produce a series of new CDs of the same type and to the same standards as our existing CD releases of traditional material.
After all the doom-laden predictions about the eventual fate of the Kennedy Collection, I think that this outcome has to be seen as the impossible dream come true. Profound thanks and congratulations to all concerned.
30.10.07
But today's wonderful news is of a completely different order of magnitude - six of the manuscript collections housed in the VWML are to be digitised and made available on the Net (see Latest News for more details). This is really what the EFDSS and its splendid library should be about in the 21st century. My - and, I hope, our - heartiest congratulations to Malcolm Taylor, Pat Kingswell and Judith Hanson, the team who put this grant application together and saw it through to the end after countless hours of painstaking work.
This is 2007's best news so far ... and there's more to come; watch this space!
Rod Stradling - 2.10.07
New 3-CD set from The Brazil FamilyA selection of songs, ballads and tunes from the Brazil Family of Gloucester. A unique compilation of the repertoire of a single English Gypsy family, from the collections of Peter Shepheard, Gwilym Davies, Mike Yates, Hamish Henderson and Peter Kennedy. Featuring: Danny Brazil, Harry Brazil, Lemmie Brazil, Hyram Brazil, Tom Brazil, Weenie Brazil, Alice Webb and her son, Angela Brazil, Doris Davies, Joan Taylor, Debbie and Pennie Davies.
In his review, Keith Chandler writes: This really is the most important commercial release showcasing the English tradition to have appeared in many a long day. I cannot stress it enough : absolutely essential.
Pre-production costs have been generously funded by the Greenwich Traditional Musicians Cooperative. As usual, credit/debit card purchasing, full booklet notes, tracklists and review are available on the Records page.
14.7.07
14.6.07
Apart from the fabulous rates of pay, one of the nicest things about being the top executive of MT Records is that everyone is enthusiastic and grateful for the CDs we publish. People really do email and phone to thank me for the records and the quick service - and this makes all the hard work seem worthwhile. It also lulls one into a false sense of security, and the assumption that everyone is on your side. Sadly, this is not always the case. A couple of recent incidents have rather undermined my feeling that, while the rest of the world may be going to Hell in a handcart, at least the tiny subculture of traditional music enthusiasts are basically a decent, caring and trustworthy lot.
Needless to say, I initiated the eBay complaints procedure and wrote to Mr Tucker - but have had no reply from either. In truth, I don't mind too much; all the singers are dead, so no one's losing out on sales royalties, and I would assume that, at least, some of the songs will be getting back into the communities from which they came.
The slightly amusing irony is that this stupid twat will have the work of copying the CD-Rs and cutting up the cover papers and assembling the final product, plus the cost of the blank CD-Rs, the DVD cases, paper and printing - for a return of £4.99. Had he asked me for half a dozen at trade price, he could have legitimately sold them, complete with the booklets, with no work at all involved, and made more profit that he does with his illegal scam!
If any of you know this Les Tucker, of Davington Road, Dagenham, Essex, email: les28173@yahoo.co.uk you might like to tell him what you think of him.
Two days later, having received the CDs, he cancelled the eCheque! I wrote to him, pointing out that this was theft and asking for either an explanation, the money, or the CDs returned. He has not replied.
I feel that this is the far more serious of the two incidents - plain straightforward theft; a con based on my willingness to trust an existing customer. This person has gained 30 quid ... all the rest of us have lost; clearly I won't be able to offer to trust the rest of my customers again. I think that this is truly depressing ... I imagine that you will, too.
10.6.07
This is issued as a complement to the Veteran Keith Summers VT154CD ... 2 CDs, 75 tracks, 160 mins + 52 page integral booklet telling the story of Keith's Suffolk Collecting in his own inimitable words. Paul Marsh interviewed Keith a few months before his death, and taped his descriptions of his first going to Suffolk and encountering all those wonderful performers for the first time. The verbatim transcription of these tapes comprises the major part of the 52-page booklet (our biggest yet), and it's just like having Keith sitting next to you in the pub, sharing his excitement, enthusiasm for, and eventually love of, these remarkable characters. The booklet really is as good as the records!
Featuring: Jumbo Brightwell, Alec Bloomfield, Bob Scarce, Cyril Poacher, Jimmy Knights, Oscar Woods, Percy Ling, Billy List, Charlie Whiting, Font Watling, Fred Whiting, Eley Went, Fred List, Fred Pearce, Geoff Ling, George Ling, George Woolnough, Harkie Nesling, Reg Reeder and many others.
14.5.07
Whilst I have more than sufficient recordings, and most of the booklet notes are done, the only photographs I have are the two of Danny Brazil as found on the Enthusiasm No 14 page.
The two members of the present generation of the family with whom I am in contact are both still parked (after several years), on the side of the road beside land they already own but are not allowed to move their vans on to. Most of their non-essential belongings are in storage ... including any family photos.
So this is a general plea for help - if anyone has any photos of Danny, Harry, or Lemmie Brazil (or of anyone else in that generation) please get in touch with me as soon as possible.
27.3.07
We are now proud to announce what may be seen as its companion volume, a 4-CD set of songs, ballads and tunes from Kentucky and nearby areas, specially compiled by Mark Wilson, editor of the Rounder North American Traditions series.
Volume 1: Come All You Men and Maidens
Volume 2: Cruel Willie
MTCD341-2 + 48 page integral booklet in DVD case, 2CDs, 62 tracks, 140 mins. £16.00
Volume 3: I'll Have a New Life
Volume 4: All I've Got is Done Gone
MTCD343-4 + 44 page integral booklet in DVD case, 2CDs, 62 tracks, 141 mins. £16.00
MTCD341-4 Complete 4-CD Set. £30.00
A 4-CD set, available in 2 parts, of songs, ballads and tunes from Kentucky and nearby areas, from the collections of Mark Wilson, Gus Meade and John Harrod.
Featuring: J P and Annadeene Fraley, Buell Kazee, Sarah Gunning, Jim Garland, Blanche Coldiron, The Dixon Sisters, Asa Martin, Nimrod Workman, Roscoe Holcomb, Snake Chapman, Mary Lozier and many others.
Both double CDs come with huge booklets; introductory articles, notes on the performers and the songs and tunes, complete text transcriptions, and lots of photos. They are available from the MT Records website - www.mtrecords.co.uk - along with the entire catalogue, for credit/debit card purchase, at £16 for each double CD, or £30 for the complete set.
7.2.07
Correspondence:
Fred McCormick, 2 Orchard Grange, Moreton, Wirral, Merseyside CH46 6DZ, UK
E-mail: Fredamhran@aol.com
Phone: 0151 678 6311
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