The Young Tradition
Album: The Young Tradition/So Cheerfully Round/Galleries/Chicken On A Raft EP
Label: BGO
Tracks: 43
Website: http://www.bgo-records.com

This issue usefully collects together almost all of the studio recordings made by the iconoclastic trio (Peter Bellamy with Heather & Royston Wood) who brought a truly unique voice (three-piece a cappella harmony of a particularly distinctive variety) to the folk scene in the late '60s. Just to prove that appearances can be deceptive, their flamboyant hairstyles and dress sense (Paisley meets Carnaby Street) stood in marked contrast to their sound and repertoire - learnèd and austere, raw and often quite strident (and yet also intensely accomplished) unaccompanied vocal treatments of deeply traditional song, with an incidental (and some say peculiar) penchant for sea shanties. Once heard, never forgotten, and almost certainly an acquired taste (for which that epithet might well have been invented!). And yet immensely involving rather than dispassionately rarefied. The recording quality isn't always totally brilliant, but the latest digital remastering had helped and the sensational qualities, the visceral power and excitement of the performances is nevertheless so very well conveyed.

The Young Tradition's eponymous 1966 debut was quite unlike anything else released in that year (even in folk circles), and Peter Bellamy's admittedly eccentric phrasing and tone took much getting used to (again, even in folk circles), notwithstanding the fact that the group's chosen material was taken almost exclusively from the wellspring of acknowledged folk tradition (an honourable exception being Roger Watson's Watercress-O). On both the group's debut and its arguably even finer 1967 successor So Cheerfully Round, amongst the contrasting bitingly acerbic readings and tenderly expressive items were interspersed some exceptional solo performances (notably Royston's showstopping Dives And Lazarus, Heather's unaffected take on the carol The Truth Sent From Above and Peter's typically colourful The Old Miser). But it's the gutsy momentum and controlled near-anarchy displayed in such decidedly un-Copper-like treatments as Banks Of Claudy and The Innocent Hare that provide the most potent and memorable demonstrations of the fabulous and inimitable characteristic YT sound. Benchmark readings come thick and fast in this giddying procession of tracks.

The group's difficult third album, 1968's Galleries, heralded more than a shift towards the experimental, via early music, with the group themselves adding occasional whistles, percussion, guitar and concertina to their voices on some tracks, and augmented on a couple of items by members of the Early Music Consort and Dolly Collins, while one other track prominently featured Dave Swarbrick on fiddle (and, rather less prominently, Sandy Denny on piano). There was even a brief, intensely scratch-ridden novelty blues number on which Peter proved his skill at the genre, while the concept of tradition extended beyond then-known territory into the realms of Sacred Harp (Idumea and Wondrous Love). Galleries was too much of a ragbag to convince, however worth hearing - an honourable failure, I think the operative phrase is. But for the hardcore fans, the earlier (1967) Chicken On A Raft EP (the final item included on the second disc of the present reissue) was the real deal, and its visceral delights are worth the price of admission alone, with gut-wrenching renditions of four shanties (three in powerhouse medley mode) and the celebrated Cyril Tawney title song.

It's worth mentioning that this new BGO reissue scores over the earlier Essential/Sanctuary/Castle pair of CDs in sporting a very decent new booklet essay and notes on song sources (although some original typos are perpetuated!), and good remastered sound. However, the second disc of the earlier pair also usefully included tracks from the rare duo release No Relation which Heather and Royston had recorded a while later, in 1977… (Also, I mentioned at the start of this review the qualification "almost all" - for the group's 1969 seasonal album with Shirley & Dolly Collins, The Holly Bears The Crown, has thus far only appeared on Fledg'ling's 1995 CD reissue.) Not that any of these factors are cause for complaint however - since, for anyone wanting to investigate the legend that was The Young Tradition, this BGO double-disc set will be an essential acquisition.

David Kidman