VA - Come Join My Orchestra, The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-1973 [2018] (3 x CD's)

BAROQUE POP

VA - Come Join My Orchestra, The British Baroque Pop Sound 1967-1973 [2018] (3 x CD's)

When Paul McCartney - who arguably kick-started the whole baroque pop genre when he recorded the likes of 'Yesterday' and 'Eleanor Rigby' with pivotal strings arrangements - made his oft-quoted remark that pop was the classical music of the 20th Century, perhaps he meant it in a more literal sense than anyone realized at the time. In the immediate wake of ground-breaking albums like Rubber Soul, Revolver and Pet Sounds, the British and American music scenes became increasingly ambitious and cerebral. As the major recording studios becoming ever more sophisticated, a new generation of musicians and producers sought to emulate the backroom auteur status of Brian Wilson or the symbiotic relationship between George Martin and The Beatles. A new, more melancholic strain was introduced into British pop: expansive orchestral arrangements merged with the burgeoning psychedelic mind-set to create such studio-bound masterpieces as Days Of Future Passed and (of course) Sgt Pepper, with harpsichords, oboes, flutes, recorders and French horns providing a moody, introverted chamber pop flourish. Wilson and The Left Banke led the way in the US, but Britain was also awash with acts mining the baroque pop seam. Honeybus, The Zombies, Donovan, Nirvana and many others made significant recordings in that field, fusing mournful minor chord melodies with fey vocals, ornate arrangements and what had previously been considered non-rock instrumentation. Come Join My Orchestra covers British baroque pop's formative years and it's integration into a wide variety of genres, ranging from Johnny McEvoy's exquisitely sculpted take on traditional pop balladry and a clutch of dyed-in-the-wool folkies (Ian Campbell, Bert Jansch etc) to McCartney acolytes (Fickle Pickle, Mike Batt, the Gerry Rafferty-led Humblebums) and symphonic/art rock bands like Procol Harum and Barclay James Harvest. With a lavish 40-page booklet, many recordings making their first appearance on CD and two tracks (by The Regime and The Mellow Yellow) gaining their first-ever release, Come Join My Orchestra is a fascinating overview of what was a major development in late Sixties pop music, and one that reverberates to this day. (Amazon)

These 80 tracks here are well worth your time if you like exploring a particular era and type of music. This isn't a collection of fey English music with treacly vocals/arrangements, but a good overview of the beginnings of taking what The Beatles/Brian Wilson begun, and incorporating a lusher feel into pop music with that unique British time-locked melancholic feel too many of the songs. A great listen.

For mrRadio...

===========================================================

ALL 

or

ALL 

==========================================================

Track lists

CD1

01    Al Jones    Come Join My Orchestra    1:55
02    Honeybus    (Do I Figure) in Your Life    2:34
03    Clifford T Ward    Coathanger    2:48
04    Strawbs    Poor Jimmy Wilson    2:39
05    Freedom    The Better Side    4:36
06    Michael Blount    Acorn Street    1:36
07    Toast    Flowers Never Bend With the Rainfall    3:28
08    Gilbert    Disappear    2:06
09    Tony Hazzard    The Sound Of The Candyman's Trumpet    2:34
10    Picadilly Line    Your Dog Won't Bark    2:58
11    John Williams    Can't Find Time For Anything Now    2:13
12    Bert Jansch    Woe Is Love, My Dear    2:19
13    Matchmakers    Sandy    3:11
14    Jonathan Gill    Isandula Road    2:44
15    Genesis    Am I Very Wrong    3:34
16    Money Jungle    Away, Away    2:50
17    Warm Sounds    Sticks And Stones    3:23
18    Alan Brown!    You're Not in My Class    3:33
19    Curved Air    Melinda (More Or Less)    3:28
20    Edward Jenkins    I'm Going Home    3:43
21    Neil MacArthur    Don't Try To Explain    3:22
22    Stackridge    Everyman    4:26
23    Deep Feeling    Do You Love Me    3:27
24    Festival    Today    4:20
25    Ian Campbell Group    Private Harold Harris    2:47
26    Five Steps Beyond    Not So Young Today    2:51

CD2

01    Searchers    Popcorn, Double Feature    2:59
02    Rockin' Berries    Barterers and Their Wives    2:42
03    Julian Brooks    Justine    3:23
04    Bliss    Courtyards of Castile    2:57
05    Barclay James Harvest    Mother Dear    3:19
06    Orange Bicycle    Competition    2:41
07    Mike Batt    I See Wonderful Things in You    2:45
08    Bill Fay    Doris Comes Today    2:31
09    Bridget St John    Yep    2:46
10    Billy Nicholls    This Song is Green    2:56
11    Chris Neal    Cherrybelle    3:28
12    Wil Malone    I Could Write a Book    3:05
13    Offspring    Windfall    3:30
14    Audience    Poet    3:04
15    Regime    Dear Amanda    2:22
16    John Pantry    Battle of Trafalgar    1:55
17    Forever Amber    Letters From Her    1:58
18    Andy Ellison    It's Been a Long Time    3:21
19    Paper Bubble    Fillin' a Gap    3:18
20    Nirvana    Illinois    3:37
21    Johnny McEvoy    Father Dickens    3:05
22    Annie Rocket Band    A Little Smile on Christmas Morning    3:24
23    Barry Booth & His Orchestra    He's Very Good With His Hands    2:29
24    Majority    Charlotte Rose    2:54
25    Angel Pavement    Genevieve    2:37
26    Procol Harum;; Edmonton Symphony Orchestra    Luskus Delph    3:39
27    Marc Brierley    The Answer Is    2:23

CD3

01    Fickle Pickle    Saturday    3:06
02    Donovan    Writer In The Sun    4:30
03    Zombies    A Rose for Emily    2:19
04    Humblebums    Rick Rack    2:52
05    Freshmen    She Sang Hymns Out of Tune    2:44
06    Kes Wyndham    Broker Bicycle    2:20
07    Factotums    Cloudy    2:02
08    Simon, Plug & Grimes    I'll Keep Smiling    3:55
09    Move    On a Monday Morning    2:32
10    U-No-Who    Strange People    3:21
11    Edwards Hand    If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind    2:41
12    Clive Sands    Picture On The Wall    1:58
13    Lea Nixon    New Kind Of Feeling    3:16
14    Chris Baker    Only Fooling    2:41
15    Harmony Grass    Mrs Richie    3:46
16    A & A North    Rosemary    3:13
17    Peter Sully    Row Row Row    2:37
18    Spencer Davis Group    Time Seller    2:52
19    Katch 22    Thoughts On A Rainy Day    1:56
20    Mellow Yellow    Tuesday    2:26
21    Grapefruit    This Little Man    2:50
22    Sheridan; Price    Face In My Window    2:20
23    Muffin    Smokey Blue's Away    3:04
24    Richmond    Breakfast    3:21
25    Agincourt    All My Life    3:01
26    Elliot Mansions    Shades And Shadows    3:17
27    John George    Goodbye    2:31

=============================================================
=============================================================