BRITISH MALE SINGER SONGWRITERS
VA - Separate Paths Together, An Anthology Of British Male Singer-Songwriters 1965-1975 (3 x CD's)
In 2017, Grapefruit released Milk Of The Tree, a highly-acclaimed compendium of female singer/songwriters active during the late 60's, early 70's. Having covered the distaff side of the genre, we now provide a companion piece to that set with Separate Paths Together, a similarly detailed examination of the post-Dylan, pre-punk British male singer/songwriter scene during a time when, to quote the late Dave Cartwright, "a man with a guitar could play to hushed audiences hanging on every word and make a damn good living". As our anthology proves beyond any doubt, the singer/songwriter branch of the Sixties/Seventies rock family tree was rather more eclectic than received wisdom might suggest, housing such disparate bedfellows as Peter Hammill and Gilbert O'Sullivan, Kevin Ayers and Peter Skellern, Richard Thompson and Leo Sayer. In addition to the above names, we feature such key figures from the scene as Al Stewart, Donovan, Ralph McTell, Michael Chapman, John Martyn, Bert Jansch and Gerry Rafferty while also exploring the roads less travelled with a host of more obscure, collector-friendly acts. Housed in suitably evocative artwork and a stylish clamshell box design, Separate Paths Together provides a wide-ranging, four-hour overview of the pop stars, the club folkies, the rock band refugees, the stoned poets, the political agitators, the wry humorists and the bedsit bards that came together to make up a vibrant, multifaceted scene. With a dazzling array of hit singles, key album tracks, cult favourites, buried treasure and glorious one-offs, Separate Paths Together recalls a lost era via tales of love and pain, of childhood memories and adult disillusionment, of beautiful strangers and family men, and, perhaps most poignantly of all, of time past and time passing. (Amazon)
And so this anthology cruises along, always in good spirits, with an almost inexhaustible supply of songs … prolific nearly man and ‘pre Camel’ (kind of) singer/songriter, Phillip Goodhand Tait’s ‘Reach Out For Each Other’ is almost buried among lesser known names on CD3, as is Peter Sarstedt’s ‘One More Frozen Orange Juice’, the lesser charting follow up to his mammoth European hit, ‘Where Do You Go To My Lovely’. All that said, perhaps the real gem is Graham Gouldman’s ‘For Your Love’. The song that began it all for the Yardbirds, where Clapton, Page and Beck all got their start. In rock’n'roll terms, you can’t get much more significant than that. (Amazon)
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Track lists
CD1
01 Duncan Browne Journey 3:23
02 Kevin Ayers Girl on a Swing 2:49
03 Richard Thompson Poor Ditching Boy 3:01
04 Clifford T. Ward The Cause is Good 3:23
05 Jim Capaldi It's All Up to You 4:09
06 Gerry Rafferty Don't Count Me Out 3:49
07 Kevin Coyne Mad Boy 4:45
08 Harvey Andrews Sweet Little Fat Girl 3:34
09 Mike Cooper Paper and Smoke 3:56
10 Keith Christmas The Fawn 4:57
11 Ian A. Anderson The Survivor 4:21
12 Dave Ellis I Don't Know 3:37
13 Peter Skellern Hold on to Love 2:55
14 Mike Heron Audrey 4:12
15 Peter Hammill Easy to Slip Away 5:23
16 Graham Gouldman For Your Love 2:34
17 Ray Dorset Maybe That's the Way 2:38
18 Pete Atkin Beware of the Beautiful Stranger 5:25
19 Eddie Hardin California Sun 4:30
20 Leo Sayer The Bells of St. Mary's 3:37
21 Phil Cordell Red Lady 2:29
CD2
01 David McWilliams The Days of Pearly Spencer 2:34
02 Al Stewart You Should Have Listened to Al 3:03
03 John Martyn May You Never 2:44
04 Steve Tilston I Really Wanted You 3:59
05 Murray Head Say it Ain't So, Joe 4:29
06 John Howard Family Man 3:00
07 Dave Cousins Two Weeks Last Summer (2019 Remaster) 3:07
08 Bert Jansch Tell Me What is True Love 2:02
09 Andy Roberts All Around My Grandmother's Floor 3:11
10 Gary Farr Two Separate Paths Together 4:48
11 Peter Sarstedt Frozen Orange Juice 3:11
12 Wizz Jones When I Leave Berlin 3:12
13 Patrick Campbell-Lyons Jesus Christ Junior 4:29
14 Beau There Once Was a Time 3:38
15 Meic Stevens Love Owed 3:22
16 Jimmy Campbell Frankie Joe 3:10
17 Dave Cartwright Song for Susan 2:35
18 Michael Chapman Postcards of Scarborough 4:07
19 Ralph McTell Daddy's Here 4:24
20 Mick Audsley Dark and Devil Water 2:49
21 John Williams She's That Kind of Woman 2:29
22 Richard Digance My Friend Up the Road 2:55
23 Gilbert O'sullivan Nothing Rhymed 3:22
CD3
01 Steve Gibbons One of Those Days 3:56
02 Al Jones Jeffrey Don't You Touch 3:32
03 Marc Brierley Welcome to the Citadel 4:36
04 Bryn Haworth Miss Swiss 2:19
05 Stephen Jameson Thought of You Instead 3:41
06 Mick Softley Caravan 3:03
07 Jackie McAuley Country Joe 4:36
08 Dave Bundy Inside a Hole 3:18
09 Bob Bunting Soliloquy 4:13
10 Mike Hart Disbelief Blues 4:53
11 Paul Brett One Sunday Morning 3:29
12 Chris Baker Naked Fingers 2:17
13 Shape of the Rain What You Gonna Do Now 2:08
14 Bill Fay Sing Us One of Your Songs, May (Demo) 2:14
15 John Pantry Jewel 2:54
16 Tony Hazzard Fox on the Run 2:40
17 Crispian St. Peters Love, Love, Love 2:46
18 Jona Lewie The Swan 3:15
19 Phillip Goodhand-Tait Reach Out for Each Other 3:24
20 Dave Morgan So Weary 4:32
21 Gerald Thomas Moore Wake Up 6:00
22 Donovan Turquoise 3:31
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Thank you! Many of these are singer-songwriters whom I've heard
ReplyDeleteof but haven't actually heard. This collection will be a convenient
way for me to do some catching up!
Hi Crab Devil.
DeleteSo many great moments on this set.
I hope you get that listening experience you are after.
Cheers.
A very nice change from the usual "party songs", fitting for the coming autumn we can then take it a little quieter again, thank you very much!
ReplyDeleteHi WOODY,
DeleteI like to change the pace sometimes. This is a lovely listen.
Cheers.
Charlie Watts
ReplyDeleteThanks Butter - Do you have the companion item mentioned in the notes ..MILK OF THE TREE, if so would you be kind enough to post it. Thank You.
ReplyDeleteI do Professor,
DeleteI will post it in the near future. It is an excellent box set, A superb compilation of female folk and singer-songwriter tunes.
Thanks butter..You are a Gem. Stay well.
Delete