Performers: Martin Best (voice, guitars, lute), Alan Eden (drums/percussion), Dave Quinn (bass), Alan Hodge (electric and acoustic guitars), Pete Wingfield (piano, Fender Rhodes, Clavinet synthesisers), Peter Knight (violin), Eric Hill (guitar), Georgia Best (recorders), Graham Lister (pedal steel guitar). John Kirkpatrick (accordion), John O'Connor (guitar), Rick Kemp (guitar)
Release date: 1979
Out of print, not reissued on CD.
This recording illustrates perfectly the madness of the late 70's, from which it seems no-one was exempt. It is Martin's attempt at an out-and-out pop record, and while possibly no worse than much of what was played on radio at the time, certainly marks the low ebb of his career. The presence of Maddy Prior, Rick Kemp, Peter Knight (all from Steeleye Span) and John Kirkpatrick cannot redeem the grotesque mismatch of artist and medium. To detail the extent of the folly here (in both music and lyrics, and in the bizarre sleeve photographs) would be cruel, but only two tracks, the Holborne `Galliard' and the re-recorded `So We'll Go No More a-Roving', which first appeared on `The Warwickshire Lad', are worth hearing. And even they feel like afterthoughts, presumably added to `pad' the record.
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Rob Smyth