Vinyl log 8 - 1 May

Day	Month	Year	Artist	Title
1	May	1972	Various artists	Clogs
1	May	1980	Peter Hammill	ph7

"Clogs" was a compilation of folk artists who recorded for the B&C label, notably the Steeleye Span 'family' - there were a few tracks by Steeleye as well as Tim Hart and Maddy Prior as a duo, and Martin Carthy. It also included the astounding "Murder of Maria Marten", which came from Shirley Collins' "No roses" album, which was one of the contenders for the "Son of Liege and Lief" title.

This record must have been bought in Bristol when I was fair and square in my early 'folkie' period. A friend bought the "No roses" album probably on the basis of this compilation (which is why such compilations exist) so I was familiar with it. Unfortunately, no other song reached the heights of "Maria", so I didn't purchase it myself. Many many years later I was to buy this album on cd.

The compilation also included "Rod's song", by Shelagh McDonald, who at the time was considered to be a possible successor to Sandy Denny. The song was interesting but not sufficiently so to investigate further. Shelagh McDonald disappeared from public view after a bad trip; she re-emerged in 2005.

---

I have no idea how I acquired Peter Hammill's last album for Charisma, "ph7" (which was actually his eighth solo album). The date corresponds with the first phase of my army service, which rules out any possibility of me having bought the record in a shop (either in Israel or even on a visit to Britain). I have a suspicion that I ordered it directly from PH, although I have no way of confirming this and I also have a counter-suspicion that his mail order service had yet to start. Either way, I have never liked this album very much.

It contains a version of "Mirror Images" which might be better than the one on the last VdGG album, "Vital", but which is curiously stilted. A typical VdGG song (if there is such a thing) which never received the recording it deserved.