cdRoots Home Page More music from UK, Britain, England

Search for music Need Help?

various artists
This Label Is NOT Removable
The History of Free Reed Records (3 CD set) $45.99

A 3-CD box set, with 80-page book, & 61 tracks, entitled telling the full story of Free Reed's first 25 years. Compiled and annotated by Nigel Schofield, the researcher and archivist who co-produced both The Carthy Chronicles and Free Reed's Peter Bellamy tribute, has collected tracks, out-takes and rarities from the whole chequered history of the "little In-the-Red label"!! The fascinating booklet includes tales of the early days of the Folk Revival, with many rare pictures and a definitive discography.

The wealth and breadth of performers and of their classic folk music linked with Free Reed is astonishing (complete Track-listing, Click here)

• source Traditional singers: Seamus Ennis, Micho Russell, Joe Holmes, Eddie Butcher;
• revival 'father figures': A L Lloyd, Eddie Upton;
• great 'Folk Revival' names: Nic Jones, June Tabor, Peter Bellamy, Martin Carthy, Mike Waterson, Vin Garbutt, John Kirkpatrick, Robin & Barry Dransfield, Noel Murphy, Les Barker, Bernie Parry;
• traditional concertina players: (always close to Free Reed's heart!) Tommy Williams, Gordon Cutty, Michael Hebbert, Liverpool's Concertina Bands:
• the revival's finest musicians: Tony Hall, Tufty Swift, Sue Harris, John Kirkpatrick, Dave Swarbrick;
• Classic songs: Gas almost Works, Mandalay, Davy, Vincent - even My Ding-a-Ling! - and more..
• great Bands! Old Swan, Flowers and Frolics, Plain Capers Band, Pump & Pluck, Roaring Jelly, 'Dransfield', The Spinners and, from their Revival Masters Box Set, Fairport Convention!

This is a triple-CD, 25th Birthday celebration of Britain's little 'in -the-red ' label, Free Reed, that burst on the English folkmusic scene back in '76 with a slab of 8 vinyl LPs. These included source singers, rising stars, left-field folkies and of course the seminal Plain Capers. Then came a flood of fine releases of traditional and revival singers, great new bands and leading Folk musicians of the '70s and early '80s, including Bellamy's The Transports, The Tale of Ale, and further landmark LPs from John Kirkpatrick, the Dransfields, Old Swan Band and many more. The set's 61 tracks include cuts from every Free Reed vinyl release, plus previously unheard out-takes and field recordings. 56 of the tracks have never been released on CD, and 12 are issued here for the very first time. From its beginnings in concertina obsession and limited releases, to the ground-breaking and standard-setting Revival Masters series, this is the complete story of Free Reed - warts and all! Total Music Time: 3 hours 44 mins Tracks:
CD One

• Cells - Peter Bellamy (from Barrack Room Ballads, FRR 014, 1977)
  
• Mandalay - Barrie Roberts, (live recording at The Fitter's Arms, Walsall, 1974)
  
• Springtime in Battersea - Tommy Williams (from Springtime in Battersea, FRR 008, 1976)
  
• Let them come to Ireland -Eddie Butcher; (from I Once Was a Daysman, FRR 003, 1976)
  
• Salamanca / Duke Gordon - Seamus Ennis; (from Forty Years of Irish Piping, FRR(D) 001/2, 1976)
  
• Tumbling through the hay - Joe Holmes & Len Graham (from Chaste Muses, Bards & Sages, FRR 007, 1975)
  
• Silver Wedding March - Nellie Power (Field Recording, Dewsbury, 1973)
  
• Divide the cally fair - Micho Russell (from Traditional Music from Co Clare, FRR 004, 1976)
  
• Woodland Flowers -Tommy Williams (from Springtime in Battersea, FRR 008, 1976)
  
• Woodland flowers - Gordon Cutty (Field Recording, Kelloe, Co Durham, 1974)
  
• Woodland Flowers/Oscar Wood's Jig - Old Swan Band (from The Livingston Sessions, 1977)
  
• Molly Brannigan - Joe Holmes & Len Graham (from Chaste Muses, Bards & Sages, FRR 007, 1976)
  
• Lady of the lake/Buffalo Girls - Tufty Swift (from How to Make a Bakewell Tart, FRR 017, 1977)
  
• Leaving of Liverpool - Col Sanderson's Memorial Concertina Band (Field Recording, Liverpool, 1973)
  
• I sowed some seeds - Robin and Barry Dransfield (from Popular to Contrary Belief, FRR 018, 1977)
  
• The Hiring Fair - Eddie Butcher (from I Once Was a Daysman, FRR 003, 1976)
  
• The Hiring Fair - Fairport Convention (unreleased Concert recording, York, 1992)
  
• Trumpet Hornpipe - Tony Hall (from Fieldvole Music, FRR 012, 1978)
  
• Paddy lay back - The Spinners (& Neil Wayne) (from Songs of the Tall Ships, NTS 154, 1978)
  
• Shallow Brown - Tony Hall (from Fieldvole Music, FRR 012, 1978)
  
• Thorkild's song - Peter Bellamy with “Sharon and The Students” (from the Pennine Radio Sessions, 1984)

Credit card orders are placed on a secure server.