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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZALBION BAND, TheUK folk-rock band. Various lineups have a fractured history, but have been responsible for much of the best music in the genre for the past 25 years. Albion Country Band formed '71 by bassist Ashley Hutchings, founder member of both Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. Well-received album Morris On '72 incl. Richard Thompson, Dave Mattacks (both ex-Fairport). Immediately suffered Fairport malaise of fluctuating lineup, but incl. '71--3 such people as Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Sue Harris; made excellent LP Battle Of The Field '73 (not released till '76). Hutchings then oversaw documentary song and dance LPs The Compleat Dancing Master '74, Rattlebone And Ploughjack '76. Next project was low-key Etchingham Steam Band, with Shirley Collins, then his wife; acoustic outfit worked mainly in Sussex, didn't record. Uncredited Son Of Morris On '76 was in fact new Albion Dance Band, which lasted '75--8, also made The Prospect Before Us '77. Hutchings made generally disappointing solo album Kicking Up The Sawdust '77; then another name-change: as the Albion Band they made Rise Up Like The Sun '78, perhaps the best English folk-rock since halcyon days of Fairport ten years earlier. Lineup incl. ex-Gryphon guitarist Graham Taylor, laconic singer/songwriter/narrator John Tams, former Soft Machine violinist Ric Sanders. Now began a fruitful association with the National Theatre, becoming virtual house band at the Cottesloe, most intimate of the three theatres on London's South Bank, appearing in and providing music for productions The Passion, The World Turned Upside Down and Lark Rise, album Lark Rise To Candleford: A Country Tapestry '79 an effective souvenir of that show. Band tied to the theatre carried on as the Home Service; Hutchings left, keeping Albion name, recruiting former Fairport colleague Simon Nicol, Cathy LeSurf (from one-hit wonders Fiddlers Dram: 'Day Trip To Bangor' no. 3 UK '79). With multi- instrumentalists Jean-Pierre Rasle and Dave Whetstone, debut album of this edition, Light Shining '81, contained Hutchings/Whetstone comps. (e.g. 'Always Chasing Rainbows', 'Wolfe') as good as anything the genre had seen for a decade. Shuffle Off! '81 was a return to the stylization of Compleat Dancing Master. Next 'official' Albion LP incl. lineup of Hutchings, LeSurf (vocals), Phil Beer, Doug Morder (guitars), Trevor Foster (drums) on Under The Rose '84; The Christmas Album '86 was followed by Hutchings solos An Hour With Cecil Sharp '86 (his stage act, about pioneer English song collector), By Gloucester Docks I Sat Down And Wept '87; Stolen Ground '89 on Topic was a reunion of Kirkpatrick and Harris, their magic intact; four vols of The Guv'nor and A Batter Pudding For John Keats by the Ashley Hutchings Dance Band were on HTD '96. |