RICHARD FALK's REVIEWS
Coa-Con
Coach With The Six Insides (USA): The Coach With The Six Insides (ESP 1019, 1966)
Spoken Word/Avant-Garde
Sheila Roy (joint lead vocals), Anita Dangler (joint lead vocals), Jean Erdman (joint lead vocals)
The subtitle ‘a musical play by Jean Erdman’ gives a fair indication of what’s on offer here. The sporadic musical backing ranges from pseudo-Irish folk (reflecting the fact that this was apparently inspired by Finnegans Wake) to more theatrical sounds. This is one of the rarest ESP releases, but I can’t imagine who would be looking for it. GRADE: D.
Coarbegh (Germany): The Colour Of Happiness (QuiXote CD 66, CD, 2013)
Progressive
Jutta Brandl (principal vocals), Pia Darmstaedter (occasional vocals, flute)
The music here is quite unusual: airy, refined prog defined by hazy washes of flute and echoing programmed percussion. With its lyrics about nature and exploring the outdoor world, and its relaxing cover, it fringes new age and has occasional hints of jazz and even soul, though there are a few rock elements too. The results are suitably elegant and uplifting, hinting towards their countrymen Frequency Drift, but the album is perhaps a little short on excitement. GRADE: C+.
See also Autumnal Blossom, Poor Genetic Material
Coastal Folk (UK): Coastal Folk (Coastal Folk, acetate, 1975?)
Folk
This mysterious acetate comes with no sleeve and printed labels stating ‘Coastal Folk Ltd 197’, with the ‘Ltd’ struck through and the year left uncompleted; ‘MCPS’ has also been manually typed on the label. As such, it’s impossible to tell whether ‘Coastal Folk’ is the artist credit, album title, label name or all three. Since this is traditional folk recorded live, I’d say that it’s a document of a folk club and almost certainly a ‘various artists’ set, but it could be the work of a loose collective identifying as a band. GRADE: C+.
Cobalt Chapel (UK): Cobalt Chapel (Klove KLOVE1CDA, CD, 2017)
Psychedelic/Progressive
Cecilia Fage (lead vocals)
With their swirling keyboard textures and otherworldly edge, Cobalt Chapel could be seen as modern-day successors to Epidaurus or the Ventricle label acts – except that they don’t sound remotely like either. Unlike Epidaurus they’re more psychedelic than progressive and unlike Dusty Lee et al they’re song-based, with a strong pop rather than experimental sensibility. Nonetheless, this is supremely trippy and sometimes quite weird, even taking in a John Tavener piece. I keep thinking I hear Mellotron here and there, but according to the liner notes it was all done with organ – which makes it even more impressive if true. GRADE: B–.
Cobalt Chapel (UK): Variants (Klove KLOVE2CDA, CD, 2018)
Psychedelic/Progressive/Avant-Garde
Cecilia Fage (lead vocals)
Whether these ‘variants’ of their first album (they’re more than just remixes, with Mellotron being credited) are better or worse than the originals is moot, but they’re certainly weirder and spacier. This time round, I can hear clear references to Epidaurus and even more so Mauve Sideshow etc., so those who prefer their keyboard soundscapes on the strange side will certainly prefer this. To my ears, both albums are excellent – and complementary. GRADE: B–.
Cobalt Chapel (UK): Mountain (Klove, download, 2019)
Psychedelic/Progressive/Pop
Cecilia Fage (lead vocals)
This download-only EP lasts for some 25 minutes and feature four songs: two versions of ‘Mountain’ itself, ‘Bohemia’ and the 11-minute ‘Canticle’. ‘Mountain’ is quite different from their earlier work, being uptempo synth-pop that hints towards Stereolab, whilst ‘Bohemia’ is a whimsical wordless piece with an almost waltz tempo and ‘Canticle’ is the most progressive piece and by far the most experimental, offering a weird, minimalistic soundscape. It’s all enjoyable enough, if you can get past the horribly compressed mastering. GRADE: C+.
Cobalt Chapel (UK): Orange Synthetic (Klove KLOVE3CDA, CD, 2021)
Psychedelic/Pop
Cecilia Fage (lead vocals, clarinet, recorder)
The pop sensibilities of the Mountain EP are here to stay, as, unfortunately, is the highly compressed mastering. As a result, this is pleasant enough, but not a patch on their first (or first two, if you count Variants as a second album) and when they hark back to their earlier, folkier, trippier style – as on ‘EB’ – it simply makes you feel rather nostalgic. GRADE: C+.
Cobblers (UK): Warm Are The Sounds (Emblem JDR.314, 1970)
Beat/Lounge
Avril Place (joint lead vocals)
Despite its late date and some psychedelic lettering on the sleeve, this Christian album offers out-of-time mid-sixties garage beat, with an organ-dominated sound and occasional low-budget orchestrations. The band had previously released at least one single and an EP.
GRADE: C.
Cobblers Last (UK): Boot In The Door (Banshee BAN 1012, 1979)
Folk
Pam Cooper (joint lead vocals, concertina, violin)
Issued on Mandy Morton’s Banshee label, this is not electric or psychedelic folk, as sometimes claimed in dealer lists, but a high-calibre traditional folk LP resembling a cross between the Dutch band Opo, Tickawinda and mid-period Mac Murrough. Reportedly only 200 copies were pressed, making it very scarce today. GRADE: C+.
Cockrell & Santos (USA): New Beginnings (A&M SP-4712, with inner, 1978)
Pop/Soul
Pattie Santos (joint lead vocals, glockenspiel)
I can think of worse over-produced soul-tinged pop abums from the late seventies, but I’m struggling to think of one that’s more generic. Whether they’re performing vacuous, cliché-strewn originals by Bud Cockrell and the backing band or offering anodyne covers of material like ‘I Wanna Stay With You’, this is blandness personified, swathed in layers of supperclub saxophone, disco-ish strings and slick, jazzy moves from a profusion of big-name sessionmen. This must have cost a fortune to make, but they might as well have burned the money; even people who like this kind of music would never have gone out and bought this in any quantity. It does, however, achieve the rare feat of making the last couple of It’s A Beautiful Day albums sound like masterpieces in comparison. GRADE: E.
See also It’s A Beautiful Day
Cockshut Hill School (UK): Cockshut 74 (Hollick & Taylor HT/LPS 1448, 1974)
Classical/Folk
This rather oddly named school’s album has a striking front cover, but much of the music is from brass bands and children’s choirs. On the plus side, the Fifth Form Folk Group turn in three rather charming, if also rather twee, numbers with accompaniment from acoustic guitar and hand percussion, and the three songs from the Sixth Form Folk Group are excellent schoolgirl folk. GRADE: C–.
Codex Serafini (UK): Serpents Of Enceladus (Ceremonial Laptop/Halfmeltedbrain CLHMB001, cassette, 2020)
Progressive/New Wave
How best to describe Codex Serafini’s sui generis mashup of styles? Hawkwind crossed with X-Ray Spec might come closest, except they don’t sound all that much like either band. Amon Düül II with Chris Karrer wailing away on saxophone and Poly Styrene on vocals, perhaps? Maybe Omnia Opera at their most freeform blended with Crass? Or perhaps an updated early seventies Yoko Ono? Then again, the slight trip-hop elements don’t resemble any of those artists, though I could imagine Ono using them. Whatever, this is fascinating stuff: two 14½-minute jams that are wild and spaced-out to the maximum, never really going anywhere but taking you on a fascinating trip filled with twists and turns.
GRADE: B–.
Codex Serafini (UK): Twisting The Serpents Of Enceladus (Ceremonial Laptop, download, 2020)
Dance/Progressive/New Wave
Goat released the only mediocre albums of their stellar career when they let dance producers mess with their work, and Codex Serafini fall down the same rabbit hole here. Bringing the faint trip-hop influence I noted previously to the fore, the remixers cover most of these pieces with intrusive electronic beats and clanks, twist and distort the original music, and completely destroy everything that made Serpents… so special. GRADE: C.
Codex Serafini (UK): Invisible Landscape (Ceremonial Laptop/Halfmeltedbrain CLHMB001, cassette, 2020)
Progressive/New Wave
Whilst continuing the style of Serpents…, this 19-minute EP doesn’t really add much to it. Sure, I like their spacy cacophony and admire their freeform wildness, but equally there’s only so far they can plough this particular furrow. GRADE: C+.
Codex Serafini (UK): God’s Spit (No label, download, 2023)
Progressive/New Wave
This is the Codex Serafini I like: raw, anarchic and spontaneous, without a dance beat in sight. Whether this live album, like the lesser studio EP that preceded it, adds much to the impression created by Serpents Of Enceladus is a different question, but given how much I like their eighties-festival-psych-on-steroids sound it may well be the wrong question. GRADE: B–.
Codex Serafini (UK): The Imprecation Of Anima (Riot Season REPOSELP125, with insert and download card, 2023)
Progressive/Psychedelic/Jazz/Metal
Both more restrained and more foreboding than their earlier work, this utilises saxophone in a much jazzier way and reminds me more than anything of an updated Catapilla with modern metal edges. This time round, their uncredited vocalist even sounds like Anna Meek on Changes, making one wonder whether this was directly influenced by Catapilla rather than merely resembling them. GRADE: B–.
Codex Serafini (UK): Invisible Landscape Reimagined (Ceremonial Laptop, download, 2024)
Dance/Progressive/New Wave
This feels slightly better than their last remix album, possibly because the source material felt slightly worse. But I still can’t imagine myself ever wanting to play it a second time. GRADE: C.
Codex Serafini (UK): Mother, Give Your Children Sanity (Echoldelick/Riot Season ECHODELICK156/REPOSELP156, green vinyl, with insert and download card, 2025)
Metal/Progressive/Psychedelic/Jazz
Emphasising the metal and tribal elements in the band’s sound, this tones down the Catapilla edges from The Imprecation Of Anima, though they still remain in the prominent saxophone. The six tracks here are less distinctive than the four behemoths on that album, but there’s still enough interesting material to merit a tentative B–. GRADE: B–.
Coeur D’Une Génération (Canada): Le Coeur D’Une Génération (Gamma GS-129, 1969)
Pop/Psychedelic
Louise Themens
A truly charming period piece, this is an excellent psychedelic pop LP with strong folk edges. The vocal harmonies are top-notch and the arrangements are varied, including intelligent use of fuzz guitars, sitar and electric harpsichord. GRADE: C+.
Christiane Maria Cohade (France): À Voix Basse (AMF Music AMF 1038, CD, Germany, 1993)
Jazz/Rock/Avant-Garde/Progressive
Christiane Cohade (principal vocals, bass)
Cohade’s only solo album is often similar to her former band Les I, comprising a procession of short, off-kilter pop-tinged songs and weirder, jazzier instrumentals, both underpinned by her funky bass work. An impressive line-up of musicians includes collaborators from Étron Fou Leloublanc, La Fille Qui Mousse, L’Empire Des Sons and Les I itself. GRADE: C+.
See also L’Empire Des Sons, Les I, Virgule 4
Amanda Cohen (South Africa): Medusa (Warner Brothers WBC 1206, 1973)
Pop/Rock
Amanda Cohen (lead vocals)
Cohen’s solo debut contains no self-penned songs, with the backing provided by her Hammak colleague Keith Lentin (who contributes a couple of numbers) and one-man rhythm section George Wolfaardt. Nicely sung, played and recorded, this is a highly competent collection of bluesy and folky pop/rock numbers, but none of it has the X-factor to make it truly memorable. GRADE: C+.
See also Amanda Blue, Hammak, Shanghai, Spider
Linda Cohen (USA): Leda (Poppy PYS-5702, 1972)
Progressive
Linda Cohen (guitar)
Cohen was a classical guitarist, and this album sets her gentle strumming and picking against a subtle backdrop of electronics. The results are haunting, tranquil and almost hypnotic, but there is little or no variety here. Most of the material is self-penned. GRADE: C+.
Linda Cohen (USA): Lake Of Light (Poppy PP-LA53-F, 1973)
Progressive
Linda Cohen (guitar, finger cymbals)
The approach is the same as on Leda, but Lake Of Light covers a lot more ground. The synthesisers play soothing melodies that counterpoint the guitar picking rather than just adding electronic noise; one cut has sitar, another glacial trumpet and a third flamenco-style handclaps. With different moods for different tracks, this is frequently rather brilliant and stands head and shoulders above its predecessor. GRADE: B–.
Linda Cohen (USA): Angel Alley (Tomato TOM 7010, 1982)
Progressive
Linda Cohen (guitar)
Cohen’s belated third and final album is mostly solo acoustic guitar, with occasional accompaniment from keyboards, percussion and home-made instruments. The end result is a pleasant listen, but I can’t help wishing she’d taken the same approach as on Lake Of Light. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): Cold Blood (San Francisco SD 200, 1969)
Soul/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense (lead vocals)
Cold Blood’s powerful singer Lydia Pense is often compared to Janis Joplin, and the band’s style is rather similar to Joplin circa Kozmic Blues. This is a good album, with a strong West Coast sensibility, well-integrated soul and blues elements, and some fine period guitar and organ work. However, anyone disliking horns should steer clear, as every single track is covered with them. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): Sisyphus (San Francisco SD 205, 1971)
Soul/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
The opening ‘Shop Talk’ is a brilliant jazzy jam, and far wilder than anything on their first album. Another highpoint is the short, punchy, hard rocking ‘I Can’t Say’, although handing the vocals over to one of the male band members diminishes its impact. Elsewhere, the LP is similar to its predecessor, though hints of their later, slicker style creep in (notably the massed call-and-response vocals). This is their only album to be almost entirely self-penned. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): First Taste Of Sin (Reprise MS 2074, 1972)
Soul/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
Album number three is another good one, and no great departure from what went before. This time round, Donny Hathaway produced, played some keyboards and contributed one song and an excellent instrumental. Once again, I find myself wondering why Pense didn’t take all the vocal leads. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): Thriller! (Reprise MS 2130, 1973)
Jazz/Funk/Soul
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
This is inaptly titled, since it’s by far their least exciting album to date. In fairness, it’s by no means bad, thanks to fine singing and musicianship, but these languid jazz/funk grooves and soulful ballads are unlikely to set pulses racing. With all the songs but one being covers (the sole original being the only number under five minutes, to boot), this is not a record with much personality, although it’s only once completely disposable (nearly eight bland minutes of ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’). GRADE: C.
Cold Blood (USA): Lydia (Warner Brothers 2806, 1974)
Jazz/Funk/Soul
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
Whilst this isn’t markedly different from Thriller! – it’s laid-back, slick, sterile, commercial and nearly all covers – it is at least a lot livelier, and the songs are all a good deal shorter. There are some nice touches here, including unexpectedly heavy guitar on ‘When It’s Over’, but all traces of their original West Coast leanings have long since disappeared. GRADE: C.
Cold Blood (USA): Lydia Pense And Cold Blood (ABC L 5172, 1976)
Funk/Soul/Rock
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
The opening medley of ‘We Came Down Here’ and ‘Cold Blood Smokin’’ is a high-octane funk jam undermined by Bob Monaco’s thin and unflattering production, which seems to reduce any bass to a bare minimum. The remainder offers more funk, soulful ballads, a great rock jam (‘Blinded By Love’) and – inevitably – a couple of attempts to hitch a ride on the disco bandwagon. With a different producer and a desire to make good music as opposed to a desire to make money, this could have been a very enjoyable album. GRADE: C.
Cold Blood (USA): Transfusion (DIG Music DIG 116, CD, with digipak, 2005)
Soul/Funk/Rock
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
Cold Blood’s first album in nearly 30 years is a decent return, offering an enjoyable selection of soulful, funky and bluesy retro rock songs. As a bonus, almost everything is self-penned, mostly by former member Skip Mesquite, who also produces and who is (rather oddly) credited only as a guest musician. GRADE: C+.
Lydia Pense & Cold Blood (USA): Live Blood (DIG Music DIG 131, CD, with digipak, 2008)
Soul/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense (principal vocals)
This live album by the reunited Cold Blood is far livelier than Transfusion, and far more rock-oriented too, including some great West Coast jamming and some fine Janis Joplin-esque moments from Lydia Pense. The material, as often with this band, is perhaps a touch insubstantial, but there’s no denying the quality of the performances. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): Live At The Fillmore West, 30th June 1971 (Keyhole KHCD9019, CD, 2014, recorded 1971)
Soul/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense
With excellent sound quality, this archive releases captures a lively performance from the last night of the Fillmore West. For my own tastes, it has a little too much in the way of horns and backing vocals and not enough in the way of guitar, but it’s a good set of rootsy West Coast rock by any standard. GRADE: C+.
Cold Blood (USA): Vintage Blood (DIG Music 104, CD, 2001, recorded 1973)
Soul/Funk/Blues/Rock
Lydia Pense (lead vocals)
Significantly shorter than the 1971 archive release, this features five songs lasting 42½ minutes. Whilst this allows the band plenty of room for jamming, it also results in a rather slight album, though still a worthwhile one. GRADE: C+.
Cold Comfort (UK): Cold Comfort (Falcon FRLP-4001, 1971)
Pop
As the back cover notes make clear (‘Falcon Records’ main policy is to promote the material of new songwriters’), this is a collection of songwriters’ demos with full band backing, plenty of horns and mainly male but occasionally female vocals. There are no musician credits, and the sleeve is extremely basic, so Falcon was presumably a very small enterprise, notwithstanding the Central London address. Despite the sleevenotes’ claim that ‘the talent of these composers will not long remain unrecognised’, these rather MOR pop songs are pretty undistinguished, and the male singer (who is far inferior to his female counterpart) is sometimes off-key. Hardly surprisingly, songs like ‘Sleepy’, ‘I’m Tired’, ‘The Tide Of Your Love’ and the wonderfully titled ‘Reflections Of Love’s Loving Light’ did not generate any hit covers, and the songwriting teams of Erkyn/Les Bons, Percival/Holman and Todhunter/Edwin did not go on to rival Lennon/McCartney. GRADE: C–.
Collage (USA): The Collage (Smash SRS 67101 / MGS 27101, 1968)
Pop/Folk
Donna Byrd, Jodie Cline
This is characteristic period harmony pop, with multilayered vocals and lush orchestrations. The latter are a bit overbearing, as is the case with many albums of this type, and the songs where they’re toned down (notably ‘My Mind’s At Ease’) are far superior. Whilst there are some nice moments here, the standard of songwriting isn’t particularly great and the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink production approach stifles what potential there is (although lovers of the genre will appreciate the disc’s kitsch qualities). As a bonus, the period sleeve is quite beautiful. Ironically, some of the bonus material on the CD reissue (notably the catchy ‘Fly Big City Love Bird’ and the instrumental ‘Someday Man’) is better than the album proper. GRADE: C.
Collage (USA): Collage (Golden Crest CRS 31023B, 1971)
Jazz/Pop
Liz Brandesky (joint lead vocals), Chris Brandesky (joint lead vocals)
Completely different from the band above, this is a soft jazz outfit fronted by twin sisters. Almost like a commercial, pop-oriented yin to Sound Of Feeling’s avant-garde yang, the Brandesky sisters offer some lovely, gentle vocals over restrained and well-judged instrumental backing; the results are lightweight and loungy, but also undeniably charming. GRADE: C+.
Collective Star (USA): Music Of The Mantric Wave Vol II (Unan 999, 1974)
Jazz/Rock/Progressive
Tulsi (percussion, tamboura, backing vocals)
Whilst it’s rooted in chanting and hand percussion (plus some Eastern instrumentation) like most hippie commune albums, this one is different in that the underlying style is based on jazz as much as folk or ragas. The material consists of long, trippy jams with a light, floating mood and effective use of acoustic and electric instrumentation. Despite the title, this appears to have been their first LP.
GRADE: C+.
Collective Star (USA): Garuda (Unan 1001, 1975)
Progressive/Jazz/Funk
Patti Nolan (occasional vocals, percussion), Tulsi (occasional vocals, tamboura), Mara Purl (occasional vocals, percussion, koto)
Their second and final album is a game of two halves, with one studio side (‘Take Five’) and one recorded live (‘Band Alive In Boston’), each featuring different line-ups. The studio cuts are slick jazz/funk with a pop edge and occasional hints of Gong (notably in the Didier Malherbe-like saxophone work) but are quite patchy. The live material is a lot more cosmic and easily outclasses the three other sides the band committed to vinyl. Despite a few low points, this is overall the better of their LPs. GRADE: C+.
Collective Tools (USA): Collective Tools (Silver Crest Custom NT-5272, with insert, 1971?)
Folk/Rock/Psychedelic
Cindy Knight (joint lead vocals), Ginger Barner (occasional vocals), Lorraine Hilton (flute), Charity Sumners (flute)
Cut by a group of recovering addicts at a drug rehabilitation clinic (not in a mental hospital, as has been suggested), this is as eerie and wasted an artefact as one could hope to find. The style is folk with electric backing, all shot through with a spacy, trippy atmosphere of dislocation and loss. The many highpoints include the loungy, trumpet-led instrumental ‘Pure Silver’, the sinister ‘Sail To Maine’ (in which the singer expresses her desperate desire to score some cocaine and drift away into oblivion) and desolate versions of ‘Four And Twenty Years’ and ‘If I Were A Carpenter’; the only real missteps are a superfluous ‘Long Tall Sally’ and a dreadfully sung ‘Let’s Get Together’. As a footnote, the album is credited to two separate bands called Eon and Silverwood, plus some supporting musicians, but is usually known by its title. GRADE: B.
Shirley Collins (UK): False True Lovers (Folkways FG 3564, USA, 1959)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
From a modern perspective, Collins’s debut album sound like beautiful but rather unadventurous traditional folk, albeit distinguished by her uniquely plaintive voice – but half a century ago this must have been revelatory. The principal difference from her later albums is that a fair proportion of the material is of North American origin, whereas she would go on to focus almost exclusively on English traditional songs.
GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): Sweet England (Argo RG 150, 1960)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
Recorded at the same sessions as False True Lovers, this is unsurprisingly very similar. Once again, she’s in fine voice, but the backing is strictly conventional – and there’s too much banjo, an instrument whose brash, metallic tones do very little for me. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins & Davy Graham (UK): Folk Roots, New Routes (Decca LK 4652, with insert, 1965)
Folk/World Music
Shirley Collins (lead vocals, banjo)
Without this remarkable fusion of English, European and Arabian elements, which still sounds remarkably fresh and original today, there would arguably have been no Pentangle, no acid-folk and no folk/rock. But it’s not just influential; it’s a hugely listenable album in its own right. GRADE: B–.
Shirley Collins (UK): The Sweet Primeroses (Topic 12TS 170, 1967)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals, guitar, banjo)
Even by Collins’s lachrymose standards, this minimalistic LP is remarkably mournful. Whether bemoaning enduring poverty on the acapella ‘Rigs Of The Time’ or lamenting a lost loved one to sister Dolly’s quasi-medieval portative pipe organ on ‘All Things Are Quite Silent’, she explores depths of misery uncharted by the gloomiest of goth bands. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): The Power Of The True Love Knot (Polydor 583 025, 1968)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals, dulcimer)
Both a logical step forward from The Sweet Primeroses and a harbinger of more radical albums to come, The Power Of The True Love Knot sees sister Dolly handling all the arrangements and contributing her delicate flute-organ to most songs. With occasional cello and Mike Heron and Robin Williamson of the Incredible String Band helping out on percussion, this blends folk and classical music, all shot through with Collins’s customary melancholy. GRADE: C+.
Shirley & Dolly Collins (UK): Anthems In Eden (Harvest SHVL 754, 1969)
Folk/Progressive
Shirley Collins (lead vocals), Dolly Collins (organ)
The Collins sisters’ magnum opus, and a landmark of progressive folk, the magnificent Anthems In Eden is one of few albums to deserve the descriptor ‘unique’. Backed by the Early Music Consort playing a wide variety of medieval instruments, the sisters devote the whole of the first side (almost half-an-hour) to a breathtaking suite charting the social changes in Britain following the First World War. The second is given over to shorter individual tracks, and is inevitably less memorable, although the material and performances stand up well on their own terms. GRADE: A–.
Young Tradition With Shirley & Dolly Collins (UK): The Holly Bears The Crown (Fledg’ling FLED 3006, CD, 1995, recorded 1969)
Folk
Shirley Collins, Dolly Collins, Heather Wood
Recorded for Argo after Anthems In Eden – and notoriously unreleased due to the Young Tradition’s break-up – this was long rumoured to be the gem in the Collinses’ catalogue. I wouldn’t go that far: this isn’t the equal of Anthems In Eden or even No Roses. Nonetheless the juxtaposition of the Collins sisters’ refined style with the earthy unaccompanied singing of the Young Tradition, whilst surprising, is effective, and this is an album of rich textures and evocative moods. Even the narrations work well enough, creating an excellent Christmas album that fully deserved release at the time. GRADE: B–.
Shirley & Dolly Collins (UK): Love, Death And The Lady (Harvest SHVL 771, 1970)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals), Dolly Collins (keyboards)
Recorded with a stripped-down version of the same ensemble as Anthems In Eden, this is a darker and more sinister album. Indeed, the opening ‘Death and the Lady’ – on which a woman pleads unsuccessfully with the Grim Reaper to spare her life – actually charts depths of despair beyond those explored on The Sweet Primeroses three years earlier. GRADE: B–.
Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band (UK): No Roses (Pegasus PEG 7, 1971)
Folk/Rock
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
Shirley Collins goes electric, and the combination of her haunting, plaintive voice and full band backing from the cream of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span makes for a superb album. The accompaniment may be more upbeat than usual, but the sentiments are customarily dark, whether on the prog folk tour de force ‘Murder Of Maria Marten’ or possibly her eeriest recording, the closing ‘Poor Murdered Woman’. GRADE: B.
Shirley Collins (UK): Adieu To Old England (Topic 12TS 238, 1974)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
After three remarkably adventurous LPs (including two with her sister Dolly), Collins returned to specialist folk label Topic and her trad roots to cut an LP that sounds like the logical follow-up to The Sweet Primeroses. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): Amaranth (Harvest SHSM 2008, 1976)
Folk/Rock/Progressive
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
When the time came to reissue Anthems In Eden, Collins professed dissatisfaction with the short songs on the second side and recorded a new side of material to accompany the ‘Anthems In Eden’ suite. The new songs are largely in the electric folk vein, and of the same exemplary standard as No Roses, peaking on the breathtaking ‘Adieu To All Judges And Juries’. The long-deleted CD reissue of Anthems In Eden contained all three sides of music, making it one of the most essential purchases for folk/rock lovers. GRADE: A.
Shirley & Dolly Collins (UK): For As Many As Will (Topic 12TS 380, 1978)
Folk
Shirley Collins (principal vocals), Dolly Collins (occasional vocals, keyboards)
The sisters’ final album together has an almost liturgical feel due to Shirley’s pure, haunting singing and Dolly’s extensive use of portative pipe organ. The material is mostly traditional, but also includes a medley of John Gay compositions and a desolate version of Richard Thompson’s ‘Never Again’ that presumably reflects Shirley’s sorrow at her crumbling marriage. GRADE: C+.
Shirley & Dolly Collins (UK): Harking Back (Durtro 016 CD, CD, 1998, recorded 1978 & 1979)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals), Dolly Collins (keyboards)
This collection of 22 live songs, with accompaniment solely from flute organ and piano, is vastly better than I anticipated. For a start, the recording quality is outstanding; and secondly, both Collins sisters are on top form, with some of Shirley’s most beautiful singing and some of Dolly’s most inspired playing, resulting in music whose simplicity and sameness is its greatest strength. Shirley’s pleasant onstage demeanour, and interesting between-songs chats, provides the icing on the cake. GRADE: B–.
Shirley Collins (UK): Lodestar (Domino WIGCD389X, CD, with minisleeve, inner and booklet, 2016)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
Collins’s first studio album in 38 years represents a truly remarkable return – particularly given that she is now in her eighties. Her voice has changed considerably in the intervening decades, but musically this offers the kind of eerie, mournful and minimalist folk for which she is renowned, eschewing both Anthems In Eden-style mediaeval stylings and No Roses-style folk/rock. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): Heart’s Ease (Domino WIGLP454, coloured vinyl LP plus single-sided 7", with booklet, 2020)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
This is the logical follow-up to Lodestar, with the same sparse acoustic arrangements, but Collins is in more confident voice this time around. Whilst this doesn’t break new ground in the same way as some of her landmark albums, it’s as haunting and downbeat as her more traditional sixties and seventies albums, cementing her very welcome return. That said, the closing ‘Crowlink’ is spectacularly eerie and gothic, and a whole album in a similar vein could be on a par with her most ground-breaking work. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): Crowlink (Domino, download, 2021)
Folk/Ambient
Collins’s most adventurous release in 50 years lasts only 15½ minutes and somehow slipped out as a download only. Set against almost ambient synthesised backing and sound effects (principally the wind blowing across the Downs), it’s a short suite of songs and instrumentals that set her world-weary singing to backing far removed from conventional folk. She thus joins the tiny club of octogenarians breaking new musical ground – which, as far as I can tell, comprises her and Yoko Ono. GRADE: B–.
Shirley Collins (UK): Archangel Hill (Domino WIGCD494, with minisleeve and booklet, 2023)
Folk
Shirley Collins (lead vocals)
The interpolaton of a live track from 1980 posits a stark contrast between Collins’s voce then (pure, high-pitched and bell-like) and now (more gravelly and careworn, embodying decades of living) but both are equally appealing. Unlike Crowlink, this is reverent rather than revolutionary, with the atmospheric closing poem representing the only experiment, but the album is lovely throughout and proof – as if it were needed – that Collins is a national living treasure. GRADE: C+.
Shirley Collins (UK): The Ballad Of Shirley Collins (Earth EARTHCD029, CD and DVD, with book sleeve, 2018, recorded 1959-2018)
Folk
I didn’t have high hopes for this unusual set, which couples a documentary about Collins with a disc of songs she collected in America (plus three or four previously unreleased Shirley or Dolly numbers, which is why I bought it). However, the documentary is superb, with stunning picture and sound quality and Collins’s warmth shining through in every scene. In fact, it’s so good that I immediately watched it again with the audio commentary (also surprisingly good) switched on. Extras include trailers and teasers, interview clips with other musicians (including Billy Bragg, Graham Coxon and Linda Thompson), backstage and live footage, a couple of performances by artists influenced by Collins, a short ‘making-of’ feature and a short film about an old man. The accompanying CD, mostly featuring her field recordings from the fifties, is a lot less compelling, and would be about a C+ in its own right, but it’s a nice addendum to a fantastic package. GRADE: B.
See also Albion Band, Ashley Hutchings
Collusion (UK): Collusion (SRT 71114, 1971)
Rock/Metal/Progressive
Sandy Baker (joint lead vocals)
Only two copies have resurfaced of this album, which was pressed in a run of 99, without sleeves or inserts. The material is all-original, with odd titles like ‘I’ve Got That Cold Porridge Feeling’ and ‘Sweetbread Line’; this might suggest psychedelia but this is actually hardish guitar rock with strong progressive edges and both male and female vocals. The nearest comparisons I can find are their contemporaries and labelmates Grannie (though this has no flute) or an earlier, rawer version of the Welsh band Brân. In any case, it’s certainly one of the more interesting finds of recent years. GRADE: B–.
Colors Of Noise (Germany): Fragments (No label, download, 2020)
Progressive
Kristin Faust, Lena-Marie Fornefeld
The band name and album title might make you expect something spiky and experimental, but this 33½-minute, four-song set offers richly melodic sympho-prog with lush keyboard textures and chunky guitar riffs. For sure, this isn’t the most adventurous of albums, and it certainly doesn’t break any new ground, but it’s all pleasant, lush stuff. GRADE: C+.
Coltsblood (UK): Beyond The Lake Of Madness (No label, cassette, 2013)
Metal
Jemma Mackay (guitar)
Whilst the occasional tortured vocals don’t really add anything, Coltsblood’s sludgy doom is enjoyable enough, if ‘enjoyable’ is the right word for such funereal music. Whether these two snail's-paced 14-minute jams actually go anywhere is a different question entirely. GRADE: C+.
Coltsblood (UK): Into The Unfathomable Abyss (Candlelight CANDLE441CD, CD, 2014)
Metal
Jemma Mackay (guitar)
After a couple of split releases, Coltsblood return with their first full album: an hour’s worth of anguished sludgy doom. ‘The sound of the past, the voices of ancestors, terrifying legends once roared with passiojn from around fires beneath open skies’ exclaims one source, before going on to claim that ‘war drums thunder… fires roar, terror resonates’. However, their songs are so much of a piece that this ultimately functions as background music and rather good background music at that. GRADE: C+.
Coltsblood (UK): Live In Helsinki (No label, cassette, 2015)
Metal
Jemma Mackay
The only real difference between this live Coltsblood set and a studio Coltsblood set is the between-songs banter, revealing the band to be great raconteurs and much more light-hearted than one would expect from song titles like ‘Beneath Black Skies’, ‘Grievous Molestation’ and ‘Abyss Of Aching Insanity’. I’m joking, of course. GRADE: C+.
Coltsblood (UK): Ascending Into Shimmering Darkness (Candelight Candle718327, CD, with digipak and booklet, 2017)
Metal
Jemma Mackay (guitar)
This is a significant step forward for Coltsblood: whilst the vocals are as distorted as always, the backing is quite atmospheric in parts, with a far greater emphasis on musicianship. That’s not to say, of course, that one should expect a high level of variety or any incendiary playing, but this still takes them places they’ve never gone before. GRADE: C+.
Coltsblood (UK): Obscured Into Nebulous Dusk (Translation Loss TL2221, grey, green and blue splatter vinyl, with insert, 2025)
Metal
Jemma Mackay (guitar)
With Coltsblood, even the album titles start to appear interchangeable. That isn’t to say that I don’t like their cavernous brand of sludgy doom, which is once again (relatively speaking) a tad more sophisticated here. But a key question remains. That question isn’t whether they may develop the sophistication and songwriting chops that would enable me to rate one of their albums a B–. The question is whether they’d want to.
GRADE: C+.
