Disc of the day
Muddy Waters - Live (At Mr. Kelly’s)
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Features Disc of the day
Davy Graham
Folk, Blues And Beyond
(Topic, 1964; Reissued Fledgling, 2005)
Britain’s acoustic magus delivers his definitive statement.
The last of our Folk Week Discs Of The Day (a bonus day for bank holiday Monday!). Our normal, eclectic service will be resumed tomorrow, in spades!
There is an argument to be made that the mercurial Davy Graham has never truly been captured on record. Rather, what has been preserved is merely a slight impression of the man and his playing. Certainly those that crouched at his feet at Les Cousins, Soho’s cellar-based folk Mecca, have claimed that, as the ’60s dawned, Graham’s performances were nothing short of mesmeric. For those of us who missed out on the intoxicating pleasure of seeing him way back then, this groundbreaking 1964 set is the closest we’re likely to come and it remains an arresting, dextrous display. While at times Graham’s well-mannered vocal inflexions can appear a little too Anglican (most specifically on blues covers like Rock Me Baby), his guitar playing has lost none of the intoxicating Eastern quality that so seduced everyone from Bert Jansch to Roy Harper and Jimmy Page. The opening figure of Leavin’ Blues provides proof of that as does the instrumental Maajan (A Taste Of Tangier) which draws on the man’s nomadic excursions. If Folk, Blues And Beyond remains a key work in the career of arguably the most influential British acoustic guitarist of all time, even more significant is his 3/4 EP, released in 1962 – all five tracks from which are included on this CD reissue. Among them is Anji (then titled Angi), the track that introduced the Graham’s DADGAD tuning to his many admirers. Put simply, this tuning eschewed the traditional EADGBE in favour of the aforementioned heavier, Moroccan-influenced string-tightening, opening to a more textured, mystical approach to acoustic music. Anji itself would be covered by Jansch almost immediately, while Jimmy Page would adapt Graham’s She Moved Through The Fair – itself a reworking of a traditional song – into his own instrumental White Summer, first with The Yardbirds and then with Led Zeppelin. Indeed, the addition of these tracks here serves to underline Graham’s remarkable power and impact, adding to the absorbing, eye-opening experience that is Folk, Blues And Beyond.
Phil Alexander
Posted by Danny_Eccleston at 6:00 AM GMT 05/05/2008
Further Listening
Bert Jansch – Bert Jansch (Transatlantic, 1965)
Davy Graham And Shirley Collins – Folk Roots, New Routes (Topic, 1965)
John Fahey – The Transfiguration Of Blind Joe Death (Riverboat, 1965)
SUGGEST YOUR OWN DISC OF THE DAY ON OUR MESSAGE BOARD HERE, OR, MORE PRIVATELY, HERE!
Previous Disc of the day
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James Blood Ulmer - Black Rock
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Davy Graham - Folk, Blues And Beyond
Britain’s acoustic magus delivers his definitive statement.
6:00 AM GMT 05/05/2008
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Martin Carthy - Martin Carthy
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Seth Lakeman - Freedom Fields
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The Copper Family - Come Write Me Down
The authentic voice of England’s rural working people reverberates across the centuries. Death, thou
3:05 PM GMT 01/05/2008
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