Bristol Folk - updates & additions

It is surprising how few real errors worked their way into the book way back in 2009. Mostly, it has been a case of unknown records coming out of the woodwork - and in quite a few cases, the musicians themselves coming out of the woodwork with extra information, though much of this fed into my 2010 publication, The Saydisc & Village Thing Discography, and my 2021 publication, Blues from the Avon Delta: the Matchbox Blues Story, rather than needing documenting below. See information on both Books.
Note that, thanks mainly to Brexit, the paperback version of this book is now only available in the UK.
Note that the digital version does not include illustrations.
Previously unknown folk and related records not included in Bristol Folk
To be honest, only the Roger White record is straight folk, though the other artists all worked on Bristol's folk scene (Norman Beaton, White on Black and Aj Webber) or with a band that was at least partially influenced by the more pastoral side of things (Mutter Slater).
- NORMAN BEATON: Love Is Around/The Skin (7" single, Seven Sun, SSUN 14, released June 20 1975; Norman Beaton had a residency at The Troubadour in the late 1960s). See label images at 45cat.com.
- NORMAN BEATON: Family Man/Skin (7" single, Creole, CR130, released May 28 1976; the a-side was a vocal version of the 'Fosters' TV series theme). See label images at 45cat.com.
- NORMAN BEATON: Family Man/Fosters T.V. theme (7" single, Calendar, DAY 107, released May 20 1977). See label images at 45cat.com.
- HAZEL GUMMIDGE: Crescendo/Get Back to the Country (7" single in picture sleeve, Handkerchief, HANKY 2 - released 17 October 1975; really Aj Webber). See sleeve and label images at 45cat.com.
- MUTTER SLATER: If Youe Were The Only Girl In The World/Solitude (7" single, Rocket, ROKN504, released 23 January 1976; Stackridge solo outing). See label images at 45cat.com.
- MUTTER SLATER: Dancing on Air/Solitude (7" single, Rocket, ROKN510, released 26 March 1976; Stackridge solo outing of an a-side often performed by Stackridge). See label images at 45cat.com.
- AJ WEBBER: La La Song/Jam Jars (7" single, Anchor, ANC 1001 - released 20 September 1975). See label images at 45cat.com.
- AJ WEBBER: Power of Prayer/That's Life (7" single, Anchor, ANC 1022 - released 3 October 1975). See label images at 45cat.com.
- AJ WEBBER: Blue Finger Lou/Carpenter (7" single, Anchor, ANC 1028 - released 15 April 1976). See label images at 45cat.com.
- AJ WEBBER: Blue Finger Lou/Movie Queen (7" single, Anchor, ANC 1028 - released 14 May 1976; it looks as though there was a bit of a rethink about the b-side). See label images at 45cat.com.
- ROGER WHITE: The Drovers Dream - Side 1: Roger Young/My Mum/Drovers Dream; side 1: Butcher Boy/Chivalrous Shark (EP, BWR, BWR 349 EP, 1968-ish; solo outing from the ex-Flanagan's Folk Four artist - this may have come in a picture sleeve).
- WHITE ON BLACK: All I Wanna Do/Luxury (7" single, Philips, 6006 457 - released 25 April 1975. See label images at 45cat.com. The b-side was written by Dave Paskett, ex-Pigsty Hill Light Orchestra and this single included new member, Chris Newman, also ex-Piggies. Sue Franklin had left by this point and Philips publicity photos show a new girl, currently unidentified, and Chris Newman with long hair!
This was not an unknown single, but the reason that it was not included in the discography is because I asked one of White on Black (no names, no names!) if they were the same group that had released this single and I was told "No." (Primary evidence is not always the best evidence.) Now that I have heard the single, I can see the reason for wanting to disassociate themselves from it! It is nothing but a light pop production job and might as well have been anyone. The excruciatingly bad production job on the b-side alone could have won us the Eurovision Song Contest! The a-side is a cover of a song by a then popular US songwriter and spells her name wrong ("Sue Shifron" instead of "Sue Shifrin"). Oddly, the UK EMI version was issued three months later than this cover version, though it had been issued in Canada at about the same time as this version. Obviously the song had been doing the rounds of agencies, etc. looking for business.
Previously unknown local record labels with folk and/or acoustic blues releases
Sunflower
Whilst documenting Saydisc, Village Thing, Matchbox, Great Western Records, Pillock Productions et al, what I didn't know about was that there was a highly-regarded, though short-lived, acoustic blues reissue label being run from a bedroom in Portbury between 1968 and 1970. Blues from the Avon Delta has a great deal to say about Pete and Sunflower, Pete having been a major contributor to the book!
Peter Moody, ex-John Dummer's Blues Band, was a regular on Bristol's folk-blues scene, and released six LPs on his Sunflower label. All were manufactured via Saydisc and all were 99 copy limited editions. Both John Peel and Billy Boy Arnold were customers!
For much of the early 1970s, Pete teamed up with Al Jones and, for some reason now calling himself Boris, toured all over the place, enjoying, as Al's daughter Emily put it, much 'high jinks' along the way.
Pete is still involved in putting classic blues compilations together.
Whilst documenting Saydisc, Village Thing, Matchbox, Great Western Records, Pillock Productions et al, what I didn't know about was that there was a highly-regarded, though short-lived, acoustic blues reissue label being run from a bedroom in Portbury between 1968 and 1970. Blues from the Avon Delta has a great deal to say about Pete and Sunflower, Pete having been a major contributor to the book!
Peter Moody, ex-John Dummer's Blues Band, was a regular on Bristol's folk-blues scene, and released six LPs on his Sunflower label. All were manufactured via Saydisc and all were 99 copy limited editions. Both John Peel and Billy Boy Arnold were customers!
For much of the early 1970s, Pete teamed up with Al Jones and, for some reason now calling himself Boris, toured all over the place, enjoying, as Al's daughter Emily put it, much 'high jinks' along the way.
Pete is still involved in putting classic blues compilations together.
Bristol & West Recording Services
This is another label that has come to notice, though only recently (i.e. 2020). The label itself was not an unknown, but that it had released a folk record amongst the more usual R&B and pop (and school orchestra recordings, etc.) fare was - see the Roger White EP in the above list (and label design, below). A bit of background on BWR from Saydisc's owner, Gef Lucena (email dated 06/05/2021):
This is another label that has come to notice, though only recently (i.e. 2020). The label itself was not an unknown, but that it had released a folk record amongst the more usual R&B and pop (and school orchestra recordings, etc.) fare was - see the Roger White EP in the above list (and label design, below). A bit of background on BWR from Saydisc's owner, Gef Lucena (email dated 06/05/2021):
"...I knew Bristol and West Recording Services/BWR well. It was run by Terry James who was also involved with Bristol Hospital Broadcasts along with The Crofters [a Bristol folk duo comprising Gef and Martin Pyman] and my father. He had a studio in the basement of the shop in Park Row...He built the recording deck for me which I used for transcribing the 78s for the early Matchbox LPs."
The basement flat where the studio was housed was at 6 Park Row, Bristol, and this same basement is currently valued (i.e. summer 2021) at £297,000.
© 2009 - 2021, M. C. Jones, trading as Bristol Folk Publications. The Record Press, Diogenes Academic Press and Burnham Priory are imprints of Bristol Folk Publications.