Le dessein de cette chorale n'est pas sans rappeler celui de Frances Mary Hunter Gordon, qui voulait à sa façon faire entrer l'Eglise dans la modernité en apportant sous son toit, sa musique, celle d'une jeune fille de 15 ans à l'époque du Swinging London. C'est a peu près à cette même période que l'histoire de The Folk Choir débute :

"A dozen or so youngsters, a curate with some skill with a guitar and a keen interest in introducing a new form of music to the Mass: this was the origin of the current Folk Choir of St. Aidan's. The group, formed in 1967, was led by Jane Rees, who played the guitar and rapidly built the experiment into an established choir, providing an addition to the existing liturgy. It was not long before the group was joined by the young and talented Stephen Church, whose high standard of guitar playing was matched by a considerable ability to compose both words and music to create not only a new Mass but also a wide range of songs or hymns to broaden the repertoire of the relatively traditional folk range of the Choir. Stephen took over the leadership and, as the membership increased, it included several people who - like himself - were not Catholics but were all united in their youthful zeal for a contemporary from of Christian worship which ultimately evolved into a regular Family Folk Mass. In 1971, Stephan handed back the leadership to Jane. At this time, Jane was recruiting the nucleus of what was to be the second generation.

By 1973, a great deal of new material had been contributed by various members, and the choir had an extensive original range which provided many opportunities  for it to sing not only at other churches of a various denominations, but also in aid of several charities on numerous occasions and in a wide variety of locations in the South of England. When, in turn, Jane retired from the leadership in February 1973, she handed over to Dave Carroll. Dave is the leader of what is by now the second generation Choir, all the original members having retired; most of them, however, still attend the Folk Mass every Sunday.

The Choir which Dave leads varies in number between twenty and thirty. This is because nearly all Choir members - whose average age is approximately 16 1/2 - are students, and several are away for many weekends during the year. As did their predecessors, the present Folk Choir give up a great deal of their free time to practise and perform at St. Aidan's, as well as to continue the tradition of meeting as many as possible of the numerous requests they receive to sing elsewhere."

Comme souvent pour ce genre de disques quand ils sortent du lot, il en coûtera aux amateurs leur dîme de rigueur. 2 copies sont connues dont une partie pour 227 GBP.

Long Road

Roll that Stone Away

Lamb of God

For the past year and a half, I had the pleasure of speaking by email with Greg Herriges, who formed Athanor with his friend Rick Vittenson. It was great to learn some interesting things about the duo - as the story goes - and to know better Greg's current work as a writer and a professor in the Harper College's English Department who teaches a Beatles-specific class, or just to talk about this and that, with life as it comes. A question that has arisen upon talking with Greg was "Why on earth with such a solid collection of material didn't you set about recording an album?", while this may be easier said than done.

And so it is - Athanor available on LP. It feels more like floating on cloud nine when bands like Athanor who missed the train for some reason, get another chance to climb on and are offered the possibility to get a wider audience. Suffice it to say, I am very grateful to Guerssen for making that possible and absolutely thrilled with the result. Like all this kind of releases, Flashback had an element of backstory too, with chance that often plays a large part in the fortunes of resurrection. There is nevertheless no need to go back over the biography of the band. We refer you to the extensive details of the Athanor story told in the liners by Mark Breyer, who produced the first single of the three 45s recorded and self-released between 1973 and 1975 by the duo and, those that have not yet done, so may like to read Greg and Rick’s interview here. But anyhow, the nodal point here is undoubtedly how outrageously good these so-called demos and unreleased cuts are.

Forty years have passed since the first numbers were recorded, but it hasn't dated one bit and still sounds today like a slice of timeless pop gems. Maybe because during its first 1973-75 lifespan, Athanor was already a throwback to the melodic 60s tinged pop - these 60s-in-the-70s acts - but also an unwitting power-pop first bud that combined hard-driving electric guitars with catchy arrangements and hook-laden melodies. But don't be misled by this collision and the heterogeneous nature of the cuts: this album is no less cohesive. From the erudite songwriting and imagery of Urizen to the pared-down lines of Like A River Flows, from psychedelic hypnotic meander to raspy intensity of pop tunes at their most naked (Habbits), from the brooding Wonder Why I'm sick and its thunderous guitar energy to evocative and heartfelt ballads (Hidden Monsters), the Athanor aesthetic has a familiar sounding yet distinctive, combining the flavor of late period Fab Four and solo Beatles releases (the Lennon's one to be more precise), tight harmonies (the way Rick complementing Greg is really great), and the powerful interlacing of electric and acoustic guitar parts. I can't say enough about this release.

I envy those among pop lovers who have never heard of Athanor. Perhaps one day, one of them wandering in the streets and listening to music near an open window will believe itself to be transported into another universe where an oldies radio station would play nothing but hits. I believe it will be only a turntable playing Flashback. The kind of story Greg may relay to his students.

http://www.guerssen.com/catalogue.php?ide=13763 

On a souvent rencontré des oiseaux et des scarabées à l'orthographe incertaine, plus rarement croisé des léopards, un morse approximatif ou des poissons zodiacaux. Mais qui connait les serpents ou du moins, s'il devait être question de choisir une identité dans l’ordre du règne animal, les prétendants les plus sérieux au titre ? Changeant de nom comme certains reptiles changent de peau, voici les Col Truck, aka Truck, alias Jade & Pepper, connu auparavant comme The October Cherries, initialement The Surfers. Ni tout à fait le même, ni tout à fait un autre, le groupe s'ingénie à changer l'ordre des titres, les allonger ou les raccourcir, parfois les renommer, surtout, à muscler sa pop beatlesque, qui loin de nous laisser sur notre faim (seuls deux titres sont inédits !), laisse une belle impression de déjà vu.

After The Surfers, The October Cherries, Jade & Pepper and Truck, this is Col Truck! Slight change of name, same sound.

All the Geese and Ganders (I Love Suzie)

Woe Is Me

Lay Down Your Love