Albion Band Documentary 1979 (Full)

A rare 1979 documentary on the Albion Band, Ashley Hutchings and the development of English folk rock up to that time. Just under 45 minutes altogether.
Including:
Interviews with Ashley Hutchings and Richard Thompson, along with Keith Dewhurst in relation to the Lark Rise stage show, and various live excerpts from that show.
Live excerpts from unrecorded line-ups (Barry Dransfield, Melanie Harrold, Doug Morter, Martin Simpson, Andy Roberts & Dave Mattacks) and the Albion River Hymn with Maddy Prior, Simon Nicol, Phil Pickett etc.
A duet by Shirley Collins and Martin Carthy.
Footage of the Albions in the studio, and the Kickin' Up The Sawdust band live.
The 'Rise Up Like The Sun' line-up rehearsing Alright Jack, which various members took with them to Home Service.

[@alistairbanfield6965]

Barry Dransfield's voice! Can't get enough of it! Much missed from the scene. Come back Barry! It's too long since we heard you sing and play.

[@theboldfurriskey]

What a treat to come across this video. And yes, the kings of country and north-eastern (Dransfields) still much missed.

[@billarthurs8723]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jmPGlYWppqmkers

[@WilliamHorwood]

34.36 and the tune that showed me how powerful live music is. I went to the NT’s Lark Rise knowing the book not the band. Unforgettable. Sometimes we’re just lucky. Opened the door to my Englishness, and my ears to the music the lives and dies and lives again at every turn of the world in which we were born and raised. The song Snow Falls says it best of all. Thank God for KZbin!!

[@roberttreborable]

Great to watch this again 2023

[@andrewbingham66]

Been wanting to see this documentary for years, I grew up listening to the Albion Band, The best of writing folk!!!

[@CroxleyEducator]

Thank goodness this was made, capturing ground-breaking folk-rock activity by a highly talented bunch of people. I discovered Ashley and his work in 1978 and never looked back.

[@berniekilbride]

When we was kids our folks used to play the Albion Band all the time. Didn't really know what to make of it at the time. In fact it took an exhausting spell as proto punks before my brothers and I finally returned to the fold in our late teens and finally 'got' traditional music. Have been hooked ever sincle, althouogh tended a bit more towards the 'dfark side' (Celtic music) since, but will always remember the Albion band, Steeleye and Fairport as the founding fathers etc. That ploddy melodeon-based folk rock with choppy electric guitar accompaniment sounds really dated these days, but those guys were all pioneering in their own way at the time. What great musicians. What singers and performers. Really shaped our youth. Mind you, not sure one could get away with the risqee Cuckoo's Nest in these enlightened times! Ho., ho, and "hey ho" for the past then :-)

[@Mrgilgalad51]

If you mean the electric band on stage, it is Melanie Harold plus Barry Dransfield on fiddle/dulcimer, Doug Morter on guitar, Martin Simpson on guitar/banjo,Andy Roberts on guitar,Ashley on Bass and Dave Mattacks on drums. It was filmed at the Reading Hexagon 16/6/79. I have an old cassette somewhere of the gig - lots of Fairport/Denny stuff plus Albion tunes.

[@rabgriffiths]

..have lost count how many times have watched this....never fails to deliver....agree with previous contributor, the great Barry Dransfield...actually scary to see how many of the greats are in this doc.....nice to see RT in a field...and the great, sublime legend John Tams at the end....nice bit of Home Service....roll on xmas for the wassail doc they played along to...come on Mossy....where's Mossy....!!

[@nigelwassell2074]

What's interesting about that rehearsal of Alright Jack is, firstly, that Tams clearly wrote the song whilst he was working with Ashley in the Albions and, secondly, that the idea of a brass section, which was further developed by The Home Service, seems to have had its origins in the work the Albions did at the National Theatre. There isn't much brass on Rise Up Like The Sun, but if there'd been a follow-up to that album perhaps there might have been and, also, perhaps Alright Jack (and other Tams' songs like Walk My Way) would have been on it. It looks as though when this was filmed Tams had only just written the song. He seems quite comfortable singing it, but Brian Protheroe (in red) clearly doesn't know the words!

[@YorkyOne]

​​@@nigelwassell2074 I recall hearing a radio programme where Ashley Hutchings reviewed the newly released Home Service album 'Alright Jack'. He clearly knew the John Tams songs from the Albion's repertoire and if my memory serves me well he felt they weren't producing anything radically different. However, he thought that their take on Grainger's 'A Lincolnshire Posy' was an interesting development.

[@robertgriffiths6350]

3 years later, the start of the summer re-watch....you are so right..!!..yer man protheroe always reminds me of a young jeremy clarkson with an upper walrus lip..!!@@nigelwassell2074

[@michaeligoe3935]

Love Barry Dransfield's voice ... he always attacked Cuckoo's Nest with admirable gusto.

[@nevillegriffiths4395]

11.57

[@DavidStanley85281]

Love the version of Farewell Farewell at 18:45 with Barry Dransfield

[@brucevair-turnbull8082]

He certainly has the best voice in the band. His second album with his brother is a classic.

[@alastairthomson2835]

Wonderful find. Great to see this.

[@Tomsprints2]

I've wanted to see this for ages and ages! Thank you so much for sharing it. Tears of nostalgia!

[@synnvelarsen6437]

Afriend made me aware of this great group. I'm "sold" already .. thanks for sharing this !

[@alistairbanfield6965]

Great singing from John Tams at 36:10 and wonderful harmonies too!

[@evansmith3589]

Excellent! Fun to hear Come All Ye redone!

[@cjwaywell]

Saw them in 2015 and they are even better than ever

[@rolandcolyer5199]

Great footage. Problem for me was that by the time I got a chance to work with them they couldn't remember the lyrics of The Gresford Disaster.

[@philipjackson7132]

My favourite RT song

[@dixiedragon54]

I'm thinking there is a rocker inside Melanie Harold ... she acts like she wants to toss the yuppie garb, don some leather and test those lungs against a screaming guitar. Nice video. I love that there are still groups who honor tradition by updating and making it relevant ... thus keeping it alive.

[@obscurios]

Thanks for this rare bit! ;)

[@martinday4986]

Sublime! Thanks to Poster...

[@powell656]

Love it but more than a touch exclusive!

[@roberttreborable]

Why exclusive? All are welcome.

[@gurgisjones1120]

Some especially fun stuff around 17:00

[@DavidAndrewsPEC]

After Cuckoo's Nest - the drum track for Rainbow Over The Hill.

[@bustedfender]

14:56 classic Ric. Thank goodness somebody misplaced that bloody phaser eventually.

[@Country822]

Not sure with any great degree of certainty but it could well be Cathy Lesurf who had been with Fiddler's Dream. It sounds like her.

[@bustedfender]

11:57 classic DM.

[@williamjones9706]

where can I find the lyrics for the song about 6 minutes in?

[@Grumster1000]

Does anyone know the name of the song that Maddy Prior does at about 6 minutes in?

[@waterdrop154]

I’m about to tell you How You can be made right with God and how you can be expecting Jesus return to be with Him in heaven! It says, “23For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. 24Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. 25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, 26for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus.” It says “God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sins” because Jesus died for us on the Cross and paid the price for our sins. Jesus had said “3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again,[a] you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit.[b] 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.[c] 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You[d] must be born again.’”

[@mariaanthony5497]

Tams is the voice of Albion, and I think he and Ashley should have been knighted by now! btw Is that you Bruce?

[@deepindercheema]

Is there any info about this doc? No credits.

[@synnvelarsen6437]

deeinder cheema : google it .. lol

[@Blacksquareable]

Is that Martin Carthy at 43.27?

[@organick4]

Does anyone know who the guitarist and the girl singer in the first song are?

[@BrianWMay]

Julie Matthews I think

[@hedgerow215]

Melanie Harrold

[@LANCSKID]

I sipped some rough old scrumpy cider with your man Fitzpatrick down Tiverton way in 1970 … oh arr … oh arr! 🧔🏼‍♂️

[@inregionecaecorum]

I like it even if it is a little bit pretentious, middle clarse wannabes and all.

[@alistairbanfield6965]

It's also just a little bit dated, but wonderful nevertheless... They've all had another 35 years of career since and are all doing fine. Phil Pickett is in prison though...

[@roberttreborable]

Who Else would have had the time to collect this music? The working class too busy earning a living, however anyone can and does enjoy it whatever class.

[@YorkyOne]

​@@roberttreborable No, the working class were singing the new songs they heard in the music halls.