Jan 26, 2009

SPRIGUNS - REVEL, WEIRD & WILD (DECCA 1976) Japan mastering cardboard sleeve




The Spriguns (of Tolgus) were formed as a duo in 1972 by husband and wife,Mike and Mandy Morton playing traditional folk music not dis-similar to early Steeleye Span .They opened The Anchor Folk Club in Cambridge, gradually enlisting more musicians. Their first recording was a badly recorded cassette only set of sons called 'Rowdy Dowdy Day'. All the while, they were attracting a large and following.
They came to the attention of Steeleye Span's Tim Hart who produced their first album proper,'Jack With Feather' in 1973.
Six months after the release of 'Jack With Feather', Mandy formed the new 'Spriguns' ,dropping the 'Of Tolgus' suffix and signing with Decca Records.The band recorded 'Revel Weird and Wild' in 1975 & released in 1976, which consisted of only of songs written by members of the band, although some of the songs were more or less stolen from traditional songs, produced by Tim Hart.
The sound was becoming rockier but they hadn't forgotten their traditional roots just yet.
In 1977 ,during the height of Punk,Spriguns recorded their final album,'Time Will Pass'.This time production duties fell to the respected Sandy Roberton.The orchestration on the album was conducted by Robert Kirby,famous for his work with Nick Drake and The Strawbs amongst many others.The sound this time was rockier.Similar to The Trees or Mellow Candle in style,with some excellent long guitar solos.Not long after the albums release,Mandy Morton left to persue a solo career.She released the 'Magic Lady' album in 1978,which is very similar to Sandy Denny's solo material.Highly Recommended!...
Here

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi do you have this japan mastering cd by the Kinks "Kinda Kinks" Thanks a Lot,Great Blog!!!

Georgie Hirezola said...

No I dont!!!!!& let me tell you why!
there is no Japan mastering...
only Japan pressing of the Kinks albums (at the moment!)......
the masters they used are the same "Castle-Sanctuary" remasters....(sound horrible to my ears).
The US "Reprise" reissues are by far better!!!!
I'll post the "Something else" album on "Reprise CD" soon...(very good sound)
Thank you

Anonymous said...

Sounds Good!Thank You Thanks for the Tip on the Kinks also

red apron said...

very ancient song.

bobbysu said...

thank you very much