Recorded at Ideal Sound Recorders, London 1989;
Engineered by David Kenny and John Acock;
Cover photos by Jonathan Swain;
Design by Tony Engle

Most of this record (tracks 1-9) were reissued in 1998 on the CD The Best of 89/90.

Musicians

Phil Beer: vocals, guitars, fiddle, mandolin;
Simon Care: melodeon, concertina;
Trevor Foster: drums;
Ashley Hutchings: vocals, electric & acoustic bass guitars;
John Shepherd: electric keyboards

with guests:
Pete Zorn: soprano & alto saxophones;
Bill Zorn: backing vocals (bass voice);
Cliff Stapleton: hurdy-gurdy [6];
Swan Arcade (Dave & Heather Brady, Jim Boyes): vocals [12]

Tracks

LP Side 1

1. Ash on an Old Man’s Sleeve (3.38)
2. Geoff Collings (4.22)
3. Thomas’ Morris / Postman’s Polka (3.30)
4. Set Their Mouths to Twisting (2.38)
5. Seven Curses (5.29)

LP Side 2

6. Cardhouse (3.06)
7. Striking for Another Land (5.50)
8. Bury My Eyeballs on Top of Boot Hill (3.26)
9. Kitty Come Down the Lane (3.42)
10. Think It Over (4.00)

CD bonus tracks

11. Don’t Look at Me / Trip to Cheltenham (4.06)
12. Throw Out the Lifeline (4.12)

Tracks 1, 2, 6, 9 Ashley Hutchings;
Track 3 Phil Beer, Simon Care;
Track 4 Francois Villon, Phil Beer;
Track 5 Bob Dylan;
Tracks 7, 8 Ashley Hutchings, John Shepherd;
Track 10 Phil Beer;
Track 11 Phil Beer, John Shepherd;
Track 12 Rev. E.S. Ufford arr. Albion Band

Sleeve Notes

Geoff Collings is my version of the ancient ballad Child Colvin—variously collected in this century as Giles Collins and George Collins. The chief protagonist now rides out on the tube train and his lady-love watches the television but, as in Wim Wender’s film Wings of Desire, the mythic and fantastic can exist in the modern world just as in the past.

Throw Out the Lifeline is a temperance song written by the Reverend E.S. Ufford. In mid-Victorian England the Temperance Lifeboat Crews carried the metaphor of a sailor drowning in a sea of liquor to extremes, dressing up as lifeboat men and marching with model boats to protest outside taverns. Legend has it that the officer in charge of a half-full lifeboat exhorted his fellow survivors to sing this song lustily in order to obliterate the cries of the drowning multitudes after the sinking of the Titanic.

That great anti-hero Jimmy Porter is alive and drawing his pension in Ash on an Old Man’s Sleeve. Acknowledgements are due to a representative of the old guard (theatrically speaking) in the shape of T.S. Eliot, who gives us the song’s title, and to the erstwhile new wave’s John Osborne who, of course, wrote Look Back in Anger, which propelled Jimmy into legend.

Francois Villon was the greatest poet of medieval France. He was also a thief, brawler, libertine and vagabond. Set Their Mouths to Twisting is one of his “poems in slang” (free-verse translations by Anthony Bonner) which more calls to mind the black-and-white French movie heavy Jean Gabin than Geoffrey Chaucer.

[Ashley Hutchings]

Recorded at Ideal Sound Recorders, London 1990;
Engineered by David Kenny;
Produced by Phil Beer and Ashley Hutchings;
Brass arrangement by Phil Beer and Matthew Horner;
Photography by Andrew Cleal;
Design by Tony Engle

The CD has one extra track (Fossie Shuffle) that was not on the LP.
Most of this record (all LP tracks except of Yellow Dress) were reissued in 1998 on the CD The Best of 89/90.

Musicians

Phil Beer: vocals, guitars, fiddle, mandolin;
Simon Care: melodeon, concertina;
Trevor Foster: drums;
Ashley Hutchings: vocals, bass guitar

with guests:
John Shepherd: keyboards;
Bill Zorn: backing vocals, banjo;
John Tams: backing vocals on The Party’s Over and Nameless Kind of Hell;
Judy Dunlop: backing vocals on The Party’s Over and Yellow Dress;
Julian Dawson: harmonica on Nameless Kind of Hell;
Scott Barnard and P. Tristan Brill: trumpets;
Matthew Horner: trombone;
Caleb Brown: euphonium

Tracks

LP Side 1

1. Yellow Dress (4.45)
2. The Power and the Glory (3.50)
3. Fairford Breakdown (3.40)
4. Rambleaway (Roud 171; G/D 7:1485) (7.37)

LP Side 2

5. The Flood (3.26)
6. Nameless Kind of Hell (4.35)
7. Adam and Eve (2.57)
8. Lock Up Your Daughters (3.24)
9. The Party’s Over (6.11)

CD Tracks

1. Yellow Dress (4.45)
2. The Power and the Glory (3.50)
3. Fairford Breakdown (3.40)
4. Fossie Shuffle (2.13)
5. Rambleaway (Roud 171; G/D 7:1485) (7.37)
6. The Flood (3.26)
7. Nameless Kind of Hell (4.35)
8. Adam and Eve (2.57)
9. Lock Up Your Daughters (3.24)
10. The Party’s Over (6.11)

Tracks 1, 3, 6, 10 Ashley Hutchings, Phil Beer;
Tracks 2, 7, 9 Phil Beer;
Track 4 Trevor Foster;
Track 5 Ashley Hutchings, Roger Wilson;
Track 8 Dave Whetstone

Recorded at Ideal Sound Recorders, London 1989 / 1990;
1989 Engineered by David Kenny and John Acock;
1990 Engineered by David Kenny;
Produced by Phil Beer and Ashley Hutchings;
Brass arrangement by Phil Beer and Matthew Horner;
Booklet design by Malcolm Holmes;
Photos by Darren Andrews

Musicians

Phil Beer, vocals, guitars, fiddle, mandolin;
Simon Care, melodeon, concertina;
Trevor Foster, drums;
Ashley Hutchings, vocals, electric & acoustic bass guitars;
John Shepherd, electric keyboards

with guests:
Pete Zorn, soprano & alto saxophones;
Bill Zorn, backing vocals (bass voice), banjo;
Cliff Stapleton, hurdy-gurdy on Cardhouse;
John Tams, backing vocals on The Party’s Over and Nameless Kind of Hell;
Judy Dunlop, backing vocals on The Party’s Over;
Julian Dawson, harmonica on Nameless Kind of Hell;
Scott Barnard and P. Tristan Brill, trumpets;
Matthew Horner, trombone;
Caleb Brown, euphonium

Tracks

From Give Me a Saddle, I’ll Trade You a Car

1. Ash On an Old Man’s Sleeve (3.38)
2. Geoff Collings (4.22)
3. Thomas’ Morris / Postman’s Polka (3.30)
4. Set Their Mouths to Twisting (2.38)
5. Seven Curses (5.29)
6. Cardhouse (3.06)
7. Striking for Another Land (5.50)
8. Bury My Eyeballs On Top of Boot Hill (3.26)
9. Kitty Come Down the Lane (3.42)

From 1990

10. The Power and the Glory (3.50)
11. Fairford Breakdown (3.40)
12. Rambleaway (Roud 171; G/D 7:1485) (7.37)
13. The Flood (3.26)
14. Nameless Kind of Hell (4.35)
15. Adam and Eve (2.57)
16. Lock Up Your Daughters (3.24)
17. The Party’s Over (6.11)

Tracks 1, 2, 6, 9 Ashley Hutchings;
Track 3 Phil Beer, Simon Care;
Track 4 Francois Villon, Phil Beer;
Track 5 Bob Dylan;
Tracks 7, 8 Ashley Hutchings, John Shepherd;
Tracks 10, 14, 16 Phil Beer;
Tracks 13, 17 Ashley Hutchings, Phil Beer;
Track 12 Ashley Hutchings, Roger Wilson;
Track 15 Dave Whetstone