The Albion Band
May 2007 - A lazy Sunday afternoon. I opened up the cupboard of old vinyl records, more or less alphabetically arranged. The first was
the Albion Band's Light Shining (2002). I guess we hadn't played this for close on 20 years.
The band originated as 'the Albion Country Band' and dates from 1972, with
of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span
as founder. It seems the band stopped gigging in 2002 - long after we lost touch with their music. According to their website, other members over the years
had included:
- Phil Beer
- Martin Carthy
- Shirley Collins
- John Kirkpatrick
- Chris Leslie
- Cathy Lesurf
- Dave Mattacks
- Julie Matthews
- Simon Nicol
- Ric Sanders
- John Tams
- Richard Thompson and
- Chris While.
So we listened. What did we think? Surprisingly fresh for such an old record.
Why? Simplicity. Purity. A nice piece of 'English' folk in the
late 20th Century revivalist style. Not surprising it seems with Ashley Hutchings as the principal instigator.
The band is probably best known for Lark Rise to Candleford,a stunning accompaniment to a National Theatre
production in the late 1970s/early 1980s.
See: