Swaddling Songs

Artist: Mellow Candle
Label: See for Miles
Category: Music

Average customer rating:

Format: Import
Media: Audio CD
Number Of Discs: 1

EAN: 5014661040430
ASIN: B0000011AQ

Release Date: 1996-10-29

Related Categories:

British Folk

| Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music

General

| Folk | Styles | Music

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| Pop | Styles | Music

Folk Rock

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| Rock | Styles | Music

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Listmania:

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Tracks:

Heaven Heath
Sheep Season
Silver Song
The Poet And The Witch
Messenger Birds
Dan The Wing
Reverend Sisters
Break Your Token
Buy Or Beware
Vile Excesses
Lonely Man
Boulders On My Grave

Customer Reviews:

Beautiful singing.......2005-07-08

Another lost treasure from early seventies.
Very unique music, specially the combination of the two voices of Clodagh and Alison.
I think that this album is a combination of Pentangle and Reneissance, although the music is less symphonic and less sophisticated.
The songs are well written and are like little stories with fine music.
It sometime amazes me what made a band succussful?
Why didn't that band made it?
I think the answer is complicated and not for me to define.
Listen to this band, inhale the soft voices and enjoy it from the first sound of Heaven Heath.

Amazing album, long forgotten.......2004-07-06

It's amazing that an album this good could be lost to the ages. This was given to me by a friend who likes all sorts of B-level 60s and 70s music....he likes stuff just because of its 60s or 70s-ness. This album is totally not like that! It holds up as a great piece of work, not just a period piece. It's every bit as good as the best of Fairport Convention or Sandy Denny or even early Yes, but doesn't sound like anything but itself. Mellow Candle were, for one magic moment, the best group in the world.

Wonderful, haunting one-off classic.......2003-01-05

Despite the fact that after thirty years "Swaddling Songs" is less of a challenge to listen to than it would have been in 1972, it still stands as a most brilliant documentation of the childhood lives of Clodagh Simonds and Allison Williams.

Having grown up in the strict Holy Child Convent School in Dublin, the two women were forbidden to listen to rock music, but listened covertly to Radio Luxembourg each night. Only when Simonds began writing a succession of hymnal pop tunes on her parents' piano did the two lives begin to converge.

After several false starts, Mellow Candle began to record "Swaddling Songs" in 1971 after moving to London, when Simonds was only eighteen. Though apparently not many songs had been written by Simonds herself, the results were amazing even after thirty years.

"Heaven Heath" and "Messenger Birds", both written by Allison Williams (nýe O'Donnell) Simonds' longtime schoolmate, added a contrasting touch to the album. Retaining the hymnal flavour of Simonds' songs, they are nontheless much odder in their melodies and rhythma, especially "Heaven Heath"'s brilliant harpsichord line, but retain the accessible melodies and amazingly beautiful vocals. "Messenger Birds" sets the mystical tone of the album - remiscent in places of Kate Bush's work on "The Ninth Wave" in its tale of travelling across the sea.

"Sheep Season" with its long instrumental outro and "Silver Song" (once covered by My Bloody Valentine) show the typical Simonds style of haunting and atmospheric pop tunes, not at all folky in instrumentation or sound. "Dan The Wing" was an amazing drama about evil, beating Laura Nyro's "Eli And The Thirteenth Confession" or Kate Bush's "The Dreaming" for explicit imagery of the Devil. "Break Your Token" was an upbeat, festive rocker, whilst the amazing overlaying of a guitar solo and beautiful vocals on "Lonely Man" was worth the price of admission alone. The closer "Boulders On My Grave" continued in that vein with Clodagh and Allison repeatedly chanting "Do do do do", "La la la la" and "Na na na na" in perfect harmony.

The album's centrepiece, though, was the amazing, chilling, piano-only "Reverend Sisters", in which the women's beautiful voices matched Simonds' amazing piano line and lyrics describing brilliantly the women's strict religious upbringing and its effects on them - almost a taste of Tori Amos twenty years before the fact. "Reverend Sisters" was remarkably honest yet not a preachy attack on religion - it was a matter-of-fact tale that will always amaze those fortunate enough to hear it.

"Buy Or Beware" and "Vile Excesses" rounded of the album excellently. Because of the (for its time) very difficult lyrical imagery, "Swaddling Songs" never charted and would not have been warmly received by critics. Mellow Candle soon disbanded and Simonds spent most of the 1970s working as a session singer.

Nonetheless, the beautiful, almost medieval-like vocal harmonies in "Swaddling Songs" were and unlike anything else in rock. Though the album has been seen as a folk album, "Swaddling Songs" in fact lacked any normal "folk" characteristics and was basically pure pop in charcter. Yet, the medieval and intensely mystical atmosphere of the record makes it a true sonic marvel of beauty and simple melodies. Thus, original LP copies of "Swaddling Songs" have become a valuable rarity that stands as testimony to the music's worthiness.

One "lost classic" which deserves its reputation.......2001-07-31

Like most people, I'm a bit wary when someone says "listen to this, you'll love it", but I am grateful to the friend who, knowing my fondness for the Incredible String Band/Fairport/Steeleye etc loaned me a copy of "Swaddling Songs". After the first track I had to collect my eyebrows from the ceiling and my jaw from the floor. Forgive the hyperbole, suffice to say before the second track had finished I was online and placing an order for my own copy of this terrific album. I know nothing about the band apart from what I've read in the sleeve notes. It seems amazing to me that an album of such evident quality was largely ignored when it came out in 1972, especially as the aforementioned folk-rock groups were doing such big business back then. The music is tight, with Rush-like precision in many of the instrumental passages. Baroque, folk mystical and just plain wierd flourishes abound (all of which is fine with me), but the real eye-opener is the quality of the vocal performances. Comparisons with Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny are inevitable, but these two girls sing with an individual brilliance and frequently stunning harmonies which really make such comparisons pointless. Among the more gentle, reflective tracks "Reverend Sisters" and "Silver Song" are standouts, while "Dan the Wing", "Buy or Beware" and especially "Boulders on my Grave" are simply breathtaking uptempo pieces delivered with great flair. The whole album is hugely enjoyable and yes, I do recommend it to anyone with an interest in classic folk-rock.

One "lost classic" which deserves its reputation.......2001-07-25

Like most people, I'm a bit wary when someone says "Listen to this, you'll love it", but I am grateful to the friend who, knowing my fondness for the Incredible String Band/Fairport/Steeleye etc loaned me copy of "Swaddling Songs". After the first track I had to collect my eyebrows from the ceiling and my jaw from the floor. Forgive the hyperbole, suffice to say before the second track had finished I was online and placing an order for my own copy of this terrific album. I know nothing about the band apart from what I've read in the sleeve notes. It seems amazing to me that an album of such evident quality was largely ignored when it came out in 1972, especially as the aforementioned folk-rock groups were doing such big business back then. The music is tight, with Rush-like precision in many of the instrumental passages. Baroque, folk, mystical and just plain wierd flourishes abound (all of which is fine with me), but the real eye-opener is in the quality of the vocal performances. Comparisons with Maddy Prior and Sandy Denny are inevitable, but these two girls sing with an individual brilliance and frequently stunning harmonies which really make such comparisons pointless. Among the more gentle, reflective tracks "Reverend Sisters" and "Silver Song" are standouts, while "Dan the Wing", "Buy or Beware" and especially "Boulders on My Grave" are simply breathtaking uptempo pieces delivered with great flair. The whole album is hugely entertaining, and yes, I do recommend it to anyone with an interest in classic folk-rock.

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