shenry
Group: Members
Posts: 126
Joined: Oct. 2018 |
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Posted: Sep. 25 2023, 06:46 |
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Hi
I've only just recently re-discovered the Rime of the Ancient Mariner concert from February 1979 and it's amazing! The original Rime is one of my favourite David Bedford albums, so I was always curious to hear this live version. I think when I first heard it a couple of years ago I was a bit disappointed to find it was only indirectly related to the album and not really anything like it, but I've been listening to it with fresh ears and fresh expectations and it's really good.
It's basically a recording for a radio broadcast (I think?) and is about 20 minutes long with David Bedford on piano (some superb playing) and Mike on electric guitar, with the Queens College Girls Choir singing a selection of sea shanties - the Rio Grande is in there, but there are others as well very much in the same style. Bedford's arrangements have his trademark very-slightly-atonal touches: quite an acquired taste, but if you like his other stuff this should really appeal. Notably, there's a particularly beautiful sad shanty called Hanging Johnny.
There's also what sounds like a small chamber orchestra, flutes and stuff boosting the sound. Very basic accompaniment (apart from Mike and David) and overall has the feel of a particularly good school concert. In particular, it's great to hear Mike's guitar playing slightly raw and rough, and without his usual lush backing.
Does anyone know the full story about this? It seems to be in an unusual time, after Mike's exegesis but before his Exposed tour later that year, and certainly at a time when his live appearances were scarce. Was this part of a larger concert? Was it a charity event or something? Was he doing it as a favour to Bedford? Did these song arrangements date from the same time as the Rime album a few years earlier, or were they new? And why was there never a proper studio recording?
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