David Bedford — C/D?

Recordings for which David served as arranger, conductor, and/or musician/singer

Kevin Ayers - Joy of a Toy (Beat Goes On BGO CD78) (piano, arrangements) (1969; CD reissue 1989)
Kevin Ayers and The Whole World - Shooting at the Moon (Beat Goes On BGO CD13) (keys, arrangements) (1970; CD reissue 1989)

Lol Coxhill - Ear of the Beholder (keys, vocals) (SeeForMilesRecords SEECD414) (1971; CD reissue 1994)

Roy Harper - Stormcock (keys) (1971)

Edgar Broughton Band - Edgar Broughton Band (keys) (1971)

Kevin Ayers - Bananamour (Beat Goes On BGO CD142) (orchestral arrangement on "Beware of the Dog") (1973; CD reissue 1992)

Edgar Broughton Band - Oora (keys) (1973)

Roy Harper - Valentine (keys, orchestral arranger) (1974)

Mike Oldfield - Hergest Ridge (choir and strings conductor) (Virgin CDV2013) (1974)

Mike Oldfield - Orchestral Tubular Bells (orchestral arranger and conductor) (Virgin 86049 2) (1975)

Mike Oldfield - "Don Alfonso" (Virgin single VS117) - also on compilation "V" (VD2502) (with Mike Oldfield, Chris Cutler, and Kevin Ayers) (vocals, piano accordion) (1975)

Roy Harper - When an Old Cricketer (keys) (1975)

Roy Harper - HQ (orchestral arrangements) (1975)

Camel - The Snow Goose (orchestral arrangements) (Deram 800 080-2) (1975; CD reissue 1983)

Kevin Ayers - Odd Ditties (compilation of tracks from 1969-73) (Harvest SHSM 2005) (keys) (1976)

Anthony More - Out (string arrangements) (1976; reissued in 1998 on CD - Voiceprint 165)

Kevin Ayers - Yes, We Have No Mananas (arrangement on "Blue") (BGO CD 143) (1976; CD reissue 1996)

Alan White - Ramshackled (arrangements, conductor) (1976)

Intergalactic Touring Band (orchestral arrangements on "Heartbreaker", "Space Commando", and "Love Station") (Passport SN PR9823) (1977)

Mike Oldfield - Incantations (choir and strings conductor) (Caroline CAROL1854-2) (1978)

Jeff Waynes - War Of The Worlds (orchestral arrangements) (CBS 35290) (1978)

Mike Oldfield - Exposed (percussion, string arrangements) (Caroline CAROL1852-2) (1979)

Mike Oldfield - Platinum (vocal arrangements) (Caroline CAROL1856-2) (1979)

Mike Oldfield - QE2 (choral and string arrangements) (Caroline CAROL1857-2) (1980)

Roy Harper - Unknown Soldier (keys) (1980)

Elvis Costello - Punch the Clock (Rykodisc ??) (string arrangements) (1983; CD reissue 19??)

ABC - Beauty Stab (string arrangements) (1983)

Madness - Keep Moving (string arrangements) (1984)

Madness - Mad Not Mad (string arrangements) (1985)

Strawberry Switchblade - Strawberry Switchblade (strings and winds arrangements) (1985)

Terraplane - Black & White (1986)

Ennio Morricone - The Mission (choral direction) (1986)

Act - Emotional Highlights from Snobbery (string arrangements) (1987)

Act - Laughter, Tears & Rage (string arrangements) (?label CD 88) (1988)

Billy Bragg - Internationale (arranger, conductor) (1990)

A-Ha - East of the Sun, West of the Moon (string arrangements) (Warner Bros. 9 26314-2) (1990)

Orlando - soundtrack to the Sally Potter film (string arrangements on one track) (Varese Sarabande) (1993)

Working Week - Pay Check (string arrangements) (19??)

Mike Oldfield - Balm for the Walking Dead (vocals) (????)

"...There is Some Fun Going Forward...Plus" Dandelion Rarities Volume 1 (See For Miles SEECD 427) (1995) - includes "Pretty Little Girl" by the Coxhill/Bedford Duo (not included on the Coxhill recording "Ear of the Beholder"), and "Vorblifa-Exit" by Lol Coxhill, with Mike Oldfield, as well as Bedford on organ solo and backing (this track appears on the Coxhill "Ear of the Beholder" double-LP, but not on the CD version)

Kevin Ayers - Singing the Bruise (the BBC sessions 1970-72) (David Bedford, keyboards) (Band of Joy BOJCD 019) (1996) - (also Strange Fruit label, # 7243 8 45208 2 3, 1998??)

Kevin Ayers - BBC Radio One Live in Concert, 1972 (arrangements, keys) (Windsong WINCD 018) 1992 - (just re-released on a 2CD as "Too Old to Die" with '75, '76 performances also) (Hux Records HUX 006) 1998

Ayers and Archibald - Banana Follies (all-star aggregation with Kevin Ayers, David Bedford, Lol Coxhill and Archie Legget (Hux Records HUX 007) (recorded 1972, released 1998)

ABC - Beauty Stab (string arrangements) (1998)

Roy Harper - Hat's Off (The Right Stuff/EMI Records) - contains a live version of "Another Day" with the David Bedford Orchestra (2001)

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the poem, narrated not sung, set to glorious, spiraling orchestral/synth minimalism. side two particularly effective, with the detuned pianos and arpeggiating synths finally giving way to a children's chorus & a particularly beautiful Oldfield solo. this is my favorite Bedford, the later releases can be scary, (haven't heard The Odyssey yet)

Bedford's arrangements at the end of Oldfield's Hergest Ridge... you can bash Oldfield all you want, but that ending always does me in, it makes me think that I know what it would be like to survive drowning

Stars' End is full orchestral dissonant squervyness, violent and modern but the electric guitar & Cutler on drums give the textures & arrangements a very rock edge. It's pretty good, really.

Stump spoke very highly of that one. Sounds interesting.

Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the poem, narrated not sung, set to glorious, spiraling orchestral/synth minimalism. side two particularly effective, with the detuned pianos and arpeggiating synths finally giving way to a children's chorus & a particularly beautiful Oldfield solo. this is my favorite Bedford, the later releases can be scary, (haven't heard The Odyssey yet)

Also sounds interesting if perhaps less so. At any rate, I'll try to dl them all — though slsk has proven kind of thin in the DB department. I did get King Aeolius or whatever that Odyssey song is called (it was apparently on some chill-out comp) — wasn't exactly blown away. It was all keybs, and it's the orchestrations that kick it for me with him.

Bedford's arrangements at the end of Oldfield's Hergest Ridge... you can bash Oldfield all you want, but that ending always does me in, it makes me think that I know what it would be like to survive drowning

Wow. MO's definitely bashworthy, but I'll check it. Did Bedford do Ommadawn, too? The guitar noodlings are horrible, but it has some nice textures buried in there. Incidentally, The Orchestral Tubular Bells sounds like it was done with a high school orchestra and recorded with one microphone.

not sure if Bedford did Ommadawn. I agree with you it's his choices in synth textures that kill his later records... sold those back. But Mariner is the good kind of analog.

this guy's reviews are sympathetic: http://www.jeffgower.com/bedford/cdreviews1.html

Any chance you could post those Bedford discs on slsk? ;-)

Oldfield's solo on Rock Bottom is the finest moment.

I also need to get my hands no a few more Roy Harper records he did string arrangements for — I gather Valentine is pretty fantastic...

of the list up there, the only thing I really know other than the Kevin Ayers records is, weirdly, the Strawberry Switchblade album. never knew Bedford was involved in that...

As is the full orchestral alternative version of Ayers' "Lady Rachel", as found on Odd Ditties and (I think?) on the recent CD reissue of Joy Of A Toy.

It is — though I mentioned it in my opening post. I also believe he conducted the orchestra in that live concert Roy Harper did a few years ago. Don't know if that was recorded or not...

Also got parts two and three of Incantations -- part two is easily the most interesting/listenable of any Oldfield I've gotten yet. Classic line from Stump's book about the Hiawatha section: "Just as the listener thought it could not last another second, it continued for another quarter of an hour." Altogether, not bad, though.

what's this stump you keep mentioning

S'good...

THE SPECTRE-WOMAN

and her DEATH-MATE

and NO OTHER on board the SKELETON SHIP

RIP, apparently :
http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/10/more-sadness-the-tubular-bells-man-has-died.html

Anyway, David Bedford, he worked wonders on the Kevin Ayers albums, haven't heard any of his own compositions though so recommendations welcome!
Here's a Guardian obit :
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/oct/04/david-bedford?newsfeed=true

Need to check out some more of those Ayers albums. I like 'Shouting At The Moon'.

For Bedford solo I only really know the main three he did for Virgin in the 70's. Stars End if you like it modern and intense and thorny, Rime of the Ancient Mariner if you like it beautiful, minimalist and proggy. Some of the synth textures on The Odyssey go too far but it also has "The Sirens" which I think is irresistably beautiful and the first thing I usually play for people. At first I was sad the album cover didn't go for full on prog with a fantasy depiction of the Sirens, but -- well, it's such an unassuming picture of oneself to put on the cover, he must have been a pretty decent fellow

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFvjwczhx5Y

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8807037/David-Bedford.html

even more info in the telegraph obit, albeit delivered snarkily

Also omitted from that list: The Rise And Fall by Madness, including the string arrangement on "Our House" and a remarkable brass chart for "Primrose Hill."
― Marcello Carlin, Tuesday, February 1, 2005 10:53 AM (6 years ago) Bookmark

those arrangements really make those songs. now that I know it was him, I can hear his voice in there

This is sad, but I do love this line from that Telegraph piece:

But, as he once recalled: “I was on the road playing keyboards with these bands, fighting off the groupies, and then the next night I would be in the Festival Hall doing some plinky-plonk music to an audience of about four.”