Shirley Collins. Classic. Dud is not an option here, I'm afraid.

nice read, thanks.

from the comments: In the summer of 1961, as a favour Shirley typed the manuscript of Len Deighton's debut novel The Ipcress File for his agent Jonathan Clowes, whom she knew through sister Dolly and Austin John Marshall. 0_o

!!

she's been getting more press in the past two years, it seems, than in all the previous decades combined. and she doesn't even really sing anymore. weird.

& http://thequietus.com/articles/18060-shirley-collins-interview

yes, i need to sit down with that one. so great to see this sort of coverage!

just finished reading, really good. wotsit & sons!

this quote from the guardian interview is golden:

Collins then toured the country alone, catching overnight trains home to make the school run. “There were so many adventures,” she says. “I was picked up one night as I sat on Bradford station, just me and my banjo. Two really heavy Yorkshire policemen asked me what I was doing. They thought I was a prostitute!” Her next thought is classic Collins. “I thought, ‘How many banjo-playing prostitutes are there?’”

I like this from that Quietus interview
"SC: I've always had this feeling, you see, that the music is so wonderful that it deserves the best accompaniment it can get. You can't damage it. The songs are never at risk, either with Dolly or with Albion or with Fairport. It was just enhanced all the time, but given a new way of bringing it to other people who wouldn't listen to it if it was just sung as it had always been. It needed some freshness and youth and modernity to it, but without losing its essence, without losing its English soul. And that was just enhanced by those musicians. Because they got it as well, whereas some people just don't get it. "

which reminds me of a thing I heard from Gadamer about the continual reinvention of tradition keeping it fresh. It would always be of some level of relevance to the current generation and have some reflection of that rather than being monolithic and abstract.

can't agree with the pentangle dis, but given her aversion to jazz... makes sense.

that harvest showcase with the edgar broughton band, et al. must have been a sight/sound to behold.

happy 80th birthday, shirley! there's a big party in her honor at the southbank centre -- are any of you nearby that place?

LL i don't know if you saw this fb post from david tibet:

A truly and utterly astonishing birthday celebration for The Secret Queen Of England Shirley Collins last night at London's South Bank. Too much beauty to recount, but it was moving beyond my words to hear Shirley sing "Washed Ashore" and "Death And The Lady", accompanied by Ian Kearey at the afternoon discussion between Shirley and the lovely Stewart Lee—my favourite "comedian". And Trembling Bells were wonderful too...more about it all sooner or later.
I utterly recommend too the programme for the event, with so many beautiful photos of Shirley and friends, and a 7" too. It doesn't seem to be online yet, but email Fledg'ling for details

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jul/06/all-in-the-downs-review-a-memorable-shirley-collins-celebration

those early shirley collins 7" eps topic and fledg'ling have been putting out are really nicely done, btw.

(also belated hb to sc!)

wowowow she sang "death and the lady"?!
amazing

Thinking I should probably go to this: http://www.musicglue.com/cecilsharphouse/events/31-oct-15-shirley-collins-birthday-bash-cecil-sharp-house/

I forgot about this thread when this turned up on Dime
http://www.dimeadozen.org/torrents-details.php?id=536363

All IN THe downs the 80th Birthday celebration compered by Stewart Lee with the 2nd half being a run through of No Roses featuring Trembling Bells and 2 members of Blur as the backing band.

First half of this is a set of individual Shirley related songs sung by various people including Stewart Lee and John Kirkpatrick who also appears in the No Roses set.

Have known about this for a while, but since it's now been mentioned in the new Mojo...

***NEW ALBUM ON ITS WAY SOON***

Yeah since that is the only mention about the Mojo feature so far, there is a several page feature on her in there tying in with the 80th birthday. NOt as good as the Ugly Things piece that first really turned me onto her but possibly a decent introduction.
Looking forward to the book anyway, so hope it happens. Maybe I need to buy the 3cd tribute to contribute to costs for that.

Have been wondering since reading the Mojo piece where I heard about Anthems In Eden first since I know I picked it up on lp in the late 80s for some reason. But thought the Ugly Things article was my main introduction to her. Could just be that Within Sound came out not that long afterwards so I suddenly became a lot more familiar with her.
I need to pick up another copy of that lp though.

Is she singing on the new album?

Saw her Lomax talk last year and she was just fucking brilliant company. It was a hot night and a tiny venue and towards the end she was clearly struggling until she eventually announced she was going to be sick. She disappeared for ten minutes then came back and did a Q&A. What a lady.

Is she singing on the new album?

I don't really know any great detail about it cos I only heard it secondhand, but I believe it's new recordings.

would be odd if she *wasn't* singing, wouldn't it? guess i'd take an instrumental banjo record from shirley.

She's not been able to sing for thirty years, which is why I asked. I can't remember the name but she has a particular syndrome which means she physically can't sing. It'd be great if she's recovered/conquered it, but like you say, a piano/banjo record would still be fantastic.

Yes she's finally conquered her dysphonia. So she's able to sing again to some extent but unlikely to do a full concert. She's singing with a group of other voices in that All Is Downs recording that's up on Dime.
She did a couple of songs live with Current 93 last year too. Not sure what the story is on the '99 recording of All The Pretty Little Horses, or is that spoken not sung?

Been finally catching up on listening to that massive Shirley Inspired tribute album that came out a while back. Some really terrific re-imaginings here, but I find the more traditional readings to be the best. A lot of unfamiliar (to me) names here, but a wealth of great tracks.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06yjk03

happy birthday, shirley!!

first song off the new album :)))))))))

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_QMW4mv6As

Shirley Collins - Cruel Lincoln (Official Audio) from the upcoming album Lodestar, out November 4.

My friend Ian playing the guitar

Hard to be objective about this, but she sounds, what am I trying to say, 'her age' I guess. Same lovely phrasing and that way she finishes a line - letting it stretch out into the soundfield. She's going to record in the ossuary at St Leonard's soon; a good friend is the Rev there. Can't wait to hear the results.

:-D

Her voice sounds a good bit stronger than it did when she opened for Current 93 a while back, but yes, there's a distinctly lived-in quality to it

Loved the guitar playing, too - liked the unadorned nature of it. Like 'here's Shirley!' which is more than enough.

http://i1.wp.com/thankfolkforthat.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/shirley_collins_lodestar_packshot.jpg?resize=768%2C768

http://www.dominorecordco.com/uk/albums/06-09-16/lodestar/

Sooooo excited about this! I love changing aging voices.

sounds GOOD

the guy who played guitar and produced that track is an old fahey-head from the 60s/70s, wouldn't be surprised if 'a raga called pat' etc is an influence on the use of the recorded bird song. not that it's a wildly leftfield thing to do in this day and age. think it works really nicely on that song though.

yeah i like the bird sounds ... what's the guy's name? Ian Kearey?

yeah that's right. was in the oysterband (uk folk rock thing - not really my cup of tea tbh) and also the blue aeroplanes (underrated arty indie band) among other stuff

Hard to be objective about this, but she sounds, what am I trying to say, 'her age' I guess.

not to put to fine a point on it, her singing voice is destroyed. she scarcely comes anywhere near pitch. and as much as i adore shirley collins i don't think her phrasing was ever expressive enough to stand on its own. but this track is more listenable than i would have expected.

this reminds me a bit of the latterday charlie louvin albums, where the drop quotes went on and on about the beautiful louvin harmonies (which indeed were their signature) even as it was obvious that his voice was (at best) a husk of what it once was.

er, TOO FINE not TO FINE

of course, if this music is meaningful/sustaining/beautiful to collins and/or to her fans then more power to all.

i guess i'm just skeptical of the journalistic cliché of old folks' destroyed voices being indicative of some kind of accumulated wisdom. sometimes the withering of the voice either calls up or reveals greatly expressive phrasing, as on some of bob dylan's stuff from the last 20 years (although he is often just way too phlegmy for me). but there's also plenty of cases where the voice is just shot, tout court (e.g. roger daltrey).

sorry i guess i'm just a habitual naysayer.

oh you didn't did you!

i'm not going to make any grand claims about her voice but i'm not really too fussed about what notes she hits, a knackered old voice can still carry personality - always found a charm and mischievousness in shirley's voice and i hear it here too. and there's that feeling of connection to the past - it's an embodiment of the historical sense of the song - so it works where younger contemporary voices might fail to convince

^^^ otm

Older voices do carry/convey wisdom & experience imo

Esp in the folk idiom!

yeah, and there's definitely something wonderful about hearing a voice change over the years -- it's different, perhaps less powerful, but it's still very much her. and I like that.

I loooove that

I think it comes down to how much is 'loaded' onto the singer in question. Like Rubin seems to fetishise old age, somehow, as if it's always already wise. Arguably it worked with Cash because of who he was and what he did (and his old testament bearing), but not so much with Neil Diamond.

Maybe it comes down to 'having something to say'. I saw Shirley in a tiny upstairs space, giving a sort of performance lecture on her Lomax years, and by christ did she 'have something to say' - with her voice, obviously, but in her whole damn being and demeanour. It was a hot night and at one point she had to leave the stage to throw up, but she was back inside five minutes and continued to answer questions. What a lady.

Everyone who sings has something to say. Whether we want to hear it/are interested in it is another story but singing is self-expression regardless. imo

it's moving to hear a whole life in someone's voice