Decameron were an English

folk rock Folk rock is a hybrid music genre that combines the elements of folk and rock music, which arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music revival. Performers suc ...

and

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog; sometimes conflated with art rock) is a broad genre of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom and United States through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early 1970s. Init ...

band, existing from 1968 to 1976.

History

Initially formed in 1968 in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, England, by

Johnny Coppin John "Johnny" Coppin (born 5 April 1946) is an English singer-songwriter, composer, poetry anthologist and broadcaster. He plays guitar and piano and has written and recorded many albums as a solo artist. He has a weekly one-hour show on BBC Ra ...

(guitar, vocals) and Dave Bell (guitar, vocals), the band were augmented in 1971 by the addition of Al Fenn on

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

and

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

and Geoff March on

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

. Their first managers included future comedian

Jasper Carrott Robert Norman Davis (born 14 March 1945), best known by his stage name, Jasper Carrott, is an English comedian, actor and television presenter. Early life Born in Shaftmoor Lane, Acocks Green, in Birmingham, Carrott was educated at Acocks G ...

. They originally signed to

Vertigo Records Vertigo Records is a record company with United Kingdom origins. It was a subsidiary of the Philips/Phonogram record label, launched in 1969 to specialise in progressive rock and other non-mainstream musical styles. Today, it is operated by Uni ...

in 1973 and recorded their debut album, ''Say Hello to the Band'', that year. By 1974, the band's line-up changed with

Dik Cadbury Dik Cadbury is an English multi-instrumentalist and singer, principally known as a bass guitarist and as former member of Decameron and the backing band of former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett. Career From a musical family, classically trained ...

joining the group on lead and 12-string acoustic guitar and bass. Geoff March incorporated

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

into his repertoire and the band signed to

Mooncrest Records Mooncrest Records is a British record label that was formed in 1973 as a subsidiary of Charisma Records. They issued albums by Shirley Collins (''No Roses'') (1971), Iain Matthews (''Journeys from Gospel Oak'') (1972), Nazareth (band), Nazareth ...

to record the album, ''Mammoth Special'', which showed a turn towards more introspective and progressive material, that was to define their sound for the remaining years of their existence. Rumours of a missing third album called, ''Beyond the Light'' or ''Beyond the Days'', have circulated incessantly. It was even given a catalog number, but it was ultimately scrapped, although supposedly some of its material has surfaced on compilations since. In 1975, now on

Transatlantic Records Transatlantic Records was a British independent record label. The company was established in 1961, primarily as an importer of American folk, blues and jazz records by many of the artists who influenced the burgeoning British folk and blues boom ...

, ''Third Light'', was produced by

Tom Allom Thomas James Allom is an English record producer and sound engineer. His best-known work was in the 1970s and 1980s, working with artists such as Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Krokus, Loverboy, Def Leppard, Kix and Rough Cutt. Allom is a membe ...

. A year later they added

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

Bob Critchley and released, ''Tomorrow's Pantomime''. The sales were disappointing and Decameron disbanded shortly thereafter.

Discography

* 1973: ''Say Hello to the Band'' * 1974: ''Mammoth Special'' * 1975: ''Third Light'' * 1976: ''Tomorrow's Pantomime'' The first album has also been re-released on CD as a single disc with nine extra previously unreleased tracks. The latter three albums have since been reissued in full on a double-CD anthology entitled ''Parabola Road''. They collaborated with

Nigel Mazlyn Jones Nigel Mazlyn Jones (born 26 June 1950) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter. Early life He was born in Dudley, Worcestershire, England, where he did part-time work at Dudley Zoo from the age of 12. In 1969, he moved to Jersey, to wor ...

on his 1976 album, ''

Ship to Shore ''Ship to Shore'' is an Australian children's television series devised by David Rapsey and written by Glenda Hambly, John Rapsey, Mary Morris, Everett de Roche, Ysabelle Dean, Jon Stephens and others. The program was shown on the ABC and Chan ...

''.

References

External links

Decameron website
British folk rock groups English progressive rock groups Transatlantic Records artists {{UK-rock-band-stub