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Picnic – A Breath Of Fresh Air
''Picnic – A Breath of Fresh Air'' is a sampler issued by the Harvest Records label, originally released in 1970 and notable for including the previously unreleased Pink Floyd song, "Embryo". The similarly-entitled ''A Breath of Fresh Air – A Harvest Records Anthology 1969–1974'' released on 14 May 2007 borrowed most of the original title, but had only three tracks in common with its precursor (Pink Floyd's "Embryo", Panama Limited's "Round and Round", and Quatermass' "Black Sheep of the Family"). Although most tracks featured were of similar vintage, the album was a retrospective compilation, rather than a promotional sampler. History EMI Records launched the Harvest label in 1969 to take advantage of the progressive rock market, and like many record labels at the time, they produced a budget-priced showcase album of their artists. Their roster of artists was large and interesting enough to support a double album retailing at 29s/11d (approximately £1.50). The result ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Progressive Rock
Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the style emerged from psychedelic bands who abandoned standard pop or rock traditions in favour of instrumental and compositional techniques more commonly associated with jazz, folk, or classical music, while retaining the instrumentation typical of rock music. Additional elements contributed to its " progressive" label: lyrics were more poetic, technology was harnessed for new sounds, music approached the condition of " art", and the studio, rather than the stage, became the focus of musical activity, which often involved creating music for listening rather than dancing. Progressive rock includes a fusion of styles, approaches and genres, and tends to be diverse and eclectic. Progressive rock is often associated with long solos, exte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Barclay James Harvest
Barclay James Harvest are an English progressive rock band, which following a split in 1998 now exists as two successor bands. They were founded in Oldham, in September 1966 by bassist/vocalist Les Holroyd (born 1948), guitarist/vocalist John Lees (born 1947), drummer/percussionist Mel Pritchard (1948–2004), and keyboardist/vocalist Stuart "Woolly" Wolstenholme (1947–2010). History After signing with EMI's Parlophone label in the UK for one single in early 1968 (entitled "Early Morning / Mr. Sunshine"), they moved to the more progressively inclined Harvest label. The name of the band, according to The International Barclay James Harvest Fan Club, signifies nothing specifically. Having exhausted other possibilities, each of the band members wrote single words on pieces of paper which were drawn out of a hat one by one. All were rejected until only three were left: James, a man who used to sing with the band, Harvest because they were living in a farmhouse, and Barclay after ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Harper (singer)
Roy Harper (born 12 June 1941) is an English folk rock singer, songwriter, poetAllan Jones (editor), Jones, Allan.Roy Harper: “I was an absolute rebel… I once painted the local town hall with swastikas and hammers and sickles”. ''Uncut (magazine), Uncut'', 30 September 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2025 and guitarist. He has released 22 studio albums (and 10 live ones) across a career that stretches back to 1966. As a musician, Harper is known for his distinctive Fingerstyle guitar, fingerstyle playing and lengthy, lyrical, complex compositions, reflecting his love of jazz and the poet John Keats. Harper's influence has been acknowledged by Led Zeppelin, Pete Townshend, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd, and Ian Anderson, of Jethro Tull (band), Jethro Tull, who said Harper was his "primary influence as an acoustic guitarist and songwriter." Neil McCormick of ''The Daily Telegraph'' described him as "one of Britain's most complex and eloquent lyricists and genuinely original songwriters... m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Flat Baroque And Berserk
''Flat Baroque and Berserk'' is the fourth studio album by the English folk musician Roy Harper. It was released in January 1970 through Harvest Records. History ''Flat Baroque and Berserk'' was the first of Roy Harper's recordings to enter the charts, reaching number 20 in the UK album chart in January 1970. Produced by Peter Jenner and recorded at Abbey Road Studios, it was also the first of eight albums recorded for EMI's Harvest label. Harper has said of the album, "for the first time in my recording career, proper care and attention was paid to the presentation of the song." The album contains some of Harper's best-known songs. "I Hate the White Man", in particular, is noted for its uncompromising lyrics, and Allmusic described the song as Harper himself described the song as Following the murder of George Floyd by police officer Derek Chauvin in May 2020, Harper wrote a blog post breaking down the inspiration for "I Hate the White Man" and why he believes the song rema ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pretty Things
Pretty Things were an English Rock music, rock band formed in September 1963 in Sidcup, Kent, taking their name from Bo Diddley's 1955 song "Pretty Thing", and active in their first incarnation until 1971. They released five studio albums, including the debut ''The Pretty Things (album), The Pretty Things'' (UK Albums Chart #6) and ''S. F. Sorrow'' (the first rock opera), four Extended Plays, EPs and 15 UK singles, including the Top 20 UK Singles Chart "Don't Bring Me Down (Pretty Things song), Don't Bring Me Down" and "Honey I Need". They reformed later in 1971 and continued through to 1976 issuing three more studio albums, and reformed once again from 1979 to 2020 releasing another five studio albums, the last of which was ''Bare as Bone, Bright as Blood''. The group were formed by vocalist Phil May (singer), Phil May, who was an ever-present until his death in 2020, and guitarist Dick Taylor – who left before the end of their first incarnation but rejoined for the entire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parachute (Pretty Things Album)
''Parachute'' is the fifth album, studio album by the English rock band Pretty Things, released in 1970. It is their first album without guitarist Dick Taylor. Reviews at the time of release were very positive, with ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' calling it "another top-flight album" for the band. In 1975, ''Rolling Stone'' critic Steve Turner (writer), Steve Turner wrote that it had been "a ''Rolling Stone'' 'album of the year'," though in fact ''Parachute'' did not place among the magazine's Albums of the Year for 1970 or 1971, and indeed was not mentioned in ''Rolling Stone'' until Stephen Holden called it an "obscure underground classic" in his review of ''Freeway Madness''. The band's lineup at this point was Phil May (singer), Phil May, Wally Waller, John Povey, Vic Unitt, and Skip Alan. In 1975, the record was packaged as a double LP with their previous album ''S.F. Sorrow'' titled ''S.F. Sorrow and Parachute'' and issued on the UK label Harvest on the Harvest Heri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wally Waller
Alan "Wally" Waller or Wally Allen (born 9 April 1944) is an English bassist and producer. He was a member of Pretty Things on their most famous records, '' S.F. Sorrow'' and ''Parachute''. Biography Wally Waller was born Alan Edward Waller in Barnehurst and grew up in neighbouring Bexley, then in Kent. In the early 1960s, Wally Waller played the rhythm guitar in Bern Elliott and the Fenmen, a five-piece beat and rhythm and blues band. They had a Top 20 hit with their cover of "Money (That's What I Want)" in December 1963. When lead singer Bern Elliott left the band, early in 1964, the other four continued as The Fenmen, releasing a few singles with strong vocal harmonies, such as their cover of "California Dreamin'" in 1966. Their last single, "Rejected", featured one of the first songs penned by Waller as an A-side. In the early months of 1967, Wally Waller joined Pretty Things as a bass player, replacing John Stax. At the same time, Jon Povey, the Fenmen's drummer, became t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phil May (singer)
Philip Dennis Arthur May (born Wadey, later Kattner; 9 November 1944 – 15 May 2020) was an English vocalist. He gained fame in the 1960s as the lead singer of Pretty Things, of which he was a founding member. May remained a member throughout the band's changing line-up over the years, and was one of the band's main lyricists. He was the primary lyricist for the album '' S.F. Sorrow''. Biography Early life Born Philip Wadey in Dartford, Kent, he was raised by his aunt and uncle, whose surname was May. In childhood, he was sent back to live with his mother and stepfather, whose surname was Kattner, but later decided to change his name to May. The Pretty Things He formed the Pretty Things at Sidcup Art College in 1963 with guitarist Dick Taylor, who had recently left the fledgling Rolling Stones. With May as lead singer, the band became part of the British blues rock scene and quickly gained a recording contract. They became popular and had a number of hit singles includ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Love, Death And The Lady
''Love, Death and the Lady'' is an album by Shirley Collins, Shirley and Dolly Collins. This is a companion-piece to ''Anthems In Eden'' (1969), but with a darker tone to it. She attributes the 'melancholy' mood of the album to her own personal loneliness at that time. Many of the instrumentalists of ''Anthems In Eden'' are present ('Musica Reservata'), but they contributed sparser accompaniments. The figure of Death appears as a character in the title track. "The Oxford Girl", sung unaccompanied, is about an apparently motiveless murder of a woman by her erstwhile lover. The long instrumental sections which were such a feature of ''Anthems In Eden'', are absent, apart from the start and end of "Plains of Waterloo". The male chorus is present on only one track, "The Bold Fisherman". The thematic unity of the album centres on murder, class conflict and betrayal. "The Outlandish Knight" concerns a serial killer. The album was produced by Austin John Marshall, Shirley's husband at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dolly Collins
Dorothy Ann Collins (6 March 1933 – 22 September 1995), was an English folk musician, arranger and composer. She was the older sister of Shirley Collins. Born in Hastings, Sussex (now East Sussex), she grew up in an artistic, socialist, folk singing family. She learned the piano at school, and then studied with composer Alan Bush while taking odd jobs in London, including working as a bus conductor. In the mid-1960s she began working with her sister Shirley, who was establishing a reputation as a leading folk singer. She arranged some of Shirley's songs and, on the album ''Sweet Primeroses'', accompanied her on portative organ. Further work with Shirley followed: Shirley said ''"You could launch yourself off on a Dolly arrangement."'' In 1968 they produced the album '' Anthems in Eden'', commissioned by BBC Radio and written for a six-piece early music consort directed by David Munrow, and regularly toured together. Dolly also worked as a musician and arranger with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shirley Collins
Shirley Elizabeth Collins MBE (born 5 July 1935) is an English folk singer who was a significant contributor to the British Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for Shirley's plain, austere singing style. Biography Early life Shirley Collins was born in Hastings, East Sussex, England on 5 July 1935. Her father left the family when she was about twelve or thirteen, and her Uncle Fred, who was an author, largely took his place. She grew up, with her older sister Dolly, in the area, in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career. On leaving school, at the age of 17, Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. In London she also involved herself i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pete Brown
Peter Ronald Brown (25 December 1940 – 19 May 2023) was an English performance poet, lyricist, and singer best known for his collaborations with Cream and Jack Bruce.Colin Larkin, ''Virgin Encyclopedia of Sixties Music'' (Muze UK Ltd, 1997), , p. 80. Brown formed the bands Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments and Pete Brown & Piblokto! and worked with Graham Bond and Phil Ryan. Brown also wrote film scripts and formed a film production company. Early life, poetry and music Brown was born in Ashtead, Surrey, England. Before his involvement with music, he was a poet, having his first poem published in the U.S. magazine '' Evergreen Review'' when he was 14 years old. Brown became part of the poetry scene in Liverpool during the 1960s, and in 1964 was the first poet to perform at Morden Tower in Newcastle. He became a significant advocate of British Beat Poetry, and in partnership with Michael Horovitz wrote poetry which they recited together as part of the 1965 event at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
