Amazing Blondel

Gli Amazing Blondel sono un gruppo musicale inglese formato da Eddie Baird, John Gladwin e Terry Wincott. La loro musica è stata definita a volte come psych folk, ma in effetti può meglio definirsi progressive folk, inteso come una reinvenzione della musica rinascimentale basata sull'uso di strumenti di quel periodo come il liuto e il flauto dolce.

La storia

John Gladwin e Terry Wincott suonavano entrambi in una band molto "elettrica" chiamata Methuselah. A un certo punto nei loro concerti i due si producevano in un duetto acustico che riscuoteva un grande successo presso il pubblico: questo gli permise di portare alla luce la particolarità della loro musica. Così nel 1969 lasciarono i Methuselah e cominciarono a lavorare sul loro materiale acustico. Inizialmente questo materiale derivava dalla musica folk, in linea con molti degli altri gruppi di quel tempo. Tuttavia, cominciarono a sviluppare un personale idioma musicale, influenzato da una parte dai primi revivalisti come David Munrow, e dall'altro dai loro ricordi di infanzia legati alla serie TV Robin Hood, con la colonna sonora pseudo medievale di Elton Hayes.

Il gruppo si volle chiamare all'inizio Blondel da Blondel de Nesle, menestrello, poeta e musicista vissuto in Francia attorno al XIII secolo, che la leggenda colloca alla corte di Riccardo I d'Inghilterra. Secondo la leggenda, quando Riccardo I fu fatto prigioniero, Blondel viaggiò per tutta l'Europa centrale, cantando a ogni castello per localizzare il re e aiutarlo a fuggire. Questo nome per il gruppo fu suggerito da uno chef chiamato Eugene McCoy, che ascoltò alcune delle loro canzoni e commentò: «Oh, molto Blondel!», e così cominciarono a usare quel nome. Successivamente fu consigliato loro di aggiungere un aggettivo (in linea, per esempio, con The Incredible String Band) e così divennero gli Amazing Blondel. Il loro primo album, The Amazing Blondel, fu registrato nel 1969 per l'etichetta Bell Records, ma non ebbe un gran successo. L'anno dopo furono presentati da alcuni membri dei Free a Chris Blackwell della Island. Blackwell li mise sotto contratto per la sua etichetta, per la quale registrarono i loro tre più importanti album: Evensong, Fantasia Lindum e England.

Cominciarono quindi a girare in tournée, sia con propri concerti sia come gruppo di spalla per formazioni come Genesis, Procol Harum e Steeleye Span. Sul palcoscenico, puntarono sulla precisione tecnica della musica e sulla versatilità di strumentazione (molti concerti comportarono l'uso di circa quaranta strumenti). Tuttavia sorse un conflitto tra i desideri dei loro manager, che premevano per organizzare sempre più tour, e quelli del gruppo, che invece voleva passare più tempo a produrre nuovo materiale e in studio di registrazione. Alla fine, questa situazione portò nel 1973 alla partenza di John Gladwin (che aveva scritto la maggior parte del loro materiale). I rimanenti due membri del gruppo decisero di continuare come duo, accorciando il loro nome in "Blondel". Con questa nuova formazione, continuarono a registrare molti album con un gran numero di musicisti ospiti, tra cui Steve Winwood e Paul Kossoff. Dalla fine degli anni settanta, il punk diventò il genere musicale predominante e il folk perse popolarità: Baird e Wincott smisero di suonare sotto il nome di Blondel. Il gruppo originale si riformò nel 1997 e produsse un nuovo album, Restoration. Da allora, hanno cominciato a esibirsi in tutta Europa. Nel 2005, Terry Wincott ha subìto con successo un'operazione per l'applicazione di un bypass cardiaco, che ha rimesso in discussione i piani del gruppo per i concerti futuri.

Membri del gruppo

John David Gladwin ed Edward Baird sono nati e cresciuti a Scunthorpe, nel Lincolnshire. Terence Alan Wincott è nato nell'Hampshire ma si trasferì giovanissimo a Scunthorpe. I membri del gruppo sono tutti versatili musicisti: Gladwin canta e suona chitarra a dodici corde, liuto, contrabbasso, tiorba, cetra, tamburello e campane tubolari. Wincott canta e suona chitarra acustica, armonium, flauto, ocarina, congas, cromorno, organo, tamburello, clavicembalo, pianoforte, mellotron, bongos e percussioni varie. Baird canta e suona liuto, glockenspiel, cittern, dulcimer, chitarra a dodici corde e percussioni.

Stile musicale

I Methuselah, gruppo di hard rock tendente al rock progressivo e al folk, si inquadrano in un periodo della musica inglese in cui fioriva un’attenzione verso sonorità rinascimentali, di cui è testimonianza Lady Jane dei Rolling Stones. In seguito i Methuselah si trasformarono in Blondel e successivamente in Amazing Blondel, producendo un album rock con influssi blues ed elementi di psichedelia. Il successivo LP Evensong del 1970 segnò la svolta attraverso la quale gli Amazing Blondel esplorarono sensibilità musicali che richiamavano ballate e madrigali medievali, eseguiti con l’ausilio di una strumentazione acustica che rievocava le atmosfere di quel tempo. Per questo i musicisti della formazione familiarizzarono con strumenti del periodo medievale ed elisabettiano: liuto, oboe, cittern, contrabbasso, organo a canne, armonium, flauti dolci, cromorno, chitarra, ocarina, percussioni. Nel successivo Fantasia Lindum si aggiunsero la cornamusa, il dulcimer, la ghironda e il clavicembalo, anche se quest’album è più prossimo al rock progressivo che al folk rock Dall’album seguente in poi, gli Amazing Blondel abbandonarono le atmosfere rinascimentali per spostarsi verso sonorità più dure non lontane da quelle degli Steeleye Span.

Gli strumenti

Gli Amazing Blondel utilizzarono un gran numero di strumenti, ma fondamentali per il loro sound erano il liuto e i flauti. Quando si esibivano in tournée, il liuto risultò essere uno strumento piuttosto difficile da usare sul palcoscenico, in termini di amplificazione e accordatura. Così nel 1971 commissionarono la costruzione di due chitarre a sette corde, che potevano essere suonate con l'accordatura dei liuti. Il disegno e la costruzione di questi strumenti furono realizzati da David Rubio che fabbricava chitarre classiche, liuti e altri strumenti per musicisti classici, come Julian Bream e John Williams. Lo strumento di Gladwin fu progettato per avere un suono leggermente più basso, per essere usato come strumento di accompagnamento, mentre quello di Baird fu realizzato ponendo maggior enfasi sui suoni alti, come strumento predominante. L'uso dei due strumenti ebbe un grande successo, tanto come solisti quanto in duo^{[non chiaro]}. Le chitarre furono provviste di microfoni interni per semplificarne l'amplificazione.

Discografia

Album studio

Title	Year	Label	Line-up
The Amazing Blondel (aka The Amazing Blondel and a Few Faces)	1970	Bell Records	John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
Evensong	1970	Island Records	Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
Fantasia Lindum	1971	Island Records
England	1972	Island Records
Blondel	1973	Island Records	Eddie Baird, Terry Wincott
Mulgrave Street	1974	DJM Records
Inspiration	1975	DJM Records
Bad Dreams	1976	DJM Records
Restoration	1997	HTD Records	Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
The Amazing Elsie Emerald	2010	Talking Elephant	Eddie Baird, Terry Wincott

Altre produzioni

Live in Tokyo (1977) (actually this live album was recorded in Europe)
Englishe Musicke (compilation), Edsel Records, (1993)
Amazing Blondel & a Few Faces (riedizione su CD del primo album: The Amazing Blondel del 1970), Edsel Records, (1995)
A Foreign Field That Is Forever England:Live Abroad (live, 1972–1973) HTD Records (1996)
Evensong/Fantasia Lindum, Beat Goes On 626 (2004)
Going Where The Music Takes Me (Live & Studio Archive recordings From The 60's To the 80's) (2-CD-Box + DVD), Shakedown Records (2004)(Compilation with 38 unreleased songs; no Amazing Blondel recordings but songs by the individual members)
Harvest of gold - The English Folk Almanach (Live sampler including recordings from Steeleye Span; Fairport Convention and Magna Carta as well as five live recordings by Amazing Blondel from the early 1970s which are otherwise unreleased)

Formazione originale degli Amazing Blondel: Gladwin, Baird e Wincott

The Amazing Blondel, Bell Records, (1970)
Evensong, Island Records, (1970)
Fantasia Lindum, Island Records, (1971)
England, Island Records, (1972)
Englishe Musicke (compilation), Edsel Records, (1993)
A Foreign Field That Is Forever England (dal vivo, 1972–1973) HTD Records (1996)
Restoration, HTD Records, (1997)
Evensong/Fantasia Lindum, Beat Goes On 626 (2004)
Going Where The Music Takes Me (Registrazioni dal vivo e in studio dagli anni 60 agli anni 80) (2-CD-Box + DVD), Shakedown Records (2004)(Compilation con 38 brani inediti dei singoli membri)
Harvest of gold - The English Folk Almanac (Live sampler con registrazioni degli Steeleye Span, Lindisfarne e Magna Carta e cinque registrazioni inedite dal vivo degli Amazing Blondel dei primi anni 70).

Blondel: Baird, Wincott e altri musicisti

Blondel, Island Records, (1973)
Mulgrave Street, DJM Records, (1974)
Inspiration, DJM Records, (1975)
Bad Dreams, DJM Records, (1976)
Live in Tokyo (1977) (pare in realtà che la registrazione si riferisca ad un concerto tenuto in Europa).

Amazing Blondel are an English acoustic progressive folk band, containing Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, and Terry Wincott. They released a number of LPs for Island Records in the early 1970s. They are sometimes categorised as psychedelic folk or as medieval folk rock, but their music was much more a reinvention of Renaissance music, based around the use of period instruments such as lutes and recorders.

History

John Gladwin (guitar and vocals) and Terrance (Terry) Wincott (guitar and vocals) formed a band called The Dimples along with Stuart Smith (drums) and Johnny Jackson (bass guitar). Signed to the Decca label they recorded a single, the "A" side "Love of a Lifetime" and the "B" side written by John Gladwin titled "My Heart is Tied to You". The record did not chart, although more recently the B-side has become popular on the Northern soul scene.^{[citation needed]}

Following the break up of The Dimples John and Terry formed a loud "electric" band called Methuselah. However, at some point in Methuselah concerts, the duo would play an acoustic number together: they found that this went down well with the audiences and allowed them to bring out more of the subtlety of their singing and instrumental work. They left Methuselah in 1969 and began working on their own acoustic material.

Initially their material was derived from folk music, in line with many of the other performers of the time. However, they began to develop their own musical idiom, influenced, at one extreme, by the early music revivalists such as David Munrow, and the other extreme, by their childhood memories of the Robin Hood TV series, with its pseudo-mediaeval soundtrack by Elton Hayes.

The band was named after Blondel de Nesle, the musician in the court of Richard I. According to legend, when Richard was held prisoner, Blondel travelled through central Europe, singing at every castle to locate the King and assist his escape. This name for the band was suggested by a chef, Eugene McCoy, who listened to some of their songs and commented: "Oh, very Blondel!" and they began to use that name. They were then advised to add an adjective (in line, for example, with The Incredible String Band) and so they became "Amazing Blondel".

Their first album The Amazing Blondel (also called "Amazing Blondel and a Few Faces,") was recorded in 1969 and released by Bell Records. It was directed by session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan. At about this time, Eddie Baird (who had known the other members at school) joined the band. On 19 September 1970 they were one of the bands to play at the first Glastonbury Festival. Following what Baird described as "a disastrous 'showbiz' record signing",^{[citation needed]} Amazing Blondel were introduced, by members of the band Free, to Chris Blackwell of Island Records and Artists. Blackwell signed them up to Island, for whom they recorded their albums Evensong, Fantasia Lindum and England.

In Baird's words (in a 2003 interview) the band "adored recording". They recorded the Island albums in the company's Basing Street Studios which, at that time, was the source of some of the most innovative independent music in Britain.

They toured widely, both in their own concerts and as a support act for bands such as Genesis, Procol Harum and Steeleye Span. On stage, they aimed at technical precision of the music and versatility of instrumentation (with most concerts involving the use of some forty instruments) interspersed with banter and bawdy humour. However, there was a conflict between their managers' desires to organise ever more demanding tour schedules and the band's own wish to spend more time writing material and working in the studio. In the end, this led to the departure of John Gladwin (who had written most of their material) from the band in 1973, and the remaining two members decided to continue as a duo. In this new format, they went on to record several more albums, with Baird now writing the bulk of the material. The first of these, Blondel, was their final release for Island. They were next signed to Dick James' DJM label, where they recorded three albums, Mulgrave Street, Inspiration and Bad Dreams. They gradually modernised and electrified their sound. These albums featured a number of guest musicians, including Steve Winwood and Paul Kossoff. There is a mistaken belief that, during this period, they shortened the band name to Blondel. This is probably caused by the title of the final Island album, and the front cover of Mulgrave Street, which gives the short version of the name. But the full name is given on the back and on the front of the next two albums. The final release in the 1970s was a live album.

By the end of the 1970s, with disco being the largest selling music genre and with folk losing popularity, Baird and Wincott stopped performing under the Amazing Blondel name. John Gladwin reinherited the name and began to tour universities with bandmates, and former session players for the original Amazing Blondel; Adrian Hopkins and Paul Empson. This line-up had originally been billed as "John David Gladwin's Englishe Musicke".

The original band reformed in 1997 and produced a new album Restoration. They have since played at venues across Europe in the period 1997–2000. As of 2005, Terry Wincott had a successful heart bypass operation, which curtailed the band's plans for future concerts.

In 2005, Eddie Baird played two concerts in a duo with acoustic guitarist and singer songwriter Julie Ellison and is currently working on a collaboration with Darryl Ebbatson, called "Ebbatson Baird".

Band membership

John David Gladwin and Edward Baird were born and brought up in Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire: Terence Alan Wincott was born in Hampshire but moved to Scunthorpe at an early age.

The members of the band were all accomplished musicians. Gladwin sang and played twelve-string guitar, lute, double bass, theorbo, cittern, tabor and tubular bells. Wincott sang and played 6 string guitar, harmonium, recorders, flute, ocarina, congas, crumhorn, pipe organ, tabor, harpsichord, piano, mellotron, bongos and assorted percussion. Baird sang and played lute, glockenspiel, cittern, dulcimer, twelve string guitar and percussion.

Style of music

The style of their music is difficult to categorise. Most of it was composed by themselves, but was based on the form and structure of Renaissance music, featuring, for example, pavanes, galliards and madrigals. It is sometimes categorised as psychedelic folk but would probably have been disowned by both the psychedelic community and the folk community, whilst being instantly recognisable to students of early music. Terry Wincott described it as "pseudo-Elizabethan/Classical acoustic music sung with British accents". Eddie Baird is quoted as saying "People used to ask us, How would you describe your music? Well, there was no point asking us, we didn't have a clue."^{[citation needed]}

Their music has been compared with that of Gryphon and Pentangle: however, Amazing Blondel did not embrace the rock influences of the former nor the folk and jazz influences of the latter. They have also been likened to Jethro Tull.

Instruments

The band employed a wide range of instruments (see above) but, central to their sound was their use of the lute and recorders.

When touring, the lutes proved to be quite difficult instruments for stage performance (in terms of amplification and tuning) and, in 1971, the band commissioned the construction of two 7-string guitars, which could be played in lute tuning. The design and construction of these instruments was undertaken by David Rubio who made classical guitars, lutes, and other early instruments for classical players, including Julian Bream and John Williams.

Gladwin's instrument was designed to have slightly more of a bass sound, as it was used mainly as an accompaniment instrument, whereas Baird's had a little bit more treble emphasis, to allow his melodic playing in the higher register to predominate. The two instruments were individually successful and also blended well together. They also proved to be stable (from a tuning point of view) for stage performance. The guitars were fitted with internal microphones to simplify amplification.

Discography

Studio albums

Title	Year	Label	Line-up
The Amazing Blondel (aka The Amazing Blondel and a Few Faces)	1970	Bell Records	John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
Evensong	1970	Island Records	Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
Fantasia Lindum	1971	Island Records
England	1972	Island Records
Blondel	1973	Island Records	Eddie Baird, Terry Wincott
Mulgrave Street	1974	DJM Records
Inspiration	1975	DJM Records
Bad Dreams	1976	DJM Records
Restoration	1997	HTD Records	Eddie Baird, John Gladwin, Terry Wincott
The Amazing Elsie Emerald	2010	Talking Elephant	Eddie Baird, Terry Wincott

Other releases

Live in Tokyo (1977) (actually this live album was recorded in Europe)
Englishe Musicke (compilation), Edsel Records, (1993)
A Foreign Field That Is Forever England (recorded live, 1972–1973) HTD Records (1996)
Evensong/Fantasia Lindum, Beat Goes On 626 (2004)
Going Where The Music Takes Me (Live & Studio Archive recordings From The 60's To the 80's) (2-CD-Box + DVD), Shakedown Records (2004)(Compilation with 38 unreleased songs; no Amazing Blondel recordings but songs by the individual members)
Harvest of gold - The English Folk Almanach (Live sampler including recordings from Steeleye Span; Fairport Convention and Magna Carta as well as five live recordings by Amazing Blondel from the early 1970s which are otherwise unreleased)

References

Colin Larkin, ed. (1997). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Concise ed.). Virgin Books. p. 36. ISBN 1-85227-745-9.
"Glastonbury Festival - 1970". Glastonburyfestivals.co.uk.
"Glastonbury festival: the worst acts ever". The Daily Telegraph.

Gladwin, John (11 April 2003). "The Rubio Seven String Classical Guitar". Amazing Blondel. Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 5 August 2012.