Morning Way [CD]

For years I had thought this group a myth. I could find no information in music encyclopedias, or on Judy Dyble on the internet. I had only known that she had gone on, after singing on the first Fairport Convention album, to record for a band called Trader Horne and then the Coxhills. To say that it has been worth the wait would be a sad understatement of how immersed I became in the mood of the album even after the first song.
So many are the moments of magic on this album. It's main theme is simple, the journey into adulthood. The opening song, "Jenny May" sets the whole scene of the album nicely. It is a child's invocation to a friend to come out and play, to step into a special world of make-believe. Such is the world the listener immediately becomes immersed in.
The music, much of it accoustic and accompanied by harpsichord, is gorgeous and is a perfect partner to the range of lyrical imagery from flying witches to mermaids. These are songs about what you used to imagine (I did at least) in your woods when you played in them on sunny afternoons. To borrow from the sleeve notes, these are songs to find in your cupboards and under your pillows. They are snatches of memories past that sometimes find their way into the present and offer unique glimpses into today.
I think the defining moment of Morning Way is "Mixed Up Kind", another song about passing into adulthood. The first verse totally knocked me out. Other hight points are the instrumental, "Three Rings For Elvin Kings" and "Children of Oare". Special mention goes to the title song, one of the three contemporary songs, along with "Sheena" and "Down and Out Blues" that grace the album. This song completes the journey into adulthood, with the narrator recounciling his or herself to the loss of all their friends over the years. It should have been the last song, but the album closes with "Luke That Never Was", a song about departure.
There are two bonus tracks here. Of the two, I like "Here Comes The Rain" best. This could have bookended the first Fairport alubm nicely. You'd swear the same musicians play on both.
Don't be fooled by the inclusion of that one blues song. This is an album as indispensable as air. Much gratitude should go to whomever was responsible for reissuing Morning Way, because too many years have gone by without anyone even having the slightest clue about its existence. Listen to this album and let yourself get transported back to timelessness.

When Judy Dyble left Fairport Convention way back in the 1960s, many distraught music fans kept an eagle eye out in the music press to see to what she would turn her hand next. She was clearly wondering herself as on 1 June 1968 she put a "Musician Wanted" ad in Melody Maker. When Peter Giles responded by telephone, the call was answered by boyfriend Ian McDonald. This led to both of them working with Giles, Giles and Fripp, the ensemble which was to mutate into King Crimson. But a month later Judy and Ian's relationship was over and she left once more.

Jackie McAuley had been organist and guitarist with Them during their rumbustious Angry Young Them period, and when Van Morrison had split the band some of them including Jackie and his drummer brother Pat had kept going, attracting the attention of Los Angeles producer Kim Fowley. He christened them the Belfast Gypsies and recorded with them a spirited rewrite of Gloria called Gloria's Dream, as well as the psych beat track People! Let's Freak Out which they released under the pseudonym the Freaks Of Nature. Then Jackie had briefly formed a band with Paul Brady in Dublin, called Cult, and travelled across Europe and Morocco, each widening his musical horizons.

This disparate duo forged an unlikely alliance in 1969 when they formed Trader Horne (the name of John Peel's nanny, apparently) and made some live performances. I was lucky enough to see them at Mother's Club in Birmingham.

A single was released called Sheena, with a Judy Dyble song on the flipside, Morning Way, which became the title track of this, their only album. It was quite unlike anything either had done before, ethereal and whimsical and imbued with childlike wonder, with Tolkeinesque lyrics that tell of the Children Of Oare and of Three Rings For Eleven Kings, and a soundscape fleshed out with flutes, harpsichords, auto-harps and celeste.

Assisting on the album are Ray Elliott, an ally from Them, on alto flute and bass clarinet, bass-guitarist John Godfrey who arranged much of the album, and from Twice As Much's band, Andy White on drums.

Most of the songs were written by Jackie McAuley, whose original intention had been to write a children's album, but Judy Dyble contributes both Morning Way and the beautiful Velvet To Atone, which she wrote with Martin Quittenton from Steamhammer. There is also a version of Bessie Smith's Nobody Knows You When You're Down And Out (here titled Down And Out Blues), and all the tracks are knitted together with a recurring instrumental motif. Another single followed the album: Here Comes The Rain backed with Goodbye Mercy Kelly, and these are both included on this re-issue.

Trader Horne were due to be launched at a festival set up specifically for the purpose, the Hollywood Music Festival in Newcastle-under-Lyme, where I first experienced the Grateful Dead. Typically, though, Judy had broken up the band (in what she called a "tantrum") shortly before and went off to get married to Simon Stable. The festival launched Mungo Jerry instead.

She also toured the Netherlands with DC and the MBs (Judy Dyble, Lol Coxhill and Phil & Steve Miller) before settling down as a librarian. Trader Horne continued briefly with Saffron Summerfield, before Jackie McAuley embarked on a solo career.

It is hard to imagine an album like this being made today, though at the time it could have sat in your album rack alongside Donovan, Trees, Vashti Bunyan or Keith Relf's Renaissance. The song Morning Way was included on a retrospective anthology called Paisley Pop, an umbrella title for a genre unrecognised at the time. I'm told it now fits into the new genre of Weird Folk. Listen to this album and time travel to an unrecognisable world

In 1969 I was teaching high school in San Francisco. On my walk from the school to my apartment I usually dropped in at a used record store at the corner of Polk and Post. The owners knew me and one day in October, one of them asked me what i thought of the LP they were playing. To be honest, i had not been paying much attention,so i decided to give it a serious listen. I liked what I heard so i asked to see the sleeve. Like many folks i had been looking for material performed by Judy Dyble, the first female vocalist with Fairport Convention. Seeing her name listed prominently, i purchased the LP for $2.00 and took it home to give it a full listening. Forty two years later, this is still one of my all time favorite albums. Almost every song on the album sounds like the sort of music you might expect the Sidhe to dance to on Beltane. I know that sounds a bit pretentious and twee, but, seriously I have never heard any other music quite like this. Every song on the album is beautiful and special, but some of them will wrap threads around your heart that will never break. My personal favorites are The Mixed up Kind, Morning Way and Luke that Never Was. As other reviewers have indicated, these songs along with the opening number, Jenny Mae, describe the arc of life from childhood to maturity and possibly passing on. I have never played this LP for anyone without having them really like, or even love it. I am by inclination a hard rock and blues fan, but this is the only "folk" album that has always been in my top 10. The irony is, that although this is classified as folk, it is much more because of the synergy between the ethereal voice of Dyble, and McAuley's Irish rock influences. The shame of it is, few people have heard of this and fewer still have actually heard it. This should be considered one of the top LPs of all time, but it sits like a jewel, collecting dust and legends. One final note, some reviewers say this album was released in 1970, but I know i got my copy in the fall of 1969 and it was released by Janus records in the US, rather than Dawn.