Brilliant Lost Treasures & New discoveries!!

Post by **jamestkirk** » Thu Jan 12, 2012 7:51 pm

You'll want his albums (d/ls below), Bally!

MICK SOFTLEY...new to me!!! Brilliant and a must have British folk/psych legend!!

TIME MACHINE!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS_uGBILlME

Michael 'Mick' Softley (born 1941, in South Woodford, Essex) is a British singer/songwriter and guitarist. A figurehead during the British folk scene, Softley set up his own folk club, released three albums and has been known to work with Mac MacLeod , Donovan Leitch and Maddy Prior. Donovan even covered two of Softley's songs (Goldwatch Blues & The War Drags On) on his early albums.Born to Irish parents from County Cork, Softley first took up trombone in school and became interested in traditional jazz. He was later persuaded to become a singer by one of his school teachers, and this led to him listening to Big Bill Broonzy and promptly changed his attitude to music, to the extent of him buying a mail-order guitar and some tutorial books and teaching himself to play. By 1959, Mick Softley had left his job and home and spent time travelling around Europe on his motorbike. Ending up in Paris, he came into the company of musicians such as Clive Palmer, Ramblin' Jack Elliott and Wizz Jones. Here he improved his guitar skills and spent time busking with friends until his return to England in the early 1960s. Setting up a folk club at The Spinning Wheel in Hemel Hempstead, he became well respected amongst his peers due to the truly bohemian nature of his life during the previous six years.

Songs for Swinging Survivors

His folk club was shut down by the police after only a year, however, for "various reasons", and Softley began singing in The Cock, a pub in St Albans, where he met a young Donovan Leitch, singing together on many occasions (He later cited Softley as a "major influence"). Donovan was soon snapped up by a record label and shot to stardom, but this enabled him to bring Softley to the attention of producers and record companies. He then worked with Peter Eden and Geoff Stephens, and his debut album Songs For Swinging Survivors , which was a purely folk record. The album featured only Softley and his acoustic guitar, and includes the songs The War Drags On, (Covered by Donovan on his 'Universal Soldier' EP), and Softley's own interpretations of Billie Holiday's 'Strange Fruit', and Woody Guthrie's 'The Plains of the Buffalo'. Softley does not look back on this time favourably claiming during production he had gone "through a lot of hells and no heavens, a terrifying amount of personal pain" to the extent that he quit the music business for over four years. During this time, he returned to life on the road until late 1967. Due to contractual issues he never received any royalties in the later years.

Sunrise/ Street Singer

After his absence, Softley returned with an electric group Soft Cloud, Loud Earth the group was soon trimmed down to a duo consisting of Softley and Mac MacLeod called Soft Cloud. They only performed a few times before they split up and Softley went on to pursue a solo career. Meeting Donovan again, he was persuaded to record for a second time. This time Terry Cox was on board for production and Softley claimed that "everybody all along the line was really good. Totally different to what I'd been through five years before - No-one was trying to make a fast penny out of me, and they were prepared to let me do everything exactly how I wanted to". Softley recorded three albums during this period, which have a very different tone from the first album, notably due to the variety of instruments and styles showcased on these albums, from upbeat rock (Can You Hear me Now?) and folk (Goldwatch Blues) to eastern-inspired sitar pieces (Love Colours) and skiffle (Ragtime Mama).
[edit] Later years

Avoiding capitalising on the opportunity of stardom, Softley continued to travel and play for free, preferring to watch people enjoy his music than make money. He moved to County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland in 1984, eventually settling in Enniskillen where he still lives. He writes poetry and is a well recognised character in the town. He also performs occasionally at the Belfast Folk Festival.

LOVE/COLOURS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6T5MWg41Q8

Albums

* Songs For Swingin' Survivors (Released LP 1965 - ReReleased CD 2003)
* Sunrise (1970)
* Street Singer (1971)
* C'est la Fête à Malataverne (one song "time machine" record live in French folk festival) (Expression Spontanée 1971)
* Any Mother Doesn't Grumble (1972)
* Capital (1976)

After the War Is Over
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAOen4Qf ... re=related

The War Drags On
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pTGUq3jA ... re=related

D/L...
http://www.filestube.com/search.html?q= ... select=All

or
http://filetram.com/mick-softley

[8D]

What a find!! This is a real lost treasure for me!!!

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The d/l link for Mick Softley "Sunrise" LP is in the comments!

http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/20 ... -1970.html

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and for Any Mother Doesn't Grumble"...a never reissued solo acoustic album from Mick Softley!
(click on the blank space after "Here It:")

http://errny-progrockplazerna.blogspot. ... umble.html

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And Mick's last album (he is gravely ill in hospital I believe)

CAPITAL 1976
http://time-has-told-me.blogspot.com/20 ... ftley.html

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Post by **jamestkirk** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 10:55 pm

SARAH JAROSZ

Guitar mandolin/singer songwriter phenom at TWENTY!

Song Up In Her Head
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdM89_88 ... ure=relmfu

[U

Sarah Jarosz is a bluegrass multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter whose first CD, Song Up in Her Head, was released by Sugar Hill Records on June 16, 2009.[1] She was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of Best Country Instrumental Performance for the track "Mansinneedof" from that album.[2] Her second album, Follow Me Down, was released by Sugar Hill Records on May 17, 2011.

Jarosz was born in Austin, Texas on May 23, 1991, but was raised in Wimberley, Texas. She picked up the mandolin at age 10 and has been called "a songwriter of uncommon wisdom" by the Austin Chronicle.[3] Fourteen year old Sarah Jarosz emerged on the scene around 2005 as someone to watch. Jamming onstage with bluegrass icons David Grisman and Ricky Skaggs, she played her mandolin with a sure touch and real joy. It looked and sounded comfortable in her then twelve-year-old hands. She started writing songs on the guitar and took up the banjo. While her instrumental talents are formidable, "Sarah is a singer. She's just flat got it" -Tim O'Brien. She also plays clawhammer banjo and guitar and wrote all but two of the thirteen tracks on her album. Jarosz began attending the New England Conservatory of Music in the fall of 2009.[4]

Song Up In Her Head

During her senior year of high school, Sarah signed with Sugar Hill Records and released her debut album “Song Up In Her Head” on June 16, 2009. The project, produced by Gary Paczosa, features a mix of her new-old-timey ballads, and some rocking covers. Her collaborators include her teenaged peers and well-known veterans of the acoustic scene including Chris Thile, Darrell Scott, Stuart Duncan, and Jerry Douglas.

Sarah Jarosz has been interviewed by NPR, where she discussed her life, music, and influences. In 2009. Jarosz was interviewed by Rolling Stone magazine, who conveyed the interviewer's opinion that Jarosz' debut was "impressive," and compared her to Gillian Welch, saying that Jarosz could easily be mistaken for "Welch's long lost daughter." The interviewer goes on to refer to her as a contemporary-bluegrass prodigy, gives a high opinion of her performance on claw-hammer banjo alongside "dobro king Jerry Douglas," and was won over by two cover songs: Tom Waits' "Come On Up to the House" and The Decemberists' murder ballad "Shankill Butchers," which the interviewer felt was better than the original.

Follow Me Down

In the Summer of 2010, after Sarah's freshman year of college, she began recording her follow-up to "Song Up In Her Head" entitled "Follow Me Down". Like her first album, Jarosz co-produced Follow Me Down with Gary Paczosa (Alison Krauss, John Prine, Chris Thile). Only this time, they had a college course schedule coming in the fall and high profile gigs to work around. The album was recorded in Nashville with some of the acoustic world’s finest pickers and singers, including Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, Viktor Krauss, Dan Tyminski, Shawn Colvin and Darrell Scott, and in Boston with her talented young trio mates Alex Hargreaves and Nathaniel Smith. A very special session with Punch Brothers in New York produced one of the albums most surprising tracks, a beautiful cover of Radiohead's "The Tourist"

Jarosz’s growth can be felt throughout the resulting eleven tracks. The grooves are more adventurous, for starters on the first single “Come Around”. She comments, “I know for some purists out there, it’s like, ‘Why do you have to have drums?’ For me, it’s like, ‘Why not?’” And she has explored alternative ways of using her already-strong voice (see her Radiohead cover “The Tourist” and Radiohead-inspired original “My Muse”; Bob Dylan’s folk hymn “Ring Them Bells” is the album’s other cover). The album was released on May 17 to rave reviews, with USA Today giving the album 3 and half stars out of 4. The New York Times spoke about Sarah as “widely regarded as one of acoustic music’s most promising young talents: a singer-songwriter and mandolin and banjo prodigy with the taste and poise to strike that rare balance of commercial and critical success.” And American Songwriter wrote, “Follow Me Down is an invitation. Sarah Jarosz invites us along with her into a growing sonic space of collaboration and artistry at this the second step in what will surely be a long and productive musical journey.”

Run Away with Alison Krauss
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHcYiOsO ... re=related

Ring Them Bells...she covers Dylan quite well...even better than Dyan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juu18TmP ... re=related

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Post by **jamestkirk** » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:20 pm

Very Jazzy one by Sarah...

Come Around
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jhMQf6_a5Ms

Album version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FEzDo6CV ... re=related

Highly recommended all!!

Post by **jamestkirk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:00 pm

20...seriously?! You'll come around!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXzCdKtT ... re=related

Post by **jamestkirk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 11:02 pm

Annabelle Lee...live TransAtlantic sessions
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIEC9DSc ... re=related

Post by **jamestkirk** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:54 am

I seriously recommend these guys and that is a big deal for me to do that for a "NEW" band of Prog dudes!

AIRBAG....Norwegian NeoProg

"All Rights Removed"...from the album of the same name
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX0a0YWr3e0

Very Floyd influenced but very much their own sound.

"The five-piece band from Oslo Norway has been playing together in various constellations for years but Airbag in its present form was born in 2005. Airbag has managed to create their own unique sound with elements of classic rock, prog rock, chill and jazz. Their music is influenced by artist from a wide range of genres, from Pink Floyd, Porcupine Tree to Talk Talk, Radiohead and Marillion.

Airbag has managed to create a loyal fans base from all over the world using the internet and their homepage as their main channel to reach an audience. With 200.000 downloads on their website, 35.000 plays on MySpace and raving reviews from all over the world, Airbag is a force to be recogned with."
http://www.karismarecords.no/airbag.html

Post by **jamestkirk** » Thu Feb 23, 2012 7:33 pm

Gary Higgins-"Red Hash" 1973

As stoned mellow, and trippy as you would expect from an album so titled....a lost gem from 1971.

Windy Child
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKoTpE-m ... re=related

Free-folk enigma Gary Higgins entered the popular consciousness more than three decades after his music career ground to an abrupt halt when the reissue of his 1973 cult classic, Red Hash, became a cause célèbre in the summer of 2005. Born and raised in Sharon, CT, Higgins received his first guitar at age seven, later studying French horn. In his late teens, he found inspiration in the folk revival of the early '60s, and in the wake of the British Invasion, he and schoolmates Dave Beaujon, Jake Bell, Simeon Coxe, and Ronnie Bailey teamed up in mid-1965 to form a rock & roll outfit dubbed Random Concept. The group soon emerged as a prominent local draw, finding its footing as the house band at a club called the Rumpus Room, but Higgins was forced to resign to attend college. His academic career proved brief, however, and after one semester he returned to Sharon and resumed his bass duties with Random Concept. Soon after the group played its first New York City gig, eventually relocating to Greenwich Village. In time, Higgins, Beaujon, Bell, and keyboardist Terry Fenton grew homesick and returned to Connecticut while Coxe -- assuming the single-word moniker of Simeon -- remained in New York, later forming space rock pioneers the Silver Apples.

Despite remaining rooted in Connecticut, the reincarnated Random Concept continued playing New York, backing singers Gary "U.S." Bonds and Dee Dee Sharp and enjoying a lengthy club residency in Albany. Over time their music grew increasingly psychedelic, and in 1968 Random Concept were tapped as the house band at the Torrington, CT, club the Hukah. Higgins and Bell also moonlighted in a psych-folk group called Wooden Wheel with singer Paul Tierney and cellist Maureen Wells -- when Random Concept split in mid-1971, Wooden Wheel became their sole musical vehicle. But in October 1972 Higgins was arrested in a drug sting and sentenced to 13 months in prison for selling marijuana, and just days prior to entering jail he called on members of both Random Concept and Wooden Wheel to record an LP. Cut in the space of under 40 hours and released on the tiny Nufusmoon label in an edition of 3,000, Red Hash (a title selected without Higgins' consent) proved a dark yet beautiful song cycle of uncommon depth and urgency. Though well-received by those lucky enough to hear it, the record suffered from limited distribution, zero promotion, and the incarceration of its creator, and soon slipped through the cracks, remaining virtually unknown outside of collector circles.

Following his April 1974 prison release, Higgins attempted to enter mainstream society, taking jobs as a dishwater and waiter. He eventually married and had a son, and in 1982 went to work for the State of New York. He eventually returned to writing and recording, building a home studio and occasionally gigging with local bands, but music remained only a sideline, especially after he became a registered nurse in 1988. Higgins knew nothing about Red Hash's growing collectibility and cachet, however, even though by the late '90s original pressings were trading hands for as much as $200 on the Internet. A new generation of psych-folk devotees including Current 93's David Tibet sang its praises, and Ben Chasny even recorded a cover of Higgins' "Thicker Than a Smokey" on the Six Organs of Admittance album School of the Flower, in his liner notes seeking information on its writer's current whereabouts. In late 2004, the Drag City label finally located Higgins, who by now was overseeing community-based residences for Connecticut's mentally challenged. Drag City reissued Red Hash the following summer, and the resulting media blitz made Higgins something of a celebrity. Backed by members of Random Concept, he even played his first-ever solo gig at New York City's Tonic in July 2005. In the meantime, Drag City lobbied Higgins for early material, but Higgins wanted to cut a second album. Both parties won: in 2009 his sophomore effort, Seconds, was released to critical acclaim; A Dream a While Back, an album mainly consisting of pre-Red Hash material, was released in early 2011.
--This biography was provided by the artist or their representative.

Gary Higgins[/size=6]
Born: Sharon, CT, United States

Members:
- Gary Higgins - guitar, vocals
- Dave Beaujon - bass
- Jake Bell - guitar, vocals
- Terry Fenton - organ , percussion
- Paul Tierney - flute, mandolin, vocals
- Maureen Wells - cello, vocals

Tracklist:
01. Thicker Than a Smokey - 3:38
02. It Didn't Take Too Long - 4:02
03. Windy Child - 3:31
04. Telegraph Towers - 2:56
05. I Can't Sleep at Night - 3:52
06. Cuckoo - 2:10
07. I Pick Notes From the Sky - 4:45
08. Stable the Spuds - 5:22
09. Down on the Farm - 3:08
10. Unable to Fly - 4:12
11. Looking for June - 3:51

A beautifully wrought record of sun-drenched folk musings courtesy of Gary Higgins, Red Hash was reissued in 2005 on Drag City to great acclaim. This is a "Buried Treasure" that lives up to its reputation.
~ by: Ariel (thedoledrums.blogspot.com)

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ROGUE BOY INTO JAIL
"Red Hash", Gary Higgins' melancholy masterpiece, is often cited in the same breath as such admired hippy-folk obscurities as Skip Spence's "oar", Linda Perhacs "Parallelograms" and Vashti Bunyan's "Just another Diamond Day". Unlike those artists, however, Higgins' story has a novel twist: by the time the album was relased in March 1973, he was doing time in a maximum security Jail!
Higgins and his chums were self-described "hippies living in the country", the extent of their crimes limited to smoking marijuana ("I even inhaled," Higgins reveals). The situation turned serious, however, when Higgins and manager Gary 'Chico' Cardillo were caught up in President Nixon's newly declared War On Drugs. As a result of their involvement in an October 1972 pot bust - they'd become unwitting pawns in a large undercover police operation - they found themself facing long, hard prison sentences.
"It certainly shocked us." says Higgins. "But it brought forth an urgency in getting some songs down on tape because I didn't know if I'd ever get another chance." ...
~ By: (c60lownoise.blogspot.com)
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Biography:
Born in Sharon, Connecticut, Higgins cut his musical teeth in 1960s New York, first in the psychedelic group Random Concept and later with avant-folkies Wooden Wheel. In 1972, Higgins was caught up in a drug sting; but shortly before entering a maximum-security facility, he cut a record featuring members of his two prior groups: Jake Bell (guitar, vocals), Maureen Wells (cello, vocal), Jerry Fenton (piano, organ), Dave Beaujon (bass), and Paul Jerney (mandolin, flute, vocals). Besides singing and playing guitar, Higgins recorded drums for a few cuts.
The record was titled (not by Higgins) Red Hash, and it failed to sell out its modest printing of a few thousand copies. After his release, Higgins held down a series of jobs in the Connecticut/New York area, eventually marrying and raising a son. While he play in a bar bands, he didn't pursue further recording, and his record became a foggy memory.
In the 1990s, a small cult of devotion bloomed around the record, a cult that included David Tibet of Current 93 and Six Organs of Admittance's Ben Chasny, who covered "Thicker Than a Smokey" for his album School of the Flower in hopes of getting Higgins' attention. Eventually, Sub Pop/Drag City staffer Zach Cowie located Higgins, signed him to Drag City, and oversaw the re-release of Red Hash in the summer of 2005. In July of that year, Higgins played his first solo show, supported by members of Random Concept, as well as his guitarist son, Graham.
~ (RYM)

More info about Gary Higgins
Download Link:
http://sharebee.com/867d254a
Filename: Gary Higgins - Red Hash (us 1973 psychedelic stoned f...rar Size: 52.36 MB