Fraser & Debolt--amazing unique acid folk duo from 1971

[jamestkirk]

Fraser & Debolt with Ian Guenther

A really unique and wonderful acid folk duo from Canada...just brilliant and sublime. Believe me, all you country acid folkies...you will love this!

Them Dancehall Girls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFP0gNYJ ... re=related










Fraser & DeBolt
With Ian Guenther
Released: 1971 Label: Columbia C 30381

1. All This Paradise
2. Gypsy Solitaire
3. Them Dance Hall Girls
4. David's Tune
5. Waltze of the Tennis Players
6. Armstrong Tourest Rest Home
7. Fraser and Debolt Theme
8. Old Man on the Corner
9. Warmth
10. Stoney Day
11. Pure Spring Water
12. Don't Let Me Down


"One of the many sad secrets of the popular music business is the way this little gem languished in obscurity. It should have been heard by millions, but disappeared at the height of psychedelia. Two years later, the Band found an audience with haunting tales of bygone rustic North American life with their seminal, self-titled second album. Widespread acclaim eluded the earlier outing by this unheralded Canadian trio. The songs, most written independently by Daisy DeBolt or Allan Fraser, are poetic. DeBolt's slowly unfolding, album-opening "All This Paradise" is a marvel, introducing listeners right away to her commanding voice and the sinuous fiddle of Ian Guenther. The album was out of print for years, scratchy vinyl platters still treasured by a small but fervent number of fans."
- Mark Allan, All Music Guide source page
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"My favorite unknown album came out in 1971. It was the debut album from the Canadian folk duo Fraser and DeBolt with fiddler Ian Guenther on Columbia records. This trio included Alan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt who wrote independently but sang and played in complete transcendent union. I still marvel at how they communicate on this record, which was obviously recorded live. "Their performance moves from absolute purity and as quiet as air to screeching dissonance sometimes in the same song. The writing is about love in its most intimate terms and also with great humor."
- WXPN DJ David Dye source page
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Do an internet search on this album, it's uncanny: you'll find absolutely nothing but raves. Most of the people who recommend it lament the fact that their vinyl copies are worn out from so many listens and that it has yet to be re-released on CD. It's hard to find another record that is so unanimously treasured by the rare people who have heard it, and has had such a huge influence on so many while being heard by so few. In their native Canada, Allan Fraser and Daisy Debolt are revered in the folk world by those lucky enough to have seen them perform. They influenced other musicians mostly from their live performances, not their recordings, and if it's true that they were even better live than on this LP, I'll gladly trade the entire "F" section of my collection for a video.

The reason for all of this passion is the same reason the record sold squat: it's full of gorgeous ragged edges and inspired imperfections. It's human and heartfelt with no pretense or gloss. We're not talking idiot savant (I won't name examples here, as I don't want to offend anyone); it's as insulting to Fraser & Debolt to lump them with "real people" or "incredibly strange" music as it would be to Bobb Trimble. Every out of out-of-tune violin lick (courtesy of Ian Guenther, who gets credit in the album title), every backing vocal that starts too early or comes in too late, and every dissonant guitar chord is intentional (or at least a brilliant performance accident retained after much thought.) This may be raw; it may be loose, and it sure is fun, but this album is arranged with as much foresight as any 70s prog record. On all but one song (which adds sax and piano) the musical backing is merely two acoustic guitars and violin, often arranged with a punk-like simplicity. Yet every song sounds full and rich, each is different from the others, and the unique approach to dual vocals fills the songs with left turns, sublime beauty, and moments that will make the most jaded listener smile. It's been called "art-folk," which is as good a description as any. It's also rock and roll without electricity or drums, and acid folk without any of the daze or confusion.


live in 1971 at Philly Folk Festval
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF9yHx7la9I&NR=1


Waltz Of The Tennis Players
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JF83BdRn ... ure=fvwrel


OOP...free d/l....enjoy...never reissued..ever.
http://www.mediafire.com/?grxznghqwmg

[jamestkirk]

Fraser & DeBolt


Fraser & DeBolt were a Canadian folk |duo, active in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Its members were Allan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt (1945 – October 4, 2011).

Allan Fraser and Daisy DeBolt met at a workshop at the 1968 Mariposa Folk Festival. Their first words to each other were "I like your voice." As DeBolt puts it, Fraser "knocked on the door and that was it, he never left."[citation needed] Not long after, their budding musical romance found them hitchiking every day from Toronto to Hamilton, Ontario to work on material. By the summer of 1969, Fraser & DeBolt was officially formed as a duo.

In 1970 they travelled to the United States on a coffee house circuit tour. During the second week of February, while in upper New York State, they received a message from Ravi Shankar's manager, Jay K. Hoffman. Hoffman signed them to a management contract, and arranged for Fraser & DeBolt to audition for a recording contract. On April 5, 1970, they opened for Tom Paxton at Fillmore East in New York City. The showcase led to two offers, and the duo were signed to Columbia Records.

Work began in Toronto on their debut album. They were accompanied by the violinist Ian Guenther with production by Craig Allen, who was also the art director for the album cover. On its release in January, 1971, one critic[who?] wrote it had "moments when the only possible responses are to laugh aloud or to cry, and there are very few aesthetic experiences that genuinely produce those effects."[citation needed] Reviews appeared in The New York Times, the Los Angeles Free Press and other publications.

Recording commenced in late 1971 for the follow-up album, With Pleasure, which featured musicians from the Canadian band, Simon Caine. The duo continued to tour and perform across Canada and the United States and, in 1974, they represented North America at the International Song Festival held at Sopot, Poland. Fraser & DeBolt broke up not long after, except for a few reunion appearances.

In November 1994, their story was told in an episode of Adrienne Clarkson Presents on CBC-TV. As recently as January, 2004, their first album was still on the playlists at the radio station WFMU in Jersey City, New Jersey. The Canadian music trade paper, The Record, explained the duo's significance when it wrote, "Fraser & DeBolt were the greatest Canadian band never to have made it."[citation needed]

DeBolt died on October 4, 2011, from cancer, at the age of 66.[1]
[edit] Discography

* Fraser & DeBolt With Ian Guenther
o Released: 1971, Label: Columbia C 30381

1. "All This Paradise"
2. "Gypsy Solitaire"
3. "Them Dance Hall Girls"
4. "David's Tune"
5. "Waltz of the Tennis Players"
6. "Armstrong Tourest Rest Home"
7. "Fraser and Debolt Theme"
8. "Old Man on the Corner"
9. "Warmth"
10. "Stoney Day"
11. "Pure Spring Water"
12. "Don't Let Me Down"

In reviewing this release, Mark Allan, of Allmusic, commented that "One of the many sad secrets of the popular music business is the way this little gem languished in obscurity. It should have been heard by millions, but disappeared at the height of psychedelia. Two years later, The Band found an audience with haunting tales of bygone rustic North American life with their seminal, self-titled second album. Widespread acclaim eluded the earlier outing by this unheralded Canadian trio. The songs, most written independently by Daisy DeBolt or Allan Fraser, are poetic."[2]

John Gabree, in a review published in High Fidelity in 1971, described Fraser & DeBolt With Ian Guenther as "one of the best pop albums I have ever heard."[3]

The recording has never been legally released or reissued on compact disc.

* Fraser & DeBolt With Pleasure
o Released: 1973, Label: Columbia KC 32130

1. "Broad Daylight Woman" (3:12)
2. "Columbus Hits the Shoreline Rag" (3:40)
3. "I Want to Dance with You" (3:01)
4. "Cleo's Couch" (2:57)
5. "Big Time Charlie" (4:25)
6. "Sister Nell & Dirty Reuben" (1:58)
7. "Two Rainbows" (4:09)
8. "This Storm Shall Surely Pass" (5:45)
9. "Why-Kiki" (3:39)
10. "Waiting for the Harvest in Garf's Front Yard (Pure Spring Water #2)" (4:23)