Amazing Blondel: Evensong (1970)
So much distinctive pop, rock and folk music has originated on that little island across the pond. Where would we be without the Brits and their flair for the idiosyncratic musical niche?
John Gladwin, Terence Wincott and Edward Baird performed what they themselves called “pseudo-Elizabethan/Classical acoustic music sung with British accents”.
And they weren’t jesting.
To wit: they dressed as bards and played medieval-style ballads and madrigals on recorder, harpsichord, cittern, crumhorn, harmonium, and a type of lute called a theorboe.
There being a dearth of acoustic Elizabethan-style bands to tour with, they opened shows for rockers like Procol Harum, Genesis, Steeleye Span and Free. So as you listen the accompanying anachronistic revelries, try to imagine a concert wherein their music was followed by “All Right Now” for example.
Apparently despite the contrast in styles their sound presented as compared with such rock acts, Blondel were well-received by audiences who hadn’t come specifically to see them, their stage banter and bawdy humor winning over audiences and making new fans.
The trio were known to take upwards of 40 instruments onstage–which could require about 5 hours’ worth of tuning beforehand.
Eventually there arose conflict between the band’s desire for studio and writing time and their manager’s insistence on a demanding touring schedule. This led to primary songwriter Gladwin leaving the band in 1973.
Amazing Blondel carried on subsequently as a duo, shortening their name to Blondel, and producing a brand of folk pop that leaned decidedly less medieval and more towards a mainstream sound.
But while Gladwin was the dominant writing voice, the band produced a fairly unique brand of archaic British folk, which sounds even more distinctive half a century removed from the English folk revival that spawned it.
These songs are simple, not challenging. They’re gentle, not bombastic. They’re humble, not ambitious.
Amazing Blondel’s songs don’t rock. They charm and enchant. If rock music wants to knock you down and carry you off, Blondel would rather court you with a medieval suitor’s chivalry.
Listen to: “Pavan“
Listen to: “St. Crispin’s Day”
Listen to: “Spring Season“
Listen to: “Willowood”
Listen to: “Evensong“
Listen to: “Under the Greenwood Tree”
Every Moment Has A Song 