REC 206 From the waters of the Medway sound by Bryan Chalker


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Picture of albums From the waters of the Medway sound (Bryan Chalker)

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Release pictures

Front cover
Picture of REC 206 From the waters of the Medway sound by artist Bryan Chalker from the BBC records and Tapes library
Rear cover
Picture of REC 206 From the waters of the Medway sound by artist Bryan Chalker from the BBC records and Tapes library

BBC records label code
BBC Records and Tapes2 label

Label
BBC Records and Tapes2 label


Release details

DetailValue
Catalogue numberREC 206
TitleFrom the waters of the Medway sound
Artist(s)Bryan Chalker
Cover conditionVery Good Plus
Record conditionVery Good Plus
BBC records label codeD
Item deleted?Yes
Released1975
Distributed / printed byPolydor Limited
Country of originUK UK flag
Media typePrimary
Media genreMusic - Popular
View all other tracks listed as Music - Popular.
Run-off codes / Shop bar codesREC 206S A//1 420 05 11 2
REC 206S B//1 420 05 12 4
My rating*****
Guest rating*****

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Number have1
What type of seller was used?Physical shop
Where can I buy this release?You may be able to purchase this release from the following websites (others are available!)
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All release pictures

Below is all the cover (front, back, middle and inserts if applicable) and label pictures I have for this release.
Front cover
Front cover of REC 206
Back cover
Back cover of REC 206
Label
Label Label

Tracks

Below is a list of tracks for this release.
Side & trackTrack and ArtistLength
A1From the waters of the Medway [Paul Sherrill]2.50
A2Guess I'm only dreaming [Les Reed / Geoff Stephens]2.29
A3These walls [Gilbert Gibson]3.55
A4The Janes, the Jeans and the might-have-beens [Martin / Coulter]3.50
A5Jenny, Jenny [Paul Sherrill]3.13
A6Dumbarton's drums [S. Hearnshaw]3.46
B1Adios, my love [Gilbert Gibson]3.19
B2Matilda [Paul Sherrill]2.38
B3Goodbye, little angel [Bryan Chalker / Gilbert Gibson]3.12
B4I'm afraid to go back home [Les Reed / Barry Mason]3.10
B5The nightingale song [Gilbert Gibson]2.45
B6My heart's an open door [R. Harrison / G. Tucker]3.00
B7Reprise - From the waters of the Medway [Paul Sherrill]1.15
Total length of media 39:22.

Duplicates

Below listed is any duplicates I have for this release.
Duplicate item 1Reason Better quality, condition DMDY
Run off code(s) REC 206S A//1 420 05 11 6
REC 206S B//1 420 05 12 5

Reviews

Below is my review for this release and the ratings.
A good entry, I will include a full review asap!
Ratings
My rating3
Guest ratingCurrent average value is 3.

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Extra notes on cover, middle (gatefold sleeve) and any inserts

Arrangements: Anthony King / Borek Nemecek
Producer: David Carter (BBC Radio London)
Vocal Direction: Borek Nemecek
Executive Producer: Gilbert Gibson

Drums: Chris Karan
Keyboards: Graham Todd / Graham Tucker / Tony King
Bass: Les Hurdle / Andy Dyer
Steel Guitar: Gordon Huntley / Adrian Legg
Bottle-neck Guitar: Alan Parker
Acoustic Guitar: Les Thatcher / Adrian Legg
Electric Guitar: Alan Parker / Les Thatcher / Adrian Legg
Singers: Jean Hawker / Laura Lee / Sally Kemp / The Medway Singers

It came as a pleasant surprise to be invited by Bryan Chalker and Gilbert Gibson to produce From The Waters of the Medway. Somewhere in their collective background an ancestor must have kissed the Blarney Stone, because the next thing I knew I was in a studio surrounded by a host of very talented people. The event turned out to be a whole new 'experience' for me. And a rewarding one. That experience can be shared by listening to the performances we captured for you on this album. Even veteran Country hands, who know Bryan well, will find something new. For my part, if this album even partially represents a cross-section of modern, British Country Music, then I give warning: I intend in the future to be there, whenever it's performed the Bryan Chalker way.
DAVID CARTER BBC Radio London.

North America has Nashville (Music City, USA), the home of Country Music, England has the Medway, where a new kind of song was reborn: The majority of America's traditional songs came from the British Isles in the first place, many being taken to the New World with the Mayflower in 1620. A number of the old songs 'came back' again ... in a new form maybe, but just below the surface the original musical 'roots' cab be detected.

America has, at one time or another, claimed such ballads as 'Sam Hall', 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows', 'Barbara Allen', 'The Knoxville Girl', 'Pretty Polly', 'Wildwood Flower' and 'The Streets of Laredo' as part of its own folk heritage but, in point of fact, these songs have their origins in British Folklore. Even some 'cowboy' songs such as 'Roll along, Covered Wagon', 'Pony Express' and 'South of the Border', were actually written in England by British composers! Virtually all of America's folk music has derived from 'foreign' sources, save for the indigenous lullabies, war-chants and tribal dances of the Red Man, America's one, true native son.

On this album - the first all-British 'country' album ever produced anywhere and also the first to introduce our own 'Medway' songs - new numbers specially written and composed are to be found next to a few of the oldest British songs in existence.

I heard 'Dumbarton's Drums' in Canada in 1963, where it was being performed by the Beers Family for a CBC television programme. Bob Beers invited me down to folklorist Jimmie Driftwood's home in Timbo, Arkansas, that same summer, where he promised to teach me some more 'old British ballads' but, somehow, I never quite made it to Timbo. I still have Bob to thank for one version of 'Dumbarton's Drums', however. I later discovered that this old ballad was originally heard as one of the songs sung by the Sullican clan in the Scotland of 1725. An original British song!

The same applies to 'Matilda', which - apart from the new lyric and arrangement used here- originated in Scotland about two-hundred years ago, was carried over to Ireland, emerged as a soldier's ditty during the American Civil War, was recorded by Bessie Smith as early as 1921 as 'It Ain't Nobody's Business', re-emerged as the basis for Arlie Duff's classic 'hillbilly' family song, 'Y'all Come', was used to some extent in its 'root' form by Walk Disney in the movie 'Bullwhip Griffin' and spread to various other countries. Now it is back where it saw the first light of day, proving that a good tune never dies.

'Jenny, Jenny' is another song based on an original English folk melody, which was later adopted by the Canadians (I heard an aged fiddle player scratching out the bare remnants of the tune in a New Brunswick tavern), recorded by Elvis Presley as 'Love Me Tender', and has now found its way back to the land of its birth as 'Jenny, Jenny'.

My own song, 'Goodbye, Little Angel', with a melody created by Gilbert Gibson, contains fragments of yet another ancient evergreen, 'Cockles and Mussels', although the lyric is devoid of traditional elements.

;From the Waters of the Medway' is a new song, like many others on this album - including two new numbers by Les Reed, with lyrics by Barry Mason and Geoff Stephens, respectively - but all have one important thing in common: They have all been written and composed by writers in Britain and are therefore original British copyrights. The first of what we hope will be a new genre: The Medway song as opposed to America's 'country and western' songs.

A medway song is a song born of the people. Simple people. Sincere people. Sometimes impoverished or struggling, but never losing heart, never losing the ability to 'feel' for others, to care. This then is our own contribution to the wide world of Country Music - the music of the people ...
BRYAN CHALKER

Further information

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