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Dando Shaft - Dando Shaft (1971)

Track listing:
  1. Coming Home to Me 3:27
  2. Sometimes 3:46
  3. Waves Upon the Ether 4:32
  4. River Boat 4:13
  5. Dewet 0:33
  6. Railway 2:32
  7. Whispering Ned 1:36
  8. Pass it On 3:44
  9. Kayope Driver 2:58
  10. Till the Morning Comes 1:46
  11. Prayer 0:35

Notes

Japan 24-Bit Remaster

Dando Shaft was one of the most original bands of the early years of England's progressive-rock. Martin Jenkins on violin, Kevin Dempsey on guitar, Ted Kay on percussion, Roger Bullen on bass and Dave Cooper were basically jazz musicians playing English folk music. They dared do what John Martyn and Pentangle had only hinted to. An Evening With (Youngblood, 1970) was a tentative debut, but Dando Shaft (Neon, 1971), with Polly Bolton on vocals, showed the full extent of their innovation, crowned by Lantaloon (RCA, 1971).

Really superb acoustic, mellow early 70s folk with a tinge of rock about it (though no drumkit). The first track on this album is just fabulous! The blend of male and female vocals is great, and a bit different than usual. Perhaps that's just the true uniqueness of the female vocalist at play. Her name is Polly Bolton. She had her own sound.

This is the second Dando Shaft album, and I've got a disc with this and the third reissued together. The third album is similar in content and quality. A truly worthwhile, and arguably essential, item for fans of this fecund bygone genre.

Starting as a five-piece folk-band, Dando Shaft initiated a completely unique mixture of acoustic folk (none of the instruments are electrically amplified!) with driving rhythms and impeccable inventive musicianship. The lyrics are largely concerned with the relationship between man and nature, resulting in song-titles such as Rain, Cold Wind and September Wine as the first three tracks on their first album. They marvel in complicated structures and textures and are able to weave very intricate patterns, especially between mandolin (played in a highly original manner), guitar and violin.

Very characteristic is also the combination of hand-beaten percussion and double-bass. After a change of label they acquired the services of a female singer, Polly Bolton, who had a pure and very expressive voice. Their second album brings in some elements of Bulgarian folk-music (asymmetrical time-measures) but is very much stamped by Polly's vocals and superb original compositions such as Whispering Ned, a rather funny drug-song and above all the achingly beautiful Riverboat. Preoccupation with travelling becomes discernable in Railway (a live favourite) and Kallyope Driver. After Neon folded they made another album on RCA, very much continuing in the same direction, although not as good as their previous effort. Road Song is another pulsating travel-song and Black Prince Of Paradise equals any track on the second album. Rumour has it, that another album was recorded for RCA, but due to lack of commercial success it never saw the light of day. Some seven years later some kind of reunion was attempted, but with the usual ambiguous results. Nevertheless, the magic returned for full on Stroller In The Air, an excellent composition and, at least partly, on Trees, a deceptively simple track with great atmosphere. Judging from a BBC Transcription disc, they were also a good live band. All their albums are worth investigation.