SHIP TO SHORE

If there ever was something called progressive folk, this is it. I love Pentangle, Fairport Convention, John Martyn and the rest but this is truly unique, personal and something of a genius putting notes together and in the process creates a tapestry of sound, poetry and emotion. If you've missed this one I hope that this review will give you a reason to check it out.

I remember reading about this album in Record Collector (I think it was) many, many years ago. It was highly rated in a piece on british folk and I got intrigued, trying to acquire it for a long time. When I at last held it in my trembling hands I was not to be disappointed. What the album offers is very special and precious.

Nigel Mazlyn Jones plays the acoustic guitar and sings with great emotion. The fact that the guitar quite often is effect-laden in a John Martyn-ish way (only slitghtly more and in a personal way) gives the album a certain character which only helps to build the towers of emotion, brought forth by way of gentle, surreal and evocative sounds and even vision.

I would define the album as a symphony of progressive folk. Most of the tracks seem to cling together, creating this marvelous picture. Sometimes sinister and gloomy, sometimes jjoyful and light, always engaging and thrilling. "The man and the deer", for example, is quite a mezmerising piece of magic, while "Follow every sunset" is positive prog folk in the vein of Martyn, Sandy Denny and others. The title track is beyond description, being such a wonderful piece of vivid soundscapes and beauty. The music also brings forth the feeling of the lonely genius or mad man creating wonders to behold, locked away in the farthes tower in the deepst woods, somewhere in England. That, to me, is also the lure, because the music is so british, giving wings to my fantasy, producing ever more fantastical images. All brought to me by way of this extraordinary album.

"Ship to shore" is, simply put, a masterpiece in dire need of recognition. As it stands today it seems only a few heard of it and fewer still listened to the album. It is a shame. Hopefully my review can remedy some of that. My feelings towards this album are so passionate and as I write I feel frustrated by the lack of words to describe it's glory. I just wish for my ramblings to take hold and persuade you to give this genius and this album a spin. Please do.

If one was "there" when prog was in the mainstream, it can be hard to separate the emotional impact of an old favourite from any sense of objectivity. Conversely, it can be equally difficult to appreciate a 40 year old work that is first brought to one's attention, since it can masquerade as a cheap copy of more familiar classics of the time. However, once in a great while one is treated to a lost gem that unassumingly offers links in the musical chain that gradually approaches, but never quite attains completeness. Such is the case for the obscure debut by the equally obscure NIGEL MAZLYN JONES.

"Ship to Shore" is an engaging progressive folk album from 1976 that boasts two unique attributes - the man's inimitable emotive vocals, and his even more striking acoustic guitar style, at once strummed and picked. Other than on the weak opening cut "A Singularly Fine Day", he avoids lording his ample technique over his essential musical and lyrical messages.

Three tracks remain in focus for me long after the proverbial needle returns to its tonearm. "The Man and His Deer" is a gorgeous song with only Jones' guitar and accompanying mandolin. It lands somewhere between NICK DRAKE and AL STEWART, but more progressive than either, more like an intimate STRAWBS or DECAMERON track. Speaking of the latter, both JOHNNY COPPIN and DIK CADBURY play on several tracks, and well. "How High the Moon" is CAT STEVENS like, mesmerizing - think "Lady D'Arbanville" meets TRAFFIC's "John Barleycorn". But rather than appearing derivative, it actually insists upon consideration as an essential piece of 1970s prog folk. Finally, the title cut is pure epic and seems to presage some of DAN AR BRAZ's best strictly acoustic work.

Seek out the Kissing Spell reissue that includes a brace of bonus tracks that pre-date the album proper, the two longest of which, "All Brave Men" and "The Hunter and the Lady", are fully worthy of inclusion. It's time that "Ship to Shore" moor with the other venerable vessels of progressive folk from its defining decade.