STORYTELLER

I came to know this short-lived British folk-rock group last year when the Finnish label Svart Records re- released the eponymous 1970 debut on vinyl. The similar re-release of this second (and final) album followed a bit later. On its inner sleeve of the gatefold, it circulates the same (Carolyn Attard interview -based) liner notes that John Tobler had written already in 1997 for the first Storyteller (CD) re- release, plus his brief 2022 post scriptum.

Some line-up changes had happened, but the core of the group remains to be the same, namely vocalist Carolyn Attard, lyricist-vocalist Terry Durham and guitar-playing singer-songwriter Roger Moon. The producer Andy Bown's artistic input is notable, he participated in songwriting too.

This album is suitably different from the debut. Sweet string arrangements are gone, and although I did enjoy them, this album benefits from being sort of more amateurish and natural. The set of 12 tracks is nicely varied and often feels good-humoured in a charming way. Carolyn is mostly singing backround/additional vocals, but frankly she's not technically very strong singer anyway. One of the best songs, 'Bosworth Field' (Durham, Moon), started from her idea. The historical drama piece is about Richard III who "wasn't the villain Shakespeare made him out to be". The guesting trumpet gives the song the Tudor-like flavour.

Other highlights include Roger Moon's 'Remarkable', a melodic and emotional male/female duet; the joyful 'Beautiful Affair' that makes me think of LINDISFARNE; 'Wolf in the Water' (Durham, Bown) that is slightly reminiscent of ANTHONY PHILLIPS' acoustic songs; and Bown's calm and melodic 'Name Certainly Rings a Bell'. I also like the contrast between the calmness and the singalong-like chorus on 'Bull Jack'.

The two calm and small-scale final songs are sung by Carolyn alone. 'For You Today' seems to have an elegant mellotron faintly in the background. Mostly the arrangements are kept very simple, acoustic guitar dominated. But the guitars sound pretty nice here.

I have a little complaint about the package itself. First, to get the same long band history oriented liner notes again is frustrating. They don't really deal with this particular album at all (very shortly in the P.S.). Second, I noticed that the running order of Side One is faulty: as for the track No. 4, the 40-second unaccompanied poetry reading of 'Singular Day' (by Durham) is an intro to 'Beautiful Affair' which comes again as the sixth track.

Actually, since both albums are so short, I'd prefer to have a 2-in-1 CD release, and with better edited liner notes. If you're thinking of getting just one of these Svart Records re- release vinyls, have a YouTube listening before you choose.

I was the one who suggested this band to the Prog Folk team and I wish to express my gratitude for their effective work. A couple of months ago I was checking the recent or upcoming prog/-ish releases by Svart Records (I've written several liner notes to their domestic re-releases). This one, an obscure British psych/prog folk-rock album from 1970 -- even if it wasn't yet in ProgArchives -- immediately raised my curiosity, and happily here we are!

Storyteller was a quintet where each member contributed to the vocals or vocal harmonies. Caroline Attard's beautiful voice naturally being essential, I suppose the other leading vocalists were the ones who wrote the songs, ie. guitarist Roger Moon and Terry Durham, a non-playing singer who had released a solo album (this fact was missing from the re-release liner notes, as well as the fact that Durham made the cover art of not only this debut but also the second and last album More Pages, 1971. These bits of information I just happened to read from a 3-cd folk rock compilation featuring a song from this album). A special feature to distinguish this music from the more typical late 60's/ early 70's folk-rock such as Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span is the addition of a string arrangement to several songs.

The songs, 13 in total, are mostly rather short. The lively opener 'Floor of the Park' makes me think of some Magna Carta song, can't remember which one. The next one is really charming for its alterations of tempo, the dual vocals and the sweet-sounding strings. 'Alice Brown' is a moody but diverse little song that reminds me of The Moody Blues c. 1966-7. Caroline is the lead vocalist on the dreamy, string-dominated 'The Lake'. Nice flute on the serene 'Over the Hills'. Sadly the guest appearances are not specified.

The vinyl's second side begins with the brief 'Story' centering on supposedly Durham's spoken words. 'First Week in January' reminds me of some string-arranged Ralph McTell songs. All songs are not necessarily very great (I'm not fond of e.g. 'Song for Buster', about the silent movie legend, and the final song 'Loves's Blind' is a sub-par filler with a country flavour), but the album whole really feels highly inspired and many-sided in a charming and joyful way. If you're not allergic to the sweetness of string arrangements, this album is a warmly recommended gem of psychedelically nuanced folk-rock.