John Tams?

Subject: John Tams?
From: Barbara
Date: 28 Jan 99 - 12:30 PM

Recently, when I hear a new song I love, there's a good chance it will be by John Tams.
Anyone know anything about him, especially you folks on the east side of the Pond? Does he have any recordings out of his own? Is there a way to contact him to ask about printing a song?
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: The Shambles
Date: 28 Jan 99 - 02:11 PM

Barbara I am on the case. All I have got though at the moment is this SHARPE

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Mo
Date: 28 Jan 99 - 08:24 PM

Barbara - he is part of a collective called "No Masters Voice". There address is:

No Masters Voice Cooperative Limited

78 Moorgate Road

Rotherham

S60 2AY

Tel: [phone].

I think the stateside code would be 01-444-709-375-063. But I'm not too sure about the first bit!

I may be able to find out more next week from a friend of mine who knows John Tams if you'd like.

Cheers

Mo

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Barbara
Date: 29 Jan 99 - 01:07 AM

Thanks Mo, and Shambles. He sure writes wonderful stuff. Searching the DT for his name pulled up the Congleton Bear, something I could have sworn was trad.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Barbara
Date: 29 Jan 99 - 12:58 PM

And yes, please, I'd love to know more about him.
Songs I know he's written:
Congleton Bear
When We Go Rolling Home
Pull Down Lads
And theres at least a couple more, whose names escape me at the moment.
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Bobby Bob, Ellan Vannin
Date: 29 Jan 99 - 05:49 PM

John Tams used to be a member of The Home Service (a good British name for those who remember the old radio dial).

The Home Service provided music at the Cottesloe Theatre, the sort of "experimental" wing of the National Theatre in London, for "The Mysteries", where they either used traditional material or wrote (and John Tams is very good at it) stuff that sounds convincingly traditional.

Whilst speaking of "The Mysteries", they were shown on television, but did they ever became available on video and CD? I think I saw something about CD release, at least. There was certainly some cracking stuff there.

At the Cottesloe, some of the same musicians were also associated with the "Lark Rise to Candleford" performances.

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Bob Biderman
Date: 29 Jan 99 - 07:08 PM

I live in Canada, but a decade or so ago I attended my first English folk festival, the Whitby Folk Week. It really does run for a week, but i was only able to stay a little more than a day.

The very first workshop I attended had as its guests a group called Swan Arcade (alas no more) who demonstrated their harmonies with a song called Rolling Home. Within just a few seconds my jaw dropped. What a great, great song. It is of course by John Tams, although at the time I would have bet it was trad. I've been singing it every since and doing my best to do it justice. I'm a school teacher and no professional singer, but I've had one paid gig - it was to sing that song at a big labour celebration. I would have paid them to let me sing it.

Another John Tams' political song I really like is called Raise Your Banner.

Bob Biderman

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Mick Lowe
Date: 29 Jan 99 - 08:06 PM

Hi Barbara
I believe John hails from Belper in Derbyshire and if you want to hear his early works, you should check out the Albion Band.. also went under various other names.. Albion Dance Band, Albion Country Band, Morris On, Son of Morris On...
Brilliant box player and wonderful intonation to his singing.. Amongst others he did to Morris music what Fairport and Steeleye did to "folk".. i.e. dragged it kicking and screaming into the 20th Century (though we're just about to lose that.. now's there's a sobering thought)... Though if you want to identify the "backbone" that has supported every major English group that has endeavoured to reincarnate an interest in English Traditional music, you must look to Ashley Hutchings.. you will find him as a founder member of every "well known" group.
You may also like to check out Richard Thompson (if you haven't already).. another great songwriter who composes songs you swear were "traditional"

All the best
Mick

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Barbara
Date: 01 Feb 99 - 10:22 AM

This is fascinating. I've been out in the woods this weekend singing with the Seattle Folk people -- Rainy Camp, what else?
I had my first go at leading "Rolling Home" and discovered that many of the people there had been singing it for a while. It was wonderful.
What gives away "Rolling Home" as a modern song, to my ear, is the last verse line "Fair wages now and ever", tho the lines before about"passing the bottle round" move it forward in time, too.
And yes, I am familiar with Richard Thompson and have been for years, tho I can't remember what I heard first of his. First ran into John Tams on June Tabors first album.(Pull Down Lads).
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From:
Date: 01 Feb 99 - 07:11 PM

For an absolutely cracking version of "Pull Down, Lads", June Tabor gets my vote on her "Airs and Graces" album.

Apropos of nothing really, just that I'm listening to it now.

Bobby Bob

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: The Shambles
Date: 30 Mar 99 - 12:28 PM

Barbara. I found this on the NGs.

Try finding the 1996 CD release:

Over The Hills & Far Away , The Music of Sharpe Featuring original music from the ITV series, by John Tams & Dominic Muldowney.

Catalogue number: Virgin Records VTCD81.

It features John Tams, The Moscow Symphony Orchestra, The Band and Bugles of the Light Division, Barry Coope and Roger Wilson (both separately with J. Tams) and the lovely miss Kate Rusby.

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Mo
Date: 30 Mar 99 - 05:44 PM

And seeing as they've been mentioned in other threads - if you like John Tams, you'll probably like Coope, Boyes & Simpson (Barry Coope is mentioned above!). They also record on No Masters, they are from roughly the same area of England, and they are great! But then, I'm biased....

Mo

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Banjer
Date: 30 Mar 99 - 07:26 PM

And Catspaw talks about ME dropping the ball. I cannot believe that there are thirteen posts in this thread and no one has yet asked the obvious question:

Is John TAMS any relation to TIM TAMS, the subject of another thread? I just couldn't let this go by without asking that....

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Mo
Date: 31 Mar 99 - 05:52 PM

Well funnily enough Banjer that's because 11 of the 13 posts in this thread were posted pre-Tim Tams thread. And the two who have posted since ( Shambles and me) already KNOW that Tim Tams is a biscuit and John Tams is a singer/musician, and that biscuits and people aren't generally blood relations.

Mo

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Banjer
Date: 31 Mar 99 - 06:07 PM

Not generally, no, but i have seen some half-baked muffins that would call themselves singers! Also have seen some singers that would like to be known as STUD MUFFINS...

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: The Shambles
Date: 01 Apr 99 - 01:33 AM

Banjer and Mo

I have decided to stop this bun fight once and for all.

Banjer if you look in the 3rd posting (I think) of the Tim Tams thread, you will see that I could hardly wait to do just as you suggested. *Smiles*

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 01 Apr 99 - 07:08 AM

And what about Joe Offer? He's been a wafer along time! **SMIRK!**

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Barbara
Date: 02 Apr 99 - 12:05 AM

Is 'wafer' UK for 'chip'?

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From:
Date: 02 Apr 99 - 12:24 PM

John used to play with Roger Watson. It may be that one prior posts here meant "Watson" when they said "Wilson". Roger says that he helped write "Pull Down, Lads", and I understand they recorded it together at one time, in a group I can't remember, but starting with "M", IIRC.

June Tabor gives credit only to John on her album. I dunno the truth of it.

Cheers,

-- Arne Langsetmo

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Jerry Friedman
Date: 02 Apr 99 - 03:44 PM

Barbara, even here in the U.S., chips (electronic) are made out of wafers (silicon). This has nothing to do with Steve's crack.

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Martin Jonas
Date: 05 Apr 99 - 03:04 PM

As no one else seems to have mentioned it yet, I'd like to get a quick plug for the Albion Band's 1978 "Rise Up Like The Sun" album in -- while Ashley Hutchings was nominally the band leader at the time, it's really Tams' album more than anybody else's. Probably his best recorded work.

Other in-print albums with Tams are the three Home Service albums and the Sharpe soundtrack (already mentioned). There are also odd tracks (like a quite nice song based on "Cider With Rosie") on various charity albums and compilations.

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Wotcha
Date: 08 Jul 02 - 09:30 PM

Casually perusing through a Cornish music emporium, I found a copy of "The Albion Band: The BBC Sessions" which features John Tams. I never thought I'd hear "Poor Old Horse" with electric guitar ... The liner notes have some interesting facts about the Albion Band, its various other incarnations, and folks who made it up along the years, including Martin Carthy who appeared at Mystic Seaport last month.
Cheers,
Brian

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 04:33 AM

John did work with Roger (and Helen) Watson as "Muckram Wakes" - "The Pulling Down Song" has already been mentioned and I reckon that their version was the best I've heard.

This Site purports to provide a discography for John Tams.

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: fogie
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 05:38 AM

Is JT on solo or acc. at any of the Festivals this year?

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:45 AM

BTW Barbara - As you might have gleaned from some of the postings (although I can't get the earlier SHARPE link to work) John appears as Corporal (later Sgt) Daniel Hagman in series of SHARPE television films (Starring Sean Bean in the title role). He is the unit's best shot and also their balladeer and musician. The series is set in the Spanish Penisular war against Napoleon. John is of course involved with all the music for the series.

You can find more details on the SHARPE series HERE

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:34 PM

John Tams has been mentioned in varoius past threads, in particular as an actor singer ang the man responsible for the music in the TV series' about Sharpe.
Try Sharpe in a forum search
Quack!

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: lamarca
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:46 PM

We have a CD of music from the Sharpe series put out in 1996, featuring John Tams, Barry Coope (of Coope, Boyes and Simpson), Kate Rusby and John McCusker doing the trad stuff, and a military band and the Moscow Symphony doing the instrumental mood music. It's pretty good, but was put out by some weird TV label affiliated with Virgin records, so I don't know where you'd find it now...

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 06:48 PM

He did the music for the recent BBC radio play about the Charge of the Light Brigade too.

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:02 PM

"Over The Hills And Far Away - The Music of Sharpe", Virgin VTCD81

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: GUEST,van lingle
Date: 09 Jul 02 - 07:30 PM

To see John Tams (and Kate Rusby among others) on the Mike Hardin show got to:
www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/folk/playback/index/shtml

Heckuva singer.vl

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Greyeyes
Date: 10 Jul 02 - 09:33 AM

Of course since the original post John Tams has released a brilliant solo album, "Unity" (Topic TSCD508).

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: GUEST,Jennifer
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 05:01 PM

There should be another John Tams album out in November if all goes according to plan - to keep up with the latest try www.johntams.info

Subject: RE: John Tams?
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 13 Jul 02 - 02:27 AM

He did some of the festivals a couple of years ago, pretty good although his version of Rolling Home was done at such a speed as to make it 'Galloping Home' which is another tune altogether!

LTS