Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite

Subject: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 03:54 PM

I'll leave it to someone better qualified to flesh out the whys & wherefores of The Maritime England Suite, but basically it's a 40-minute sequence comprising PB's settings of Kipling, traditional and other lyrics arranged by Dolly Collins and performed by the trio of PB: voice / Dolly Collins : piano / Ursula Pank (nee Smith) : 'cello. It existed as a cassette-only edition with a photocopied cover, copies of which are scarce (and those extant are fading fast...) but the music is of a perfect and golden charm that will enchant lovers of songs of the sea and beguile even the most casual Bellamist. The hard-core, of course, will already have it, but here it is anyway, in two parts:   

Peter Bellamy : Maritime England Suite - Part One

Peter Bellamy : Maritime England Suite - Part One

Note: This is a basic transfer of a very old unbranded cassette copy as sold by PB at his gigs. No attempt has been made to clean it up at source (no Dolby certainly!) or otherwise enhance it on the computer other than to fix a patricularly messy edit & fade it out at the end of The China Clipper which cuts out on the cassette. One hopes the masters are extant and that plans are afoot to release them officially, but as life is generally too short for the awaiting of such miracles, enjoy this in all its lo-fi glory.

File expires on 22nd November, so get it while you can!

Part One:

Song of the Red War Boat (Kipling)
Sir Patrick Spens (Trad)
Sir Andrew Barton (Anon)
The Spanish Armada (Anon)
The Zealous Puritan (Anon)
The Dutch in the Medway (Kipling)

Part Two:

We Have Fed Our Sea For a Thousand Years (Kipling)
Andrew Rose & the Cruel Ship's Captain (trad)
The Death of Nelson (trad)
The British Man of War (trad)
The China Clipper (Tardiff)

All settings Peter Bellamy / arranged by Dolly Collins

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Reinhard
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 04:06 PM

Thank you very much for this treasure!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 04:22 PM

Treasure it is! And there's me getting the title wrong in the thread heading. D'oh!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Spleen Cringe
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 06:53 PM

Cheers for this, Suibhne. Lovely stuff.

So is some knowledgeable bod going to come on and give us a bit of history? Where and when it was recorded? Who has the masters? Am I right in thinking it was originally recorded for a radio broadcast? If so, is this the radio broadcast? Thank you in advance, fact fiends!

SplCr

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,roderick
Date: 15 Nov 10 - 07:40 PM

Thanks a lot for the download - a quick listen and the arrangements are fascinating - not so sure about Bellamy's voice - I respect what he was trying to do, especially the Kipling stiff and also his artistic breadth which was unusual on the folk scene at any time - but could never get on with his sound! Remember seeing the YT in Cousins many years back - and same criticism although the other two voices blended him out somewhat. Still - would rather try again with someone challenging than the usual safety zone merchants...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 04:22 AM

The year is 1982, more than that I can't say. Dolly Collins needs no introduction here (although at times I might wonder) and Ursula Smith played 'cello in the Third Ear Band during their most popular period around 1969-1971 including their second album Air, Earth, Fire, Water and the soundtrack to Abelard & Heliose. She also played on COB's Spirit of Love - see HERE for more on this (+ free download of what is still a remarkable album).

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Edthefolkie
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 07:19 AM

Thanks very much indeed for that S O'P!!! As has been said, a real treasure. Two very much missed people and one new to me.

My compliments too on the article in Stirrings. I only normally see this organ when I get up to Sheffo and district but a friend mailed me a copy so I could read Pete Gray's article - and there you were too!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 07:41 AM

FOR INFO

I have a copy of the original cassette that Pete gave me. The front of the yellow paper inlay reads ~

THE
MARITIME ENGLAND
SUITE

PETER BELLAMY vocal
DOLLY COLLINS piano
URSULA PANK cello

{followed by a stern-on picture of a ship-of-the-line in full sail, which fills up most of the inlay-front}.


Inside is a list of the songs as given above;followed by the imprint ~

© Peter Bellamy & Dolly Collins 1982


♥♫❤Michael❤♫♥

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Artful Codger
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 08:22 AM

Note: In part (side) two, there is another song after "British Man of War" (starting around 15.55): "When the Stormy Winds Do Blow", reminiscent of "Neptune's Fury" ("The Gallant Seamen's Suffering"), but mostly Bellamy's own in both text and tune, as far as I can tell.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: r.padgett
Date: 16 Nov 10 - 10:16 AM

I have the cassette, not tried to play it recently tho'

Ray

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Clive Pownceby
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 04:01 AM

I was fortunate to see the songs from the project performed live by Peter live and solo - in March 1982 at the Poste House in Liverpool and the Bothy Club in Southport. He was, as you'd guess, passionate about the concept and the music.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Charley Noble
Date: 17 Nov 10 - 07:51 AM

Nice to have this work available again in any format.

If it were produced in 1982, one could assume that it is still covered by its original copyright under British rules.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 18 Nov 10 - 07:47 AM

Also features HERE.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:23 PM

Codger - track 5 on side 2 is the seventeenth-century broadside ballad variously known as "You gentlemen of England", "When stormy winds do blow" and "Neptune's raging fury". There's an informative discussion on this thread from 2007, mostly between Malcolm Douglas and someone called 'Artful Codger'...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:32 PM

I can make a few revisions to the track listing given above:

Part One:

Introduction (instrumental)
Song of the Red War Boat (Kipling)
Sir Patrick Spens (traditional (Child 58))
Sir Andrew Barton (traditional (Child 167))
The Spanish Armada (J. Keefe (18th century))
The Zealous Puritan (Anon. (17th century))
The Dutch in the Medway (Kipling)

Part Two:

We Have Fed Our Sea For a Thousand Years (Kipling)
Andrew Rose & the Cruel Ship's Captain (traditional)
The Death of Nelson (traditional)
The British Man of War (traditional)
You Gentlemen of England (J. Philips (17th century))
The China Clipper ("K. Tardif" (early 20th century))

Until I started researching it I had no idea how old some of the texts Bellamy used were - or how obscure. I've found a couple of references to the poem The China Clipper online, but nothing much about Mr or Ms Tardif; I wonder if it was a pseudonym (it's an unusual surname, and "tardif" is French for "late").

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 12:47 PM

How about a song for The Landfill Project, Pip?

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 21 Nov 10 - 05:15 PM

I don't do any of the songs, unfortunately. Alan Grace does a fine January Man, btw. I might have a crack at the Cruel Mother.

Many thanks for the upload, Suibhne - I've listened to little else for the last week. It gets under your skin on the third or fourth listen. I wonder if the sheet music (including the unplayed flute part) has survived?

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 03:22 AM

I have a vague memory of the work being commissioned by the BBC as a two-part programme part one entitled - we fed our seas for 100 years and part 2, we fed our sea for 1,000 years.

it was made to commemorate Maritime England Year. I don't remember much more.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Chris B
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 03:51 AM

WONDERFUL !!!!!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH !!!!!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 06:42 AM

Just to clarify, apart from anything the presence of Ursula Smith makes this of interest to the Third Ear community so it's being hosted by Ghetto Raga blogspot at the link below.

http://ghettoraga.blogspot.com/2010/11/ursula-pank-nee-smith-played-also-on.html

I've added Pip's ammendments to the tracklisting by way of a comment, hopefully these will be absorbed into the main blog. Nice work, Mr Radish!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 11:31 AM

We catters in the Puget Sound thank you!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: SPB-Cooperator
Date: 22 Nov 10 - 02:12 PM

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Chris B. re: new hi-res. version
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 08:16 AM

There's a really hi-res. version in lossless FLAC format now uploaded to TheBox.bz

TheBox.bz member 'itxlan' says: "I recorded it off air from a 'Folk on 2 - Special' in 1982. It was recorded onto stereo TDK metal tape - the best available at the time - and it's very clear (although there's some tape-hiss that can easily be ignored in preference to the effects of noise reduction filters)."

Apparently 'itxlan' mentioned this hi-res. recording to Peter Bellamy at a gig, and Peter said "could he have a copy since he only had a low-res. version." Unfortunately Peter passed away before this could be done. The hi-res. version has been uploaded in Peter's memory.

For those with TheBox.bz access it is here:

http://thebox.bz/details.php?id=138614

The files are in lossless FLAC format and are about 292MB in total. I'm trying to think of a way to upload them to Mediafire.com or Rapidshare.com

Chris B.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Chris B.
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 08:55 AM

Further info. can be found at:

http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/peter.bellamy/records/themaritimeenglandsuite.html

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 09:21 AM

Nie one! Hows it done with torrents? Never figured the out!

FLACs aren't such problem though a bit unweildy for the purposes; I generally convert them to MP3s for ease of use...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 09:31 AM

Additional links from Info.txt file with FLAC download from TheBox.bz (using torrents):

http://www.folkmusic.net/htmfiles/inart511.htm

"Peter's Maritime Suite, which did at least achieve Folk on 2 performance, never saw the light of day on record..."

====

Nov. 1982 Broadcast

http://www.mombu.com/music/music/t-maritime-suite-sweet-1740274.html

&

http://www.hilpers.org/217671-maritime-suite

"A masterpiece has been forgotten, hidden in the rich garden of British folk.

"It's the Maritime England Suite sung in 1982 by Peter Bellamy, arranged by Peter himself with the help of Dolly Collins' piano (at her best) and Ursula Pank's (ne Smith) cello.

"Here Peter's voice isn't anymore hard, strong as the one of his youth[ful]ness but becomes melancholy, sorrowful, sweet too, always deep, intense and affecting.

"It has never been issued, that is an injustice."

====

Dear Diane,

... as Jim [Lloyd?] underlines, "Maritime Suite" is not a compilation.

The songs (some of them already sung by Peter) have a completely new dress. Not simply the way of singing them is different but innovative is the arrangement obtained by piano and cello accompaniment. It's a thing completely new in Peter's discography, to have an idea of it maybe you should think to "anthem in eden".

http://www.bens.connectfree.co.uk/pb/PBDISC.HTM

=====

Year: 1982
Title: The Maritime England Suite
Artist: Peter Bellamy
Produced by: The BBC for a proposed Radio Broadcast 'We have fed our Sea', 1982
Personnel were: Peter Bellamy, also featuring: Dolly Collins (piano) and Ursula Pank (cello)

An additional flute part was written by Dolly Collins, partial manuscripts of which survives in the Fellside Archive.

Songs of the sea from the Saxons to the 19th century - Kipling, Traditional, and anon/Bellamy.

Tracks were: (In the order as on Peter Bellamy's Private Tape re-issue)

- Song of The Red Warboat,
- Sir Patrick Spens,
- Sir Andrew Barton,
- The Spanish Armada, - The Zealous Puritan,
- The Dutch in The Medway,
- We Have Fed Our Sea,
- Andrew Rose & The Cruel Ship's Captain,
- The Death of Nelson,
- The British Man Of War,
- You Gentlemen of England,
- The China Clipper.

Released as Private Issue cassette by Peter Bellamy in 1982

Availability: Tapes in the Wall Archive

Dolly Collins' piano (at her best) and Ursula Pank's (ne Smith) cello.

As you can see these are traditional and [also] songs taken from Kipling, each arranged by Peter

Suite A
- song of the red war boat
- sir patrick spens
- sir andrew barton
- the spanish armada
- the zealous puritan
- tha dutch in the medway

Suite B
- we have fed our sea--
- andrew rose & the cruel ship's captain
- the death of nelson
- the british man of war
- your gentleman of england
- the china clipper

====

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 01:46 PM

Treasure Hunt Strikes Gold

Above someone opined "One hopes the masters are extant and that plans are afoot to release them officially, but as life is generally too short for the awaiting of such miracles, enjoy this in all its lo-fi glory."

Well miracles do happen. We have the next best thing to the masters - a metal tape recording from the only 'Folk on 2' version broadcast (but sans intro. by Jim Lloyd). And the FLAC version from this is superb, with great clarity. Its certainly better than the cassette version that Peter was selling at gigs.

I shall try and upload the FLAC files (and maybe an MP3 file version (at 320Kbps) to Mediafire.com in the next few days.

If anyone is interested in re-issuing this recording formally then I am sure the person who did the original recording might be happy for this.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 01:57 PM

Excellent work! Looking forward to hearing the MES in greater clarity. Next up at my end, Peter Bellamy Live at Keele University 1972 which I reaolly think the whole world needs to hear...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 02:23 PM

CJB - check your PMs when you have a moment...

Spleen

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 05:46 PM

The FLAC sounds superb, although one tape seems to have been running faster than the other - part 1 runs to 24 minutes 27 seconds, as against 22' 2" in Suibhne's version. I'm prepared to believe the FLAC is the way it's supposed to sound, but I'd be glad of a second opinion. The sound *quality* is fantastic, anyway.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Itxlan
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:19 PM

Hi, PipRadish,

As the original uploader and recorder of the FLACs I can assure you that their timing is correct and that the other version sounds very gabbled, as though PB had been ingesting helium.

But although the original recording was made on high-end equipment, the hi-fi I used to digitize the master tape could have been better - (the cassette deck wasn't great) - and I'm optomistic that an even better version can be obtained with a decent tape deck. Watch this space.

For those with no access to TheBox, this is the description that accompanied my original upload:

================
The Maritime Suite is a collection of songs on a maritime theme - some traditional, some settings of Rudyard Kipling's poems - with music composed by the late Peter Bellamy, who's also the vocalist.

And what a vocalist. This astonishing live performance from 1982 still raises the hairs on the back of my neck.

It seems to me that in the plaintive wail of Peter Bellamy's extraordinary voice, you can hear the eternal suffering and bitterness of the unquiet ghosts of those forgotten, ill-used men who sacrificed their good health - and often their very lives - to ensure England's supremacy as a maritime power.

They could wish for no finer memorial than this heartfelt suite of songs and the same applies to Peter Bellamy, who never lived to see this - his greatest work, in my opinion - in the public domain. Scandalously, it's never been publicly available except in the form of a very lossy and poor quality cassette recording that Peter Bellamy sold at his performances.

Shortly before his death I met him at a gig and told him I had this lossless recording of the suite, recorded from a 1982 BBC Radio 2, Folk on 2 special that was devoted to a live performance of the Suite.

He gave me his card and asked me to send him a copy as he didn't have a decent recording of the broadcast and couldn't get one out of the BBC.

Sadly, before I got around to sending it, I heard the news of his tragic and untimely death.

Since then I've often wondered what to do with this recording and I'm very glad that the Internet will now ensure its availability to anyone who wants it.

I recorded the two part broadcast on stereo TDK metal tape - the best available at the time - and it's very clear. I then recorded the tape into Adobe Audition as a WAV file which I converted to lossless FLAC files. I didn't use any noise-reduction filters as they tend to reduce treble clarity and I find that my brain soon filters out the background tape hiss.

I hope this stunning performance will stand as a tribute to Peter Bellamy - a truly great artist - and to the brave men who inspired this work - the generations of English mariners who "fed our sea for a thousand years".
======================

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 24 Nov 10 - 06:23 PM

Glad you got the FLAC version - from TheBox.bz I guess. Isn't it superb - played loudly - with acoustic headphones!!!

I haven't noticed any difference in tone as per one tape version running faster (or slower) than the other. And the version sold by Peter must have gone through a couple of copying processes; whereas the FLAC version is direct from the Folk on 2 Special broadcast.

Remembering the variables involved in playing cassette tapes I'm not surprised there's some differences!! But using Audacity it is possible to even up things - if one is so inclined.

There is one little wrinkle in the FLAC file 2. There's a 1 second drop out of the right track in 'On board a Man of War' at 13:11.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Working Radish
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 07:32 AM

using Audacity it is possible to even up things - if one is so inclined.

Absolutely - but the question is whether Itxlan's version is already at the right speed, in which case it doesn't need any adjusting (although my ears may need a bit). I'll have another listen.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 08:19 AM

I think Itxlan's version is brilliant. But then I am a little deaf on the high frequencies and am somewhat tonally challenged!!!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 10:10 AM

It's been an absolute pleasure listening to Itxlan's recording of the MES- thank you for making this lost treasure available. I hope the original masters are somewhere in the BBC archives - if not, thank goodness someone had the forsight to do a good quality home recording of the show... it may yet turn out to be the best copy in existance if it turns out the Beeb didn't archive the original.

Thanks again to to Suibhne for posting his recording in the first place and starting the trail off, and to CJB for making the link...

This is the sort of thing that can start to build up a head of steam for an official CD reissue...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 10:44 AM

Investigating further, I find there's (as far as my ears can tell) exactly half a tone's difference between the two: Suibhne's recording has We Have Fed Our Seas in C and Sir Patrick Spens in E, where Itxlan's has them in B and Eb respectively. My speculation that the original pitching (and speed) might have been somewhere in between the two seems to have been disproved - there isn't anywhere to go in between.

Wonderful stuff, although (as you can probably tell) I'm having to get used to the slower pace and deeper pitches!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Itxlan
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 11:46 AM

Yes, thanks to Suibhne for getting the ball rolling - I didn't realize he was a poster here and intended no disrespect with my comments about the gabbled effect that's evident to anyone who knows the songs well.

Most of the tapes I bought from Peter's gigs are of very poor quality, being copies of copies of copies and suffering from the consequent degradation of quality and accuracy.

The speed increase can easily be measured by comparing the timings of three versions of the first verse of "We have fed our sea for a thousand years", measuring from the first syllable of "We", to the final syllable of "Full".

Taking the song on CD 2 of Wake The Vaulted Echoes as a reference version (as it's an official release), the timing is: 1:03

The FLAC is 1:04

Suibhne's version is: 00:59

So there's a full 4 seconds difference in just a single verse.

Likewise, the first verse of The Death of Nelson on CD 2 of Wake The Vaulted Echoes (measured from the first syllable of "On", to the last syllable of "War"), is: 00:34.1

The FLAC is: 00:34.3

Suibhne's version is: 00:31

Again, there's a difference of 3 seconds in a single verse (it's much more over the entire song).

But the speed of Suibhne's version isn't constant. It accelerates even more noticably at certain points - the piano intro to Andrew Barton for example, sounds positively manic and the singing is a half-tone too high (as Pip Radish correctly observed of other songs).

For the most part these are bitter, introspective ballads and I think that makes PB's measured and reflective pace all the more essential to their correct interpretation.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:08 PM

I am in awe, sir, not to say greatly jealous of your timely purchase of WTVE! (I know I can always get the Ballads Of, but it's not the same...)

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:35 PM

I have no vested interest in this music other than a desire to enable people to hear something they may have missed out on by coming in when they did. The version I uploaded is a direct transfer of one of Peter Bellamy's home-made cassettes from 25 years ago at least. That it plays at all is miracle enough, but I offered it by way of pertinent lo-fi archaelogy in the absence (at the time) of anything better. I was well aware of the fluctuations in pitch, but felt this added to the charm of the original artefact; the only editing I did was to fix a loud pop at one point and fade it out the end which just cuts out on the Bellamy cassette. Personally, I think the lo-fi nature of this cassette stands as a moving testimony to the status PB enjoyed in his life-time - a man moved to effectively bootlegging his own recordings to sell on cheap, unbranded cassettes at his ever-dwindling gigs in the face of the terminal indifference of the folk scene as a whole. With respect of this, please, can any future discussion omit my name from the proceedings? Call it The Bellamy Cassette Edition, edited, no doubt, by his own fair hand.

Meanwhile, here's some equally low quality video footage from the Maritime England Suite + an incomplete rendition of The Liner She's A Lady from the Bellamy VHS I have in my keeping. The edits are as on the tape (Bellamy's??) & the quality likewise. If someone has got anything better, please, bring it on, otherwise - just enjoy it for what it is.

Peter Bellamy VHS Part Three : Two Sea Songs

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:43 PM

OK - here's a direct conversion from the FLAC files (joined - and sorry Jim L - I deleted the remaining clip of your link at the midway point).

Using Audacity I imported both FLAC files, joined them, edit / merged into mono the 1 second drop out on the right track at 13:11 in the second file, and then did a Save As MP3 (320Kbps).

The result is nearly as good - to my ears anyway - as the FLAC versions.

You can download the MP3 here:

http://www.mediafire.com/?c4gw4vwgqzh4h

I was going to upload the FLAC files too, however it seems that there is interest in re-issuing the whole thing on CD so I will leave the FLAC files where they are.

CJB

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:51 PM

Two questions re: Peter Bellamy VHS Part Three : Two Sea Songs

1/ how come part 3 - or were parts 1 & 2 the cassette version?

2/ was this VHS tape home produced, ripped from a BBC broadcast, or recorded as a show or folk club?

And many thanks indeed to Suibhne Astray for initiating this remarkable chain of discoveries and events.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 12:57 PM

One day I'll stop pi$$ing around and get things right. The link you need to The Maritime Suite is

http://www.mediafire.com/?g8of7eqz96t9f

Sorry about that.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:11 PM

1) It's Part Two because Parts One & Two of the VHS I put up on YouTube earlier - they're right there at the side.

2) As for the source, I've no idea - it's a mixed bag of all sorts of odds & ends, these sea songs redited with quite dodgy maritime stills (why?) so I doubt the BBC had a hand in it. The MES clip looks like a rehearsal rather than a performance - the only footage of Ursula Smith I've ever seen...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:17 PM

Sorry - Part Three...

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Phil Edwards
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:37 PM

Personally, I think the lo-fi nature of this cassette stands as a moving testimony to the status PB enjoyed in his life-time - a man moved to effectively bootlegging his own recordings to sell on cheap, unbranded cassettes at his ever-dwindling gigs in the face of the terminal indifference of the folk scene as a whole.

Yep. It's a historical document, unfortunately.

Many thanks, again, for making it - and the Youtube clips - available.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST,Itxlan
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 01:48 PM

Thank you so much for those videos, Suibhne Astray - especially the interview.

Although I consider PB the greatest folk singer of his day, I never knew him beyond a few brief chats at gigs and the interview was absolutely fascinating to watch. I tried to download an MP3 interview that someone here posted but the links were long dead, so that was the first interview with PM that I've ever seen. I owe you one!

As hard-core PB fans we both want the same thing - to see his work appreciated by the widest audience possible - and if you hadn't posted "The Bellamy Cassette Edition", CJB wouldn't have posted it on TheBox, I wouldn't have posted my recording and nor would I have discovered this forum and all the wonderful reminiscences of PB that I've just been reading in other threads.

I had no idea that he faced such hostility during his final years and was horrified and astonished to read of people getting up and walking out of his gigs.

For me he channeled the spirit of England's past like no other singer - except perhaps June Tabor at her best.

Thanks to CJB for posting an MP3 version of The Maritime Suite. I don't mind if anyone wants to post the FLACs on HTTP. They're out of the bottle now and any commercial release would be remastered from the original tape in much higher quality than my effort which was done on a domestic hi-fi to computer transfer.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 04:14 PM

Actually the master tape(s) have yet to be found, so the FLAC files may be the best we've got - so miracles do happen!!

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 04:29 PM

I know, I meant my cassette tape, which I suspect will yield a superior version when processed with professional equipment.

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 25 Nov 10 - 04:55 PM

For more on Peter see:

http://www.answers.com/topic/peter-bellamy

Subject: RE: Peter Bellamy: Maritime English Suite
From: Anglo
Date: 26 Nov 10 - 02:40 AM

I'd love a decent copy of this - here in the US. What is thebox.bz? Never heard of it. Is that what I have to join to download a decent-fi version? But the webpage seems to give no info. Pardon my transatlantic ignorance.