3 October : The Rout of the Blues

Robin and Barry Dransfield swaggered out of Yorkshire brimming with talent and attitude. They almost got famous a couple of times, blew it both times, and left us a clutch of superb albums both together and solo.

I haven’t pinned down the original release date of Rout of the Blues but it was reviewed in Melody Maker dated 3 October 1970 (my 11th birthday), so that’s good enough for me.

Melody Maker made this its folk album of the year for 1970 and there’s no point in arguing: it’s magnificent. The ten tracks are either traditional or tunes wholly or partly composed by the brothers (including Tapestry: described as an excellent opportunity to experiment with a double tracked bowed psaltery.) Along the way they take in a variant of Scarborough Fair dating from before 1893 that’s very different to the Martin Carthy/Simon and Garfunkle version.

Alas, alas, alas, as with so many released on the Trailer and Leader labels, the album has been locked up in rights disputes for decades and does not appear on streaming services or, as a whole album at least, on YouTube. So you either have to head to Discogs for vinyl or pick up a CD from Harrogate via Amazon. For reasons I’m not going into here, hardcore folkies are reluctant to do the latter.

Here are the opening and closing tracks from the album.