EARLIER RECORDINGS

While at Bretton Hall College Mike Levon recorded a live folk evening, made it into an LP, BAR-ONE, and sold ninety nine copies.

The BAR-ONE LP was very long, (one hour), and thus suffered from a very low level of sound. There are few outstanding moments on it at all - it was a fairly ordinary folk evening with several embarrassing so-called funny songs. However, Mike sold all 99 copies. BAR-ONE was made with a blue label which just indicated the track numbers on each side, and a plain white unprinted sleeve.

No master tapes of this album exist and so no material from it is included in the WORKS series, except for a very short piece at the start of LOOSE ROUTES 1 (HOLYGROUND THE WORKS : VOLUME 10) taken from the vinyl disc.

CROSS-SECTION also sold 99 copies, and boasted a two colour sleeve design by Mike Levon. It had five tracks :

I DON'T BELIEVE YOU : an electric folk rock version of Dylan's song with Mike on drums
WITH GOD ON MY SIDE : sung by Jane Westlake
THE COBBLER : a very traditional folk song (not to be released)
BLUES : a guitar blues by John Williams
DON'T THINK TWICE : a folk rock version by Terry McCann

All, except THE COBBLER and BLUES, will be included in THE WORKS series.

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Mike thought this would be the last album he would be able to make and sell as he would lose not only the contact with Bretton musicians when he left college that Summer, but he would also lose his ready made customers, thus the title borrowed from the folk song of the same name.

The Adam Room was a truly beautiful space to record in. It had a lovely natural reverberation which can be heard on several of the tracks, especially LA LA GIRL and BELLS OF RHYMNEY. The Kennel Block was a long upstairs room, stone and rafters, with a small stage at one end. Mike's bedroom in College was about 8 foot long and 6 foot wide.

Steve Ringsell was a friend of Shirley's and thus got to know Mike. Mike can't now remember what he did! - although he does accompany Bob Hart on one track of the album.  Chris Barber painted the cover art from a photograph of Chris Coombs playing his guitar. The photograph was taken by Bernard Crooks. Chris and Pete get a thank you because they are now associates of Holyground and helped out in all sorts of ways to get THE WORKS series off the ground.

Pete says "Arriving at Bretton, an established rock bassist from Birmingham, I gave up both rock and the bass, preferring to spend my time playing guitar and banjo in the College jazz band. As virtually all of Holyground musicians were drawn from the college folk or rock scene I failed to appear on the earliest recordings.  However, after leaving college I gravitated towards the drunken hedonism that was the post college folk scene and played many a long and lively evening accompanying Dave Nuttall.  I also joined Throb as a guitarist in 1967 just after they had recorded on NUMBER NINE BREAD STREET, staying with them until they broke up and then I set off on the overland trail to India".

Pete also says "You might also like to add that while at Bretton I played a blues in the wonderfully named 'non-musicians concert'. "  (This was for students who didn't 'do' music as their main course). Chris played in this too, so that says a lot about their music!

Chris says "I started recording with the legendary Glyn Johns ( Rolling Stones, Eagles, etc.). Having been very much involved with the 60's folk revival, (appearing for ITV with a folk trio), opera, (performing  with  the London Opera Group), choral music etc. in South London, an argument with Paul Simon in an Epsom folk club prompted a change of musical direction, a move to Yorkshire and a fresh start. It was here that I met Mike Levon. Mike encouraged me to write my own material, and provided both reason and wherewithal to record it . . . independent record production with Mike as engineer / producer. This at last allowed me to straddle my musical influences, writing and recording a psychedelic blend of classical folk rock. It was 1966".

ORIGINAL ARTWORK

The cost of colour printing meant that most Holyground albums were in black and white. An early exception was CROSS- SECTION which had two colour printing. For the cover of LAST THING ON MY MIND Mike Levon, with Chris Coombs' help, asked friends to paint a white poster colour image of both the lettering and the image of the singer. This was painted on black paper and printed, also on black paper. The size was limited so it didn't fill the LP cover horizontally - two white strips were left down each side when the cover artwork was glued on. The image on the CD is taken from the original front cover art, but with the luxury of colour now!
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The back cover of the original album was a photocopied sheet with poems, song list and credits. This was also glued on to the plain white card sleeve. A photocopied booklet of the words was included.

The label, like BAR-ONE was just a plain blue. Mike's original family name appears here - he changed it from O'Connor to Levon, (after Levon Helm, the drummer with the Band), in 1970. No attempt was made to give the record a label or label design. Mike used the design of the company making the pressings.

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THE SONGS

LAST THING ON MY MIND
written by Mike Levon and Chris Coombs
Chris Coombs  vocal, guitar, harmonica

the first song ever written by either Mike or Chris.  Mike wrote the words to fit the title for the album which he'd already chosen,
the album he thought would be his last!

Mike says : "My recollection is that this was the first track I recorded for this album. I had always intended it to be the first track you heard as well. Chris was an obvious choice of co-writer and singer for this, and GOLD OF THE LONG GIRLS, although after that it was a while before I wrote with him again - on Gagalactyca."

Russ Little was a double bass player as well as a guitarist and singer. He can be heard on singing along in the background on WHEN THE SHIP COMES IN as well as this solo.

Kev Slater brought the students in Bretton Hall at the time many songs from Ireland and other folk traditions. This one is a lovely lilting song, with Dave Nuttall on lead vocal and Kev accompanying him.

Dave Nuttall says "There are many versions and titles of this song but the British whalers of the late 18th century were the first to adopt this ballad and it soon became a favourite with the other seamen. The earliest version goes back to 1700 and the ship's actual name was 'The Lion'. She was in the charge of a Commander Speedicut. The song became a 'forebitter' shanty which told a story while the sailors sat on the quayside beneath the 'forebitter' or 'sharp end' of the boat. This was in contrast to the 'halyard' or capstan shanties which were sung in rhythm to accompany the work of hauling sail or pulling rope around the capstan. The song was published as a blackletter ballad before 1725."

Bob came to Bretton in 1965, a year after Mike. Quite when they first met is uncertain, but they were soon friends and Bob ended up with more songs on this album than any other singer, and all of them original compositions. Bob's friend Nettie sang on this one, which was probably recorded in Mike's bedroom.

Lesley and Mike, and the rest of those studying English, had been in the Lake District as part of their course the previous summer and returned eager to record some songs. They went straight up to one of the music rooms in the College's Music Block and recorded all day in a tiny room. With both of them unwashed for a week the room was not too sweet-smelling; but the singing was great  - this is one track from that session.

Below is a photo of some of the 'English group' in the lakes - the house is the one they stayed in and wrote poetry. Mike wrote the beginnings of THE GOLD OF THE LONG GIRLS here. Lesley Guest may be one of the group in the background.

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IT AIN'T ME BABE
written by Bob Dylan
Terry McCann  vocal    John Williams  guitar

John Williams appears on WHERE IT'S AT later that summer; Terry had appeared on CROSS-SECTION singing another Dylan song with Marilyn Collins, who sings on this album, on guitar. This song was recorded in the student bar: the Kennel Block.

A traditional folk song, but it rocks! Recorded in Kennel Block, whose floor can be heard resounding to the foot tapping.

Dave Nuttall says "This song tells of the illicit preparation of 'poitin', (pronounced poosheen'), or mountain dew, from the cereal crops. The song was written by Samuel Lover (1797-1869), the son of a stockbroker. The track was recorded in Kennel Block on a bright sunny afternoon. The 'Motley Crew' singing it were friends who usually sang together when under the influence of alcohol. Kev Slater was the instigator, and the only one studying music, so it's all his fault!"

Dave can still be heard singing in Wakefield pubs and folk events in the area.

Mike says : "Unlike many recordings I can remember this one clearly. Perhaps it was because of the snare drum - I was a drummer then myself. Ian squatted in the only space in my room that wasn't taken up by the bed, and Marilyn and John as I recall sat on the bed itself. I had the tape machine on a coffee table and Ann Calvin-Thomas, who as I remember it I got to know through Bob Hart, was also there. She was often around when I was recording this LP. I am fairly sure it is her voice which intrudes on the start! I loved this song (it always seemed to evoke Bretton's brick built student buildings) and the recording is one of my favourites".

Somewhat shortened from the original four and a half minutes, partly because of severe tape drop out and partly because it did go on a bit! Also recorded in Mike's bedroom.

A sharp snapping vocal from John, somewhat in contrast to the other track he played on on the original album: THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE, the tape of which is not good enough for reissue; one of three tracks omitted from the WORKS version

Mike says : "I love this track. Chris abandoned his 'Dylan' voice for this one and let rip. The reverb from the Adam Room and the thunderous double bass of Russ Little make this one of my favourite recordings ever!"

Another of the tracks recorded by Mike during the Sunday session when he and Lesley had only just returned from the lakes. Recorded in the Music Block, part of which is just visible in the middle of the photo below of Bretton's Camelia House.

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JUST A LITTLE RAIN
written by Malvina Reynolds
Terry McCann  vocal    John Williams  guitar

Recorded at the same session as IT AIN'T ME BABE, in Kennel Block. It is just possible that these two tracks were recorded live. Mike seems to think they were, and it might account for the extra hiss they have unlike any other track on LAST THING ON MY MIND.

Recorded in the Adam Room, the different reverberation levels were achieved by placing people nearer or further from the two mikes. Bob was quite close. The percussion was borrowed from the Music Block. There is a half stifled shout on the loud bit towards the end : this was Mike trying to 'conduct' the percussion!

Russ taking front stage again - a lovely trickley guitar on this one.

Mike says : "I can remember the blood dripping down as the tape rolled. The bedspread was a medium grey colour so the blood spots became black as they landed. On reflection this is so much like early punk singing and playing from the late seventies and early eighties: just hammering out the chords."

IN THE EARLY MORNING RAIN was the next track originally, and then three tracks which have been left off for technical reasons: BLUE; CUSHIE BUTTERFIELD and THE FIRST TIME EVER I SAW YOUR FACE.

Mike says : "Tape dropout (missing bits of sound) is one of the technical problems of working from tapes over thirty years old which were only recorded on semi-professional or domestic machines in the first place. This track was one of the worst examples - you could actually see through the tape at the start in two places. Luckily it was only on the beginning, and touches of sea and wind effects allowed Chris's jokey start and the beginning of the song to be at least listenable".

Recorded in the Adam Room again, a lovely haunting track which completed the original album.

This must have been recorded during the preceding summer. Mike's tape machines were two track and as recordings were usually in mono both sides of the tape were used. This track and several others have be found lurking on 'side two' of other tapes, thus the missing start.

Mike says : "One of my all-time favourite songs. This brings it all back - the candles, the wine and beer, the late night company - you can feel the dark".

Dave Nuttall says "Wild Mountain Thyme, or Mountain Thyme, or Will Ye Go Lassie Go: there is a Scottish ballad which incorporates the 'Go Lassie Go' part of this song, but its tune is completely different. This is beyond doubt an Irish song, probably hailing from the northern part of the country. The McPeake family of musicians from Belfast did much to popularise this lovely song. Other ballads use the symbol of 'thyme' to denote female virginity being taken away when the 'thyme' was gathered.

The song was controversially used to promote Scotland in recent years in TV commercials, until it was pointed out, by the Irish, that the song was traditionally from Ireland!

At the time of recording, this song was regarded by many Bretton Students as a kind of anthem. It was traditionally led by me to end an evening of folk music, either in Bretton, or in Moodies Bar in Wakefield; (Number Nine Bread Street was Moodies address: now the rear of the Pizza Hut). In Moodies the almost ritualistic singing of the song (and the chorus by all the assembled company) was at the insistence, or request, of David and Gladys Sheard, landlord and landlady of Moodies Bar, and great patrons of folk music at the time."

two tracks from the E.P. Cross-section (1965)

Making CROSS-SECTION after the success of BAR ONE was a brave move. Whereas it was easy to see why 99 students in a college of only 600 might want BAR ONE, a live recording, as a memento; there was no guarantee that 99 would buy an E.P. with five tracks on especially as they ranged from electric folk rock to a very traditional song. Mike designed the cover, a strange set of  rectangles with rounded corners, some magenta coloured, some black.

Strangely enough Jane didn't appear on LAST THING ON MY MIND, although she was featured on CROSS-SECTION and on the E.P. WHERE IT'S AT which followed LAST THING. She was well known in College for singing this song.

This song, unaccompanied and plaintive, emphasises the eclectic nature of CROSS-SECTION, (the title was quite literal - a cross section of the music being played by Bretton Students at the time - well, at least, Mike's view of that!).

LONDON
written by Chris Coombs (to words by William Blake)
Chris Coombs  vocal, guitar, harmonica

Mike and Chris can't remember exactly when this was recorded; Chris had wanted to set Blake's words to a tune for a while.

Mike had written the original poem in the last summer he was at Bretton.

Chris Coombs says "Mike told me he was trying to write a poem in which each word started with the last letter of the word before."

Although Mike can no longer remember this, the first line of the song, and the original poem, does do this in places :
"all long goes summer now and long girls sleep". The original poem is reproduced here, although Mike now prefers the cut down song version heard on the CD.

Bretton Hall, 1966. Mike took this photo; one of the cars
belonged to the father of his girlfriend, (now Shirley Levon).

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1	LAST THING ON MY MIND	released January 2001
2	NUMBER NINE BREAD STREET	not yet released
3	A TO AUSTR	not yet released
4	ASTRAL NAVIGATIONS	scheduled for early 2003
5	GAGALACTYCA	released January 2001
6	JUMBLE LANE	scheduled for early 2003
7	ODE by BLUE EPITAPH	scheduled for early 2003
8	THE LEGEND OF THE KINGFISHER	scheduled for early 2003
9	TEARS ON THE CONSOLE	not yet released
10	LOOSE ROUTES 1	released 2002
11	LOOSE ROUTES 2	released 2002
12	ELECTROTYPE	released February 2001

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© 2001 Holyground