Morris Medley

Mouresque/London Pride/So Selfish Runs the Hare/
Maid of the Mill/Sheriff's Ride

Albion Country Band

a medley of five Morris tunes.
Martin Carthy sings the tune in the middle, So Selfish Runs the Hare.


Oh, so selfish runs the hare
And so cunning runs the fox.
Who would think this little calf
Would grow to a noble ox?
To live among the briars
And to run among the thorns,
And die the death that his father did
With a large pair of horns.

Chorus:

Horns, large horns,
Horns, large horns,
And die the death that his father did
With a large pair of horns.

[Trad. arr. Simon Nicol / Martin Carthy / Ashley Hutchings]

Albion Sunrise

Albion Country Band

When the sun comes up in the morning
and you hear the dancing boys
Mother, leave your pots and pans,
sister, leave your toys.
If you have to break a camel's back
or pull the crowds apart
You'll find a way to get there when
that old time music starts.

Chorus:
Just down the street there's a rattling sound,
There's a country band playing hand me down.
And it's a jamboree.
It was in my father's father's time, they knew a rolling air,
And the Albion boys will show you how, they sang it everywhere.
And if you come along with us you're numbered as a friend
And the faded flower of England will rise and bloom again.

Just down the street there's a rattling sound,
There's a country band playing hand me down.
And it's a jamboree

The dancers standing three and three are a most illustrious sight;
If someone saw a better one then you surely know he lied.
You can hear the bells a-ringing as the singer calls them on,
They can dance away the night and day and never step it wrong

© copyright Richard Thompson 1973

Battle Of The Field

Battle Of The Field
The Albion Country Band

Island Records HELP 25 (LP, UK, 1976 (recorded 1973))

neered and produced by John Wood
Recorded at Sound Techniques Studio and Island Studio, St. Peter's Square, London
Album cover by Ian Logan Associates
Photography by Keith Morris

Martin Carthy, vocals, acoustic guitar;
Sue Harris, vocals, oboe, hammered dulcimer;
Ashley Hutchings, vocals, electric bass guitar;
John Kirkpatrick, vocals, anglo-concertina, button accordion, melodeon, electric piano;
Simon Nicol, vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, electric dulcimer, synthesiser;
Roger Swallow, drums, percussion

Dave Mattacks, percussion on Reaphook and Sickle;
Martin Nicholls, John Iveson, Colin Sheen and Paul Beer, sackbuts on Gallant Poacher

tracks

side one

Albion Sunrise
Morris Medley
* Mouresque
* London Pride
* So Selfish Runs The Hare
* Maid Of The Mill
* Sheriff's Ride
I Was A Young Man
New St George / La Rotta

side two

Gallant Poacher
Cheshire Rounds / The Old Lancashire Hornpipe
Hangèd I Shall Be
Reaphook And Sickle
Battle Of The Somme

The Albion Country Band

Roger Swallow, Simon Nicol, Sue Harris

Martin Carthy, Ashley Hutchings, John Kirkpatrick

The Albion Country Band was formed in April 1972 by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span founding member Ashley Hutchings initially to accompany singer Shirley Collins on her 'No Roses' album. Dave Mattacks from Fairport Convention was recruited, and later that year Richard Thompson and Linda Thompson also joined for a short tour.

Ashley was keen to make a permanent band from these musicians and the first attempt included Royston Wood, Steve Ashley and Sue Draheim in the line-up. This was not to be as successful as had been hoped and a second Albion Country Band was formed. This group included Martin Carthy, John Kirkpatrick, Sue Harris, Roger Swallow and Simon Nicol. The band split in August 1973 and retrospectively released their sole album, Battle of the Field, on Island Records