Atrax Records: TheSwarbStore: Atrax Records Releases: In The Club

Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol - 'In the Club'

£13.00 (inc. UK p&p) 

EUR 23.00 (inc. European p&p) / $21.00 (inc. worldwide p&p)

Click here for order details

Information; Track-Listing; Reviews etc.

Back to the SwarbStore: Atrax        Back to Atrax Records 

After Fairport Convention called it a day in 1979, Dave Swarbrick and Simon Nicol joined forces and spent the early eighties playing folk clubs throughout the country as an acoustic duo. Their repertoire was drawn from various sources - including Fairport's, Swarb's late seventies/early eighties solo albums and also several tracks that were individual to the duo. The acoustic duo proved popular and recorded three albums. Two of those, the 1981 live album 'Live at the White Bear', and the 1984 studio effort 'Close to the Wind', were re-issued a few years back on the Woodworm Records label. The third has never appeared in any format other than it's original, limited release cassette format.

Swarbrick & Nicol, The White Bear, Masham, Yorkshire 1981.

Cover of the original cassette issue

Now, nearly twenty years after it's original release, 'In the Club' has finally made it to CD on the Atrax Records label. The original eleven tracks have been remastered and in addition there are five new bonus tracks which are all previously unreleased on any format (including a stunning version of 'Flitter Dance/Peter O'Tavy/Mona's Delight/Hunt the Wren', as performed during Fairport Convention's 2001 Cropredy set by Swarb and Beryl Marriott). The CD comes complete with the original artwork but is fully repackaged and expanded with extra artwork, photographs and brand-new sleevenotes from Simon Nicol.

SPECIAL OFFER: Anyone ordering the new Swarbrick & Nicol CD can get a copy of 'In The Club' for just a tenner....yes....a mere £10.00. For US$ customers that's $17.00 (inc. p&p).

Track-Listing:

01. 79th’s Farewell/Atholl Highlanders/De’il in the Kitchen
02. Three Drunken Maidens
03. Young Black Cow/Lord Inchiquin
04. The Widow of Westmoreland’s Daughter
05. Si Bheag Si Mhor
06. Humours of Cappa/Swallowtail Reel
07. After the Thrill
08. Friar’s Britches/Lark in the Morning/Gravel Path/Leighton Buzzard Shuffle
09. Pittengardner’s Rant/The Floggin’
10. Planxty Morgan/Long Odds
11. Lord Haddo’s Favourite/Lady Mary Hayes’ Scotch Measure
12. Flitter Dance/Peter O’Tavy/Mona’s Delight/Hunt the Wren
13. The Hen’s March/The Four Poster Bed
14. Over the Lancashire Hills
15. Merry Boys of Greenland/Olifiord Jack/Willafiord
16. O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music

Sources:

Tracks 1 – 11: ‘In the Club’. A limited issue cassette sold at club gigs from 1982. Cat. No. SN 821. Recorded 1981 at Woodworm Studios, Barford St. Michael, Oxfordshire.
Tracks 12 & 13: Previously unreleased. From ‘Richard Digance & Friends’, Capital Radio, 19th April 1981
Track 14: Previously unreleased. Recorded live at the Stratford Festival, July 1984 by BRMB Radio
Tracks 15 & 16: Previously unreleased. Recorded live at Farningham Folk Club, Kent, 15th March 1983 and broadcast on BBC ‘Folk on Two’.

Reviews:

In The Club (Atrax Records 004) by Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol

In The Club (Atrax Records 004)
By
Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol

 Oh this’ll be an easy album to review I thought on finding the enclosed sleevenotes from Simon. But then it dawned on me, I wanted to contribute my own memories of the time – so here goes. As Simon states, this album was released after Fairport had decided to call it a day (Thursday if memory serves me well!) Anyhow, I first bought ‘In The Club’ when Simon announced it was available at one of their numerous appearances at The Half Moon in Putney. The cassette was duly stuck in the car player on the way back from the gig and I remember thinking then (and even now) that here was more than a souvenir of a great night out. I won’t list any favourite tracks, they’re all great apart from which why should I be preaching to the converted when most self-respecting folkies should already have this in their collection. From his notes again, Simon says that he and Swarb were the best at what they did and by God, they were! Both artists were and are consummate professionals. Dave’s sublime fiddle full of the cheeky charm of a teenager and Mr Nicol’s amazing guitar technique pulled off what would have taken a whole band to achieve. If you were there at the time, the nostalgia will wash over you. If you weren’t, I can only say you missed out on one of history’s finest hours. By the way, there’s five extra tracks which are all previously unreleased. What are you waiting for…?

Pete Fyfe - www.folking.com

 

Published in 'The Ledge' Magazine

DAVE SWARBRICK & SIMON NICOL - IN THE CLUB - ATRAX RECS 004

Quite simply this was the debut release from the duo as they were after the parting of the Fairport ways in 1979. Recorded at Woodworm in 1981, these tunes and songs will be familiar to nearly everyone. Some, including “Three Drunken Maidens”, and “The Widow Of Westmoreland’s Daughter” had featured in the Fairport repertoire while “The Atholl Highlanders”, and “79th’s Farewell to Gibraltar” are from Swarb’s solo albums. There are a few that were only performed by the duo, including the Eagles hit “After The Thrill”. Recorded live in the studio, they are spontaneous, with all the advantages of the studio added. The playing and singing are fresh and lively, you know what to expect really. All the tracks have been re-mastered, of course, for this CD debut, with the package including the original and new artwork and new sleeve notes by Simon Nicol.

The big bonus is the addition of five extra tracks, which are all previously unreleased. Taken from three different radio sessions, “The Flitter Dance” is from a Capital radio session in 1981, as is the “Hens March” medley. BRMB recorded the 1984 Stratford festival, from which comes “Over The Lancashire Hills”, which was to appear later on Simon’s solo album, with the final two sets of tunes being from a live recording made for BBC Folk on 2 in 1983.

Ian Burgess of Friends of Fairport

 

Dave Swarbrick & Simon Nicol, In The Club (Atrax, 2001)

Reviewed with 2 other releases (now unavailable)


These three very worthy albums fill in a noticeable gap in the issue of Dave Swarbrick's work on CD. Recent years have seen the reissue of albums from most aspects of his long and hugely influential career in English folk, from his early 60s work with the Ian Campbell Folk Group and his duo recordings with Martin Carthy, through his many years as mainstay with Fairport Convention to his albums with Whippersnapper and his plentiful session work.

With In The Club, the timeframe is moved forward a few years to 1982. Fairport had nominally and temporarily split in 1979, although previous members still worked together in various combinations and the band itself reformed fully in 1985. One of the acts to come out of this temporary retirement was the duo of Dave Swarbrick (violin, mandolin) and Simon Nicol (vocals, acoustic guitar). They worked together in this arrangement for a few years and released one studio album (Close To The Wind) and one live album (Live At The White Bear). Less well known was a cassette-only release that was only sold at gigs, the afore-mentioned In The Club. This was a studio-recorded collection of songs and tunes from their live repertoire, including some pieces from other albums re-arranged to fit the more basic arrangements necessitated by the two-man format, and some tracks not available anywhere else.


It has long been a sought-after item for Fairport collectors, and even those with aging copies of the original tape would surely welcome its final official CD release, especially since it contains five extra tracks, drawn from radio sessions and live performances.


This differs from the other two Atrax releases in that songs with vocals are included, although it is Nicol who does the singing; Swarb is content to play his heart out for the 70 minute playing time of the disc. Nicol's voice was in the early stages of the dramatic improvement it experienced in the 1980s, but is still warm and friendly and any roughness seems to suit the songs anyway. A couple of Fairport favourites are included in the form of "Three Drunken Maidens" and "The Widow Of Westmoreland's Daughter", sounding quite different in the more stripped-back arrangements but just as much fun as ever. "Over The Lancashire Hills" (one of the bonus tracks) would later appear on a Nicol solo album, while a real surprise is contained with a version of The Eagles' "After The Thrill." Here, it sounds like an excellent contemporary folk song, with a theme of failed love that many can relate to.


Nicol also proves to be an ideal accompanist to Swarbrick's masterful fiddling on the instrumental tracks. Many of these come from Swarb's solo albums, including those reviewed above, but are worth acquiring in both forms, as the contrasting arrangements make for quite different listening experiences. Predictably, there are the speed-fiddle tracks like "Friar's Britches / Lark In The Morning / Gravel Path / Leighton Buzzard Shuffle" alongside some really beautiful pieces such as a couple of Carolan tunes, the classic "Si Bheag Si Mhor" and "O'Carolan's Farewell To Music", altogether making for an impressive and varied collection. Nicol is no slouch either, as evidenced by some tasty playing, such as on "Planxty Morgan / Long Odds" which he performs solo.


You can just tell they are both having a great time, and it would be difficult to not join in on the atmosphere. Swarb in particular has a bit of fun improvising on some of the tunes, and the live version of "Hen's March / 4 Poster Bed" (another bonus track and Fairport favourite) is certainly what you could call loose, but still extremely enjoyable. Nicol provides new cover notes to this CD issue, detailing how the original cassette was put together, and he seems genuinely pleased for the album to be officially out in public again. He writes, "We hope that you will enjoy it, both for the nostalgia and for the spirit of the music." I don't know about the nostalgia as I wasn't in a position to see them live at the time, but the spirit of the music is as potent now as it ever was. Add this to the two new Swarbrick reissues and you have a trilogy of extremely entertaining and worthwhile CDs, put together with obvious care by Atrax. If you've read this far, I'd hazard a guess you're a fan of the style and the musicians involved. In which case, let's not be shy - you need these albums, simple as that.


Michael Hunter (also of Fiddlestix)

Last updated on 28 November 2002