Mellow Candle – "Swaddling Songs" (Deram – SDL 7) 1972

 Not all Irish Folk is about pixie dancing,and playing the same tunes with different titles on a penny whistle. Here in France,if you play any Folk Music, even Fairport Convention, the French cannot help themselves from exclaiming with great joy, "Ahhh! La Musique Irelandaise".

It's all Irish music to them,from Steeleye Span,Jethro Tull to A.L.Lloyd and the Watersons. Which is rich coming from a place that has precisely zero traditional music,except for some funny stuff from Brittany,whose very name is a big clue as to where that came from.

Mellow Candle, although not 100% Irish, were Ireland's answer to Sandy Denny's Fairport Convention, and were almost as good as The Pentangle......someone said.

They also had a few under-age teenage girlies doing the vocal duties.....whoops...nearly said oral duities then, for which I apologise profusely. Alison Williams and Clodagh Simonds,provide fair Denny and McShee impressions ,which could have ,in a more just world, won them the accolade of Fourth Best Folk-Rock group in the UK...and Ireland,and beyond.

Clodagh Simonds,was also the chief Songwriter, contributing to most of the tracks on this LP,enabling them to steer clear from that quagmire of Rocked up traditional tunes.

And, of course, Mellow Candle was snuffed out by that equally traditional Rock malady of near zero album sales.Which is a pity for one of the most consistent Progressive Folk albums ever made....100% prog with no terrible Rock'n'Roll,Bob Dylan, or jazz covers that blighted the career of Sandy and Fairport.And even better....No bloody String Sections.....just some Mellotron,a fact which is a recommendation in itself is it not?

Tracklist:

1.Heaven Heath
2.Sheep Season
3.Silver Song
4.The Poet And The Witch
5.Messenger Birds
6.Dan The Wing
7.Reverend Sisters
8.Break Your Token
9.Buy Or Beware
10.Vile Excesses
11.Lonely Man
12.Boulders On My Grave

DOWNLOAD something astonishingly mellow HERE!

Stump - " The Complete Peel Sessions 1986-88" (a Die or DIY? Compilation)

Stump were exactly the kind of group that Peel would love. Quirky, over-clever, slightly irritating,and popular on the campus, primarily with the geekier end of the university chess club.
For some reason I can't remember Peel playing 'The Cardiacs' at all?....they tick all the Peel Band boxes twice over!?
Naturally, Stump did four sessions before they were drowned in infancy by the moozik biz......and here they are......:

Track Listing:

01 Kitchen Table [26-01-86]
02 Orgasm Way [26-01-86]
03 Grab Hands [26-01-86]
04 Buffalo [26-01-86]
05 Tupperware Stripper [24-06-86]
06 Big End [24-06-86]
07 Satisfaction [24-06-86]
08 Bit-Part Actor [24-06-86]
09 Living it Down [13-01-87]
10 Eager Bereaver [13-01-87]
11 Alcohol [13-01-87]
12 Bone [13-01-87]
13 The Song's Remains [13-09-88]
14 Thelma [13-09-88]
15 Seven Sisters [13-09-88]
16 Straight And Narrow [13-09-88]

DOWNLOAD the remains of a once noble tree HERE!

Stump ‎– "Quirk Out" (Stuff Records ‎– STUF/U2) 1986

Then Stump mysteriously appeared in a high gloss sleeved mini-album on some unknown label called 'Stuff Records'. Obviously to anyone with half a brain cell, this label was a crass attempt by major label wankers Ensign to try and resemble an Independent set up so as not to alienate Stump's fan base......which it did. They even had it distributed by The Cartel, so a stealthy,but doomed, effort was indeed made.
The catalogue number was good anyway....Stuff U2!
The tunes are the usual tremolo heavy, herky jerky, slidey quirk out's that the group were synonymous with. The intensely irritating 'Buffalo' is included, along with a decent tune that could have been written by a person skilled in the art of classic songcraft, "Our Fathers".If there was a Beefheart equivalent to this tune, it would be from fan base losing "Blue Jeans and Moon Beams" rather than fan base rebuilding "Doc at the Radar Station"; and benefits greatly from a total lack of.... 'Quirk Out'! 

Tracklist:

A1 Tupperware Stripper
A2 Our Fathers
A3 Kitchen Table
B1 Buffalo
B2 Everything In Its Place
B3 Bit Part Actor

DOWNLOAD and stuff U2 HERE!

Stump ‎– "Mud On A Colon EP" (Ron Johnson Records ‎– ZRON 6) 1986

Peculiar London Based Anglo-Irish combo who sounded like Captain Beefheart's Magic Band fronted by Jimmy Cricket. Slightly annoying and 'clever clever'; these show-offs nearly made it as a chart band!?....They signed to a 'proper' record label and consequently were never heard of again.....the same old story. The fact that they were snapped up by one of the shitter 'proper' record labels (Ensign?!) couldn't have helped their prospects for lucrative longevity.
The original singer was none other than that irritating bloke from The Shrubs, Nick Hobbs, who was sacked for being 'too serious'!? Then he got replaced by the slightly less irritating Mick Lynch (who died earlier this year, RIP).
An EP is about all i can take in one sitting, so luckily Ron Johnson didn't inflict a full album on us...leave that to Ensign.
It didn't help that they used a fretless bass! One of thee most awful instruments ever devised, alongside the soprano sax, and the Yamaha DX-7.
Stump, as a whole, were a kind of hip novelty band, who one struggled to take seriously, even though they weren't at all funny(?)....maybe Nick Hobbs should have stayed on? 

Tracklist:

A1 Orgasm Way
A2 Ice The Levant
B1 Grab Hands
B2 55-0-55

DOWNLOAD that mud from your colon HERE!