PLAINSONG ~ Reinventing Richard FLED 3098
PLAINSONG – Iain Matthews, Andy Roberts & Mark Griffiths – one of our very favourite ensembles return with a new album performing the music of songwriter, author and counter-culture icon Richard Fariña.
Richard Fariña (March 8, 1937 – April 30, 1966) – confidante of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Thomas Pynchon – was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident fifty years ago. He is largely remembered for two magical albums recorded with Mimi (younger sister of Joan Baez) which helped to create folk-rock – Celebrations for a Grey Day (1965) chosen by Robert Shelton of the New York Times as one of the ten best folk albums of the year, and Reflections in a Crystal Wind (1965). Fariña’s debut novel Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me was published in 1966.
Plainsong – founded by Iain Matthews and Andy Roberts in 1972 – have championed Fariña’s songwriting since the group’s inception. With Reinventing Richard they have produced a classic album that imagines how his songs might have sounded if written and first recorded in a 21st century electro/acoustic setting. Ever inventive and sonically stunning, Reinventing Richard is destined to be judged amongst the very best of 2015.
Release date : 11th September 2015
“It was never our intention for this to be a Plainsong album, but it makes so much sense.” Iain Matthews
track list: 1 The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Prelude) 2 Pack Up Your Sorrows 3 Sell-Out Agitation Waltz 4 One Way Ticket 5 Another Country 6 Lemonade Lady 7 Mainline Prosperity Blues 8 The Falcon 9 Almond Joy 10 Hard Loving Loser 11 Michael, Andrew And James 12 Children Of Darkness 13 Reflections In A Crystal Wind 14 Sombre Winds* 15 The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Conclusion)
* Sombre Winds is a previously unrecorded Fariña song.