C.O.B - MOYSHE McSTIFF LP ORIG 1972 POLYDOR FOLK MILL

£ 418

$ 554

£ 418 Sold For

Oct 8, 2008 Sold Date

Sep 28, 2008 Start Date

£ 200 Start price

8 Number Of Bids

Great Britain Country Of Seller

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Description

Clive Palmer is one of the great unsung figures in British folk, and the two albums he made with C.O.B. are two of the most mysterious and moving ever made on this island.

In 1970 he drifted down to Cornwall to have a little think.

There he fell in with fellow musicians 'Whispering' Mick Bennett and 'Little' John Bidwell - and, perhaps more importantly, Ralph McTell. McTell was under the management of Jo Lustig, who was keen for him to be a producer as well as performer. Therefore he was allowed to make an LP with his friends, who (at Lustig's behest) called themselves Clive's Original Band, the better to capitalise on Palmer's String Band connection - a galling imposition he'd presumably also had to suffer in the Famous Jug Band.

Over the summer of 1971, they wrote and rehearsed their masterpiece, 'Moyshe McStiff and the Tartan Lancers of the Sacred Heart', an album so densely referential and emotionally naked that you can never quite pin down what it's about or tire of it.

Despite the band's moniker, the album is dominated by the extraordinary heartfelt and raw singing of Mick Bennett, surely one of the most overlooked musicians in the history of modern folk. His impassioned delivery lends a tragic urgency to the songs, supported by note-perfect musicianship, that makes it absolutely compelling from start to finish. The songs are, as I have said, somewhat inscrutable - from the portentous, Old Testamental majesty of 'Lion of Judah' to the simple beauty of 'O Bright-Eyed One', the fragility of 'Solomon's Song' to the joyous refrain of 'Chains of Love' and the unbelievably moving 'Martha and Mary', it sustains an oddly medieval, resigned and sorrowful atmosphere without ever resolving itself into anything easily categorisable.

'Moyshe McStiff...' appeared on the bizarre 'Polydor Folk Mill' imprint in 1972 (somehow linked to the TV show 'Pebble Mill', it appears) in an extravagant, fragile and rather kitsch gatefold sleeve depicting St. George slaying the dragon. It too failed to sell, and is now one of the rarest and most prized artefacts of the 'acid-folk' subgenre, Its title, incidentally, jokingly refers to Bennett's mixed Jewish and Scottish parentage .

'Moyshe McStiff' has been interpreted as a song-cycle concerning the emotional and spiritual trials of a Crusader, but this is certainly not clear-cut. Undoubtedly there is a serious and profound spirituality pervading it, but it's too disparate to be dismissed as a straight 'concept album'. Suffice it to say, though, that I have never heard an album of such rich and moving resignation, and I've never played it to anyone without their instantly capitulating.

THIS MEGA RARE LP ON POLYDOR 2383161 FROM 1972 IS NOW IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. I WILL GIVE A VERY DETAILED GRADING-OVERALL THE RECORD HAS A GOOD SHEEN AND HAS NOT BEEN PLAYED VERY MUCH SIDE ONE - THREE TINY HAIRLINE MARKS ON THE RUN IN TO TRACK ONE- NOT AFFECTING PLAY, THE OTHER TRACKS ARE CLEAN WITH NO MARKS. THE LABEL IS CLEAN WITH NO SPINDLE WEAR SIDE TWO-REALLY CLEAN AND SHINY WITH NO MARKS ON ANY OF THE TRACKS 2383161 A1/B1 STAMPED IN RUN OFF GROOVES

THE COVER- INSIDE THE GATEFOLD IS CLEAN AND CRISP THE INNER SPINE IS GOOD.

THE OUTER COVER WAS NOT LAMINATED BUT MADE OF SOFT CARDBOARD. IT HAS A FEW AGE DISCOLOURATION PATCHES,THE SPINE EDGE IS READABLE WITH NO SPLITS OR TEARS.THE COVER DOES HAVE LIGHT EDGWEAR, NOTHING MAJOR BUT SHOULD BE MENTIONED.THE TOP EDGE CORNER HAS A SLIGHT DINGE ON THE CORNER. THERE ARE NO TEARS OR MARKS DUE TO STICKER ROMOVAL. OVERALL THE COVER IS IN REALLY VERY GOOD CONDITION, IT WAS NEVER AN EASY COVER TO KEEP IMMACUALTE AS IT WAS MADE OF A SOFTER CARDBOARD THAT WAS VERY PRONE TO WEAR. FORTUNATELY THIS COPY SURVIVED IN PRETTY GOOD SHAPE.

PLEASE CONTACT ME FOR MORE DETAILED PICTURES OF THE COVER

TRACKS LISTING

SHEBAS RETURN

LET IT BE YOU

SOLOMANS SONG

ELEVEN WILLOW

I TOLD HER

OH BRIGHT EYED ONE

CHAIN OF LOVE

PRETTY KERRY

MARTHA AND MARY

HEART DANCER