MIDWINTER
"The Waters of Sweet Sorrow"
members:
Jill Child
Paul Corrick
Ken Saul
tracklist:- Sanctuary Stone
- To Find A Reason
- The Skater
- Scaborough Fair
- The Oak Tree Grove
- Dirge
- Maids And Gentlemen
- The Waters Of Sweet Sorrow
- All Things Are Quite Silent
- The Two Sisters
- Winter Song
I adore this lovely, unassuming album. The lyrics are poetic. The vocals are sincere and sometimes melancholy on this album. The songs are about love, the longing for love. There is a simple beauty in the sound of a folk instruments, and they employ almost all of them like the acoustic guitar, mountain dulcimer, hammer dulcimer,banjo, auto harp, and recorder. And the musicianship is excellent.
The band formed in 1972 at a Christmas party at the Great Yarmouth folk club. The two asked Jill Child to join. They did some touring they did a final concert in 1974. They had opportunity to do some recording and did a demo tape, which was stored away until Ken Saul rediscover it in his attic. The album was released in 1993 on the Kissing Spell label. I think it would appeal to any one who enjoy Traditional Folk, Psychedelic Folk and bands like Pentangle, or America. The album can be found on Spotify.
Sanctuary Stone Starts with dual acoustic guitars playing a melody which sound like a tune from the Tudor period. Then the guitars are soon accompanied by a very heavy grunty sounding bass. The percussion is simply a tambourine.
To Find A Reason The singer reminds me a lot of Bert Jansch. A guitar duet with a finger picking guitar and a single melody pick out on the other, and occasionally recorder.
The Skater Jill sings She accompanied by a Country Mountain Dulcimer and a jaw harp, and at the end of the song tapping on the guitar and a recorder.
Scaborough Fair the group sings unaccompanied standard folk song.
The Oak Tree Grove Jill sings on this. Some nice guitar work too.
Dirge An instrumental song with a recorder and what sounds like a hammer dulcimer.
Maids And Gentlemen A duet with Jill and one of the guys. An electric guitar and bass some Psychedelic jamming.
The Waters Of Sweet Sorrow It is the title track, and it's my favorite. This song is so lovely. Jill sings on it, and with Ken and Paul some exquisite Folk guitar music.
All Things Are Quite Silent Jill sings on this track. The song has a banjo and auto harp. I am not sure what the other is, from the sound of it, it could be a zither, perhaps another instrument.
The Two Sisters The male singer sound very much like Bert Jansch on this track. It the only time I recall the fuzz guitar being used, it's reminiscent of Sandman by America.
Winter Song Jill sings on this track. Starts off with a simple arpeggio and harmonics. There is also what sounds like a bowed double bass, or maybe an electric bass with volume swells.