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Acclaimed solo singer and member of the Young Tradition, Peter Bellamy carried the banner of traditional singing very high indeed. Himself a traditionalist and perfectionist, he was ultimately dissatisfied with his ability to popularise of the people music. To put it bluntly he had wanted the Young Tradition to be as popular as The Rolling Stones. He made about 15 solo albums, and produced others (of which The Transports is the best known). To call his music simply folk doesn't do it justice. It was ballads, shanties, cowboy songs, hymns, blues and hollers and the occasional contemporary piece. But it all came to an abrupt end when, in a particularly dark trough of despair, he committed suicide. (September 1991). You can read his orbituary at the Dirty Linen site.

I like this quote from Martin Carthy, his friend and collaborator, taken from the 1992 notes on the CD re-issue of Both Sides Then.

I feel that the only person successfully to accompany Peter Bellamy was Peter Bellamy.  To do so, he hacked out a totally unique style on concertina and occasional guitar, that was a triumph.  Singing, however, remained his ruling passion, and his belief in the importance of improvisation led him, when in full flow, to flights that were truly awesome in their scope, daring and execution.

See also: Heather Wood's home page, which covers the Young Tradition, and yet more info is at Rykodisc's Hall of Records and at Camsco Artists

There used to be a general absence of material on The Net on Peter Bellamy, but thank to the Fol-De-Rol site a discography has been available on this site for some time. 

Now that a  Peter Bellamy Site  finally exists, this page is largely redundant. Check out the new site at http://www.bens.connectfree.co.uk/pb/FIRST.HTM

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Albums

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
YOUNG TRADITION in the group The Young Tradition		1966 1996	Trans- atlantic	TRA 142 ESMCD409	LP and

01    Byker Hill 02    Bold Fisherman 03    Betsy the Serving Maid 04    Henry the Poacher 05    Lyke Wake Dirge 06    Banks of Claudy 07    Innocent Hare 08    Dives and Lazarus 09    Derry Down Fair 10    Truth Sent From Above 11    Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
SO CHEERFULLY ROUND in the group The Young Tradition		1967 1996	Trans- atlantic	TRA 155 ESMCD409	LP and

12    Daddy Fox 13    The Season Round 14    The Bold Dragoon 15    Watercress O 16    The Old Miser 17    The Foxhunt 18    Knight William 19    Single Mans Warning 20    Pretty Ploughboy 21    The Hungry Child 22    Whitsuntide Carol

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
GALLERIES in the group The Young Tradition		1968 1996	Trans- atlantic	TRA 172 ESMCD461	LP and

01    Ductia 02    The Barley Straw 03    What If A Day 04    The Loyal Lovers 05    Stones in My Passway 06    Idumea 07    The Hushbandman and the Serving Men 08    The Rolling of the Stones 09    The Bitter Withy 10    The Banks of the Nile 11    Wondrous Love 12    Mediaeval Mystery Tour 13    Upon A Bough 14    Ratcliff Highway 15    The Brisk Young Widow 16    The Pembroke Unique Ensemble 17    John Barleycorn 18    Agincourt Carol 19    Chicken On A Raft 20    Randy Dandy 21    Fire Maringo 22    Hanging Johnny 23    Bring Em Down 24    Haul On the Bowline

The original album Galleries was re-issued in vinyl as Galleries Revisited, then re-issued on a double CD with No Relation. No Relation is a 1977 recording by Heather Wood and Royston Wood : two-thirds of the Young Tradition. Although not mentioned in the credits for any particular song, Peter Bellamy was present at some of the recording sessions, as noted by Heather Wood in her 1996 inlay notes. Royston Wood was killed in a car crash, so Heather is the only surviving member of the Young Tradition. The Galleries vinyls end with track 18, but the CD re-issue has tracks 19–24, the sea shanties from the 1967 Extended-Play vinyl Chicken on a Raft TRA EP164. There is also a vinyl entitled The Young Tradition Sampler TRA SAM13 and this contains all the tracks from EP164, plus The Innocent Hare / The Whitsuntide Carol / Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth / The Banks of the Claudy / Byker Hill / Daddy Fox / The Fox Hunt / The Lyke wake Dirge.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
MAINLY NORFOLK		1968	Xtra	XTRA1060	LP

01   The German Musicianer   02   Geordie   03   Lovely Joan   04   The 14th of February   05   The Shooting Of His Dear   06   The Saucy Sailor   07   Yarmouth Town   08   Just As The Tide Was A Flowing   09   The Lofty Tall Ship   10   Butter And Cheese And All   11   The Turtle Dove

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
FAIR ENGLAND'S SHORE Second Solo Album		1968	Xtra	1075	LP

01   Young Roger Esq   02   Fanny Blair   03   The Long Pegging Awl   04   The Good Luck Ship   05   The Green Bed   06   All Around My Hat   07   The Dockyard Gate   08   The Prentice Boy   09   The Dogger Bank   10   The Dark Eyed Sailor   11   You Gentlemen of England   12   Jolly Roving Tar

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
THE FOX JUMPS OVER THE PARSON'S GATE		1969	Topic	12T200	LP

	01   The Spotted Cow 02   Two pretty Boys 03   The female Drummer 04   Saint Stephen 05   The Little Black Horse -or- The Penny Wager 06   Here's adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy 07   The Ghost Song 08   The Carnal and the Crane 09   The Barley And The Rye   10   The Turkish Lady 11   Warlike Seamen 12   Blackberry Fold 13   The Rigs of London Town 14   The Fox Jumps Over The Parson's Gate
The Barley And The Rye and The Fox Jumps Over The Parson's Gate are on the now-deleted sampler album ENGLISH GARLAND, Topic TPSS221 1972

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
OAK, ASH AND THORN		1970	Argo	ZFB 11	LP

	01   Frankie's Trade   02   Poor Honest Men   03   Cold Iron   04   Sir Richard's Song   05   The Looking Glass   06   Oak Ash and Thorn   07   King Henry VII and the Shipwrights   08   The Brookland Road   09   A Three Part Song   10   The Ballad of Minepit Shaw   11   Our Fathers of Old   12   Philadelpia
The first collection of Kipling's verse set to music.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
WON'T YOU GO MY WAY		1971	Argo	ZFB 37	LP

	01    Butter and Cheese and All 02    Lovely Willy 03    Heres Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy 04    Testimonial 05    Black Is the Colour of My Loved Ones Hair 06    Shanties; Instr 07    Monday Morning 08    Nameless Air 09    The Sweet Nightingale 10    Charming Molly 11    When Spring Comes On 12    Above the Hill 13    Spencer the Rover 14    Yarmouth Town
Bellamy in fine form with his concertina before an audience at The Folk Studio, Norwich, 22.June.71. Joined in harmony by Louis Killen on three tracks.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
MERLIN'S ISLAND OF GRAMARYE		1972	Argo	ZFB 81	LP

	01    Pucks Song 02    Smugglers Song 03    The Run of the Downs 04    Eddis Service 05    The Queens Men 06    Bee Boys Song 07    Harp Song of the Dane Women 08    Song of the Mens Side 09    The Heavens Above Us 10    Prophets At Home 11    Who Shall Judge the Lord 12    St Helena 13    The Way Through the Woods 14    The Bricklayer and the Shipwright 15    Song of the Red War Boat
The second collection of Kipling verse from Puck of Pook's Hill and Rewards and Fairies. Peter Bellamy is assisted by Nic Jones, Dolly Collins, Dik Cadbury, Perter Hall, Chris Birch, Anthea Bellamy, Dave Arthur, Fred Woods and Mike Edmonds.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
BARRACK ROOM BALLADS OF RUDYARD KIPLING		1975 1977	Green Linnet Free Reed	SIF 1002 ?	LP LP

01   Tommy 02   Soldier, Soldier 03   Mandalay 04   Troopin' 05   Cells 06   Danny Deever 07   Bill 'awkins 08   Shillin' a Day 09   Loot 10   The Widow at Windsor 11   The Widow's Party 12   Gunga Din

Barrack-Room Ballads features Peter on voice and concertina, Chris Birch on voice and fiddle and Tony Hall on melodeon. It came with a deluxe booklet with an introductory essay by Peter, notes to the songs, and complete words to each song. The recent 1998 release of the CD The Widow's Uniform by Realisations (REALCD0101) covers some but not all of Peter Bellamy's 1974 album. The tracks marked ** are from the Soldiers Three album of 1990 The Widow's Uniform contains : The Widow At Windsor / Back To The Army Again ** / Tommy / Ford At Kabul River ** / Bill Awkins / Danny Deever / Troopin / Mandalay / The Young British Soldier ** / Cells / Gentlemen Rankers ** / Soldier Soldier / That Day ** / Follow Me Home ** / The Widows Party ** / Recessional ** /

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
PETER BELLAMY		1975	Green Linnet	SIF 1001	LP

01   On Board a 98 02   Sweet Lemeney 03   The Poacher's Fate 04   Bungay Roger 05   Courting too Slow 06   Ramblin' Robin 07   The Rigs of the Time 08   Rag Fair 09   The British Man of War 10   Firelock Stile 11   The Greenhopper 12   Ward the Pirate 13   A Ship to England Came 14   Old Brown's Daughter 15   Searching for Lambs 16   Nostrodamus

This LP, Bellamy's first to be recorded and issued in the United States, features Peter alone with his guitar and concertina. There are also whistle parts on some tracks; these may have been double-tracked by Peter, or the album's producer Patrick Sky (an uillean pipe player as well as a folksinger) could have added them. The LP came with an introductory essay by executive producer Lisa Null, and brief notes to each song by Bellamy.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
TELL IT LIKE IT WAS		1975	Trailer	LER2089	LP

	01    Rambling Robin 02    All in A Day 03    The Parsons Peachers 04    The Ballad of Judas 05    Farewell To the Land 06    Nostradamus 07    On Board A 98 08    Ward the Pirate 09    Courting Too Slow 10    The Burning 11    The Bold Privateer 12    Fiddlers Hill 13    Goodbye
That rare Bellamy guitar sneaks onto tracks 1, 8(just) and 12. Chris Birch adds fiddle on some tracks. Anthea adds harmony to track 2. An interesting album.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
THE TRANSPORTS A Ballad Opera by Peter Bellamy		1977 1992	Free Reed Topic	?? TSCD459	LP and

01   Overture  02   Ballad of Henry and Susannah   Peter Bellamy  03   Us Poor Fellows   Nic Jones  04   The Robber's Song   Bert Lloyd  05   Ballad of Henry and Susannah   Peter Bellamy  06   The Leaves In The Woodland   June Tabor  07   Ballad of Henry and Susannah   Peter Bellamy  08   I Once Lived In Service   Norma Waterson  09   Norwich Gaol   Martin Windsor  10   Sweet Loving Friendship   Mike and Norma Waterson  11   Ballad of Henry and Susannah   Peter Bellamy  12   The Black And Bitter Night   Mike Waterson  13   The Humane Turnkey   Martin Carthy   14   The Plymouth Mail   Vic Legg  05   The Humane Turnkey   Martin Carthy   16   The Green Fields Of England   The Watersons  17   Roll Down   Cyril Tawney   18   Still And Silent Ocean   Mike and Norma Waterson  19   Ballad of Henry and Susannah   Peter Bellamy  20   Convicts wedding dance (instr)

Arranged by Dolly Collins, ensemble directed by Roddy Skeaping.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
BOTH SIDES THEN		1979 1992	Topic Fledgling	FLE1002	LP and

01    Barbaree 02    The Trees They Do Grow High 03    The Lord Will Provide 04    Rounding the Horn 05    Roving On A Winters Night 06    Derry Goal 07    Long Time Travelling 08    The Maid of Australia 09    The Shepherd of the Downs 10    The House Carpenter 11    When I Die 12    Edmund in the Lowlands 13    Around Cape Horn 14    Turfman From Ardee 15    Amazing Grace <

A tour de force by Bellamy and supporting cast. Peter uses concertina on seven tracks, Dave Swarbrick for fiddle on four tracks. Bill Shute, guitar on A-Roving on a Winter's Night, but the real treat is Peter's guitar on The Turfman From Ardee . The supporting cast are The Watersons, Anthea Bellamy, Louis Killen, Lisa Null, Royston Wood, Heather Wood. Extensive orbituary notes on the 1992 CD issue by Leslie Barman and Edward Haber and Martin Carthy. A retrospective review of this album, and The Transports album, by Steve Winick, can be found at the Dirty Linen site.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
FAIR ANNIE		1983			LP

	01   The Dockyard Gate   02   Down by thr Green Groves   03   The Molecatcher   04   Conversation with Death   05   Down the Moor   06   Bluey Brink   07   Santa Fe Trail   08   Maid of Australia   09   Shepherds Arise   10   Bungaree   11   Fair Annie   12   The Liburn Lass   13   The Lone Pilgrim
With Chris Birch.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
SECOND WIND		1985	EFDSS	ES002	LP

01    Recruiting Sergeants 02    The Keel Row 03    The Unquiet Grave 04    Hear the Nightingale Sing 05    The Drovers Dream 06    Medley; Instr 07    Rocking the Cradle 08    The Jute Mill Song 09    Johnny Lad 10    Blow Boys Blow 11    Down in the Coal Mine 12    Garton Mothers Lullaby 13    The Bells of Rhymney 14    The Apprentices Song 15    Jigs; Instr 16    Homeward Bound 17    The Waters of the Tyne 18    The Wee Cooper of Fyfe

An album published by the English Folk Dance and Song Society, consisting of five tradition songs, one originating from Ewan McColl, two country blues tracks (#6&12), two from the Australian poet Henry Lawson, and two from The Transports. This is not a cheat; Bellamy sings The Black And Bitter Night because it was his favourite song from the opera and he had "given all the best bits away" on that album. True. He also sings here Abe Carmen, which is a re-write of the opera's The Robber's Song, required because the original was rather too light-hearted for the 1983 performance. A fine album with just Peter Bellamy and his squeeze-box.

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
KEEP ON KIPLING		1982	Fellside	FE032	LP

01   A Pilgrim's Way 02   Cuckoo Song 03   Blue Roses 04   Ford o' Kabul River 05   The Land 06   Dayspring Mishandled 07   Roll down to Rio 08   The Liner She's a Lady 09   Anchor Song 10   Minesweepers 11   My lady's Law 12   The Coiner 13   My Boy Jack 14   Follow me 'Ome 15   Cities and Thrones and Powers

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
Mr KIPLING MADE EXCEEDINGLY GOOD SONGS		1989	Bambuster		LP?

01   Back to the Army Again 02   Big Steamers 03   Gethsemane 04   The Prodigal Son 05   The Roman Centurion's Song 06   We have Fed our Sea with Ships 07   The Dutch in the Medway 08   A Song to Mithras 09   En-Dor 10   Heriot's Ford 11   The Anvil 12   The Wet Litany 13   Thorkild's Song 14   Recessional

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
SOLDIERS THREE		1990

01   Two by Two 02   The Widow at Windsor 03   Tommy 04   The Young British Soldier 05   Route Marching 06   Shillin' a Day 07   Soldier Soldier 08   That Day 09   Bill 'Awkins 10   Ford o' Kabul River 11   The Widow's Party 12   Loot 13   They baynitt and the Butt 14   Private Ortheris' Sons 15   Gunga Din 16   Cells 17   Cholera Camp 18   The Ladies 19   Follow me 'Ome 20   Gentleman Rankers 21   Danny Deever 22   Troopin'

 

	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
SONGS AN' RUMMY CONJURIN' TRICKS Last album		1991	Fellside	FSC	Tape

	01   On Board a Ninety-Eight 02   Big Steamers 03   Tyne of Harrow 04   The London Waterman 05   Cholera Camp 06   The Brisk Young Widow 07   Death is Not the End 08   St. Celia's Rocks 09   The Old Songs 10   The Slip Jigs and Reels 11   Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor 12   Down the Moor 13   The Death of Bill Brown 14   The Days of '49 15   Her Servant Man 16   Anchor Song 17   The Santa Fe Trail
Songs an' Rummy Conjurin' Tricks contains just Peter and his concertina. It has brief notes to each song.

 

<20>NAME<21>	T I T L E	DATE	LABEL	REFERENCE	TYPE
HOLLY BEARS THE CROWN with Shirley & Dolly Collins		1969/95	Fledgling	FLED3006

	01    The Boars Head Carol 02    Is It Far To Bethlehem 03    Lullay My Liking 04    The Cherry Tree Carol 05    Shepherds Arise 06    I Sing Of A Maiden That Is Makeless 07    Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day 08    A Virgin Most Pure 09    The Coventry Carol 10    The Holly Bears The Crown 11    March The Morning Sun 12    Bring Us In Good Ale
Made but not issued in 1969. This Young Tradition collaboration with Shirley and Dolly Collins is a collection of seasonal songs.

 

Young Tradition Album Covers

     

Other appearances:

VOICES (CD) Fellside FECD87
The Brisk Young Widow, recorded Cockermouth, Jan 91

THE TALE OF ALE (CD) Free Reed FRCD23 1993
The story of the englishman and his beer, told by Joby Blanshard, William Rushton, and Michael Smee; sung by Peter Bellamy, Robin Dransfield, Roy Harris, Pam Gilder, Musica Inebriata and others.

RADIO & THEATRE PROJECTS
We Have Fed Our Sea for 1000 Years a concept performance, similar to The Transports

SHARON AND THE STUDENTS – a temporary group including Peter and his wife Anthea who sang Sacred Harp & other choral material. A 1985 tape was available with contained Helo Malenka / Northfield / Antioch / Shto mi e Milo / White / Evening Shade / The Better Land / May Song / Daniel Prayed /

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ I am indebted to Paul Bryan and Steve Winick for helping to complete the discography for Peter Bellamy's albums, which was a difficult task prior to the publication of WAKE THE VAULTED ECHOES. The website for this three-disc retrospective can be thought of as Peter's offical site. See www.bens.connectfree.co.uk ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ See also

Also biography/discography at Slipcue's Site.

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