When this album was first released in 1971, it was regarded as adventurous, combining a traditional English singer with 25 musicians, some from a folk background, other from the fields of contemporary rock and early music. It was an experiment which grew into a triumph, and sprang from the talents of Shirley Collins and Ashley Hutchings, both pioneers of their own right, in the first year of their marriage. Shirley, widely regarded as the doyenne of English traditional folk singers, had recorded her first album in 1959 for the highly respected American Folkways label, and subsequent albums were regarded as milestones, notably Folk Roots, New Routes made in 1964 with guitarist Davy Graham and Anthems in Eden, made with her sister Dolly in 1969 - the first album to unite traditional songs with early instruments, under the musical direction of David Monrow. Ashley Hutchings, a founder member of Fairport Convention, had left that pioneering band at the end of 1969, after recording Fairport's seminal Liege And Lief, and, still hooked on traditional music, had then launched Steeleye Span.

No Roses was the album they made together, and Shirley still remembers it with pleasure: "It was my first venture into folk/rock and I suppose initially I didn't think my voice was right for it. Whatever accompaniments I've used, I've always sung in my own style, my natural singing voice, which is an extension of my speech. So it was the arrangements that overlaid the songs that gave the record it folk/rock feel. I've always been willing to experiment providing I believe I can keep the integrity of the music intact. That's paramount. I have a great love of English traditional music, and along with it a great respect for those people of the labouring classes who kept the songs going through the centuries as their only means of expressing themselves. It is an extraordinary feat, especially as many of them were illiterate. They've never been given enough credit or respect for their art. Instead, they've been scorned, despised and largely ignored. It's one reason why I've always named my sources. I trust that No Roses had that integrity, as well as strength and beauty in some of the arrangements and a great sense of fun and charm in others."

Looking at No Roses with the benefit of hindsight, one presumes that Ashley and Sandy (Roberton, co-producer with Hutchings) were determined to make an epic album. "No, we didn't set out with that intention, but as the album progressed, the possibilities of what we could do became more and more apparent. At the start we didn't anticipate having 26 musicians on it, but that's how it finally turned out. There was never any conflict between the Fairport people and the other musicians. They were open-minded and interested in what others were doing anyway, and there was certainly a good feeling in the studio (Sound Techniques). The place was full of people who kept dropping in and staying on and asking to play on songs - just happy to be there. Nobody seemed baffled by what anyone else was doing, just a bit bemused perhaps by the variety of esoteric instruments that were coming in and out of the studio."

"The critical reaction was pretty good - on the whole! One or two snipers, of course."
[Rufus comments: in parts the electrics seem to be overly strong, particularly noticable on Claudy Banks and Hal an Tow where Shirley is virtually drowned out.]

No Roses marked the debut of The Albion Country Band. The Albion Band continues to be the name used by bands led by Ashley Hutchings, although it was a name coined for use on this album. "We realised that with all those musicians it would probably be a good idea to give them a collective name and that was the one we came up with."

So why was there never a second album? "I had two children from my first marriage, and we'd all moved to Etchingham in the Sussex countryside. I'd been touring all my singing life, away from home too much, and I wanted to be with Polly and Robert more, so I let my own career slip a bit, for the best of reasons. Ashley had formed a touring bend with the first of many line-ups and used the Albion name, and all our efforts went into trying to keep that going. When Ashley and I eventually parted, he took the Albion Band with him. No Roses stayed with me."

Claudy Banks

From Bob and Ron Copper of Sussex

"A favourite song from the repertoire of the Copper Family who have lived in and around Rottingdean for centuries. On of the genuine traditional singing families, their contribution to the English folk song stock is inestimable. To listen to Bob Copper singing and talking about Sussex rural life is one of the greatest delights I have known, and I'm glad I was born in the same country."

The Little Gypsy Girl

From Louise Holmes of Hereford

"Recorded in the field in the 1950's by Peter Kennedy for the BBC Archives. Peter, along with Alan Lomax, Bob Copper, Hamish Henderson and Sean O'Boyle, was responsible for collecting traditional music from all over the British Isles. All the recordings are lodged in the archives at the BBC. I've done a few radio programmes from them, and a lot of the discs are warped. I hope someone's taking care of them - it's a unique collection and deserves to be treated with a lot more care and respect."

Banks Of The Bann

From Bert Lloyd (A. L. Lloyd, a noted folksinger)

"I knew the tune as a child. The hymn Lord Of All Hopefulness, Lord Of All Joy was set to it. It's an Irish tune, of course, and much better suited to a love song."

Murder Of Maria Marten

From Joseph Taylor of Lincolnshire

"This was Ashley's choice. The tune is of the Dives and Lazarus family, one of the great melodies of the British tradition (listen to Vaughan Williams's Dives and Lazarus or Star of the County Down by Van Morrison for two examples). The Red Barn Murder has fascinated people ever since it happened last century, and Ashley's treatment of it is equally intriguing. His device of breaking the ballad up in this rather extraordinary way, and the inspired sound effect of the cart crunching on the gravel at the hanging give it a chilling edge."

Van Diemen's Land

Collated by Ashley Hutchings

"A 19th century transportation ballad. We had a lengthy discussion about the verse

We had a female comrade,
Sue Summers was her name
and she was given sentence
for a-selling our game.

Some people say it was `a-playing of the game' and that she was a prostitute, and that's why she'd been convicted. But people were transported for as trivial an offence as stealing a silver spoon or a piece of bread, and it seemed to me more poignant and more appropriate that Sue Summers was transported with the poachers because she had in fact sold their game."

Just As The Tide Was A 'Flowin

From Aunt Grace Winhorn, Hastings

"This is a fragment from my Aunt Grace that she sang to my sister and I when we were children. To my amazement and amusement it was covered by the American group 10,000 Maniacs. I like their version - it's very much like mine, so I've got to!"

The White Hare

From Joseph Taylor of Lincolnshire

"A most remarkable and graceful singer, a farm bailiff at Saxby-All-Saints, whose songs were noted down by Percy Grainger around 1905."

Hal-An-Tow

Sung as a part of the May celebration in Helston, Cornwall

"Hal-An-Tow is an ancient ritual song, well known perhaps because of The Oyster Band version. I learned mine from a 1951 field recording, again from the BBC archives. Does it mean `heel-and-toe' as part of the dance? I'm not sure - I like the mystery of words that have been unconsciously altered and made strange in the process of being handed down by word of mouth over the centuries. Nobody really knows precisely what they mean, there's an echo there of things past, which is a great part of their charm."

Poor Murdered Woman

Collected by Lucy Broadwood from Mr. Foster of Surrey

"A favourite song of mine learned from the singer Pete Wood. Reported in The Times on Tuesday January 14th 1834, it's the true story of a body found on Leatherhead Common by the Surrey Union Hunt. Written by a tender-hearted observer at the time the song is so straight-forwardly told that its compassion and dignity might escape you, were it not for its noble tune."

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