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Thumb-nail sketch:Trees was a five-person folk-rock band who produced two albums for CBS in 1970 and then faded away to do other things.
Richie Unterberger in the 'All Music Guide' writes ~ “ In 1970, this British quintet released a couple of albums that made no bones about aping the approach of Fairport Convention (then at their peak). A mixture of traditional folk songs and originals, extended electric-guitar heavy arrangements, and a female singer who took many of the lead vocals -- it worked for Fairport. It didn't work as well for the Trees, for several reasons … The group broke up after two similar albums for British CBS, although they continued to play for a while in the early '70s with some personnel changes. Boshell, in an unlikely turn of events, joined Kiki Dee's Band, and wrote her biggest hit, "I've Got the Music in Me." ”
In late 2007 I chanced to see the CD of On The Shore in my public library. This time it was a double album. On the second CD was a re-mix of nearly all the tracks and sleeve notes as to why and how the opportunity to revisit the original source tapes came about.
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T I T L E | DATE | LABEL | REFERENCE | TYPE |
| THE GARDEN OF JANE DELAWNEY | 1970 | CBS | LIK15 | LP | |
 
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An interesting version of Jack Orion, (Glasgerion),
and there are three or four other tradition tracks.
Ceilia Humpris (vocals), Bias Boshell (bass & acoustic guitars, some backing vocals), Barry Clarke (lead & acoustic guitars), David Costa (acousitic and 12-string guitars) and Unwin Brown (drums). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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T I T L E | DATE | LABEL | REFERENCE | TYPE |
| ON THE SHORE | 1970 | BCO | BGOCD173 |  | |
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| With five very good traditional tracks, plus a interesting version of Cyril Tawney's Sally Free and Easy. This album is much better than Delawney, which was cut a few months earlier. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Discussion:
The vinyl of The Garden of Jane Delawney is a quiet recording, and probably needs to be listened to on CD. Both albums have been reworked : I've heard the 1994 CD rework of On The Shores. With this album comes a lengthy retrospective report by John Tobler filling six pages of the CD insert. It relates the hectic times of the birth of British Folk-Rock and how Trees came into being. The reasoning behind the CD issue is given as a desire to produce a technically better version of the vinyl album.John Tobler is fairly critical of the band, alluding to lack of commitment, lack of rehearsal, and pressure (but little money) from the record companies. But this is not really a gripe - if anything it is an apology for performances which weren't as 'tight' or 'balanced' as Fairport Convention.
Remember though that Leige and Leif was Fairport's forth session at the recording studio, and that line-up had Dave Swarbrick and Richard Thompson.
Regarding the CD version of The Garden of Jane Delawney, I have not heard this. I'm told the CD is on Amazon's catalogue.
Postscript:
There are now 3 versions of On The Shore. The original vinyl, the first CD (a remastering job) and the current CD (another remastering job). Well done to Trees for persevering with this album.Both LPs are reviewed at a fan site at here.
See also gnosis2000.net.
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