Greetings From Grolloo – Simon Nicol & Ric Sanders, Iain Matthews & Ad Vanderveen, Little Johnny England: Album Series Review

John Barlass

2 years ago

Memories of a Forgotten Festival: The new series of live albums available exclusively from Talking Elephant Records recall a magical day in the Dutch village of Grolloo, back in 2003

Release Date: Out Now

Label: Radz Records – available via Talking Elephant Records

Formats: 2 x Single CD, 1 x Double CD – all available separately

FOLK GROLLOO FESTIVAL – THE BEGINNINGS

There’s a fascinating story behind this series of Limited Edition CDs from Dutch label Radz Records, so if you’re sitting comfortably?

In May, 2002, Koen Hottentot and his partner Renate moved to the small village of Grolloo in the north-east of the Netherlands. Both Koen and Renate are big music fans – indeed, they’d been attracted to Grolloo by its associations with Dutch blues-rock outfit, Cuby & The Blizzards and with musicians of the calibre and reputation of John Mayall and Van Morrison who’d called in over the years – and both have a special liking for folk/rock. Over the years, they’d made a point of visiting the UK in August to join the 20,000 like minded souls converging on Cropredy for the annual festival and they’d developed a special appreciation for Cropredy regulars Little Johnny England and for all things Fairport.

In September, 2002, Koen and Renate, along with buddy Dick Barlage, were enjoying an afternoon savouring the flavour of several Grimbergens in their local bar, Café Hofsteenge, when an idea struck: Why don’t they organize their own version of Cropredy Festival, right here at the café? The place was blessed with a large function room, easily capable of accommodating the 300 or so people needed to make the event viable, and café owner, John Hofsteenge was definitely up for it, even offering the use of his premises free-of-charge.

The festival would be a one-day affair and 1 March, 2003, was established as “F” Day.

FOLK GROLLOO 2003

The bill of fare for the festival was small, but truly appealing. Dutch folk/rock legend Sido Martens, formerly of Fungus and Farmer’s Union was the first artist to accept an invitation. Ex-Fairporter Iain Matthews had moved to Amsterdam a couple of years previously and was active on the Dutch music scene, alongside such local musicians as Eric Coenen, Egbert Derix, Arthur Lijten and Ad Vanderveen and Iain and Ad had appeared as a duo in the nearby village of Amen a couple of years previously. A phone call secured the duo’s place on the Grolloo bill.

Simon Nicol and Ric Sanders hadn’t performed as duo for around 10 years prior to Grolloo, but they were persuaded to reunite – for one night only – and the bill was completed by folk/rockers Little Johnny England, who Koen had seen a couple of times at Cropredy, and he’d been mightily impressed.

The inaugural Folk Grolloo Festival was a success, albeit not without the kind of teething problems that any inexperienced organisers would be likely to encounter. There were over-runs and issues with ticketless entry. The day’s music – scheduled to be over by 10:30pm – didn’t end until almost midnight and, most worryingly, organisers Koen, Renate and Dick lost a significant amount of money on the event. On the plus side, however, everyone who attended seems to have an amazing time, Simon Nicol was enlisted to propose, from the stage, to Renate on Koen’s behalf (she accepted) and we’ve been left with a legacy of some fantastic music, now enshrined in these three CD packages.

THE CD SERIES

There’s a lot of music here – over 4 hours’ worth in total – and the sound quality is top-notch. Simon & Ric and Iain & Ad both feature on their own, separate, single CD and the Little Johnny England offering is a double CD set, befitting of the band’s bill-topping status. In each case, the full performance of each act is featured – I’ll consider each album set in turn.

SIMON NICOL & RIC SANDERS

Simon & Ric perform a show that mixes contemporaneous Fairport numbers – Slipjigs and Reels, Portmerion, Travelling By Steam and Woodworm Swing with a few classics including Crazy Man Michael and The Widow of Westmoreland’s Daughter, a smattering of songs from Simon’s solo debut, Before Your Time (1987) – Over the Lancashire Hills and the always-moving Rosemary’s Sister – and a few real treats.

The lighting-fast version of Bach’s Double Violin Concerto (1^st Movement) leans heavily towards Ric’s Stephane Grappelli/ Django Reinhardt axis, and it’s great fun. What’s more, it certainly doesn’t merit Ric’s concluding apology to music lovers, although that’s certainly an apology that was offered in jest, rather than with sincerity. The combination of Ellington’s Sophisticated Lady with a sublime instrumental rendering of The Beatles’ Here, There and Everywhere is a sheer delight and, probably best of all, is the lengthy jazzy improvisation around Gershwin’s Summertime that’s appended seamlessly and totally appropriately to the duo’s version of Cropredy anthem, The Hiring Fair.

Simon & Ric didn’t release any recorded memento of their time as a working duo, so the Grolloo set is a very welcome addition to the Fairport & Associates catalogue. Better late, than never, as they say!

IAIN MATTHEWS & AD VANDERVEEN (THE IAIN AD VENTURE)

At the time of the festival, Iain Matthews and Ad Vanderveen were working under the cutely contrived moniker of The Iain Ad Venture. They’d already released a live album, recorded just up the road from Grolloo, at that aforementioned gig in Amen, and they were sounding great – comfortable, fully bedded-in and with an eclectic and wide selection of material to hand. The duo’s set at Grolloo was a mix well-known favourites given a twist, lesser-known songs from the pens of Iain and Ad and a few well-interpreted covers of songs from the likes of Peter Gabriel and Canadian songstress Lynn Miles. Iain is in great voice and the stripped-down versions of their songs are thoroughly engaging.

Ad’s Neil Young-like songs and vocals are the perfect counterpoint to Iain’s warm English tones and their Grolloo set is packed with highlights; this is a live performance that demands repeated listens. The mellow tone set by opening track The Girl With The Clouds in Her Eyes is sustained throughout the album and particular highlights include a stripped-back reading of Iain’s The Ballad of Gruene Hall, Ad’s Heart of Gold soundalike, First Feeling, the resigned blues of Iain’s Swinging From the Yardarm and an unsettling version of Peter Gabriel’s bleak, dystopian Mercy Street.

Best of all, though, are the lengthy Funk and Fire on which Iain and Ad are joined by Ric Sanders for a simmering variation on the All Along the Watchtower theme and the version of Joni Mitchell’s Woodstock – a number one hit for Matthews’ Southern Comfort in 1970 but radically reworked here as a sparse, brooding acoustic number, laced with skin-tingling vocal harmonies.

Ric Sanders had to be retrieved from the bar to rejoin Iain and Ad for their closing number, Ad’s song, Satisfied. Ric had, apparently, never heard the song before but, consummate professional that he is, that posed no challenge and it’s impossible to detect any unfamiliarity as Iain, Ad – and Ric – bring a wonderful set to its close.

LITTLE JOHNNY ENGLAND

Little Johnny England were scheduled to hit the Grolloo stage at 8pm, but it was an hour later before they finally made their appearance, and they delivered a performance that still resonates in the memories who were lucky enough to have been there. It had been a day of subdued, elegant, contemplative music so far and the Grolloo crowd were ready to rock. Gareth, PJ, Guy and the boys didn’t let them down.

It’s classic Little Johnny England from start to finish. Pete Scrowther’s songs – and there’s seven of them spread over the two discs – all dispensing that special mix of political, social and nostalgic commentary that, somehow, manages to retain its relevance, regardless of the passage of time – are all give the special Little Johnny England touch, enlivened by Gareth Turner’s melodeon, Guy Fletcher’s fiddle and PJ Wright’s clear, everyman vocal style. There’s oodles of LJE’s signature quasi-traditional songs and tunes to enjoy – PJ’s 40 Years On, Guy’s Swine/UHT, Phil Beer’s Thomas Morris and, particularly, Gareth’s tunes, The Gaslight March and Jake’s Jig – all sit comfortably alongside any genuinely traditional material you could care to mention, all feature Little Johnny England at full pelt and all are as invigorating and uplifting as anybody could ever wish them to be.

There’s also the thought-provoking songs; PJ’s Johnny England and My Heart’s Where My Home Used to Be are both excellent songs with plenty of space within to allow the lyrical narrative to develop and to be absorbed by the listener and, when the band turn their attention to their own interpretations of World Music, the feathers really start to fly – just have a listen to the frantic Le Boeuf Anglais and the grand Räbjerg Mile and you’ll get the idea of what I’m trying to describe. Even when the band turn their hand to the authentically traditional, they rock like there’s no tomorrow and their take on the usually contemplative I Was A Young Man is rocket-powered.

Little Johnny England conclude their set, and round off what must have been an amazing day, with a lively, funky medley that conjoins Pete Scrowther’s Maybe with a couple of Gareth’s rollicking tunes, Joust and Rocky Road. It’s a raucous ending to a magical event – a memorable day that’s now brought back to life by this sequence of CDs. If you’re a lover of Fairport’s Cropredy Convention, you’ll love these albums.

STRICTLY LIMITED EDITIONS

But you’ll need to be quick… The albums are available in the UK via Talking Elephant Records and they’re strictly limited editions. When they’re gone, they’re gone, so place your orders here, now. If you miss out, you just might regret it for a long, long time.

Watch Little Johnny England in live action as they perform Lily of Barbary and Tournament of Shadows at the 2012 New Forest Folk Festival, here: