CAEDMON - CAEDMON'S HYMN 1978

In 1978, a small christian folk rock band in Edinburgh released a farewell album to celebrate six years of making music together. The album was made on a shoestring budget and only 500 copies were pressed. The musicians went their separate ways.

Thirty years later, the record has become a collectors item. A CD version is available on Amazon and it has been described as one of the best folk rock albums of the seventies.

The Studio

The album was recorded in a tiny home studio in Edinburgh - known to aficionados as ‘Barclay Towers’. No idea what kind of technology was involved, save the incessant fiddling with EQ to try and filter out the buzz of a fluorescent light strip over the cooker that was inadvertently left on during one take.

We recorded over two successive Sundays and mixed at a third session. It was four track reel to reel recording ……. live with occasional overdubs.

Instrumentation

For us as musicians, highlights included using a cup and teaspoon to create the latin style percussion on ‘Maker Man’.

For the recording we borrowed Ever After’s Fender Rhodes but still depended upon my own Crumar Compac Piano which had three sounds: piano, clavichord and harpsichord. I bought it for £100 second hand. There was no touch sensitivity, but it seemed very modern at the time. All organ type sounds were played using the piano setting whilst sliding the volume control from 0 (when hitting the key) to the appropriate volume, to avoid the attack at the start of the note.

I played an Ibanez classical guitar on Maker Man that was bought in 1969. I sold my ‘Smiley Joe’ banjolele to raise money for the transaction. I’ve recently been buying ukuleles again to use in primary school work in my region!

The cello was a German instrument from around 1890.

Info taken from http://www.caedmonsreturn.com

Tracks :

1. Ten Maidens Fair (4:17)
2. Maker Man (3:15)
3. Death of a Fox (4:18)
4. Sea Song (5:35)
5. Aslan (4:15)
6. Beyond the Second Mile (6:45) *
7. Living in the Sunshine (4:27)
8. Storm (6:06)
9. Columbus’ Song (2:21)
10. Smile on Your Face (4:35)
11. Caedmon’s Hymn (4:15)
12. Give Me Jesus (4:15) *

Link : @

Artwork Included