In the early 20th century, folk music enthusiasts went bumbling around Suffolk looking for people of a certain age who might have held on to old songs… In the early 21st century, the equivalent (in this case, me) go bumbling around social media looking for people who may have held on to old cassettes of Martin Carthy BBC broadcasts…
Yes, a ‘Martin Carthy at the BBC’ box set is in the very earliest of stages – expressions of interest from artist and label, but nothing more than that as yet. So expect Sue Grey’s report first… The chicken/egg aspect of this is to establish ‘what’s there’. I’ve already roughed out five discs of off-air material from three online sources, and I anticipate a list of BBC-held material (216 items in the database) in the next few days.
From experience of working on several similar sets, anything from roughly 2005 on is likely to be retained at the BBC; anything prior to that is a lottery. For instance, Martin’s 1976 Peel session definitely survives at source, given its occasional rebroadcasts, but it’s unlikely that the other eight do (some or all of five of the other eight certainly survive in off-air form).
Where I’m particularly hoping people around here might be able to help is with Martin’s 1980s-90s ‘Folk on Two’ appearances – though anything from 60s-90s is welcome. There were 12 studio sessions and broadcasts from clubs/festivals between 1981-90, for instance. ‘Folk on Two’ stuff never seems to appear in the BBC database of audio survivals… but lots of people taped episodes off-air at the time and these cassettes might well be in your loft. Have a rummage – let’s see if we can crowd-source a sensational tribute to the great man! 🙂
John Peel Session 1983 (exact date unknown) (8m35s) FLAC
1- Lady Disy
2- The Devil and the Feathery Wife
Andy Kershaw Session 17th October 2004 (32m59s) FLAC
1- Intro
2- Jack Tarr
3- Interview 1
4- Intro to Famous Flower
5- The Famous Flower of Serving Men
6- Interview 2
7- Intro to Foggy Dew
8- The Foggy Dew
9- Interview 3
10- Intro to Royal Lament
11- The Royal Lament
Colin, does your interest extend to a Martin Carthy/Dave Swarbrick concert, locally broadcast?
There is a torrent of a BBC Radio Leeds 1989 FM Broadcast – Live in Nellie’s Folk Club, Beverley, Yorkshire 23/01/1989
@Mike_H if you have it ready to go, perhaps you can get it over to Colin.
The torrent doesn’t have currently any seeds so I will have to put in a reseed request, which will take time to be fulfilled, whereas, if you have it already, it will be a much easier process.
I have come up against a problem – namely that torrent has disappeared from the tracker and I can’t ask for a reseed.
Mike H, you need to have another look.
Sorry about raising your hopes. I will keep an eye out for it, in case it reappears.
Weird – the text didn’t appear. Here it is…
In the early 20th century, folk music enthusiasts went bumbling around Suffolk looking for people of a certain age who might have held on to old songs… In the early 21st century, the equivalent (in this case, me) go bumbling around social media looking for people who may have held on to old cassettes of Martin Carthy BBC broadcasts…
Yes, a ‘Martin Carthy at the BBC’ box set is in the very earliest of stages – expressions of interest from artist and label, but nothing more than that as yet. So expect Sue Grey’s report first… The chicken/egg aspect of this is to establish ‘what’s there’. I’ve already roughed out five discs of off-air material from three online sources, and I anticipate a list of BBC-held material (216 items in the database) in the next few days.
From experience of working on several similar sets, anything from roughly 2005 on is likely to be retained at the BBC; anything prior to that is a lottery. For instance, Martin’s 1976 Peel session definitely survives at source, given its occasional rebroadcasts, but it’s unlikely that the other eight do (some or all of five of the other eight certainly survive in off-air form).
Where I’m particularly hoping people around here might be able to help is with Martin’s 1980s-90s ‘Folk on Two’ appearances – though anything from 60s-90s is welcome. There were 12 studio sessions and broadcasts from clubs/festivals between 1981-90, for instance. ‘Folk on Two’ stuff never seems to appear in the BBC database of audio survivals… but lots of people taped episodes off-air at the time and these cassettes might well be in your loft. Have a rummage – let’s see if we can crowd-source a sensational tribute to the great man! 🙂
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7UhQ4sSVAs
I have a couple.
John Peel Session 1983 (exact date unknown) (8m35s) FLAC
1- Lady Disy
2- The Devil and the Feathery Wife
Andy Kershaw Session 17th October 2004 (32m59s) FLAC
1- Intro
2- Jack Tarr
3- Interview 1
4- Intro to Famous Flower
5- The Famous Flower of Serving Men
6- Interview 2
7- Intro to Foggy Dew
8- The Foggy Dew
9- Interview 3
10- Intro to Royal Lament
11- The Royal Lament
Splendid – do send me copies. I have alt sources, but not FLAC…
I’ve just put it all on an SD card ready to send.
PM me the address to post it to.
Sent by WeTransfer instead, just now.
Colin, does your interest extend to a Martin Carthy/Dave Swarbrick concert, locally broadcast?
There is a torrent of a BBC Radio Leeds 1989 FM Broadcast – Live in Nellie’s Folk Club, Beverley, Yorkshire 23/01/1989
I have that one as well.
Ah, splendid – and yes, local BBC ticks the box. You know my email… 🙂
@Mike_H if you have it ready to go, perhaps you can get it over to Colin.
The torrent doesn’t have currently any seeds so I will have to put in a reseed request, which will take time to be fulfilled, whereas, if you have it already, it will be a much easier process.
Hmm..
I thought I had it (could have sworn) but I can’t find it.
Sorry.
looking forward to this Colin…Martin is one of the best. That whole family’s stuff is so important
I have come up against a problem – namely that torrent has disappeared from the tracker and I can’t ask for a reseed.
Mike H, you need to have another look.
Sorry about raising your hopes. I will keep an eye out for it, in case it reappears.
Ta! A contact has it in MP3 form, but FLAC… well, no contest.