‘Ship to Shore’ 50th Anniversary re-release – 1976 – 2026 & Extra Tracks
Cat No IOL CD 6664 Re-release November 1st
‘Ship to Shore’ is a pioneering master class in 1970s Psych Folk celebrated by this 50th anniversary re release with extra tracks. Plus on Feb 5th 2027 the release of an archive companion album for ‘Ship to Shore’ titled ‘Dreamer and the Deep’.
‘The band of good musicians who liked my songs and instrumentals that helped me make the Ship album gave me so much on those recording days and nights, bearing the music up like a river carrying a boat and I’m very grateful to them. Those times were young hopeful days spinning out of the sixties when we all wanted a better world and tried to contribute. We still do.’
Exzcerpt from ‘Singularly Fine Day’
Excerpt from ‘The Man and the Deer’
I booked Nest studios in Birmingham UK and loved the valve sound of some of the equipment and the massive eight track Brenell 1 inch recorder. After I cleared the chip papers and cans up from the band who rehearsed there the night before, the two engineers gave me wry looks, slowly realising I was serious about making an album and I wasn’t just a ‘folky’ but knew how to record and was focussed on what together we could achieve.
We worked 5 days and nights. Mixing down required rehearsing ‘ all hands on the desk’, the same as rehearsing the 3 part harmonies that Johnny Coppin of Decameron so expertly guided.
No computers then thank goodness. Just analogue and team work.
In the booklet of Ship’s 1st re release on CD in 2003 I wrote “I didn’t want to be part of the music biz circus and decided to put out my first LP on my own independent label.
The light, clarity, quiet places and small islands off the Cornish coast gave me the label name ‘Isle of Light’ and in 1976 I released this album.” I hope you enjoy the extra tracks with the high resolution re-scanning of the original cover and booklet artworks.’
NMJ
Back cover by Julian Russell
‘Dreamer and the Deep’ features songs written between 1973 to 1975 (plus 2 songs by other writers). Some were performed in concert, which led to the first studio album in 1976 ‘Ship to Shore’, now 50 years old.
The song ‘Dreamer and the Deep’ was written 1974 and led to the writing of ‘Ship to Shore’ in 1975 about the same subject but told allegorically with few words.
He sang his heart out through the years writing songs, specialising in complex 12 string playing and Glissando all round the UK and Europe, often touring as guest artist to well known bands.
Releasing 11 albums in 50 years he also wrote music for national tv and radio. From the eighties until 2018 he often worked with Guy Evans, the eclectic drummer of Van der Graaf Generator.
All that NMJ learned are yet more stories to come … maybe.
