The Squid's Ear Magazine

Drake, Bob

Legendary Lore Of The Holy Wells Of England

Drake, Bob : Legendary Lore Of The Holy Wells Of England (Recommended Records)

A unique exposition of an 1893 text by Robert Charles Hope exploring the legends of England's "holy wells", the water of which was purported to have healing properties, adapted to atmospheric songs by Drake and performed on a 1940 Hammond model BC organ and a Challen upright piano; delicate and descriptive songs that detail the legends and the hope they inspired.
 

Price: $15.95



Quantity:

In Stock

Quantity in Basket: None

Log In to use our Wish List
Shipping Weight: 2.00 units

Sample The Album:





product information:

Personnel:



Bob Drake-organ, upright piano, voice


Click an artist name above to see in-stock items for that artist.




UPC: 752725045124

Label: Recommended Records
Catalog ID: RERCTA-027
Squidco Product Code: 32924

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2022
Country: UK
Packaging: Digipack
Written, performed, and recorded by Bob Drake, between May 2021 and June 2022. Recorded June and July 2022 at La Borde Basse, Caudeval France.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Highly intriguing experiment in atmospheric, minimalist exposition using texts drawn from The Legendary Lore of the Holy Wells of England (pub. 1893). Bob Drake takes a professional detour to explore an intriguing byway with this atmospheric, uncharacteristic, stripped down, highly intriguing (and I think highly successful) experiment in minimal exposition.

There are thirteen chapters - for voices, organ, piano and cathedral - on texts drawn directly from the 1893 edition of The Legendary Lore of The Holy Wells Of England: Including Rivers, Lakes, Fountains And Springs, by the English antiquary and inventor of the folding umpire's chair, Robert Charles Hope. Hallucinatory, educational, intriguing, mysterious and almost certainly efficacious to the elevation of the spirit - not to mention some serious compositional heft.

This is a unique musical object and whomsoever likes to take the road less traveled, this was meant for you."-Recommended Records


Artist Biographies

"Bob Drake was born in Cleveland, Ohio on December 6, 1957, and spent his youth in Watseka, Illinois. There he taught himself how to play guitar and drums, but after hearing Yes's Fragile in 1972, Drake decided he wanted to be a bassist and bought himself a Rickenbacker 4001 bass guitar, which he still uses today. Henry Cow also had a big influence on him: "[T]hey were doing something I felt was a lot closer to what I was imagining I'd like to do - 'complex' intricate songs and arrangements, noisy things going on which fit organically in the music, and less emphasis on 'perfect' studio overcooked impersonal perfection."

Drake experimented with recording techniques and "warped rock", but soon found that no one was interested in "new and strange music" in his rural Midwestern home town. He moved to Denver, Colorado in 1978 where he worked for a while as a sound engineer on B horror movie sets. He also spent time recording local underground bands and playing bass guitar and drums with some of them. Drake put an advertisement at a local music store requesting a guitar player "into Henry Cow, Yes ...", and met up with experimental rock guitarist and composer Mike Johnson. Drake and Johnson played in a few cover bands before forming Thinking Plague in 1982. By 1990 Thinking Plague had recorded three albums and established a name for themselves in progressive circles.

In the late 1980s the Denver music scene "just evaporated" as musicians seeking "greener pastures" moved elsewhere. Drake, "flat broke" at the time, moved to Los Angeles where he found a job as a recording engineer. There he established a name for himself working with several mainstream artists like Ice Cube, Tina Turner and Engelbert Humperdinck. During this time he also formed an alternative rock group, Hail with ex-Thinking Plague's singer Susanne Lewis, and joined Dave Kerman's avant rock group, the 5uu's. Hunger's Teeth, the 5uu's' third album was praised for its "challenging music" and "production values", and made Drake a "sought-after engineer and collaborator".

Drake released his first solo album, What Day is It? in 1994. It was a limited edition (1,000 copies) self released record that Drake pressed himself. He later made five more solo albums, which were all released on ex-Henry Cow drummer Chris Cutler's UK independent record label, Recommended Records. In 1994 Drake and Kerman moved to an old farm house owned by Cutler and Henry Cow's sound engineer EM (Maggie) Thomas in Caudeval, southern France. They converted it into a studio which they called Studio Midi-Pyrenees. Later Drake worked closely with Cutler on a number of projects for Recommended Records, including the remastering of several albums and box sets, for example The Art Box (2004) and The 40th Anniversary Henry Cow Box Set (2009). He also joined Cutler's avant-rock band The Science Group in 1997, in which he played and engineered/produced the group's two albums.

Drake continued to work on and off in the 2000s with Thinking Plague and the 5uu's. In 2007 he formed his own group, Bob Drake's Cabinet of Curiosities to perform material from his solo albums live on stage. The group comprised Drake (guitar, vocals, violin, banjo), Kerman (drums), David Campbell (guitar, bass guitar, vocals) and Jason DuMars (soprano/alto saxophones, keyboards). They played at NEARfest in Pennsylvania in June 2007 with guests Olivier Tejedor (keyboards) and Lynnette Shelley (vocals)."

-Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Drake_(musician))
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. The Legendary Lore Of The Holy Wells Of England 2:38

2. Alton - The Holybourne 2:42

3. Holywell 2:47

4. Elmer's, Clement's, And Harold's Wells 2:38

5. Blow Wells And Jackson's Green 2:47

6. Alford, Tommy Tack, And The Bishop's Wells 3:29

7. The Alum Well 1:57

8. Carlisle Catherdral And Castle Sowberry 3:51

9. Dupath And Saint Euny's Wells 3:32

10. Ricot Park 2:50

11. Two Saint Cuthberts 4:42

12. Robin Hood's Well 2:59

13. Watton Abbey And The Lady Well 3:08

Related Categories of Interest:


Recommended Records
Rock and Related
Progressive Rock
Drake, Bob
Piano & Keyboards
Song Based Music
Unusual Vocal Forms
New in Rock Forms

Search for other titles on the label:
Recommended Records.


Recommended & Related Releases:
Cutler, Chris
Compositions And Collaborations 1972-2022: In A Box [10 CD / DVD / BOOKLET BOX SET]
(Recommended Records)
An amazing collection and reflection on the work of percussionist, composer and connector Chris Cutler of Henry Cow fame and founder of the highly influential Recommended Records label and distribution service, through 10 CDs, 1 DVD and two books of documentation, artwork, photographs, published and unpublished texts in a sturdy box, with over five hours of unreleased materials.
Drake, Bob
Planets & Animals
(Recommended Records)
Bob Drake continues to tug on the heart-strings of prog in short but smart songs that reference the best of the last few decades of prog/psych/avant rock forms, Drake as always handling all parts in a great balance of guitar, electronic & acoustic instruments, including some newly invented instruments; includes a fold-out poster in Bob Drake style from Joe Mruk.
Blegvad, Peter
Bandbox [6 CD BOX SET]
(Recommended Records)
Starting with Blegvad's "Downtime" LP, this box traces the evolution of the Peter Blegvad Trio into a quintet with Karen Mantler and Bob Drake, released in a solid box with a double CD of alternate versions, unreleased material and live performances, plus a 72 page book of photographs, memorabilia, drawings, documents and recollections; the ultimate reissue!
Other Recommended Releases:
Cassiber
The Cassiber Box redux [6 CDs, 1 DVD and Book]
(Recommended Records)
Reissuing the 2013 box set of the 1980s UK/Euro improvising rock band Cassiber, including their 4 remastered studio albums + 2 additional CDs, a 2 hour DVD, and a 32-page color book, revealing an amazing band merging experimental rock, fringe jazz, punk, pop, plunderphonics, improvisation, & musique concrete with an energetic and complex form of studio composition - superb!
Pere Ubu
Architecture For The People: 1979-1982 [4 CD BOOKBACK + DOWNLOAD]
(Fire)
Compiling three essential albums from legendary Cleveland art rock band Pere Ubu--New Picnic Time (1979), The Art Of Walking (1980), and Song Of The Bailing Man, along with an album of out-takes and oddities, Architectural Salvage (1981), presented in a handsome four-disc 'bookback' with notes and memorabilia approved by the band.
Rose, Jon / Chris Abrahams
Peggy
(Recommended Records)
Rose, Jon
State of Play [2 CDs]
(Recommended Records)
An expansive double album from Australian violinist and mad genius Jon Rose, in solo, duo and odd orchestral settings, including tracks with Jim Denley, Clayton Thomas, Robbie Avenaim, &c.; a project with a 32-string automaton violin + string ensemble; a work for a casino-music driven player-piano; a dueling banjo and interactively bowed violin, &c. &c.; masterfully inexplicable!
ZNR
The ZNRarchive Box [4 CDs]
(Recommended Records)
ZNR, the French trio of Hector Zazou, Joseph Racaille, and Patrick Portella, in a deluxe box set combining both of the official ZNR releases, "Barricades III" and "Traite de Mechanique Populaire" along with 2 CDs of additional released and unreleased material and a book of memories, histories, reflections, photographs, documents, interviews and other memorabilia.
Henry Cow
Box 2: The Road: Volumes 6-10 with DVD
(Recommended Records)
Henry Cow's early years on the road, live recordings masterfully restored by Bob Drake, including the only known video of Henry Cow in Switzerland - amazing and essential!
Skeleton Crew
Learn to Talk and Country of Blinds [2 CDs]
(Recommended Records)



Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought:
Pride, Mike
I Hate Work
(Rarenoise Records)
A warmly lyrical, mostly instrumental album of modern jazz that surprisingly takes it's title from legendary punk band MDC, and its songs from their 1982 debut album Millions of Dead Cops, led by NY drummer Mike Pride and performed with Jamie Saft (keys), Brad Jones (bass), Mick Bar (guitars) and on a few songs, vocalists JG Thirlwell (Foetus), Sam Mickens (The Dead Science) and Dave Dictor from MDC itself.
Douglas, Dave and Elan Mehler
If There Are Mountains
(Greenleaf Music)
Originally released as an LP on the French Newvelle Records label co-founded by pianist Elan Mehler, here reissued with four additional recordings of beautifully lyrical jazz pivoting around Japanese haiku's, from the sextet led by Mehler and NY trumpeter Dave Douglas with vocalist Dominique Eade, reedist John Gunther, bassist Simon Willson, and drummer Dayeon Seok.
Denzler, Bertrand (Beliah / Heilbron / Majkowski / Shirey)
Low Strings
(Confront)
Following an exploration of the double bass in his 2018 Confront release Basse Seul, Swiss-French composer and saxophonist Bertrand Denzler again jumps into the deep end again with a quartet of accomplished double basssists--Sebastien Beliah, Jon Heilbron, Mike Majkowski, Derek Shirley--for two extended works of encompassing low-register tones.
Myers, David Lee
Ceremonial Fires
(pulsewidth)
A journey through an uncharted jungle island from NY electronic composer David Lee Myers, aka Arcane Device, using field recordings in rhythmic environments with synthetic sounds buzzing and whirling around and electronic tones and textures rising and falling, composing detailed song structures that are embraceable and awe-inspiring at the same time.
Berne, Tim / Matt Mitchell
One More, Please
(Intakt)
Leveraging more than a decade of collaboration, New York saxophonist Tim Berne and pianist Matt Mitchell present an intimate live concert in Montreal at Club Soda, performing mostly Berne compositions and one by Julius Hemphill ("Number 2") in a thoughtful and innately lyrical set of seemingly telepathic dialogs interpreting Berne's intricate and innovative works.
Bishop / Karayorgis / Smith
Duals [3 CDs]
(Driff Records)
Three albums of three duos between three frequent Boston collaborators and improvisers -- Jeb Bishop on trombone, Pandelis Karayorgis on piano and Damon Smith on double bass -- each CD respectively a combination of trombone & bass, piano & bass and piano & trombone, each recorded during the last year of Jeb Bishop's residency in Boston between 2016-2022.
Cappozzo, Cecile Quintet (Cappozzo / Cappozzo / Bellanger / Grente / Ziemniak)
Hymne d'Automne
(Ayler)
The core trio of Cécile Cappozzo (piano), Patrice Grente (double bass) and Etienne Ziemniak (drums) release their second Ayler album, expanded to a quintet with Jean-Luc Cappozzo on trumpet and Guillaume Bellanger on saxophone, performing six works connected like a suite that flow beautifully through Cappozzo's warm compositions, including a piece dedicated to Carla Bley.
Armaroli, Sergio / Steve Piccolo / Elliott Sharp
Blue In Mind
(Leo Records)
An unusual blend of jazz tradition, spoken word and soundscape, presenting mostly as a jazz album with spoken narration from Steve Piccolo (Lounge Lizards) guiding the album with abstract comments that interject with Sergio Armaroli's virtuoso vibe playing, Elliot Sharp adding both acoustic sax elements and inventive sonic environments underpinning many moments; conceptually fascinating.
Leap of Faith
Principles of an Open Future
(Relative Pitch)
An embraceable & explorative example of the core duo of the Boston-area free improvising ensemble Leap of Faith (the foundation of the Leap of Faith Orchestra) of David Peck on reeds and Glynis Lomon on cello, aquasonic & voice, both employing the enormous Evil Clown arsenal of percussive and sonic devices, in two large works recorded at their headquarter studio.
Bellowing Earwigs, The (Schouwburg / Bowman / Thompson / Northover)
The Perpendicular Giraffe Compartment
(FMR)
Studio improvisations from the far-ranging quartet of Daniel Thompson on acoustic guitar, Adrian Northover on saxophone, Mbira & Melodica, Adam Bohman on objects, and Jean-Michel Van Schouwburg on voice, an experimental acoustic set that at times takes on nearly electronic qualities, Van Schouwburg and Bohman bringing unusual and unique elements to authoritatively perplexing dialog.



The Squid's Ear Magazine

The Squid's Ear Magazine

© 2002-, Squidco LLC