Woodworm 1985 / Talking Elephant 2025
The unlikely, if surefire, return of rustic revelers to the recording fray and friendly forays into the past and the future.
Gladys’ Leap
When a Gloucestershire postwoman named Gladys would jump over a three-feet-wide brook on her weekdays round, it was a lesser leap of faith than these English folk-rockers took deciding to properly reform their ensemble after a six-year hiatus, but the ever-increasing success of Cropredy festival made the veterans’ comeback fairly predestined. And though the band’s line-up dwindled down to a trio of Simon Nicol and two Daves, Pegg and Mattacks, their circle of kindred spirits ready to lend a hand and a tune warranted the availability of top-notch material and instrumental arsenal. Still, a different era dictated new production values, as Pegg had learned during his stint with Ian Anderson, yet his namesake and Simon’s then-recent spells with Ashley Hutchings allowed the resurrected collective to give fresh shine to their rootsy fare. The results of the trinity’s toil have stood the test of time, and four decades later shine, remastered, even brighter than before.
It’s not a coincidence that the album is set in motion with the tongue-in-cheek “How Many Times” – penned by Richard Thompson who’s not playing on this track but applying his licks to the platter’s perky finale, “Head In A Sack” – where vocals are submerged into the punchy arrangement, as per period’s pop requirements. Neither it’s an accident that the group’s customary fairground is relocated to the present in the arresting serenade “The Hiring Fair” which Dave M. co-wrote with Ralph McTell who also shared the credentials for the ancient-themed, albeit modern-sounding, march “Wat Tyler” with Simon and who gifted his own bucolic “Bird From The Mountain” to his pals to polish.
They go blissfully acoustic for the exquisite “Honour And Praise” before adding baroque electricity to the piece’s delicate flow and turning the song into an anthem, yet the otherwise catchy “My Feet Are Set For Dancing” could succumb to the plastic sonics of the day if not for Cathy Lesurf’s Sandy-like sultry feistiness. However, the ensemble marry Dave P.’s originals to trad tune “The Wise Maid” on “Instrumental Medley ’85” – unfolding such a potpourri had been the troubadours’ thing since “Liege & Lief” – letting soon-to-join-the-ranks Ric Sanders’ violin spice up the groove Mattacks’ drums and Pegg’s bass sculpt with all their might for Nicol’s guitar to embroider. That was what the band’s followers wanted, and that guaranteed the collective would stay active for the next forty years; “Gladys’ Leap” could do with a remix, but it’s important to keep the platter as it was – to remain a milestone and a record of its time.
****4/5
