A découvrir absolument :"Heron ces merveilleux oubliés"

HERON ARE:
Roy Apps guitar, vocals
Tony Pook vocals, percussion
Steve Jones piano, accordion
Gerry Power guitar, vocals, percussion

LIEN POUR ACHETER LES DISQUES DE heron / http://www.relaxx.co.uk


During the post psychedelic era for folk music many bands fused together delicate melancholia with a simple folk basis. Heron like Waterfall, some Magna Carta and Dulcimer fall into this area. Some would say that it derives from Simon and Garfunkal but this seems to be less story based than their music and more introspective. Heron bring guitar, banjo and keyboards such as acoustic or electric piano to provide a fairly unique, gentle sound that seems to work late at night or early in the morning as a kind of slightly sad background music. Looking back we might place it closest in intent to the music Nick Drake wrote and performed so definitively. If the music doesn't scale the heights of that unique artists then in truth not much actually does but this is not to dismiss the merits of the music here. The songs are performed live in one take and when listening to the album the listener can hear the call of birds in chorus throughout the songs and especially in segues between them. This further emphasizes the aforementioned ambient aspect and gives the music a naturalistic element that they could not have planned. The songs are fairly consistent, often beautifully written but slight and seeming on the edge of falling into silence at any moment. As the songs achieve and maintain a certain quality, sometimes with dialogue at the start and end it is difficult to pick out individual songs. 'Car Crash' seems desperately sad, 'The Wanderer' (compiled on the Lammas Night Laments CDrs) has a fantastic McCartney styled melody framed by electric piano. Indeed Paul McCartney's simpler songs with The Beatles are a key influence throughout the album and especially 'Blackbird'. The instrumentation varies by introducing harmonica or accordion instead of piano on some songs but these are slightly different shades of the same painting. 'Lord and Master' is particularly nice and seems to have echoes in modern folk artists like Cara Dillon. 'Goodbye' is simple and has lyrics which bring out the sadness even more. 'Minstrel and King' is like McCartney performing Amazing Blondel. While on the whole the album and it's bonus tracks don't add up to a classic, it would be a shame if it was lost or underappreciated and it is well worth investigating further.
(REMERCIEMENTS TIME HAS TOLD ME)

This second Heron album from 1971 was originally released as a double album at the price of one; hence the title.
The album shows a greater variety of musical styles than the 1970 debut album. Still it's the acoustic folk-style that's predominant, mixed with some more rocking tunes. Most of the album was recorded out in the open outside a Devon country cottage, which gives the album an unique atmosphere.
Their songwriting is even more convincing here than on their debut. Their have 2 excellent songwriters in Gerald T. Moore and Roy Apps ( who is still with the band ).
Here on their early records it's Moore who is shining the most. His songs "My Turn to Cry", "Minstrel and the King", "The Devil" and "Big A" are simply outstanding. Roy Apps' strongest contributions here are probably "Take Me back Home" and "Your Love and Mine". Another favourite out mine is their charming version of Woody Guthrie's "The Great Dust Storm".
A shame that a lot of people are not aware that the band is still together and recording fine new material from time to time, released on their own Relaxx label.
Roy Apps has once stated that the album probably ought to have been cut down to a single album; maybe . . but it would have been extremely hard to pick out the tracks that would have to go!
Also highly recommendable!!
(REMERCIEMENTS TIME HAS TOLD ME)

HERON DISCOGRAPHY

Albums:

HERON (DAWN DNLS 3010) 1970
The first Album
Released in 1970
Recorded in a field at Manor Farm,  Appleford, Berkshire.

Dawn Label



TWICE AS NICE AND HALF THE PRICE (DNLS 3025) 1971

The second Double Album
Released in 1971
Recorded outdoors at West Emlett
Farm, Black Dog, Devon

Pye Records
Dawn Label



OPEN UP THE ROAD 1981

Originally recorded as a cassette
at Mayfield Maidenhead 1983

Now available on CD

Relaxx Records


THE BEST OF HERON (SEE CD242)


HYSTORICAL (Crazy Hill CHCD 100) 1991

Originally recorded as a Cassette
at Crazy Hill Studios 1991

Now available on CD

Relaxx Records

RIVER OF FORTUNE (Relaxx RH001) 1997

Recorded in the garden at Black
Dog studios, West Emlett Farm,
Black Dog, Devon, 1997

Released 1997

Relaxx Records

IN CONCERT (Black Dog) 2002

ODZNENZ 2003

IN A FIELD OF THEIR OWN (VIDEO)

BLACK DOG 2005

Recorded in the garden at Black
Dog studios, West Emlett Farm,
Black Dog, Devon, 1997

Released 2005

Relaxx Records

Singles:
ONLY A HOBO (Maxi Single DNX 2509) 1970

TAKE ME BACK HOME (DNS 1015) 1972

HERON music is largely acoustic, pastoral and distinctly English.

”...unashamedly romantic, the music still sounds immediate.” Tim Forster (MOJO)

Their music is perfect for creating that laid back, “no worries” feeling - the sound of HERON ringing out over a summer’s sunny day brings a sense of security into an insecure world...

Review of River of Fortune
MOJO April 1999 issue

30th anniversary reunion sees these self-confessed hippies return to their roots for an album of pastoral folk.

Back in the early seventies, when British folk was in its ascendancy, Heron shared the bill with the great and the good of the music festivals, but somehow never received their fair share of recognition. A self-proclaimed band of hippies, no one could accuse them of mere posturing: they were one of the first bands to record an album (released on the collectable Dawn label) in the open air.

Now reformed, they have returned to that same Devon cottage garden for this, a newly recorded collection of old favourites and unreleased tracks. For the most part a gentle ramble through songs of love, lost innocence and rural mysticism the blend of acoustic guitars, mandolin, accordion and piano is uplifted by the group's rich harmonies.

This is a fine performance; the new interpretations of old songs sound fresh without being over-polished and, despite being unashamedly romantic, the music still sounds immediate. With another album of entirely new songs in the pipeline, Heron deserve to have more luck the second time around.

TIM FORSTER

Disc.1 1. Yellow Roses 2. Car Crash 3. Harlequin 2 4. Smiling Ladies 5. Little Boy 6. Sally Goodin 7. Upon Reflection 8. Lord and Master 9. Little Angel 10. Goodbye 11. For You 12. Sally Goodin 13. Carnival and Penitence 14. Harlequin 2 [#] 15. Rosalind [#] 16. Bye and Bye 17. Through Time 18. Only a Hobo 19. I'm Ready to Leave 20. River of Fortune [#] 21. Some Kinda Big Thing [#] 22. If It's Love [#]

Disc.2 1. Madman 2. Take Me Back Home 3. Love 13 (Lone) 4. Something Inside 5. Miss Kiss 6. John Brown 7. Big a 8. Winter Harlequin 9. Sound of the Music 10. Your Love and Mine 11. You Really Got a Hold on Me 12. Great Dust Storm 13. My Turn to Cry 14. This Old Heart of Mine 15. Minstrel and a King 16. Getting 'Em Down 17. I Wouldn't Mind 18. He's a Poor Boy 19. Devil 20. Wanderer 21. Harlequin 5 22.

[#] previously unreleased

It was last winter when I first heard Heron’s 1970 self titled debut and the only thing I knew about the record was that it was recorded outside in England near the Thames river. After spending a few days with the album, I began to get the itch to figure out who the dudes were that were responsible for these perfect pastoral folk sing alongs. Who was this band that managed to record an album that sounded like an open field could suddenly play a guitar and sing?

There’s not too much written about Heron and after a few minutes of coming up empty handed, I decided that maybe I didn’t want to know. The record was recorded outside, yes, and you hear all the birds and sunshine that surrounded the band while they effortlessly sang about harlequins and yellow roses. It’s Simon and Garfunkel if instead of being Jews from Queens, they were British guys born and raised in the England countryside. Heron is not so much a lesson in recording or a lesson in songwriting, it’s a lesson in what an album can be. There’s not much on the record other than guitar, piano, and vocals, and it sounds like a well rehearsed day of sitting outside and watching the sun go by. At the end of “Car Crash” a band member laughs as he quietly whispers, “little black things are crawling all over me.”

Heron is strawberry pie and gooseberry puddin. That’s about all you need to know. I swear. words/jeff thrope

When we first posted on Heron, the obscure British folk group from the early 70’s, Jeff Thorpe wrote that after attempting to research the group (and coming up empty handed), that perhaps he was content to leave their biography a mystery and let the music speak for itself. In truth, even if one would like to dig deeper, when it comes to Heron it is not a matter of preference, but rather, a true lack of information. Aside from a few band members’ reflections - found on an otherwise completely sparse website - there is very little history to be found.

Upon Reflection: The Dawn Anthology, a compilation that is little more than the groups two records from the ealy 70’s into one package, is about all you can purchase without looking for something to possibly appear on eBay or through the bands website. Recently, we were lucky enough to track down one of the albums by its lonesome, abd listening to it as an individual document proves that the painfully overlooked group was crafting a remarkably unique sound that feels both new and yet very familiar. The record is Twice As Nice & Half the Price. An album in which songs of jolly demeanor (“My Turn to Cry,” a driving song with the heaviest drums on the record and sung like a smiley pop orchestration)are mixed into the record seamlessly between solo-efforts and quiet introspective works.

Two of the LPs most devastating tracks are both covers. The Isley Brothers “This Old Heart of Mine” is reinvented to reflect the forlorn nature of the lyrics. Dylan’s “John Brown” can be added to the short list of tracks whose cover version is stronger than the original. A war-commentary originally penned in 1963 and mostly forgotten until it’s appliance in an “Unplugged” setting, it is sung here in a beautiful harmony that is far from perfect, with a jangling but not up-front piano. It’s this looseness that makes many of these tracks feel like old standards instead of originals. Jovial, yet sad songs that blossom with the raw emotion of single-takes. This is non-abrasive, “easy” folk of the highest caliber, allowing the listener to either get lost in its lyrics, the instrumentation, or the Sunday-afternoon delight. words/ b. kramer (Remerciements aquarium Drunkiard)