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The Music:
Albion Sunrise
Morris Medley
* Mouresque
* London Pride
* So Selfish Runs The Hare
* Maid Of The Mill
* Sheriff's Ride
I Was A Young Man
New
St George / La Rotta
Gallant Poacher
Cheshire Rounds / The Old Lancashire Hornpipe
Hangèd I Shall Be
Reaphook
And Sickle
Battle Of The Somme
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The Players:
Steve Ashley : guitar Sue Draheim : fiddle Ashley Hutchings : bass Simon Nicol : guitar, vocals Royston Wood : vocals Shirley Collins : vocals, banjo Roger Swallow : drums Linda Thompson : vocals Richard Thompson guitar, vocals Martin Carthy : guitar, vocals Sue Harris : vocals, oboe, dulcimer John Kirkpatrick : accordion, vocals, piano Martin Nicholls, John Iveson, Colin Sheen, Paul Beer : sackbuts on "Gallant Poacher" Dave Mattacks : percussion on "Reaphook and Sickle".
The Album:
Battle Of The Field (Island HELP 25) 1976.
This outfit was formed by Ashley
Hutchings after he left Steeleye Span. It was initially formed in April 1972 with the line-up including several folkies, but
Mattacks was soon recruited from Fairport Convention. They were a popular attraction at colleges, universities and folk festivals
and later in the year when the initial line-up split, Richard and Linda Thompson were added and Shirley Collins was also briefly
a member. They eventually knocked it on the head, in August 1973, but the album was released retrospectively to satisfy demand
from fans. It had been recorded but then shelved, because there was no band to support it. Hutchings later played with Shirley
Collins in The Etchingham Steam Band and then with Dave Mattacks in The Albion Dance Band.
The Field : 1846 - 1914
The census of Britain taken in 1851 showed a total population of 20.9 persons,
where 10 3/4 million had been counted in 1801 ; in the intervening years, the population had almost doubled and the country
had become the largest manufacturer of industrial products in western Europe. Of this population, some 1 3/4 million were
engaged in the cultivation of the soil, in the rearing of animals and the care of woods. Those employed on the land were,
infact, already a minority of the British people, representing only about one -fifth of the total occupied persons, or one-quarter
of the males over twenty years of age. Thus for every adult male engaged in agriculture or forestry, there were three others
working in trade, domestic service, or in the professions....The Battle of the Field was already joined.......
Battle of the Somme :1st July 1916
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