Caedmon - Caedmon's Hymn 1978

Precious little information about this obscure Irish folk-rock group is available. All I could find was this blurb from the label, Kissing Spell: "Caedmon's privately issued 1978 LP, has since it's rediscovery in 1992, been established as an expensive collectors item, rated as the best folk-rock album ever made, perhaps 2nd only to “Mellow Candle”. The sublime sound of Caedmon results from an unusual blend of styles, the fragile female vocals, admirable use of tension and atmosphere, savage fuzz-guitar, art rock leanings - everything from exquisite understatement to frantic show-off musicianship - a classic, by golly!".


The Studio

The album was recorded in a tiny home studio in Edinburgh - known to aficionados as ‘Barclay Towers’. No idea what kind of technology was involved, save the incessant fiddling with EQ to try and filter out the buzz of a fluorescent light strip over the cooker that was inadvertently left on during one take.

We recorded over two successive Sundays and mixed at a third session. It was four track reel to reel recording ……. live with occasional overdubs.
Instrumentation

For us as musicians, highlights included using a cup and teaspoon to create the latin style percussion on ‘Maker Man’.

For the recording we borrowed Ever After’s Fender Rhodes but still depended upon my own Crumar Compac Piano which had three sounds: piano, clavichord and harpsichord. I bought it for £100 second hand. There was no touch sensitivity, but it seemed very modern at the time. All organ type sounds were played using the piano setting whilst sliding the volume control from 0 (when hitting the key) to the appropriate volume, to avoid the attack at the start of the note.

I played an Ibanez classical guitar on Maker Man that was bought in 1969. I sold my ‘Smiley Joe’ banjolele to raise money for the transaction. I’ve recently been buying ukuleles again to use in primary school work in my region!

The cello was a German instrument from around 1890.

Info taken from http://www.caedmonsreturn.com


1. Ten Maidens Fair (4:17)
2. Maker Man (3:15)
3. Death of a Fox (4:18)
4. Sea Song (5:35)
5. Aslan (4:15)
6. Beyond the Second Mile (6:45) *
7. Living in the Sunshine (4:27)
8. Storm (6:06)
9. Columbus’ Song (2:21)
10. Smile on Your Face (4:35)
11. Caedmon’s Hymn (4:15)
12. Give Me Jesus (4:15) *