Wow, I wasn’t expecting this when I bought it. Judy Dyble (of Fairport fame) and Jackie MacAuley (ex Them) signed up to PYE’s newly formed DAWN label to produce their only release together. The result was an album that has a reputation as one of the unsung musical treasure of the 1970’s and deservedly so. It is a charming and magical album that gives you something new on each listening. While Judy was replaced by Sandy Denny after the first Fairport album (a great album at that), there was no embarrassment at being replaced by someone of Denny’s greatness. This album shows that she was not out of place in the company of Denny, Maddy Prior, Marian Segal and June Tabor. The name ‘Trader Horne’ came from the DJ John Peel, whose beloved nanny – Florence Horne – was nicknamed ‘Trader’ by his father.
Jackie MacAuley’s (vocals, guitar, harpsichord, organ, piano, flute, congas and celeste) with Judy Dyble (vocals, electric auto-harp and piano) blend some fantastic music together effortlessly with their sublime vocals and harmonies. MacAuley wrote most of the songs in a folk rock pop style, but trying to pigeon hole this music really does do it an injustice.
‘Jenny May’ is a great start with great finger picking acoustic guitar with MacAuley singing great lyrics and Judy producing some ethereal harmonies and backing vocals. ‘Children of Oare’, is based on ‘We three kings’, is the albums anthem song and deserves to be heard and appreciated by a much larger audience – fantastic. MacAuley’s superb musicianship is showcased on the instrumental ‘Three rings for Elven Kings’, the flute being exquisite. The production of ‘Growing man’ is excellent, with Judy’s vocals (absolutely faultless) coming from the left channel followed by Jackie’s from the right. Jackie is the rambling man and Judy his waiting partner, a proper folk theme and one of the highlights of the album. ‘The down and out blues’ is a reworking of the Prohibition era ‘Nobody knows you when you’re down and out’ and is an unfussy arrangement with Judy’s honey voice at a lower range than normal, but entirely comfortable. Jackie’s flute solo shouldn’t really work, but absolutely does, with the track rounded off by Judy’s boogie-woogie piano. ‘The mixed up kind’ rounds off Side 1 superbly as a folk rock foot stomper with Judy’s crystal clear voice over an acoustic guitar/organ arrangement, with flourishes of harpsichord and John Godfrey’s bass and Andy White’s steady drum beat. The harmonies on the chorus are utterly delightful.
Side 2 starts with the latin influenced ‘Better than today’ and could be a Simon and Garfunkel number. The chorus is very definitely ‘60’s folk revival stuff and the flute solo just makes the track special. Judy has the opportunity to shine on ‘In my loneliness’ and she takes her chance superbly – Denny must have been quite special for the Fairport team to ditch Judy so abruptly, but I suppose she was. ‘Sheena’ was the A side of the single released from the album and is unashamedly poppy and lifts the album nicely. ‘The mutant’ returns to the acoustic finger picking and has a ‘Cream’ sound, I wonder if Jackie MacAuley listened to ‘Tales of brave Ulysses’ before writing it and returning the track to its folk roots. Great bit of deep flute surrounds the track. The only track written solely by Judy Dyble is the title track and builds beautifully and is an absolute joy to listen to. ‘Velvet to atone’ was the only other track written by Judy, but this time in association with Martin Quittenton (‘Steamhammer’ – who also co-wrote ‘Maggie May’ and ‘You wear it well’). Judy sings solo, just accompanied by her piano and has a beautifully crisp, fresh sound. Rounding off the album is ‘Luke that never was’ with a church organ in the background is one of their psychedelic folk songs, with mention of the ‘toadstool people’!!
Another distinct feature of the album is the use of short instrumentals to link the songs and, while the musical themes often seem to have little to do with the songs, they do add a quirky charm. The pieces on side one of the LP featured Jackie accompanying himself on celeste, flute and glockenspiel, while on side two the links were played by Judy on piano.
I suggest you listen to this album with something nice and mellow in a glass, the lights turned down very low and the volume set relatively high. If this doesn’t make you happy, then you may need to consider some chemical assistance.
