Giglamps rambles

  Part one with versions 1-50 can be found here . Continuing with this endeavour now, to find as many versions of Twa Corbies as possible! After some thought, I decided to divide it up into multiple posts, 50 a time, to make it a little bit easier to manage. (Also the previous one was wrapped up around t'arse end of last year, so it felt nice to start a fresh post in the haze of a new year.) As with the previous entry: this is going to be a continually evolving list, so if you know of a version that needs to be included, or if you've recorded one of your own, then by all means, let me know. You can put a comment here or e-mail me at looksinnocuousnenoughchaps [at] gmail [dot] com. The artwork here is by Robert Burns, found on the  National Galleries Scotland website. Let's continue! 51. Alfred Deller and Mark Deller - This is the Three Ravens variation, but it still fits the criteria, being closely related to Twa Corbies, albeit a bit cloying in comparison to its darker a...

  For today, there's an impromptu trip to an enchanted garden; I stopped by here to check in with the Chaos Horses (can't find the pictures of them at the moment but they were yellow wooden horses, emerging from some chaotic plant matter - they made quite the impression) and was pleasantly surprised to see that this previously rather bleak little liminal space has been given some TLC. Some bits of fairytale context accompanying each of the displays, a very nice touch. And a bug hotel!

Which quite possibly sounds like a spicy song from The Wurzels (or maybe I'm just thinking of that episode of Cheapshow with The Dandelion and Burdock Incident, who knows) but still, here are some pictures from December last year, on an actually rather wholesome, bright, chilly morning walk 'round the allotments. Those are my favourite kind of days; the way the frost sparkles in the sunlight just makes me happy, and I find the cold refreshing. In the distance here, the hills surrounding Macclesfield Forest are visible, covered in snow. You can normally see Shutlingsloe from here as well, just not from this angle, evidently. There's also this liminal space just past the allotments, which I find compelling, so of course it needed to be included here.

This is something I've chatted about before but that was elsewhere, so it's coming up here as well: a compelling, eerie, atmospheric performance of Abbots Bromley Horn Dance. The version that I'm most familiar with is, of course, Leveret's version , where it's blended with Upon a Summer's Day and has a lovely, cosy vibe, like something out of Pogles' Wood. This version, with the lonely violin in the night, occasionally punctuated by a triangle beat, is very evocative, dreamlike and liminal. I absolutely love it. This was recorded in Thaxted, in Essex, whereas Abbots Bromley is located quite locally, in Staffordshire! It is on my bucket list to go see the Horn Dance in person someday, of course. There's an overall feeling of mystery and vagueness here that really fascinates me, not just in this performance but with the history of the Horn Dance and with traditional folk music overall, with songs being mostly passed down through oral tradition until conce...

Going to start this post with an illustration, because of this blog layout, posts lacking images tend to look a bit pants. The art here is by G. Howell-Baker. A while back, I was joking about gathering together as many versions of Twa Corbies as possible, and finally, here we are. This is going to be a continually evolving list, so if you know of a version that needs to be included, or if you've recorded one of your own, then by all means, let me know. You can put a comment here or e-mail me at looksinnocuousnenoughchaps [at] gmail [dot] com. Part two, with versions 50-100 can be found here . Let's begin! 1.  Folly Bridge - My personal favourite, performed completely a capella with some beautiful, eerie harmonies. 2.  Hamish Imlach - A live version, and a very close second favourite. Hamish's distinctive voice works wonders here and we're treated to some elegant sitar as well. 3.  Ayreheart - This one features the lute and a passionate vocal performance, it's qui...