Preview: Bright Phoebus Revisited
At 8pm on Saturday 12th October, Warwick Arts Centre will be host to the second evening in the tour of “Bright Phoebus Revisited”: a musical production which focuses on the story of the great lost album Bright Phoebus (1972). Written by folk luminaries Lal and Mike Waterson, the album melded mysterious and effete subject matter with the British pop sensibilities of albums such as The Beatles’ Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.
The project will be touring the UK from the 11th – 16th October, and will incorporate a number of musicians and special guests into its composition. Chief among these names are Marry, Norma and Ollie Waterson, Sheffield troubadour Richard Hawley, and folk musicians Eliza and Martin Carthy. (Jarvis Cocker will also be guesting during tonight’s performance at the Barbican in London.) Each rendition of the show will feature a live performance of the (now out-of-print) album in its entirety, as well as previously unreleased and unheard songs from Lal and Mike Waterson.
Though disregarded by many upon its release in the 1970s, Bright Phoebus has gradually garnered widespread acclaim, and is now considered to be one of the finest achievements of the British Folk Revival. The surviving members of the Hull-based Waterson family have gathered to celebrate the album four decades after its original release, with the Mercury Music Prize-nominated Norma a particularly noteworthy implementer in this project. Norma – together with her husband, Martin Carthy – has been joined in the production by her daughter, Eliza Carthy, who has already established herself as a big name in the movements of contemporary folk music.
The publication of the book “Teach Me to be a Summer’s Morning” will accompany the tour dates of Bright Phoebus Revisited, featuring various artworks, poems and lyrics from Lal Waterson, as well as a compilation of previously unreleased material in CD form.
For further information on the Warwick Arts Centre performance of Bright Phoebus Revisited, check out its website.
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