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Plainsong — Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña

Plainsong — Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña

Plainsong

Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña

Release date: September 11, 2015

 

The return of Plainsong!

After producer Joe Boyd suggested “Reno Nevada” for Fairport Convention, Iain Matthews became intrigued with the work of Richard Fariña (1933-1966)—songwriter, author, and counter-culture icon. Even though his band Plainsong “retired” in 2012, when founders Matthews and Andy Roberts joined with later member Mark Griffiths, and decided to pay tribute to Fariña, there was no doubt the resulting album, Reinventing Richard, should be a Plainsong release.

Fariña was tragically killed in a tragic motorcycle accident in 1966, just after the release of his classic novel Been Down So Long It Looks Up To Me. Aside from that book’s stature, it was the trio of albums he released with his wife Mimi (sister of Joan Baez) that solidified him as a folk legend. Celebrations For A Grey Day (1965) was chosen by Robert Shelton of The New York Times as one of the ten best folk albums of the year. Reflections In A Crystal Wind followed. The third came after his passing.

A labor of love and remembrance from those who admire his work, Plainsong’s Reinventing Richard: The Songs Of Richard Fariña takes this incredible writer’s material and weaves it in the harmonies and instrumentation of Matthews, Roberts and Griffiths. To make it more special, Reinvented Richard contains a performance with Clive Gregson (“Another Country”), as well as the first release of a previously unrecorded Fariña track, “Sombre Winds.”

With Reinventing Richard, Plainsong has produced a classic album that imagines how his songs might have sounded if written and first recorded in a 21st century electro/acoustic setting. Ever inventive and sonically stunning, Reinventing Richard is destined to be judged amongst the very best of 2015.

 


    CD / Digital Track List:

  1. The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Prelude)
  2. Pack Up Your Sorrows
  3. Sell-Out Agitation Waltz
  4. One Way Ticket
  5. Another Country
  6. Lemonade Lady
  7. Mainline Prosperity Blues
  8. The Falcon
  9. Almond Joy
  10. Hard Loving Loser
  11. Michael, Andrew And James
  12. Children Of Darkness
  13. Reflections In A Crystal Wind
  14. Sombre Winds
  15. The Quiet Joys Of Brotherhood (Conclusion)

Cat No.: OV-144

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