Stuart Maconie played When I Was Young on his Freak Zone a little over a year ago. It doesn't happen very often these days that something leaps out of the radio at you and you think, "What is that?" Mark Lamarr playing Bobby Charles I Hope is one recent case in point, but that's another story… I assumed When I Was Young must be one of those rediscovered early-seventies folk-rock bands like Trees (Lucy's a fan). I was astonished and delighted when Stuart back-announced the song and said it was a new release. Even more so when I realised the band, Trembling Bells, were essentially an augmented version of my beloved Directing Hand. How did all that happen without me noticing?
You could almost mount a case that Trembling Bells were the third in a series of new folk rock groups, after the crash and burn of both The Eighteenth Day of May and Indigo Moss. Almost. Unlike the other two, there's little obvious influence from American traditions — at least on this album. And unlike the other two Trembling Bells have already survived long enough to produce a second album.
I still love When I Was Young. There are a few songs almost as good as it on the album, but that one is the stand-out. I first saw Trembling Bells at the Incredible String Band tribute a year ago, and then I've seen a couple of further shows of theirs since. I want to like them, and I love their ethos — including singer Lavinia's Blake-inspired illustrations in the lyrics booklet — but I can't make up my mind for sure… Somehow I miss the raw, feral bursts of energy that so drew me to Directing Hand.
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