For Pence And Spicy Ale

Artists

Album Info

Release Date: 1993

Label: Topic Records

Producer's note by Tony Engle

In the early summer of 1975 Topic released "for pence and spicy ale" by The Watersons. At the recording the group was at the top of their form. It had been several years since they had recorded and this new record marked their return to the British Folk Scene. Mike, Lal and Norma Waterson were three-quarters of the original group and Martin Carthy was the new member - he had replaced the original fourth member, John Harrison. The record was greeted with considerable acclaim from critics and audiences alike and is considered by many to have been the group's finest recording. Two years later the Watersons were back in the studio, but this time it was not as a group. The Watersons have always been fine individual voices in their own right so the plan was to make two records - one featuring Mike solo and a second, featuring the solo and duet talents of Lal and Norma. This didn't stop them helping out on each others' records, however. In addition Lal's daughter, Maria, also lends her voice to these recordings and the occasional accompaniments are by Jim Eldon (flute & whistle), Peta Webb (fiddle), Rod Stradling (melodeon) and Tony Engle (Anglo concertina). With this reissue the extra playing time available on CD has allowed me to mix in some of the best tracks from the solo projects with the original album. I hope that you, the listener, enjoy these recordings as much as I did making them and subsequently compiling them for this record.

— Tony Engle, 1993