With their 20th anniversary receding toward the far horizon, Blyth Power remains one of the most individual, intelligent and fluid bands England has ever spawned. I have from time to time tried to draw people's attention to them through a number of reviews in my earlier days on this site. Now armed with a finer honed writing ability, fashioned through long hours slaving through the twilight hours, and hopefully a wider audience due to the faith people have come to place in my work, it is time to embark on the Fifth Crusade and continue to spread the gospel of Blyth Power.
Formed in late 1983 by singer/drummer Joseph Porter, one of the prime features about the band is their all-consuming individuality. They have a strikingly identifiable and personalised sound built basically around Joseph's epic songs, with their colourful personnel, exotic story lines and crashing, impassioned choruses and it is with a sly sense of mischief that the band will take delight in taunting the least folk-oriented crowd with the sound of accordions, or slipping in a raucous anthem to enliven the atmosphere of a balmy country fayre. There is a totally English quality about their words and music, not in a flag waving and nationalistic sort of way, very often the very opposite. Their heart lies in revelling in the history of their homeland, using references from the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution to tell their tales. But it's not as simple as a straight forward as a history lesson to music. The references that litter their songs are often analogies for more modern day ideas, a Russian doll of imagery or an iceberg with more hidden below the surface than could ever be seen at first glimpse. Musically the band have moved through a ongoing evolution, never losing the Blyth Power sound, but never sounding derivative from one album to the next. Born out of the punk movement that was headed by the likes of Crass and which evolved into the new age traveller scene that would spawn the far better known Levellers, Blyth Power have experimented with their sound from one album to the next, often their hand forced by the constant line up changes.
In 1994, Anagram put out a compilation of the first ten years of their work under the title "Ten Years Inside The Horse", a period which is considered by many to be the bands heyday, covering some seven albums and their most intensive touring commitments. The band was always a "happy dictatorship" Porter has the captain of the ship, which caused some creative stifling of his band members. This had the effect that many of his fellow musicians went on to create other projects and front their own bands with a similar individuality and creative flair and in doing so forming a whole community of like minded bands that are to this day striking out in all directions around the world.
The first three songs on the album are taken from the first album, the wonderfully named "Wicked Women, Wicked Men and Wicket Keepers", cricket, along with trains being a recurring reference point. "Stand Into Danger" sums up the bands ability to fuse ancient and modern in their lyrics. Sounding like a ballad recounting an old sea battle, it is actually a well disguised retelling of the night the band were booked to play the Thekla, a old light-ship, now a floating trendy bar, then an alternative music venue. There was friction between band and bookers and it all ended badly and the result, no gig that night but a damned good song. A cross between punk energy and sea shanty with typical harmonious choruses the album is up and running. "Hurling Time" is a waltz time document of social injustice. Guitars chug away as the sorry tale of Wat Tyler and his brush with Richard II is set to a punk dirge, if there is such a thing, there is probably a hidden agenda on this song too but I am yet to work it out. The first albums contribution is rounded off with "Its Probably Going To Rain" Here Porter is at his sneering best. While his voice is rich with the generous tones of the West Country and deep with the anger of the aggrieved, his lyrics brim over with every sort of fascinating twist, turn, allusion and bile. The spirit of punk grafted on to the pop-punk trappings that he now wears.
"The Barman and Other Stories" being their second album marks a slight change of direction. Some of the angst seems to have gone but the lyrics are no less clever and it shows that two years and a couple of changes in the line up can do a lot to the sound of a band. With a backdrop of the sixteenth and seventeenth century looming large behind their outpourings the contributions from this slice of history are an odd choice. "Hard Summer Long" is a beautiful vocal piece that is an exception to their normal sound, but it does lead into a punk version of "He Who Would Valiant Be" no less. "Chilterns" is based on the work of poet Robert Brooke and the only true Blyth song from this era is "Me and Mister Absolutely" which typifies the lack of bite that the band were displaying around the time of this album.
By 1990 through, things had changed. The arrival of "Alnwick and Tyne" was greeted in the same way by loyal fans as if the Sex Pistols had turned into a Heavy Metal Band. The changes in this album horrified and delighted in equal measure and for me are the highlight of their body of work. Finding a fantastic balance between hard crunching guitars, melody, driving songs and at long last a decent studio sound, Alnwick and Tyne saw the band at its peak. Again the choice of songs is an odd one. Whilst "Summer Song" is a charging piece of vocally spectacular story telling, it is by far the most immediate choice as a contribution. "Song of the Third Cause" is both raucous and clever, but "Execution Song" could almost be a different band. It would be interesting to know who made these selections and how much choice did they actually have. As most of the bands work is owned by Downwarde Spiral records and this album was put out by Anagram, there may be a telling tale there.
A year later after the inclusion of their most famous old boy "WOB" who went on to no little solo success, "The Guns of Castle Cary" came forth and is sort of an amalgamation of all their albums to date. Containing flavours and sounds that span all the previous Blyth offerings but hindered by a poor studio sound this can almost be seen as typifying the band, and for a change I totally approve of the four tracks selected. "Inside The Horse" is a rousing sing along alluding to the Greek army camped in their creation before the walls of Troy, but really about the realities of being in a band. Guitars thrash against a harmonious vocal wall and the beats keep the foot tapping to the end. "Animal Farm" a violin fuelled punk-folk blast has become one of their anthems, clever sing along lyrics over a fist in the air headlong charge into oblivion. Through out the musicianship is brash and loud in the best possible taste and never more so on "Knights on Malta". The title track rounds of this segment and is Joseph Porter story telling at his best. A tongue in cheek tale of how he, as the main character who is a parliamentary sympathiser in the Civil War, destroyed the stronghold at Castle Cary. There is probably a lot more in the song when you realise that Castle Cary is also Porters hometown.
The last album used to make up this retrospective is " Pastor Skull" which features the same line up as the previous but which moves the emphasis of their punk-folk sound from the former to the later. More keyboards are used here and this is summed up by the title track with its haunting church organ and its lush vocal backing. "Royal George" marks the punk extreme in this blind flight through raw aggression and "Vane Tempest" the folkier end.
And that is the first ten years nailed down. Some of the selections are a bit odd but if you do like what you hear on this compilation, I can assure you that there is better work tucked away on these albums. The band is an acquired taste, never all that easy to access and capable of leaving listeners baffled. There is no real in-between here, you will either love it or hate it, but for those with an ear for well-crafted lyrics, energetic music and a heart of the English rebel then I do recommend taking a step into their world.