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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.

Learn more about this author, Dave Franklin.
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