The Albion Christmas Band

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Caught Riding A Bicycle.....
The Alchemist Of Electric Morris
Fairport Convention
Steeleye Span
No Roses
Battle of the Field
The Compleat Dancing Master
The Etchingham Steam Band
Morris On
The Prospect Before Us
Live At The BBC: 1977/1982
Rattlebone and Ploughjack
Kickin' Up The Sawdust
Rise Up Like The Sun
Lark Rise To Candleford
Light Shining
Shuffle Off !
Under The Rose
A Christmas Present From The Albion Band
Stella Maris
The Wild Side Of Town
Live At The Cambridge Folk Festival
I Got New Shoes
An Hour with Cecil Sharp & Ashley Hutchings
Give Me a Saddle, I'll Trade You a Car
Ridgeriders
Sway With Me
Before Us Stands Yesterday
Christmas Album
Along The Downs
Street Cries
The BBC Sessions
An Evening With The Albion Band
Human Nature
As I Cycled Out On A May Morning
Visions of The Daughters of Albion
The Albion Band: The Final Round Up
ASHLEY HUTCHINGS' RAINBOW CHASERS
Some Colours Fly
The Knitting Song and About Dawn
Rainbow Chasers Alive and Well
A Brilliant Light
The Albion Christmas Band
Albion Links

The Albion Christmas Band
S. Nicol, S. Care, K. While, A. Hutchings

An Albion Christmas
The Albion Christmas Band
 
Recorded at Woodworm Studios, Barford St Michael, Oxfordshire, in 2003
Engineer: Paul Smith
Design by Malcolm Holmes for Johnny Boy Productions
 

Musicians

Kellie While, vocals, acoustic guitar, percussion, keyboards;

Simon Care, melodeon, drum, morris dancing;

Ashley Hutchings, vocals, acoustic bass guitar;

Simon Nicol, vocals, acoustic guitar, tambourine

All tracks Trad. arr. The Albion Christmas Band, except
Track 5 John Tams (Mole Music)
Track 6 Simon Care (Copyright Control)
Track 8 Trad. / Kellie While (Copyright Control)
Tracks 12, 13 Sydney Carter (Essex Music)
Track 14 Jackson Browne (Swallow Turn Music)
Track 15 Trad. / Ashley Hutchings (Albino Music)
Track 17 Simon Care (Albino Music)

Here We Come A-Wassailing
(Trad. Arr)
 

Here we come a-wassailing among the leaves so green,
Here we come a-wandering so fairly to be seen,
Now is winter-time strangers travel far and near,
And we wish you, send you a happy New Year.

Bud and blossom, bud and blossom, bud and bloom and bear,
So we may have plenty of cider all next year;
Apples are in capfuls are in bushel bags and all,
And there's cider running out of every gutter hole.

Down here in the muddy lane there sits an old red fox,
Starving and a-shivering and licking his old chops;
Bring us out your table and spread it if you please,
And give us hungry wassailers a bit of bread and cheese.

I've got a little purse and it's made of leather skin,
A little silver sixpence it would line it well within;
Now is winter-time; strangers travel far and near,
And we wish you, send you a happy New Year.

The King
(Trad. Arr)
 

Joy, health, love and peace
Be all here in this place
By your leave we will sing
Concerning our king

Our king is well dressed
In the silks of the best
In ribbons so rare
No king can compare

We have travelled many miles
Over hedges and stiles
In search of our king
Unto you we bring

We have powder and shot
To conquer the lot
We have cannon and ball
To conquer them all

Old Christmas is past
Twelve tide is the last
And we bid you adieu
Great joy to the new

Two Songs by Sydney Carter (1915-2004)

Julian of Norwich
 

Loud are the bells of Norwich
And the people come and go.
Here by the tower of Julian
I tell them what I know.
 
(Chorus)
Ring out, bells of Norwich
And let the winter come and go,
All shall be well again I know
 
Love like a yellow daffodil
Is coming through the snow
Love like a yellow daffodil
Is Lord of all I know
 
(Chorus)
 
Ring for the yellow daffodil
The flower in the snow,
Ring for the yellow daffodil
And tell them what I know.
 
(Chorus)
Ring out, bells of Norwich
And let the winter come and go,
All shall be well again I know.
All shall be well I'm telling you,
Let the winter come and go.
All shall be well again I know

Come, Love, Carolling
 

(Chorus)
Come, love carolling along in me!
Come, love carolling along in me!
All the while, wherever I may me,
I carry the maker of the world in me.
 
Lifting and loving you that I am not,
Though your body is my bone and blood,
I wonder at the maker who can be
Before I am and yet a child of me
.
 
(Chorus)
 
I lift and I carry you to Bethlehem,
I lift and I carry you to Galilee
I'll carry you wherever I may be,
I carry the maker of the world in me.
 
(Chorus)
 
In the beginning you were there, I know,
And you will carry me wherever I go.
I'll carry you wherever I may be,
I carry the maker of the world in me.
 
(Chorus 4x)

An Albion Christmas 2003
Talking Elephant TECD060. CD, UK, November 2003

  1. On Christmas Night All Christians Sing (2:52)
  2. Somerset Wassail (2:47)
  3. Gloucester Wassail (3:17)
  4. Here We Come A-Wassailing (2:37)
  5. Snow Falls (5:33)
    (featuring a poem by John Clare)
  6. The Advent Polka / Saint Nick's Brawl (1:54)
  7. My Father Played the Melodeon (2:04)
    (poem by Patrick Kavanagh)
  8. Rejoice and Be Merry (3:29)
  9. Sir Roger De Coverly (1:27)
  10. The Wren Song (2:15)
  11. The King (2:28)
  12. Julian of Norwich (3:06)
  13. Come Love Carolling (2:31)
  14. Rebel Jesus (4:53)
  15. Little Johnny England (3:57)
    (featuring an account of Cecil Sharp collecting his first morris dance)
  16. Sweet Chiming Bells (4:14)
  17. Bell Tower Polka (1:36)

Related Internet Links

our complete website, featuring songs
records, tour dates and much much more.
the unofficially official website

our new website that celebrates
Christmas in England through various eyes
 

Regional and historical carols
and songs from midwinter traditions
includes another arrangement
of The Gloucester Wassail.
from
Coope, Boyes & Simpson,
Fi Fraser, Jo Freya and
Georgina Boyes.
Coop Boyes and Simpson
have appeared on a number
of Ashley Hutchings' albums

1342-ca. 1416
medieval religious mystic
and anchorite
 

Sydney Carter's most
famous song.
 it was composed in 1963
many people believe it's
old because it's a
hymn they sang at school
and no...it's not Celtic.
 

has been associated with
Christmas and New Year
as far back as the 1400s
and earlier.
this from the
Christmas in England
webpages, created by
Tonbridge, Kent, UK,
and is part of an incredibly
comprehensive and very interesting
 website.
Well Done!

a link related to the
song The King.
describing the hunting of
the wren
 

 the ashley hutchings website
is © 2002/2003/2004/2005/
2006/2007/2008/2009/2010
2011/2012/2013/2014
all rights reserved