Bright Phoebus Covers

Bright Phoebus is a "lost" (ie unavailable) 1972 album from Lal and Mike Waterson, also featuring such folk luminaries as Martin Carthy, Richard Thompson, Maddy Prior, and Norma Waterson.

Long out of print due to legal wranglings, there's a Bright Phoebus Revisited mini-tour this month, featuring assorted extended Waterson, Carthy and Thompson family members, plus admirers like Jarvis Cocker and Richard Hawley.

I won't say much more about the original album here, which is available on the internet in the usual brown-bag under-the-counter type places, but there's an excellent half-hour Radio 4 documentary by Pete Paphides (part of a series about lost albums) available here on soundcloud. There's also a tracklisting and musicians credits here on the Mainly Norfolk site, including links to all the lyrics. Finally, there's a detailed and interesting story of the album at The Sound Project, which links to the originals as a YouTube series of songs.

I'm going to the Barbican gig so I wanted to listen to some of the songs in advance. What I have done is rounded up the covers available on Spotify and made a Bright Phoebus Covered playlist.

Unfortunately there are no cover versions of Magical Man or Shady Lady. There are the most cover versions by far of Fine Horseman, perhaps because it's one of the most striking vocals and immediate melodies.

Finding the cover versions involved listening to all songs on Spotify with the same name, and there's a lot of songs called The Scarecrow or Scarecrow, quite a lot of them are folk tunes which makes sense given the pastoral theme, but a surprising amount of heavy metal/hard rock as well.

Equally there's plenty of songs called Shady Lady, from big bands to Gene Pitney, from Status Quo to Uriah Heep (which isn't that far), mainly featuring fairly alluring shady ladies but none of these are versions of the Bright Phoebus song.

Some of the tracks on the playlist are newer versions featuring Lal Waterson and/or Mike Waterson, so maybe not strictly covers, but I've included these too, especially in the absence of the original album.

See below the fold for the full tracklisting.



Blue Murder – Rubber Band - No One Stands Alone

June Tabor – The Scarecrow - Abyssinians

Anne Briggs – Fine Horseman - The Time Has Come

Maddy Prior – Winnifer Odd - Shining Bright

Billy Bragg – Danny Rose - England, Half English

Eliza Carthy – Child Among the Weeds - Wayward Daughter

Martin Carthy with Dave Swarbrick – Never the Same - Shining Bright

Tinkerscuss – To Make You Stay - John Barleycorn Reborn

Mike Waterson – Red Wine & Promises - Anthems In Eden

The Wooden Dresses – Bright Phoebus - The Wooden Dresses

Other versions:

Fairport Convention – Rubber Band - Encore Encore
James Yorkston – Scarecrow - Someplace Simple
Tony Capstick – The Scarecrow (Live) - The Folk Vault
The Witches Of Elswick – The Scarecrow - Out Of Bed
Dick Gaughan – Scarecrow - Shining Bright
Mike Waterson – Rubber Band - Loose Chippings
Silly Sisters (June Tabor, Maddy Prior) – Fine Horseman - No More To The Dance
Sproatly Smith – Fine Horseman - Times Is N' Times Was
Dayteller – Fine Horseman - Shining Bright
Dick Gaughan – Fine Horseman - Redwood Cathedral
Lisa Knapp – Fine Horseman - Music And Migration Vol 3
Lucky Bags – Fine Horseman - Delight In Disorder
Erica Smith – Fine Horseman - Erica Smith
Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin – Fine Horseman - Return
Richard Thompson – Red Wine Promises - Shining Bright
June Tabor – Red Wine and Promises (Live) - The Best Of Mountain Stage Vol 2
Grace Notes – Red Wine And Promises - Red Wine And Promises
Tony Capstick – Red Wine and Promises (Live) - The Folk Vault
Blue Murder – Bright Phoebus - Shining Bright
John Pashley's Phoenix New Orleans Parade Band – Bright Phoebus - Shining Bright