MY BACK CATALOGUE part 13

 

Part 13. SOMETHING TO TELL ‘EM, spooky stories from Britain and the Caribbean. Told by Roy Harris, Pete Castle, Madge Spencer, Ann Fairbairn. Recorded live at Tales at the Tiger storytelling club, Long Eaton.  cassette  Steel Carpet Music MATS007 1992

Tales at the Tiger was one of the first storytelling clubs in the country. It was started by Roy Harris as an offshoot of the  Traditions at the Tiger folk club in Long Eaton between Derby and Nottingham which is still running in a different guise. This live recording by four of the regular tellers was a souvenir/come publicity exercise. When Roy moved down to Cardiff I took over the running of the club and, after a while, moved it into Derby. A couple of years later I closed it when we lost the venue. I've  always regretted that, we should have found another venue and carried on. Roy Dyson, who had also been at Tales… but wasn’t on the recording for some reason, then started the famous Flying Donkeys club which ran for many years.

Something... is a pretty good sample of a typical storytelling night back then. It’s all quite simple but none the worse for that. Storytelling has developed since those early, simple days but there are pros and cons to that.

 A review: “A collection of stories told with great gusto and with a definite tendency towards the grisly with plenty of ghoulies and ghosties and bizarre goings on. Great stuff for keeping the kids quiet in the back of the car while you’re stuck in traffic on the way back from Sidmouth.”

Why, oh why, do reviewers have to mention kids just because it’s stories. One did about Willie’s Lady on the previous album and that is definitely not suitable!

Tracks:

Something to Tell ‘em. Pete. I still tell this regularly

The Big Toe. A jump story by Roy who learned it from Richard Chase

The Ghost.  Madge, a Caribbean parallel to the above

Friday & Saturday. Ann from Betsy White

Orange and Lemon. Pete. I still do it occasionally and it’s in Folk Tales of Song & Dance

Two at the Gate. Roy—a widely known classic

The Guitar Player. Madge.

The Nottingham Vampire. Ann

The Phantom Hitchhiker. Pete. One of the classic urban myths

The Voice. Madge

Hannah Baddely. Roy. An East Midlands tale.