Biography
During the 1970s Amazing Blondel emerged as one of England’s more distinctive rock ensembles, a three-piece whose instrumentalists favored lutes, citterns, recorders, crumhorns and other devices spanning the medieval and Elizabethan epochs while writing songs cast in comparable historical idioms. The lineup comprised three Scunthorpe natives—John David Gladwin on lute, oboe, cittern and double bass, Terry Wincott handling pipe organ, harmonium, cittern, recorders, flute, crumhorn, tabor pipe, ocarina and guitar, plus Edward Baird on guitar, guitern and percussion. Gladwin and Wincott, both born locally, had attended the same school where they encountered Baird, originally from Hampshire yet raised in Scunthorpe. While still pupils the pair participated in several rock-and-roll outfits and afterward assembled the Dimples; by 1966 they had launched Gospel Garden alongside Craig Austin, Steve Cox and Jeff Tindall, leaving behind demo recordings that captured a pop-psychedelic character. Gospel Garden subsequently evolved into Methuselah, a hard-rocking unit blending progressive and folk leanings, the latter element showcased through an acoustic interlude that Gladwin and Wincott inserted midway through each set.
Methuselah achieved the rare feat of securing an American deal with Elektra Records absent any domestic contract, yet the group dissolved before completing the third album of a planned trilogy; the unreleased second LP vanished entirely, as Wincott later recalled. Wearying of Methuselah’s amplified volume and the consequent inability to hear their own voices or instruments onstage, Gladwin and Wincott gravitated toward the quieter acoustic segment that had already proven popular with listeners. At that moment a scholarly revival of medieval and Renaissance music was underway, led by Roger Norrington and David Munrow, while folk figures such as Bert Jansch and Pentangle pursued parallel explorations and even the Rolling Stones incorporated Renaissance textures on “Lady Jane.” Gladwin and Wincott absorbed both the academic releases and their folk-rock counterparts, supplementing these sources with faux-medieval ballads remembered from 1950s television. They assembled a fresh repertoire sounding centuries old, adopted the name Blondel on a listener’s suggestion honoring King Richard I’s celebrated court musician, and later prefixed it with “Amazing.”
In 1970, aided by session players including guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and drummer Clem Cattini, they cut a self-titled debut credited to The Amazing Blondel and issued on the fledgling British branch of Bell Records, which subsequently misplaced the master tapes. That album leaned closer to mainstream rock than any later effort, incorporating psychedelic and occasional blues touches, although the archaic tracks “Saxon Lady,” “Season of the Year” and “Shepherd’s Song” foreshadowed the direction ahead. Baird joined Gladwin and Wincott shortly after the sessions, expanding the unit to a trio whose expanded instrumental resources proved immediately advantageous; Gladwin soon emerged as the most prolific composer. Following an opening slot for Free, the headliners introduced the trio to Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, whose label had recently embraced progressive rock through early licensing of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Blackwell offered a contract accompanied by a substantial advance.
The musicians refined their live presentation as well as their studio work, routinely deploying more than forty instruments without additional personnel, each arrangement limited to at most three instruments sounding simultaneously. Although they readily conceded their lack of virtuoso technique, the results struck contemporary ears as plausible, and concerts remained engaging despite the five-hour tuning ritual required by the fragile array—an absolute precondition for performance, unlike most rock contemporaries. Their Island debut Evensong (1970), produced by Paul Samwell-Smith, found the group still navigating a catalog of medieval-flavored ballads and madrigals, yet it earned favorable notices and cultivated a devoted following within the burgeoning British folk-progressive audience, sufficient to warrant a follow-up.
Despite their acoustic foundation the trio did not shy from extended suites sometimes reaching twenty-five minutes and frequently employing Latin. Their second Island album Fantasia Lindum devoted its entire first side to one such composition. While repetition surfaced at times, the strongest passages rested on memorably beautiful melodies. Pianist-harpsichordist Adrian Hopkins joined the circle on Fantasia Lindum and, through his subsequent arranging and conducting, became instrumental in realizing the band’s most notable achievements. England (1972) marked the trio’s artistic summit, presenting a broad sonic panorama across which Gladwin, Wincott and Baird rendered richly detailed tone paintings—predominantly landscapes—brimming with attractive, haunting hooks. The record received its strongest American airplay on progressive outlets such as WNEW-FM in New York and numerous college stations, though sales remained modest; distributed domestically by Capitol Records, it nevertheless appeared in some department-store bins. By then the group enjoyed recognition across Europe and supported major acts including Procol Harum and Genesis.
Gladwin departed soon after England’s release, reducing Amazing Blondel to a duo for the 1973 album Blondel, which also concluded their “period” repertoire. Much of the material retained antique character, yet several pieces reflected modern progressive influences, with Paul Rodgers of Free contributing vocals and Steve Winwood supplying instrumental support. Beginning with Mulgrave Street the duo, augmented by additional rock musicians including Winwood, Rodgers and Mick Ralphs, pursued a harder contemporary sound reminiscent of Steeleye Span. Their Island tenure ended with Blondel; they next signed with DJM, Dick James Music’s label imprint. Four further albums appeared on DJM, sustaining audiences in Europe and Japan while the group faded from American view, where DJM maintained negligible presence—Mulgrave Street circulated in the United States only as an import. Live in Tokyo, actually taped in Europe, closed their recording career in 1977.
While Baird and Wincott persisted with performances and recordings, Gladwin maintained activity through English Musicke, a trio featuring Adrian Hopkins and Paul Empson that he later described as a Blondel clone. Timing proved unfavorable amid the disco and punk era, and neither that project nor the solo releases by Baird and Wincott in the late 1970s attained the visibility the original band had enjoyed earlier.
In 1997, two decades after the duo’s final performances and nearly a quarter-century after Gladwin’s exit, the original trio reunited to record Restoration, their first album since 1972. The result sounded as though the separation had never occurred, serving as an ideal continuation of England. The reunion followed reissues of the Island and Bell catalog on HTD and Edsel, and coincided with the initial wave of archival excavations. The first such release, A Foreign Field That Is Forever England, presented previously unheard early-1970s concert tapes. Subsequent archival collections Going Where the Music Takes Me (2006) and On with the Show (2007) appeared over the ensuing decade, together with a fresh Beat Goes On reissue of the first two Island albums.
Methuselah achieved the rare feat of securing an American deal with Elektra Records absent any domestic contract, yet the group dissolved before completing the third album of a planned trilogy; the unreleased second LP vanished entirely, as Wincott later recalled. Wearying of Methuselah’s amplified volume and the consequent inability to hear their own voices or instruments onstage, Gladwin and Wincott gravitated toward the quieter acoustic segment that had already proven popular with listeners. At that moment a scholarly revival of medieval and Renaissance music was underway, led by Roger Norrington and David Munrow, while folk figures such as Bert Jansch and Pentangle pursued parallel explorations and even the Rolling Stones incorporated Renaissance textures on “Lady Jane.” Gladwin and Wincott absorbed both the academic releases and their folk-rock counterparts, supplementing these sources with faux-medieval ballads remembered from 1950s television. They assembled a fresh repertoire sounding centuries old, adopted the name Blondel on a listener’s suggestion honoring King Richard I’s celebrated court musician, and later prefixed it with “Amazing.”
In 1970, aided by session players including guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and drummer Clem Cattini, they cut a self-titled debut credited to The Amazing Blondel and issued on the fledgling British branch of Bell Records, which subsequently misplaced the master tapes. That album leaned closer to mainstream rock than any later effort, incorporating psychedelic and occasional blues touches, although the archaic tracks “Saxon Lady,” “Season of the Year” and “Shepherd’s Song” foreshadowed the direction ahead. Baird joined Gladwin and Wincott shortly after the sessions, expanding the unit to a trio whose expanded instrumental resources proved immediately advantageous; Gladwin soon emerged as the most prolific composer. Following an opening slot for Free, the headliners introduced the trio to Island Records’ Chris Blackwell, whose label had recently embraced progressive rock through early licensing of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Blackwell offered a contract accompanied by a substantial advance.
The musicians refined their live presentation as well as their studio work, routinely deploying more than forty instruments without additional personnel, each arrangement limited to at most three instruments sounding simultaneously. Although they readily conceded their lack of virtuoso technique, the results struck contemporary ears as plausible, and concerts remained engaging despite the five-hour tuning ritual required by the fragile array—an absolute precondition for performance, unlike most rock contemporaries. Their Island debut Evensong (1970), produced by Paul Samwell-Smith, found the group still navigating a catalog of medieval-flavored ballads and madrigals, yet it earned favorable notices and cultivated a devoted following within the burgeoning British folk-progressive audience, sufficient to warrant a follow-up.
Despite their acoustic foundation the trio did not shy from extended suites sometimes reaching twenty-five minutes and frequently employing Latin. Their second Island album Fantasia Lindum devoted its entire first side to one such composition. While repetition surfaced at times, the strongest passages rested on memorably beautiful melodies. Pianist-harpsichordist Adrian Hopkins joined the circle on Fantasia Lindum and, through his subsequent arranging and conducting, became instrumental in realizing the band’s most notable achievements. England (1972) marked the trio’s artistic summit, presenting a broad sonic panorama across which Gladwin, Wincott and Baird rendered richly detailed tone paintings—predominantly landscapes—brimming with attractive, haunting hooks. The record received its strongest American airplay on progressive outlets such as WNEW-FM in New York and numerous college stations, though sales remained modest; distributed domestically by Capitol Records, it nevertheless appeared in some department-store bins. By then the group enjoyed recognition across Europe and supported major acts including Procol Harum and Genesis.
Gladwin departed soon after England’s release, reducing Amazing Blondel to a duo for the 1973 album Blondel, which also concluded their “period” repertoire. Much of the material retained antique character, yet several pieces reflected modern progressive influences, with Paul Rodgers of Free contributing vocals and Steve Winwood supplying instrumental support. Beginning with Mulgrave Street the duo, augmented by additional rock musicians including Winwood, Rodgers and Mick Ralphs, pursued a harder contemporary sound reminiscent of Steeleye Span. Their Island tenure ended with Blondel; they next signed with DJM, Dick James Music’s label imprint. Four further albums appeared on DJM, sustaining audiences in Europe and Japan while the group faded from American view, where DJM maintained negligible presence—Mulgrave Street circulated in the United States only as an import. Live in Tokyo, actually taped in Europe, closed their recording career in 1977.
While Baird and Wincott persisted with performances and recordings, Gladwin maintained activity through English Musicke, a trio featuring Adrian Hopkins and Paul Empson that he later described as a Blondel clone. Timing proved unfavorable amid the disco and punk era, and neither that project nor the solo releases by Baird and Wincott in the late 1970s attained the visibility the original band had enjoyed earlier.
In 1997, two decades after the duo’s final performances and nearly a quarter-century after Gladwin’s exit, the original trio reunited to record Restoration, their first album since 1972. The result sounded as though the separation had never occurred, serving as an ideal continuation of England. The reunion followed reissues of the Island and Bell catalog on HTD and Edsel, and coincided with the initial wave of archival excavations. The first such release, A Foreign Field That Is Forever England, presented previously unheard early-1970s concert tapes. Subsequent archival collections Going Where the Music Takes Me (2006) and On with the Show (2007) appeared over the ensuing decade, together with a fresh Beat Goes On reissue of the first two Island albums.
Albums
