Come Join My Orchestra: British Baroque Pop Sound Come Join My Orchestra: British Baroque Pop Sound CD

UK three CD set. When Paul McCartney - who arguably kick-started the whole baroque pop genre when he recorded the likes of 'Yesterday' and 'Eleanor Rigby' with pivotal strings arrangements - made his oft-quoted remark that pop was the classical music of the 20th Century, perhaps he meant it in a more literal sense than anyone realized at the time. In the immediate wake of ground-breaking albums like Rubber Soul, Revolver and Pet Sounds, the British and American music scenes became increasingly ambitious and cerebral. As the major recording studios becoming ever more sophisticated, a new generation of musicians and producers sought to emulate the backroom auteur status of Brian Wilson or the symbiotic relationship between George Martin and The Beatles. A new, more melancholic strain was introduced into British pop: expansive orchestral arrangements merged with the burgeoning psychedelic mind-set to create such studio-bound masterpieces as Days Of Future Passed and (of course) Sgt Pepper, with harpsichords, oboes, flutes, recorders and French horns providing a moody, introverted chamber pop flourish. Wilson and The Left Banke led the way in the US, but Britain was also awash with acts mining the baroque pop seam. Honeybus, The Zombies, Donovan, Nirvana and many others made significant recordings in that field, fusing mournful minor chord melodies with fey vocals, ornate arrangements and what had previously been considered non-rock instrumentation. Come Join My Orchestra covers British baroque pop's formative years and it's integration into a wide variety of genres, ranging from Johnny McEvoy's exquisitely sculpted take on traditional pop balladry and a clutch of dyed-in-the-wool folkies (Ian Campbell, Bert Jansch etc) to McCartney acolytes (Fickle Pickle, Mike Batt, the Gerry Rafferty-led Humblebums) and symphonic/art rock bands like Procol Harum and Barclay James Harvest. With a lavish 40-page booklet, many recordings making their first appearance on CD and two tracks (by The Regime and The Mellow Yellow) gaining their first-ever release, Come Join My Orchestra is a fascinating overview of what was a major development in late Sixties pop music, and one that reverberates to this day.

1. Come Join My Orchestra - Al Jones 2. (Do I Figure) in Your Life - the Honeybus 3. Coathanger - Clifford T Ward 4. Poor Jimmy Wilson - the Strawbs 5. The Better Side - the Freedom 6. Acorn Street - Michael Blount 7. Flowers Never Blend with the Rainfall - the Toast 8. Disappear - Gilbert 9. The Sound of the Candyman's Trumpet - Tony Hazzard 10. Your Dog Won't Bark - Picadilly Line 11. Can't Find Time for Anything Now - John Williams 12. Woe Is Love, My Dear - Bert Jansch 13. Sandy - the Matchmakers 14. Isandula Road - Jonathan Gill 15. Am I Very Wrong? - Genesis 16. Away, Away - the Money Jungle 17. Sticks and Stones - Warm Sounds 18. You're Not in My Class - the Alan Bown! 19. Melinda (More or Less) - Curved Air 20. I'm Going Home - Edward Jenkins 21. Don't Try to Explain - Neil MacArthur 22. Everyman - Stackridge 23. Do You Love Me - Deep Feeling 24. Today - Festival 25. Private Harold Harris - the Ian Campbell Group 26. Not So Young Today - Five Steps Beyond 27. Popcorn, Double Feature - the Searchers 28. Barterers and Their Wives - the Rockin' Berries 29. Justine - Julian Brooks 30. Courtyards of Castile - the Bliss 31. Mother Dear - Barclay James Harvest 32. Competition - the Orange Bicycle 33. I See Wonderful Things in You - Mike Batt 34. Doris Comes Today - Bill Fay 35. Yep - Bridget St John 36. This Song Is Green - Billy Nicholls 37. Cherrybelle - Chris Neal 38. I Could Write a Book - Wil Malone 39. Windfall - Offspring 40. Poet - Audience 41. Dear Amanda - the Regime 42. Battle of Trafalgar - John Pantry 43. Letters from Her - Forever Amber 44. It's Been a Long Time - Andy Ellison 45. Fillin' a Gap - Paper Bubble 46. Illinois - Nirvana 47. Father Dickens - Johnny McEvoy 48. A Little Smile on Christmas Morning - the Annie Rocket Band 49. He's Very Good with His Hands - Barry Booth ; His Orchestra 50. Charlotte Rose - the Majority 51. Genevieve - Angel Pavement 52. Luskus Delph (Live with Edmonton Symphony Orchestra) - Procol Harum 53. The Answer Is - Marc Brierley 54. Saturday - Fickle Pickle 55. Writer in the Sun - Donovan 56. A Rose for Emily - the Zombies 57. Rick Rack - the Humblebums 58. She Sang Hymns Out of Tune - the Freshmen 59. Broken Bicycle - Kes Wyndham 60. Cloudy - the Factotums 61. I'll Keep Smiling - Simon, Plug ; Grimes 62. Mist on a Monday Morning - the Move 63. Strange People - the U-No-Who 64. If I Thought You'd Ever Change Your Mind - Edwards Hand 65. Picture on the Wall - Clive Sands 66. New Kind of Feeling - Lea Nixon 67. Only Fooling - Chris Baker 68. Mrs Richie - Harmony Grass 69. Rosemary - a. ; a. North 70. Row Row Row - Peter Sully 71. Time Seller (Single Version) - the Spencer Davis Group 72. Thoughts on a Rainy Day - Katch 22 73. Tuesday - the Mellow Yellow 74. This Little Man - Grapefruit 75. Face in My Window - Sheridan/Price 76. Smokey Blue's Away - Muffin 77. Breakfast - Richmond 78. All My Life - Agincourt 79. Shades and Shadows - Elliot Mansions 80. Goodbye - John George