Cheap Glint At The Kindling/Selected Writings [2 on 1] (Music) (Robin Williamson, Robin Williamson, Chris Caswell, Robin Williamson, Sylvia Woods, Jerry McMillan) Price

Related Products

Customer Reviews of Glint At The Kindling/Selected Writings [2 on 1]

One of My Favorite CDs
Many years ago, I owned "A Glint at the Kindling" on LP, and was fortunate enough to buy one of what turned out to be a limited edition of 3,500 CDs on a business trip to London about a decade ago. "Kindling," a concept album dealing with Williamson's boyhood, was one of my favorite LPs of the 1970s, and at first, I thought of the "Selected Writings" as an annoyance tacked on to the end. Then I listened to it. In my opinion, an artist owes the world exactly nothing, but Robin, if you're reading this, please bring out another edition. "Edinburgh" alone is worth the price of admission -- a 19-minute rant that is one of the most amazing things I've ever heard. I have a lot of CDs, but if I had to chose a dozen "desert island disks" this would definitely be one of them.

---

The true bardic tradition
Robin Williamson isn't a folksinger - he's a bard. And the modern bardic tradition gets no better than this album. Five Denials on Merlin's Grave is a wake for a Britain that never really was, but should have been. My favorite track is Me and the Mad Girl, one of the saddest and most touching songs I have ever heard. The line "You took me for an enemy, and I took you for a friend" describes the loneliness of being different in such a pure way...

Apparently this album is out of print again. If you find a copy, grab it!

---

Glint at the Kindling - a timeless masterpiece
When I first encountered "Glint at the kindling" I was only familiar with Robin's work in the Incredible String Band. This was different stuff - but it soon captured me as much as the best the ISB produced - it even neared the dizzying heights of "The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter" ! Later I bought more Williamson records, but this one, along with "Songs of love & parting" and his recent "Mirrorman's Sequences" is the most captivating - amazingly well-crafted and filled with all one could wish for, both textual and musical. Earlier records like "American Stonehenge" sound like he was trying to find a new voice, but on "Glint" he definitely found one - and a strong one it is.

On cd, the original "Glint" is teamed up with some new unreleased songs, which are all great.

On the original lp, Robin plays with the Merry Band - of which he has said he's never worked with better musicians - and it shows ! The songs I love best are "The road the gypsies go", "The woodcutter's song" with its great instrumental coda, "By weary well" and of course the epic "Five denials on Merlin's grave".

Of the added songs especially "Song of Mabon" and "The Fair" stand out, as well as the intriguing "The Fair Dance", which evokes the weird atmosphere of his "Dancing of the Lord of Weir" which graces his "Myrrh" album. "Lammas" has been re-recorded on "Ten of Songs", and sounds better there. "Edinburgh", though a great effort, is not completely satisfying.

I was very happy with the release of the album on cd - and also very pleased with the additions, although, in some sense, these have destroyed the intimacy and the sense of completeness of the original. But I can still play the lp, can't I ?