Steam Pie Records SPCD1021S
An old scratched album and a battered cassette tape stuck in the back of a drawer have opened a stunning new window on the Welsh nation’s greatest struggle of all – thanks to AI, or Artificial Intelligence. Forty years ago this year, the Miners’ Strike cut a swathe through the fabric of life in Wales, and a year-long battle against pit closures was vividly documented by South Wales folk-rock band The Chartists and their second album, Cause for Complaint. The album sold out; but The Chartists disbanded, and songs that spoke of the working-class struggle against the vicious arrogance of the Thatcher government fell silent. Until, at the end of 2021, a miracle happened – courtesy of Lord of the Rings film director Peter Jackson.
Jackson helped to pioneer a way to use AI to bring rough old Beatles recordings back to crystal-clear life – teaching AI computers to recognise voices as distinct from instruments and to isolate frustrating scratches and blips. Watching developments were the two remaining performing members of The Chartists, songwriter Wynford Jones and multi-instrumentalist Geoff Cripps, and their original producer Tony Williams.
“We met up at Tony’s studio,” says Geoff. “All we had to go on was a very well-played old copy of Cause for Complaint, way past its best, and a fragile cassette tape of five songs we’d played at a session for the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show.” Wynford adds: “When the session was broadcast, I placed my cassette recorder next to my transistor radio. You can imagine the quality, but we had seen Peter Jackson’s work – so we asked Tony if he could do the impossible.” Tony, constantly fascinated with the newest technology, takes up the story: “It was a mountain to climb – but as I ran through program after program of AI, separating voice from instrument, music from noise, it was like digging a diamond out of the earth and rubbing away the mud to reveal a jewel.”
Even South Wales’ (and Penarth’s) leading songwriter, the inestimable Martyn Joseph, loves Cause for Complaint: “I was just 14 years old when the miners went on strike in 1974, but I can remember with clarity eating by a candle-lit kitchen table and my mother explaining to me why we had to endure power cuts. At the time I didn’t understand it all, but I know that my youthful sympathies were with these men and women as they struggled for a fair wage and a better day. I can’t recall a moment in my lifetime when we needed the siren call of protest through the arts more than now. We need the spirit of these songs, not only to protest, but to remind yourselves who we truly are and that we do not stand alone.”
The original Chartists came together in 1979 when Islwyn MP Neil Kinnock, who organised a series of political rallies marking the commemoration of the 140th anniversary of the Chartist march on Newport and the inevitable massacre, asked Islwyn Folk Club if they could create events to contribute to those rallies. Indeed, they could and did. Folk Club members formed themselves around Wynford’s songwriting talents and created their own Chartists song programme;
Make the rafters roar: The original Chartists in the Islwyn Folk Club room at the Ynysddu Hotel.
The 1979 Radio Times featured an article and a black-and-white photo showing the earlier group performing upstairs in the club room, based at the Ynysddu Hotel, with customary pint glasses in hand; from left is Geoff, Russell Jones (a fine guitarist from Nelson who played with Thin Wallet with Wynford, Laurence Eddy and Geoff, but left The Chartists after the first few gigs), Wynford, Geri Thomas, the late Remo Lusardi and Laurence. The songs were broadcast on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and the BBC Radio 2 Folk Show – however, the record industry wouldn’t bite. After a number of rejections, they decided that the only way they could release it on record was to do it themselves. Thanks to Remo, Steam Pie Records was born in 1982 and the debut album The Chartists was its first release.
The follow-up album, Cause for Complaint, featured Wynford (lead vocals, electric and acoustic guitars, bass, mandolin), Geri (lead vocals, harmonica, whistle, bodhràn), Lawrence (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Geoff (keyboards, guitar, mandola, vocals). Guest musicians were the stunning fiddler Brian McNeill of The Battlefield Band, drummer Nick Lewis, cornetist Julian Harris and flautist Nigel Hodge. Brian remembers: “The bond between The Battlefield Band and The Chartists was based on many things – fantastic Welsh hospitality, a mutual appreciation of the crack – the singing sessions at Islwyn Folk Festival have simply never been bettered – and a shared sense of values. When I was paid the huge compliment of being invited to take part in this ground-breaking recording, that deepened immeasurably. I was a songwriter by then, still dealing mostly with my own background – and then I heard two lines on this album: “Some men died on the picket line for home and family / Some men scabbed on the union for a brand new Ford Capri.” Resolved, unsentimental and utterly effective, that couplet is still one of my benchmarks I left that session, determined to be just as direct and courageous in my writing as The Chartists.”
Dr John Geraint filmed The Chartists in his BBC Wales documentary about the newsworthy arrival of the National Eisteddfod to Newport in 1988, and recorded the band performing ‘The Charter’ (one of the five bonus tracks) in front of the now-destroyed Chartists mural in the city centre. He says: “1984 was a frustrating time to be a BBC documentary maker. With miners striking for the future of their industry, Thatcher had turned Britain into something approaching a police state. But, constrained by rules about ‘impartiality’, there seemed to be no way to broadcast the truth. Then the N.U.M. helped organise a community march for jobs through the Gwent Valleys, in the footsteps of the 1839 Chartists. I saw the possibility of combining footage of thousands of marchers, with a soundtrack provided by… The Chartists. Their wonderful concept album telling the whole story of 1839 allowed me to sidestep the broadcasting regs, and yet made clear what the message was.
“The 1987 album – which seems so very relevant today – is a testament to what happened in the bitter aftermath of the Dispute. There’s the lyrical beauty of the instrumental ‘Er Cof Am’ and the angry cry of ‘1984’. And what I hear in this collection is a unified, coherent musical statement. Central to it all, of course, is the title track, with the reminder that one Gwent valley once boasted 15 pits and ‘the last one closed this Easter time’; and its plea to us all to remember our history and to stand up and fight. This is music of significance, music which has stood the test of time.”
Nowadays, Wynford and Geoff still perform the stirring, angry songs of yesteryear. Wynford still writes and takes on the vocals; both he and Geri co-wrote the title track and ‘1984’, and Geri’s gruff, strong voice led both songs. Sadly, Geri is very ill and is no longer able to sing in public; Geoff has ensured that he has a copy of the CD. Laurence was a member of The Chartists and contributed greatly in the band’s days; he played with Wynford and Geoff, but decided to call it a day and stopped performing. To conclude: AI, and the brilliant efforts of Tony, has miraculously resurrected Cause for Complaint and the five bonus tracks; the CD is due to be released in September 6. Through all those years, The Chartists will march again.
Mick Tems http://folk.wales/magazine/?p=3063
Commentaires