In addition to his solo career, Dick was a member of the Boys of the Lough from June 1972 to February 1973 (recording one album), Five hand Reel from June 1975 to October 1978 (recording three albums) and Clan Alba from 1994-95 (recording one double album). He also took part in a one-off album collaboration with singers Dave Burland and Tony Capstick in 1978.
In 1966 or early 1967, Morris McPhillips and myself, both still teenagers, decided to start a folksong club called the Edinburgh Folk Centre, with more ideals and enthusiasm than sense.
Among the people we booked during its short life was a trio from Northern Ireland comprising Robin Morton, Cathal McConnell and Tommy Gunn known informally as the Boys of the Lough. Shortly after this, Robin moved to Edinburgh to complete his doctorate at Edinburgh University and met up with Aly Bain who had moved from Shetland and was by then in a duo with Mike Whellans, a fine singer/guitarist from Lauder, a very high-energy combination.
In 1969 I moved to Devon/Cornwall for 6 months, back to Edinburgh for 18 months, then in 1971 moved to London. Just before the release of No More Forever in April 1972, Mike left the band and I was asked to replace him. I did and we recorded this album in June then went to the USA on tour in August. It became clear pretty soon that a great deal of flying would be involved for the band and I had a phobia about it so left again in early 1973.
The Boys of the Lough–Slanty Gart / In Praise of John Magee / Wedding March from Unst–The Bride’s a Bonny Thing–Sleep Soond i’da Moarnin’ / Farewell to Whisky / Old Joe’s Jig–Last Night’s Joy–The Granny in the Corner / The Old Oak Tree / Caoineadh Eoghain Rua–The Nine Points of Roguery / Docherty’s Reel–Flowing Tide / Andrew Lammie / Sheebeg and Sheemore–The Boy in the Gap–McMahon’s Reel / Jackson and Jane / The Shaalds of Foulla–Garster’s Dream–The Brig
Trailer LER 2086
1973
Recorded and produced by Bill Leader
Dick Gaughan: Vocal, guitar
Aly Bain: Fiddle
Robin Morton: Vocal, concertina, bodhran
Cathal McConnell: Vocal, flute, whistle
Recorded in Cecil Sharp House, London, July 1972.
Recorded at Impulse Studios in Wallsend where the diet was exclusively spam fritters and pints of Federation beer. The whole album was recorded and mixed on an 8-track with the drumkit being sub-mixed to 2 tracks during recording. Most of the arrangements were done in the studio – there was no such thing as pre-production in those days. in spite of that, the entire album was conceived, constructed, rehearsed and recorded in 8 days.
Both Sides of the Forth / Death of Argyll / Kempy’s Hat / The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter / Sliave Gallion Braes / Wee, Wee German Lairdie / The Maid of Listowel / When a Man’s in Love / Frankie’s Dog
Rubber RUB 019
1976
Engineer: Mickey Sweeney
Producer: Geoff Heslop
Dick Gaughan: Vocal, guitars, cittern, whistle, tenor banjo
Bobby Eaglesham: Vocal, guitar, mandolin
Tom Hickland: Vocal, fiddle, piano
Barry Lyons: Bass
Dave Tulloch: Drums
Like the first Five Hand Reel album, this was recorded entirely on 8 track and again was entirely constructed and recorded within about 8 days. We were under desperate financial and personal pressures as the band was not popular in the UK so most of our touring was done in northern Europe, Germany and Denmark primarily. in Britain, we played mainly in Punk venues and to be honest, were much more popular with Punk audiences than amongst the folkies.
There were exceptions, Tyneside and Lancashire being notable, and one of our favourite gigs was the Half Moon in Putney, where we had played our first ever gig after I joined. But we inspired strong reactions, pro and anti, and among most of the folk audience, it was largely anti.
We were told by the band’s management that RCA records wanted to sign us. What we weren’t told was a bunch of facts which I didn’t learn until 15 years later. Although I cannot swear on oath to the truth of this, it appears from information I have received since that we were never signed to RCA, as we were led to believe, but to a company set up by the management of the band and the previous record company who then licensed to RCA. Although we each received a small share of the advance, none of us has ever received a penny in royalties since for any of the albums so far as I am aware. I certainly haven’t.
Bratach Bana / Pinch of Snuff / A Man’s a Man for a’ That / Haugh’s O’ Cromdale / Ae Fond Kiss / P Stands for Paddy / Paddy Fahey’s Reel / The Cruel Brother / Carrickfergus / Lochanside–The Jig of Slurs–Linda Brechin’s–The Marquis of Tullybardine
RCA PL 25066
1977
Engineer: Mickey Sweeney
Producer: Geoff Heslop
Dick Gaughan: Vocal, guitars, tenor banjo
Bobby Eaglesham: Vocal, guitar, dulcimer
Tom Hickland: Vocal, fiddle, piano
Barry Lyons: Bass
Dave Tulloch: Drums
Recorded at Impulse Studios in Wallsend.
With this album, Five Hand Reel came of age musically, in my opinion. The raw, wild energy which we generated was finally held in check under the guiding hand of producer Simon Nicol and there is a focus here which was previously only hinted at. on this album we abandoned the ‘sets of tunes’ approach and integrated songs and tunes completely, with the tunes being used as dramatic interludes in the stories. From the intensity of ‘Sherrifmuir’ and ‘Beef-can Close’ to the exuberance of ‘Trooper and the Maid’ and the passion of ‘Red, Red Rose’, I loved every minute of making this album. We worked round the clock at Rockfield Studios and, in retrospect, were probably grossly unfair to Simon and Mike in our insistence on driving ourselves and them to the point of exhaustion. Some things you look back on and cringe.
But the personal and financial problems were getting worse. RCA and our management decided to launch the album at Ronnie Scott’s Club in London’s Soho with a rather expensive press launch – I had to borrow the money for my train fare from Edinburgh to be there. When we played at Reading Festival that year, RCA laid on a chauffeur-driven limo and cases of booze – there we were in a large black limo being driven to the gig and we hadn’t enough money between us to buy hamburgers.
We had a caravan dressing room at Reading and these two guys came in, announced themselves our ‘minders’ and proceeded to unload cases of booze and tell us that, whatever we wanted, their job was to provide it. It made me feel ill and I knew this wasn’t for me. I wasn’t the only one to feel that, I know. This wasn’t music any more, it was showbiz. All we really cared about was going on stage and making that big, wild, manic, glorious noise we made. And making enough money to feed ourselves and our families. And we were surrounded by people whose job it was to make sure they got as much out of us as they could by feeding our egos and filling us with alcohol and other substances.
RCA had been looking for a band with which they could pick up some of the chart success being had by Steeleye Span. They had thought we might be it. We weren’t. It didn’t take them long to realise it. We became a tax loss.
In November that year, 1978, the nightmare every musician on the road carries in their soul came true – my daughter was knocked down by a car while I was on tour and had her thigh broken. It was the final straw and pushed me over the edge – I resigned from the band. I was replaced by Sam Bracken and the band recorded a further album, Bunch of Fives, for Topic before finally throwing in the towel a year later. (I actually think this is the best Five Hand Reel album but that might be because I wasn’t involved and so it’s the only one about which I can really be impartial.)
This all probably sounds quite bitter even after all these years and, while I don’t lose any sleep over it any more, I suppose there is a certain residual bitterness. I could have been making a reasonable living being solo but this was a band I loved with a ferocious loyalty, making music I loved for people who loved hearing it and it was killed by a bunch of people who couldn’t pick out three consecutive white notes on a piano and others who sneered because couldn’t they see beyond the superficial resemblance to a rock band to find the sometimes startling innovatory essence of the band and its significance for the future of traditional Scots music and song. Five Hand Reel had an influence disproportionate to its status and still has, even on people who never heard us. I believe that someday its true significance in the development of Scots music will be seen.
A few months after I left I had a total breakdown which, at the time, seemed to be the end of everything but, like these things always do, turned out to merely be the beginning of a new stage in my life.
Footnote to the Five Hand Reel story: in my opinion, the best recording Five Hand Reel ever made in the time I was with them was the album of traditional Danish songs, Ebbe, Dagmar, Svend og Alan, we were asked to provide the musical arrangements and accompaniment to for our friend, Danish singer Alan Klitgaard.
My Love is Like a Red, Red Rose / Sheriffmuir / The Child on the Road / The Bonnie Earl O’ Moray / The Trooper and the Maid / The Beef-Can Close / Jackson and Jane / Freedom Come-All-Ye
RCA PL 25150
1978
Engineer: Mike Pela
Producer: Simon Nicol
Dick Gaughan: Vocal, guitars
Bobby Eaglesham: Vocal, guitar, mandolin, dulcimer
Tom Hickland: Vocal, fiddle, piano
Barry Lyons: Bass
Dave Tulloch: Drums, harmonica
Recorded at Rockfield Studios. Mixed at CBS.
NOTES TO FOLLOW...
Ballad of Accounting / The Moving on Song / Jamie Foyers / Freeborn Man / The Manchester Rambler / Schooldays End / Thirty Foot Trailer / The Big Hewer / The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face / Sweet Thames Flow Softly / Shoals of Herring
Rubber RUB027
1978
Engineer: Mickey Sweeney
Producer: Geoff Heslop
Dick Gaughan: Vocal, guitar
Dave Burland: Vocal, guitar
Tony Capstick: Vocal, guitar
Recorded at Impulse Studios in Wallsend.
In 1980 or ‘81 the German company Folk Freak decided to make a follow up to their successful Folk Friends album. The idea was to get together a bunch of musicians from different countries and see what happened. (Folk Friends 2, to which Dick contributed three songs and played guitar on four others, including Andy Irvine, was recorded in October 1980 at Tonstudio Pauler in Nordheim, Germany).
Andy Irvine and myself had known each other for years but never really played much together but after collaborating on a couple of things we felt there was further exploration to be done and this album was the result.
The Creggan White Hare / The Lads O’ the Fair–Leith Docks / At Twenty-One / My Back Pages–Afterthoughts / The Dodgers Song / Captain Thunderbolt / Captain Colston / Floo’ers o’ the Forest
Folk Freak FF 4007
1982
Engineer: Gunther Pauler
Produced by: Dick Gaughan, Andy Irvine and Carsten Linde
Recorded at Tonstudio Pauler, Nordheim, Germany.
The collaboration between Ken Hyder and myself was, on the surface, a strange one but on closer inspection perhaps wasn’t quite so strange after all. Ken is from Dundee and is a committed Socialist. He worked for a time as a journalist on the staff of Labour Weekly and we were introduced by Jack Mitchell. Although my approach to playing had always been fairly
improvisational, it had always been within a fairly set structure, and apart from playing for my own enjoyment, I had never really done much free improvisational playing but we jammed together whenever I was in London and did a lot of talking. Especially we talked about the use of traditional Scottish music as the launchpad for improvisational exploration and this album came out of those discussions.
I found playing together an exhilarating experience and the concept of abandoning all conventional rules of melody, harmony and rhythm, stripping everything down to basic elements and then reassembling them, concentrating entirely on expression, was a very liberating one and has had a strong influence on much of what I’ve done since in that most of the song accompaniments I do these days are improvised.
Sharpeville ‘85 / Liberation / Fanfare for Tomorrow / Political Prisoners / Salute to Pitheid & Clachan / News from Nowhere
Impetus Records IMP 18506
1985
Engineer: Tim Hodgkinson
Produced by: Dick Gaughan, Ken Hyder and Tim Hodgkinson
Dick Gaughan: Guitar
Ken Hyder: Percussion
Recorded at Riverside studios in London.
In the early 90s, I was going through one of my periodic bouts in which I realise playing music is basically a cooperative art and I was frustrated being exclusively solo. One night I was booked to play a gig in the NE of England together with the wonderful Scottish duo, Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster, known as Sileas. Davy Steel was travelling with Sileas and as it was a very small club we had to sit in the front row, right under their noses, while they did their set. It suddenly occurred to me that what I was listening to could well form the core of a rather large ensemble. I invited them to join me to play ‘Both Sides the Tweed’ and the sound of those two harps and the superb counterpoints Patsy and Mary play so well filled my head and my imagination began to run riot.
I had always wanted to work again with Dave Tulloch and I had worked a lot with Mike Travis – the idea of getting them together excited me. They both had played a lot of jazz and were therefore very creative and open to new possibilities and Dave and I had an intuitive musical understanding from all our experience of being together in Five Hand Reel. Brian McNeill was an obvious addition to that lineup, as was Davy Steel, and we added Gary West, who had worked with Davy in Ceolbeg. Archie Fisher was at that time the Director of the Edinburgh Folk Festival and he was interested enough in the idea of Clan Alba to book us for the Festival. Cy Laurie, owner of the Tron Bar in Edinburgh, let us use the downstairs room in the pub to rehearse in and we moved in there for a week. It was clear that with the amount of experience in that line-up, whatever came out of it would be good enough to do the Festival concert but it soon became clear that we were coming up with some very exciting ideas. The Edinburgh gig was wonderful and Clan Alba (The Children of Scotland) became a reality. Gary decided that his studies meant he couldn’t afford the time the band demanded so he left and Fred Morrison came in.
I had become a partner in Redesdale Studios in Northumberland and we moved in there to start recording. We all lived in the studio for the first ten days of working, putting in at least 14 hours a day, and it was one of the most amazing times I have ever experienced. The creative energy of 8 very experienced and inventive musicians was let loose and I regard it as a great privilege to have been part of it.
The release and marketing of the album turned into a nightmare which I cannot go into here but it still makes me angry and was the cause of my terminating all dealings with CM Distribution. And it made it impossible for the band to continue.
Five to Six / Dressed to Kill / Harpset / Oran Na Cloiche / Lark and the Bowman / Cam Ye Owre Frae France / True Thomas / Fred’s Jigs / Bye Bye Big Blue / Air A’ Ghille Tha Mo Rún / Clan Alba / No Gonnae Leave Here / Growing Wings / Canan Nan Gaidheal / Tar the House / Childhood’s End
Clan Alba Productions CLANCD001
1985
Engineer: Mickey Sweeney & Dick Gaughan
Mastered: Roy Ashby, Hart St Studios, Edinburgh
Producer: Dick Gaughan
Recorded at Redesdale Studios, Elsdon, Northumberland.
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