The Rain Heron

Various Artists - Across the Great Divide: Getting It Together in the Country 1968-1974 (2019) {3CD Set, Grapefruit Records}
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© 1968-74, 2019 Grapefruit Records / Cherry Red | CRSEGBOX061
Rock / Folk Rock / Country Rock

As the Day-Glo tide of psychedelic that swept over the U.K. in the late '60s began to recede, something far less ornate and flashy took root in its place. Spurred on by the artistic and commercial success of Traffic's folk- and jazz-influenced debut album – which was recorded out in the countryside – the Byrds headlong plunge into country-rock on Sweetheart of the Rodeo, and the Band's brilliant slice of backwoods Americana, Music from Big Pink, all sorts of groups and artists sprouted up to play loose and wooly blends of organically grown folk, country, jazz, and rock. Some of the bands were beat group leftovers looking to evolve past paisley (the Searchers, the Tremeloes), some were city boys gone to seed (Mott the Hoople, the Pretty Things), and some were just weirdos like Greasy Bear, or lazy-Sunday balladeers like Curtiss Maldoon, all doing their own freaky thing.

If you've been wondering what's been keeping Lee Southall busy all this time, you're about to find out. On Iron In The Fire, the former The Coral guitarist brings the outside world in through quality songmanship - showing that whichever paths our lives may take, our exposure to the elements will remain the same. Taking an alternative path to each of his Coral cohorts, when the group disbanded in 2012, Lee left behind his native seaside town of Hoylake on the Wirral, and moved 75 miles inland to the 'tops' of Hebden Bridge. In search of a fresh start, the dramatic wind-beaten and changeable landscape gave Lee time and space to craft Iron In The Fire but equally, it lingers like the taste of the salty air hanging above the coast. 'I've lived by the sea and watched weather roll in, but it's the same in Hebden, watching storms roll over the moors,' Lee says. 'The place is changing all the time and sometimes looks a bit chocolate box, village of the year, but when the tourists are gone it can feel like the set of a 1970s BBC folk horror - a bit Wicker Man.'