''Swaddling Songs'' is the only studio

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by Irish progressive

folk rock Folk rock is a fusion genre of rock music with heavy influences from pop, English and American folk music. It arose in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom in the mid-1960s. In the U.S., folk rock emerged from the folk music re ...

band Band or BAND may refer to: Places *Bánd, a village in Hungary * Band, Iran, a village in Urmia County, West Azerbaijan Province, Iran * Band, Mureș, a commune in Romania * Band-e Majid Khan, a village in Bukan County, West Azerbaijan Province, ...

Mellow Candle Mellow Candle was an Irish Progressive folk music, progressive folk rock band (music), band, active from 1968 to 1973. They released one studio album, ''Swaddling Songs'', in 1972. A collection of demos and sessions for the album, recorded 1969� ...

, originally released in 1972 by

Deram Records Deram Records was a subsidiary record label of Decca Records established in the United Kingdom in 1966. At the time, U.K. Decca was a different company from the Decca label in the United States, which was owned by MCA Inc. Deram recordings w ...

. Commercially unsuccessful at the time of release, ''Swaddling Songs'' has since received critical acclaim and original vinyl copies are highly collectable. It has been re-released multiple times on various labels since 1989, including a 50th anniversary release by Deram in 2023. In 2022 the album's 50th anniversary was marked by the RTE radio documentary ''Swaddling Songs at 50.'' ''Swaddling Songs'' is notable for its multi-layered vocal harmonies and complex arrangements. It has become regarded a classic of the

progressive folk Progressive folk is a style of contemporary folk that adds new layers of musical and lyrical complexity, often incorporating various ethnic influences. History Origins of the term The original meaning of progressive folk came from its links t ...

genre. A collection of demos and sessions for the album recorded 1969–1971 was released in 1996 as ''The Virgin Prophet''.

Track listing

All tracks written by

Clodagh Simonds Clodagh Simonds ( ; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish musician, songwriter and singer. She was born in Banbridge, County Down, Northern Ireland and raised and educated in Killiney, County Dublin. Career At the age of eleven, in 1964 Simonds forme ...

except where noted. #"Heaven Heath" (Alison Williams) – 3:00 #"Sheep Season" (Simonds, A. Williams, David Williams) – 5:01 #"Silversong" – 4:26 #"The Poet and the Witch" – 2:51 #"Messenger Birds" (A. Williams) – 3:38 #"Dan the Wing" – 2:45 #"Reverend Sisters" – 4:21 #"Break Your Token" – 2:27 #"Buy or Beware" (D. Williams) – 3:04 #"Vile Excesses" (D. Williams, William Murray) – 3:14 #"Lonely Man" – 4:30 #"Boulders on My Grave" – 3:40

Bonus tracks

The CD re-issue includes the following bonus tracks, originally released as a single in 1968: #"Feeling High" (Simonds) – 2:23 #"Tea with the Sun" (Simonds) – 3:18

Singles

* "Feeling High" / "Tea With The Sun" (Snb (2) 55–3645, 1968) * "Dan The Wing" / "Silversong" (Deram DM 357, 1972). "Silversong" was covered (as "Silver Song") by

All About Eve ''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story (and subsequent 1949 radio drama) "The Wisdom of E ...

as a

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

to some versions of their single " Farewell Mr. Sorrow".

Personnel

Mellow Candle

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

harpsichord A harpsichord is a musical instrument played by means of a musical keyboard, keyboard. Depressing a key raises its back end within the instrument, which in turn raises a mechanism with a small plectrum made from quill or plastic that plucks one ...

mellotron The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical musical instrument developed in Birmingham, England, in 1963. It is played by pressing its keys, each of which causes a length of magnetic tape to contact a Capstan (tape recorder), capstan, which pulls i ...

*Alison Williams ( Alison Bools) – lead vocals, backing vocals *David Williams –

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, backing vocals *Frank Boylan –

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

, backing vocals * William Murray –

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a percussion mallet, beater including attached or enclosed beaters or Rattle (percussion beater), rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or ...

Production

* David Hitchcock – producer *Derek Varnals – engineer *Kevin Fuller – engineer *Recorded at Tollington Park Studios

Release history

Source for this section: * 1972 UK, Deram SDL 7 * 1989 Japan,

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

: Edison European Rock Series ERC-29223/DCI 23190 * 1989 US, Zen ZN-001 * 1993 South Korea, Si-Wan SRML 0021 * 1994 UK, See For Miles SEECD 404 * 1994 Japan, Decca: British Rock Masterpiece POCD-1903 * 2000 Japan, Decca: British Rock Legend/Rock Fantasy Series UICY-9033 * 2003 Australia, Progressive Line PL 545 * 2004 UK, Acme ADCD1040 * 2005 South Korea,

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

SRML 0021 * 2007 Leichtenstein, Tapestry TPT 206 * 2008 Japan, Decca: Rock Legend Series UICY-93825 * 2010 Japan, Deram: My Generation My Music UICY-20146 * 2011 UK,

Rise Above Records Rise Above Records is a London-based independent record label owned by Lee Dorrian, former member of Cathedral and Napalm Death. Founding Lee Dorrian started Rise Above Records in 1988 without the intention of the label being an ongoing pos ...

(boxed set) RARLP007 * 2020 UK, Deram (Record Store Day white vinyl) 085447–0 * 2021 UK,

Esoteric Western esotericism, also known as the Western mystery tradition, is a wide range of loosely related ideas and movements that developed within Western society. These ideas and currents are united since they are largely distinct both from orthod ...

ECLEC2044 * 2023 Europe, Deram 487 755–7, 00602448775573

References

External links

''Swaddling Songs''
at

Prog Archives Prog Archives is an online fan-based website with information on progressive rock bands and musicians. Teams evaluate whether the band or musician should be added to the website or not. As of the summer of 2014, the website had web pages on 8,671 ...

* 1972 debut albums Mellow Candle albums Deram Records albums Albums produced by Dave Hitchcock Progressive rock albums Progressive folk albums 1970s in Irish music {{1970s-rock-album-stub