The Corries: The magic of recordings

Our early recordings were made in the Waverley Records studios in Edinburgh during the hectic first year of our showbiz existence. The televised appearances demanded that the music should be available to the fans and at the time we were more than happy to comply. A contract of sorts was presented to us which we duly signed little knowing the implications of committing our hard-won repertoire of songs to disc. The intellectual property rights of the material or its eventual traded destinations with other recording companies was not something that we had anticipated or foreseen, nor were we sufficiently protective of our interests by insisting on having a say in how the product was to be managed. 

I recall a lengthy conversation one evening with Liam Clancy when his personal experience of the industry should have rung a bell with us. At the time we were in discussion with his family business, Tradition Records, to release a long-playing record of our material into the American market. We duly recorded some twenty songs and sent them to the company in New York. Despite the fact that Liam had raised the warning of committing our best material to disc, we innocently continued to believe that the world was fair, and our best interests would be protected. The disc was never in fact released which in many respects proved to be a relief in the long run.  

Behind the scenes and without discussion, our material was released through EMI and eventually on to the American market through the company Electra. In desperation and fully aware that our early recordings did not reflect the group at its musical best, we pleaded with Waverley Records to be allowed the opportunity to re-record many of the tracks that I was personally unhappy with. Although many of the faults were down to our inexperience, there is no doubt that Waverley Records found it difficult to get the balance right with the result that the tracking of harmonies was less than perfect. Changing over from solo singer to group backing was regularly uneven with some input carelessly dropped, the engineers apparently unconcerned while frustration reigned on the studio floor. Even now, years later, that lack of concern for the detail still rankles. 

For our solo concerts in major venues we employed a bass player. This added depth and drive to our performances, despite complaints inside the group that the added expense of fees and accommodation was an unnecessary burden on our finances. Having had years of playing in bands I was aware of just how important a competent bass player could be.  We used two bass players, Robin Brock and Mandel Davis both experienced musicians who appear on our recordings and who added greatly to our televised appearances. From time to time other session musicians were added. Archie Fisher played banjo on several tracks on ‘The Promise of the Day’ by far the best selling CFT LP of all time and which is still available for sale to this day.  

In the summer of 1965, we signed to Fontana Records on a two-disc deal. New material was rehearsed although by now we had a backlog of songs that had been fully matured in concert that could be delivered to the producer. We duly recorded at Fontana Studios in London over a four day period with seasoned session musicians, something that was a departure from our previous insistence that we had no need of added input or clever arrangements devised by others to keep our fans happy with sounds that had stood the test of time. The producer and the arranger were clearly of the opinion that session musicians would add that professional touch that some might have seen as lacking in the group. I was not convinced. 

‘Those Wild Corries’ became the first release under the new recording contract. While it was musically sound and well produced, I felt that the arrangements had failed in some respects to capture the essence of what we were as a musical unit. The rough edges had been polished and the chord signatures refined, the vocals synced, and   the tempos observed. Although we had an aversion to drums, these were quietly added on a couple of tracks during the editing stage. 

The recording sessions were a success as far as we were concerned. We performed well with several ‘first takes’ securely in the can. It was also our first recording without the input of Paddie Bell. As we listened to the playbacks, the strains of concert harp and French horns blended with alto flute and our own instrumental contributions creating sounds and musical echoes that we could never hope to deliver on stage. 

Had we foreseen the outcome, we might have paused to reconsider what we expected to achieve by giving ourselves so readily into this new era of polished arrangements and recording perfection. The lost opportunity to utilise the skills of the arranger by limiting him to our own musical contribution might have delivered an end product that more clearly reflected the musical identity that we had so carefully nurtured over the previous three years and which had stood the test of time on concert hall stages across the country. Only time would tell.