LPCDreissues: Looking forward to the past

One of the most popular solo singers of the folk revival, Ed McCurdy is best known for his "Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream," a 1950 anthem covered widely during the Vietnam era by (the likes of) Joan Baez, Simon & Garfunkel, and Pete Seeger. McCurdy was a true Greenwich Village eccentric, described by Elektra founder Jac Holzman as "tall, taciturn, and lantern-jawed, equipped with an orotund voice, with which he declaimed more than he talked." After making three testosterone-fueled albums for Elektra in the mid-'50s -- Bad Men And Heroes; Sin Songs, Pro And Con; and Blood, Booze 'N' Bones -- McCurdy suggested to Holzman the idea of setting to music the ribald poetry collected by 17th-Century English court entertainer Tom D'Urfey. Thus D'Urfey's Songs Of Wit And Mirth Or Pills To Purge Melancholy was resurrected in four installments -- the When Dalliance Was In Flower trilogy (1956, 1958, 1958) and Son Of Dalliance (1959). For the first album, McCurdy and engineer Leonard Ripley (with Holzman as production supervisor) upheld the Elektra tradition of home recording. With a primitive collection of portable equipment, they set up in Ripley's New York apartment. To evoke a Renaissance feel, Alan Arkin was hired to play recorder (LaNoue Davenport would play on Volume II) and future Weaver and Rooftop Singer Erik Darling to pluck banjo, which provided both rhythm and lute-like textures. Guitar is a fixture on all four volumes, with harpsichord and mandolin making the occasional appearance. A strange and risky proposition in the immediate aftermath of the McCarthy hearings, When Dalliance Was In Flower was lauded for its good-natured sexual frankness, quickly becoming a must-have for college-age folkies and selling well beyond anyone's expectations. Long out of print, these songs appeared on their original Dalliance albums and also as the 1961 Elektra release The Best Of Dalliance. They've been remastered from the original source tapes for this Rhino Handmade issue. The Best Of Dalliance is available as an individually numbered limited edition of 2,500 copies.
TRACK LISTING GO BRING ME A LASS (1:38) A LUSTY YOUNG SMITH (3:11) THE TROOPER (2:12) WHEN FLORA HAD ON HER NEW GOWN (1:17) UPTAILS ALL (1:42) THE SHEPHERD (3:34) THE FOUR ABLE PHYSICIANS (2:22) THE HIVE OF BEES (4:13) THE YOEMEN OF KENT (3:01) A LADY SO FROLIC AND GAY (1:18) A RIDDLE (2:32) THREE BIRDS (1:43) SYLVIA THE FAIR (1:48) THE PLAYHOUSE SAINT OR PHILLIS UNMARKED (2:57) THE SOUND COUNTRY LASS (1:21) A YOUNG MAN AND A MAID (1:45) THE JOLLY TINKER (1:42) A WANTON TRICK (2:21) THE JOLLY MILLER (2:13) SHE LAY ALL NAKED (2:24) A TRADES MAN (1:56) A PETITION (1:53) TOTTINGHAM FROLIC (2:45) CHARACTER OF A MISTRESS (2:11) THE VINE (2:20) THE COUNTRY WAKE (1:32) A PLEASANT BALLAD (2:42) THE END (2:58)