The Wurzels and Adge Cutler Discography
Adge
Cutler & The Wurzels (Recorded Live at the Royal
Oak, Nailsea, Zummerzet)
Adge
Cutler & The Wurzels
Columbia
SX6126 (vinyl - mono)
Columbia SCX6126 (vinyl - stereo)
Columbia TC-SCX 6126 (cassette)
Release
Date: February 1967
This
is the very first commercial recordings made by Adge
Cutler & The Wurzels recorded in front of a
live audience in the upstairs room of the Royal Oak
pub, Nailsea, in Zummerzet (as it says on the album
cover!), on that historic date 2nd November 1966. Adge's
debut single and the subsequent EP were both taken from
this recording session. Interesting to note that all
twelve tracks on the album were Adge Cutler compositions
- an impressive showcase of the man's songwriting prowess.
Band
line-up: Adge
Cutler (vocals),
Reg Quantrill (banjo and guitar), Reg Chant
(accordion), John Macey (bass) and Brian Walker
(tuba).
Producer:
Bob Barratt
Engineer: Geoff Emerick
Bob
Barratt's evocative sleeve notes
from the back of the album are reproduced below. Makes
you want to have been there (or if you were there, makes
you wish you hadn't drunk so much cider that you can't
remember the night!)
Side
1
- Twice Daily (Cutler)
- Tanglefoot Twitch (Cutler)
- When The Common Market Comes To Stanton Drew (Cutler)
- Thee Cassent Kill Cooch (Cutler)
- The Champion Dung Spreader (Cutler)
- Drink Up Thy Zider (Cutler)
Side 2
- Pill, Pill (Cutler)
- Mabel, Mabel (Cutler)
- The Chew Magna Cha-Cha (Cutler)
- Hark At 'Ee Jacko (Cutler)
- The Mixer Man's Lament (Cutler)
- Virtute Et Industrial (Cutler)
Singles
|

Album
front cover (mono version)

Album
back cover (mono version)

Album
front cover (stereo version)

Album
back cover (stereo version)
|

Side
1 of the mono version of the album (SX6126)
|

Side
2 of the mono version of the album (SX6126)
|

Side
1 of the stereo version of the album (SCX6126) |

Side
2 of the stereo version of the album (SCX6126) |

Front
of the cassette sleeve
|

Back
of the cassette sleeve
|

Side
1 of the cassette release |

Side
2 of the cassette release |
Sleeve
Notes
'The finest voice since Caruso", "the
greatest singing discovery since Sinatra"; "a paragon
of teetotalism" - these are just a few of the things
were never said of Adge Cutler. But when it came to entertaining,
whew!
And 2nd November, 1966, was a night of entertainment
to remember in Nailsea. For a studio recording you can reckon
on allowing thirty minutes or more until the audience warms
up and you begin to feel atmosphere. For a Somerset pub recording
it took thirty seconds. The audience were a cross-section
of cider-quaffing Wurzel-lovers from every corner of Somerset;
from Weston Zoyland to Monkton Combe. Nailsea's oldest inhabitant,
wearing a top-hat for such a special occasion, was flanked
by long-haired youths and mini-skirted girls.
At first the broadcasting men and journalists
from rival stations and newspapers eyed each other somewhat
coldly: the locals wondered if they should be on their Sunday-best
behaviour with 'them thar record men from Lunnon in town'.
By nine o'clock the journalists and television-men were clinking
glasses like old friends as the TV cameras whirred; by 9:30
the locals were proving that not all the best voices are t'other
side of the new Severn Bridge. At ten o'clock we sent out
for fresh supplies of cider and beer and the landlord's wife
was dancing a Highland fling with Adge; the cameramen complained
that the room was too smokey for photographs - then lit up
fresh cigarettes. At 10:30 the Wurzels did a third encore
of "Drink U Thy Zider" and the Nailsea
Mixed Voice Choir raised the rafters on the chorus.
Then, sadly, it was all over...
The recording team enjoyed their safari
deep into Wurzel territory. Adge took us on a tour of the
cider factory (where he once worked on the presses) which
ended in the tasting room.
All the songs are Adge's own work. Who else
could nave dreamed up such unforgettable lines as
'Some say they seen a tank
Of Portuguese vin blanc
Jammed Pensford High Street t'other night'?
Some of the dialect words are peculiar to
Somerset (others are just peculiar). but the songs are still
intelligible to foreigners. (That is, those living south and
east of a line drawn from Weston-Super-Mare to Limpley Stoke
via Shepton Mallet.)
It is impossible to define Wurzel-music.
It’s not really pop – it’s not really comedy.
It has been disowned by the West of England Folk-Song Society
and Adge was blackballed from the Long Ashton Jazz Appreciation
Group on account of it. So lend an ear to this album and decide
for yourself!
P.S. There aren't many horses left now,
even in the heart of Wurzel country. The horse in our cover
picture is managed by Mr. Isaac Hardwick and is called Duke.
He lives happily at Happerton Farm, Easton-in-Gordano (delicious
cream teas); his favourite singer is Adge Cutler and his favourite
food is Wurzels. What an intelligent animal!
BOB BARRATT |