(Folk-Rock) Hedgehog Pie - collection (2 LP + 1 EP) - 1974-1975, MP3, 192 kbps

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1. The Reverend Johnson And The Big Kerry
2. Mariners
3. Rosemary Lane
4. The March Of The King Of Laois
5. Peggy
6. New York Trader
7. O'Rourke's Flogging Chair
8. Fishing Song
9. Jack Orion
10. Spalpeen's Lament

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1. The Burning Of Auchendoon
2. Forest Child
3. Go With The Flow
4. Hunter's House + The Oak Tree
5. The Green Lady
6. Cool Reelies
7. The Gardener
8. Daemon Merchants
9. Camlaan Battle
10. Dreamer

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1. The Lambton Worm
2. Come Join The Show
3. I Am The Worm
4. Sir John Fights The Worm

THE WONDERFUL LEGEND Of HEDGEHOG PIE
by Christopher Dolmetsch
(From Porthole Issue 2 Summer 1996)
Take two parts Steeleye Span (namely, a vocalist like Maddy Prior and a punctuating staccato electric guitar), add one part Jethro Tull (as in a flute like lan Anderson's), sprinkle in a melodic bass and some drums, and what do you have? If this were England in 1976, you would have Hedgehog Pie, one of many now-legendary groups that formed in the heyday of Folk-Rock Britannicus that followed the rise in popularity of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span.
For anyone unfamiliar with this group - and, as far as I can tell, none of their music has ever been re-issued, much less on compact disc - Hedgehog Pie originally sounded remarkably like the current lineup of Steeleye Span. This should come as no great surprise given the fact that two of their albums were produced by Steeleye bassist Rick Kemp.
The group was formed around 1972, and could be heard for the first time on record as a backing band for the northern English folksinger Tony Capstick on his LP entitled HIS ROUND (Rubber Records/Rub 002). At that time, the group was comprised of Jed Grimes (guitars), Martin Jenkins (violin & mandolin), Michael Doonan (flutes), and the husband-and-wife team of Stu Luckley (bass) and Margi Luckley (vocals).Jed Grimes (guitars), Martin Jenkins (violin & mandolin), Michael Doonan (flutes), and the husband-and-wife team of Stu Luckley (bass) and Margi Luckley (vocals) As with early Steeleye Span, there was as yet no drummer in the band. Doonan, son of the renowned traditional Northumbrian piccolo player John Doonan, and Jenkins, previously with the folk-rock group Dando Shaft, helped' give the new band credentials sufficient enough to merit a signing in their own right to the same small Newcastle-based folk music label that had recorded Tony Capstick, namely Rubber Records Ltd.
Hedgehog Pie's self-titled first album (RUB 009), engineered by Keith Herd and produced by the aforementioned Puck Kemp, was recorded in September 1974, but not released until the following year. Its ten tracks were divided into four instrumentals -generally featuring Doonan's flute, Jenkins on mandolin, a plucked electric bass, and a heavily strummed electric guitar (in the style used by Richard Thompson on Fairport's "Tarn Lin") - and six vocal tracks. Of the latter, side one's "Mariners" (performed in an arrangement later adopted by Fairport for their album TIPPLERS' TALES), and "Rosemary Lane," (a Bert Jansch favorite, performed here in a style quite reminiscent of Fairport's "Crazy Man Michael"), along with side two's "Jack Orion" (complete with instrumental passages between the verses just as Fairport was to do later) are among the high points. Listening to Margi Luckley on the first and third of these ballads would easily allow her to be mistaken for Maddy Prior. Indeed, her voice, even in the quieter passages, portrays the same gutsy quality rather than the more delicate breathy sound of a Sandy Denny. As a final note about these early sessions, a tune inexplicably omitted from this LP - the traditional instrumental "Drops of Brandy" - was subsequently issued on disc one of the four-record ELECTRIC MUSE set on Island/Transatlantic.
The critical success (versus the commercial success that it was not) of their self-titled album, accompanied by generous praise of their live performances, was encouragement enough for Hedgehog Pie to contemplate making another LP. By this time a drummer named Dik (Alan Dixon) had joined the band. By this time a drummer named Dik (Alan Dixon) had joined the band.THE GREEN LADY came in a laminated gatefold sleeve with a colorful cover painting, and various monochrome photographs of the band performing and in the studio on the inside Again boasting ten tracks, the four instrumentals suggested a new direction for the band, moving away from a strictly traditional style to incorporating jazz and hard rock elements. These new ingredients were especially evident on the vocal tracks. Side two's "The Gardener" (trad.), "Daemon Merchant" (Doonan), and Dreamer (Jenkins), served to free the band from their purer folk roots. Only the title tune, which could easily have passed for a Steeleye Span recording, and the preceding instrumental, "Hunter's House/The Oak Tree," sounded like holdovers from earlier sessions.
THE GREEN LADY was also critically well-received, and was soon followed by what may be the group's rarest recording of all, an EP (extended-play single) entitled THE WONDERFUL LEGEND OF THE LAMBTON WORM (TUB 12). The four tracks recounted, in songs that even a small child could love, the legend of the giant worm that plagued the village of Lambton and of its conqueror, Sir John. "The Lambton Worm" and "Come Join the Show" (both up-tempo group sing-alongs) comprised side one; while "I am the Worm" (an eerie dirge) and "Sir John Fights the Worm" made up side two. There were apparently very few copies of this record pressed, given its immediate scarcity.
In 1977, Hedgehog Pie, for all intents and purposes disbanded. Dik, the Luckleys, and Martin Jenkins departed. Stu Luckley teamed up with folksinger Bob Fox to record the album WISH WE HAD NEVER PARTED (Black Crow, CRO 204), and Martin Jenkins was to reappear somewhat later in Whippersnapper. Meanwhile, Mick Doonan and Jed Grimes were left to carry on alone. They recruited ex-Swan Arcade guitarist/vocalist Dave Burland to the fold, and decided to retain the name Hedgehog Pie. The resulting LP, JUST ACT NORMAL (RUB 024), engineered by Micky Sweeney, and produced by Geoff Heslop, appeared in 1978. Gone were the drums and the pulsating staccato guitar. What little remained of the electrified sound was heavily modulated and considerably more mellow. In fact, much of the recording was acoustic.The final lineup of Hedgehog Pie: From left - Dave Burland, Mick Doonan, Jed Grimes. The opening track, a slow tempo rendering of Richard Thompson's 1972 opus THE ANGELS TOOK MY RACEHORSE AWAY, was sung by Burland to a sparing accompaniment of acoustic guitar, string bass, picked steel-string guitar, and included a flute solo. Clearly it was now as much Dave Burland's group as anyone's, and the traditional folk sound was back. (Incidentally, Burland recorded the same Richard Thompson song, albeit with a different treatment, for inclusion on his 1992 release HIS MASTER'S CHOICE - THE SONGS OF RICHARD THOMPSON (Road Goes On Forever RGF 009). Other standouts on this LP include "The Lowlands of Holland," "Reuben Ranzo," and "Ramble Away," which were, as were all ten of the tunes on this album, credited as "trad. arr. Hedgehog Pie."
Not long after this album's release, Rubber Records Ltd. - which was also noted for having helped launch the career of Dick Gaughan's Scottish group Five Hand Reel -was forced to fold. So too, it seems, did Hedgehog Pie. Unlike with Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, no American record company thought to release albums by Hedgehog Pie. Nor did any of the larger labels, like CBS, or as in the case of Five Hand Reel, RCA, seek to sign the band. Rubber Record's effort at promoting and distributing the group's product was sorely lacking, and it was primarily due to word-of-mouth and the fine reputation the band gained through live performances that it was able to survive as long as it did. In the end, we are left with some memorable music, all of it worthy of re-release. Let's hope some enterprising soul will see fit to provide us with the ultimate Hedgehog Pie CD anthology. For now, should you chance upon any of their releases in the bins of a used records store, you certainly should have some clue as to the treasure you've found.

Martin Jenkins - cello mandolin
Margi Luckley - vocals
Mick Doonan - flute
Jed Grimes - guitar
Stu Luckley - bass