When I first heard that Elektra had negotiated for the rights to tapes made in Italy by Jack Elliott and Derroll Adams I was sceptical. It seemed to me there was ample documentation of Jack's music, though less so Derroll's. I knew, moreover, that Jack feels hard done by generally when it comes to record companies.

I dreaded the possibility that Jack might come up with some reason why Bounty should not issue the records.

My first inkling of how extraordinary these records are came when Jack told me, without any prompting, that he had heard about the Bounty release and was delighted. He and Derroll enjoyed making these tracks in Milan some years ago and had been well paid; he also thought the tapes were quite good.

Jack is often given to understatement. The tapes turned out to be the finest Jack Elliott and Derroll Adams I have heard and I've heard almost their entire output.

When first faced with re-editing the 28 tunes that comprise the tapes I was dubious about the programming into two LPs that had been done in Italy; how much can an Italian firm know about American folk music? One hearing convinced me: there was virtually no problem. Not a weak cut in the whole lot.

But for me and, I think, for most of Jack and Derroll's fans these records will mean something more than an extraordinarily good collection of their songs. We may have heard them on good nights in folk clubs, we may have heard other excellent recordings, but I don't think that for the younger generation of folk fans (of which I am one) there has been a more vivid confirmation of the legend of Jack and Derroll.

It is a legend built around a romantic picture of the young Elliott and Adams stumbling into Europe in the mid-1950s. Staggering from England to Greece and all points on the way they started the skiffle boom, sang on the streets of St. Tropez, rode lorries, sailed sponge-fishing boats and lived the kind of life that young flat-pickers dream of. Going to Paris on holiday and singing for cinema queues can be a drag, but not if you keep it in mind that Jack and Derroll did it before you.

Then you hear the old-timers, the 35-year-old fans, telling about the time they first heard Jack and Derroll, how they were so fantastic, so much better than they are now.

 

Maybe a friend will tell you about the time Jack slept on his couch after playing the local folk club or has some wild story about a drunken adventure in a small town which shocked the locals and engraved forever the Elliott name on that area's folklore.

To me, Jack and Derroll remain the greatest, the only "citybillies" who ever really made it into the ranks of the true originals; the only middle-class sons worthy of mention alongside Leadbelly, Woody, Jimmie Rodgers etc.

They set out to learn a traditional style and they learned it with reverence and skill. But they came up with so much more.

Few people could fail to identify the voice of either Jack or Derroll within a few words of the start of a song. They no longer sing together. I heard them try a couple of times in concerts in Manchester and Birmingham. It didn't work. Worse yet, they were almost formal backstage. It hurt the legend to see them.

One night at Romford Town Hall, for about ten minutes, the magic was still there. This record proves it happened. They really were the best. They can still be.

I never really disbelieved the legend. I know Jack only half-believes it. I don't think he will ever realise how much he has meant to the legion of romantics who love him for his wild irresponsibility, his humour, his enthusiasm for lorries, boats, rodeos, travel, women and his unique personality.

Two of the great moments on this record are Derroll's: the ultimate version of his own song, Portland Town, the simplest and one of the best anti-war songs ever written; and a remarkable version of Sad And Lonely, a kind of re-working of a certain group of English ballads in hillbilly waltz time, beautifully understated.

There are some of the great standards: Roll On Buddy, Freight Train, Hard Travellin', Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms, San Francisco Bay and Worried Man Blues. They are performed in a relaxed kind of frenzy which makes these versions unique. Volume II (Bounty BY-6046) has 14 more exceptional tracks, making these two LPs probably the finest testament to the greatness of these two men.

Joe Boyd


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