TalkAwhile - The Folk Corporation Forum

Okay people. My lack of enthusiasm for this track is well documented on this board.

I am currently listening to  "Bruised and Beaten Songs" - one of the CD's from the Cropredy Capers Boxed Set.

The next track is SLOTH. It plays for 19 minutes and 25 seconds. :o

Anyone care to place a small wager as to how long I will stick with it?

Sorry to double post....we have only just reached "she's run away, she's run away....."

I've not heard this version before, (featuring RT and Jerry Donahue) and I must say it is more interesting than the version I am used to.

A tad atonal in places.... :P  but more interesting..... ::)

I'll shut up now. Other than to let you know when I lose the will to live  :-X

You might just get to like it ................  ::)  ....................................... ;D

Doncha cry, doncha cry.....

Nearly there peeps! LOL! ::)

Until the bass solo starts. I guess if ANYONE can be allowed a bass solo it should be Mr Pegg, but still...

I love Sloth in it's earlier incarnations- it's a bloody good song when it doesn't descend into a Tap-esque noodle-fest :( . Live Convention is a good version, Full House even better. 

Well blimey heck, I made it!

Sorry to dominate this thread Mods - but it was of little interest to anyone else. LOL! Fair enough  ;D

Maybe I will have to modify my opinion re Sloth. Not too much though :-X

Goodnight, and I love you all!  ::)

HUZZAH!!

(nice car   :D :D )

I Lurrrrve Sloth.

One day I'm going to create a three CD mix of all the versions I own.

I like the Bass Solo (especially as I'm a Bass player too), but do agree that if you aren't in the right sort of mood, it can be a bit, erm, well, you know what I mean.

It maybe it's because doesn't really fit in with some of the bands material from that period - still bloody good though, but just in a different sort of way.

Sloth along with the end of Sailors Life and Reno Nevada are well Fairport at their jam band best something that is no longer part of the tradition of the band and really only stumbles out at Cropredy nowadays, something to be enjoyed not endured but when the dynamics of the song are sacrificed to the noodle fest Sloth can become it's a crying shame..

Been listening to the Dead all day so that may explain it all.

You are hitting the nail there.
Although I am not as much against Sloth as GowerFlower it is one of the very very few songs of Fc that are rather irrellevant to me.
Reason being: with is whole structure it is trotting along a Deadhead`s path. I do have a couple of Dead records but well, nice in it very own time, but only then, and as said before it sort of sticks out or is a bit a stranger within Fairport`s "usual" range of music,
Anyway, the good thing is, some like, some don`t, but all of us find quite a lot to like under Fairport`s musical roof.

The first time I heard/saw Sloth played live was in a marquee on a hot July night in 1979 at Thoresby in Notts.

It was magical..  Swarb's fiddling is still in my mind from that gig..  hauntingly beautiful
and absolutely unforgettable.. I wish someone had recorded that night!

Ah well, Jen, you have a rather lovely setting there. And Swarb of course ;D

It's probably a track best heard live.

I first heard sloth when i was about 9 years old and I've been a fan of the track ever since. I used to plague my parents asking what the lyrics actualy meant ;D ;D they couldn't answer either!

All the way through.  Shame the version from Broughton Castle '81 was never released ..... I recall it being mesmeric .....

I can do a 9 minute, a 10 minute, even up to say a 12 minute Sloth, but if they stretch it out much longer then I start to think it stops being a haunting ensemble piece of epic proportions, and starts being a self indulgent endurance test!

Jules

Mesmeric is the right word for the version I heard above ..  ;D 8)

Being a child of the 70`s  and all that Progressive stuff around . I found out fairly quickly that if a track was`nt at least an "LP "side long  it was  only called a "Ditty ". Therefore , Sloth comes into my favourite charts very highly but in my humble opinion it just isnt long enough to compete with the greats such as Mountain`s - Nantucket Sleighride (TWIN PEAKS version )_etc etc .--- It could be  ----I`d pay good money for a  35/40 + minute version of Sloth .
The chaps could do it just by adding some of RT`s Cavalry Cross, Night Comes In and finish off with a Sailors Life / Bonny Bunch of Roses , crescendo .
There you are -- WOW [;-)---a dream set list .
Boy ----was`nt there some superb  "Long " numbers around in those days . I feel a new thread coming on .  [;-)

Now ThaT would be a CD worth having... sigh  ^-^   Well, I'd like it, non stop Sloth oh yes  :)

Dependant on what mood I'm in:-

Right Mood - All of it, the longer the version the better
Wrong Mood - Skip track

Right. I've been training all day to people who really couldn't give two hoots, so now I'm going back to my desk to listen to the same Sloth version as Gower Flower (from the 4-CD box set) and I'll let you know how I get on. I'm a bit excitable as it's Friday afternoon and I'm going away (to Brecon) this weekend in the camper, so my concentration span is shot, but I'm hopeful of at least 10 minutes.

 :)

I have said elsewhere that I have a playlist on my Ipod entirely comprised of (I think) every available version of Sloth. I listen to it regularly. To me there is infinite variety within those performances and it never gets boring.  :)

I am definitely very envious GG  :)

Have you got the yet-to-be-released-on-CD live Sloth from the Live At The LA Troubadour on there?  It's not the same version as on House Full.  I keep searching for a cassette of the original album so that I can get it transfered to CDR.

Jules

Oh GubGub I'm going to be unpopular (as usual  :( )

I managed 5 mins 18 secs and I've gone on to Bellowhead Frog's Legs and Dragon's teeth - nice and happy and just right for a wet Friday afternoon.  ;D  ;D

Sorry - I tried  :-[

 ;)

Please don't hate me...but I can't listen to Sloth at all. It's not the length (I enjoy the live "A Sailor's Life" from '87 or so very, very much). I just find it (to my ears) trite and boring. Inna Gadda Da Vida of the folk world!

HURRAH! I think I have found my soul-mate!  (chortle, snigger, giggle.... ::))

 ;D

 :)

If you like "The Wounded Whale" as much as I do (a LOT), I may have to come over there and buy you a beer!

Well yes, I DO actually..... ::) ;D

I owe you a beer! That is such a great song...one of my all time favorites in any genre.

My son and his girlfriend will be over there this summer and are hoping to attend Cropredy...perhaps I can send you that beer by proxy!

Sadly not. I did have access to a vinyl copy until recently but regrettably that ship has sailed.

By the way, The Wounded Whale is also probably in my top 10 Fairport songs and I deeply miss the magical Cropredy performances of it but whilst I can understand Sloth not bing to everyone's taste, I really cannot accept a categorisation of it as "trite" Mark.

Oh, it's all opinion!

The Wounded Whale is nothing short of brilliant.

Quite... :)  In fact, I described the Wounded Whale as 'trite' to my daughter just the other day.  On reflection I'm not entirely convinced something can be both trite and overblown, but that might just manage it.  I've never liked it...

I have a version that is 20:15!! Good version as well....

Almost exactly 16 minutes longer than I can take....

Pah...it's only just getting going then...  ;)

yea, Sloth runs way toooooooo looooooong. It is Spinal Tap-ian and Jazz Odyssey-esque.

"On guitar, Richard Thompson. He wrote this..."

LOL

My favourite is the version San Antonio Texas Oct 71 from the Airing Cupboard tapes, Swarb, Simon, Peggy and DM and then Simon announced his retirement from the band at the hotel later that night according to DM.

Some of the 4 piece versions on tour in the early 80's were a bit special as well and really displayed the ensemble playing of that band and a welcome change from the mostly trad fair at the time.

I totally agree, but then this was my first (and so ultimately not surprisingly, favourite) version of the band in any case - some great guitar from Simon, and obscenely fine bass work from the Peggmeister General...

Listening to the AC Tapes version as I write.  It ain't half bad you know...  :D :D :D

My favourite version by a mile is the Live Convention one. Especially Swarbs solo spot which is a couple of minutes of sheer musical perfection - the band firing on all cylinders. This line up of the band was the first I ever saw and this might explain my love for 'em. Of course, the studio original is the most important, but of all the live versions there is none to even get close to the excellence of the Live Convention version.

It's only just over eleven minutes long, but says it all in just over half the time they have spent on it in later years. Twenty minutes is just way too long. Which is why I left it off the Oslo CD...

T-R

Interesting how tastes differ, because I find the longer the better and the Live Convention version is my least favourite (in fact, that is my least favouritte line up) I quite like the Philly Folk Festival 1970 version, but I really like Cropredy 97. Let's hope this years is even better!

Ha.. that's cos time gets shorter as you get older Ollie...  ;D ;D ;D

the best sloth for me is the 25th Anniversary. Pure quality from Peggy, and the RT/JD guitar off is great as well! The acoustic version on the Swarb box set is interesting - mainly because it is different!
But if one comes on on my ipod I will listen to the first minute, take it out of my pocket, unlock it and skip forward to the next track! have to be in the mood for it.
Olly.

which, once again, begs the question what are you going to do with it Thor?
a cd with a 20 minute sloth or perhaps a download?

That's OK...I didn't expect many here to agree with me!  :)

Instead of "trite", perhaps redundancy can be the main criticism for it.  The sweet&sour repetition of that bizarre chord progression gains quite a bit of momentum.  Its like trying to stop a train.

My favorite is Cropredy '82.

The doctor with the German name on RT's "Read about love" might have something to say about this.

It's to do with resolution and climax. You want the noodling to finish. But you quite like it.

"She's run away, she's run away".

O yeah baby...

And on that note, have a nice weekend.

R

I think you......nailed it!  ;D

Well, dear board from beyond the sea, basically I long long improvisations, especially when played by our guys. Then, I really long to hear the longest Sloth ever, let's say, half an hour and more, with every solo you may imagine, elecrtic guitar, bass, fiddle, mandolin.

All the best from a ever missing Cropredy fiend

paolo

is there a prize for this??
cos i'll listen to it indefinitely, if it's gonna be worthwhile!!!


(what? whaddaya mean, that's not what it means??? o bugger.....)