The Wild Side of Town

Nature and Human Nature
The Wild Side of Town
Bird-Watching
Harvest Anthem
Laura's Song
Butterfly Galliard / Falling Star
I Was The Child
Another World In The Night
Fox On The Rails /Dance Of The Starlings
Woodlands Of England
See This Lake, Son?
My Beautiful Bomb Pit
Comin' In On A Wing And A Prayer
Tomorrow's Too Late
Why Have You Stolen Our Earth?
Human Nature
Stand Quite Still
If There's No Other Way
The Rockery Rock
This Blessed Plot
Don't Clear That Corner Away
Art Nouveau
Brambles on a Hill
Our Stolen Season
Good King Henry
You Never Know Where We Have Been
Harvest Will Come
Just Human Nature
The Albion River Hymn: prelude
The Albion River Hymn
Sweet Themmes Run Softly
Three Men in a Boat
Down The Stream The Swans All Glide.
Swan-Upping Song
The Sheep Shearing Song
The Building of Our Bridge
Twickenham Ferry
Letters
Still On The Wild Side of Town
Rumour Hill
Life on the River
Horse Music
Yellow Taxi / New Jerusalem
Dragonfly
Lemady / Arise and Pick a Posy
Foxy Comes to Town
The Wind in The Willows
John Moore (1907-1967)
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
Gilbert White (1720-1793)
Landlines

Nature. Plants.

 This other Eden, demi-paradise, This fortress built by Nature for herself
- Richard II. William Shakespeare

The Wild Side of Town
The Albion Band with Chris Baines

Ashley Hutchings

The great strength of Ashley Hutchings and the Albion Band has always been in marrying the voices of our largely rural past to the innovative sounds of new urban music. They have created a style which has always been a beacon for anyone with a love of British traditional music - be they performers or audience. Chris Baines felt the Albion Band were the ideal musicians to write and perform the music for his TV. series, The Wild Side of Town, since he too is trying to bring the best of traditional British countryside into the spaces of our modern towns and cities.With this album, Ashley, Chris and the Albion Band have combined their talents to create all these new songs which celebrate the wildlife that lives in towns, highlighting the pressure it is under in a very inspiring way.

Cathy Lesurf, vocals, bodhrán and tambourine;
Phil Beer, electric and acoustic guitars, fiddle, mandolin, vocals;
Eric Hine, keyboards;
Ashley Hutchings, bass guitar;
Trevor Foster, drums, percussion;
Chris Baines, vocals, spoons;
with
Bill & Pete Zorn, backing vocals;
Brass on Comin' in on a Wing and a Prayer: Paul Nieman, trombone; Andy Grappa, tuba; Pete Whyman, clarinet;
Steve Waterman, trumpet

Tracks 1, 10 Cathy Lesurf
Track 2 Cathy Lesurf arr. Eric Hine
Track 3 words Ashley Hutchings, tune Cathy Lesurf arr. Eric Hine
Tracks 4, 7 Phil Beer
Tracks 5, 13 Chris Baines
Track 6 words Ashley Hutchings, tune Cathy Lesurf
Track 8 words Ashley Hutchings, tune Dave Whetstone
Track 9 words Ashley Hutchings, tune Phil Beer
Track 11 new lyric adaption Cathy Lesurf; original tune Jimmy McHugh
, original words Harold Adamson
Track 12 words Chris Baines, tune Cathy Lesurf arr. Eric Hine

Chris Baines' book The Wild Side of Town, published by BBC/Elmtree.
 
The Wild Side of Town is a BBC Programme Title and is used with the BBC's consent.

Recorded at Magritte Studios, Harmondsworth, Middlesex, September 1987
Engineered and produced by Eric Hine
Photo David W. Macdonald
Design: Sean Clark and Dave Bulmer
Industrial scene: Wendy de Russet

Chris Baines

Chris Baines

Chris Baines is a tireless champion of urban wildlife, who has done a great deal to bring city people closer to the nature on their doorstep. With his books and T.V. programmes he has converted millions to the idea of wildlife gardening, and The Wild Side of Town has taken that campaign over the fence and into the parks and open spaces beyond.
Chris built the first wildlife garden ever allowed at Chelsea Flower Show in 1985. In the same year his TV programme Bluetits and Bumblebees, and his book,
How to Make a Wildlife Garden, inspired millions of people to begin gardening with wildlife. His other books include four story books for young children - The Old Boot, The Picnic, The Flower and The Nest. The Wild Side of Town, which accompanied a five-part TV series of the same name, won the UK Conservation Book Prize in 1987. In the same year Chris recorded this album with the  Albion Band and then toured the UK, raising money for the British Wildlife Appeal.
Through most of the late '80s and early '90s Chris focused on TV broadcasting, and presented The Big E, Countryfile, Saturday Starship, Pebblemill at One and several other networked series. His investigative environmental series for children, The Ark, won the International Wildscreen Award in 1987. In 2000, he presented Charlie's Wildlife Gardens with Charlie Dimmock. Chris is one of the UK's leading environmental campaigners, and has particularly championed the cause of trees. He lead the fight to prevent Cable TV and other utility companies chopping through the roots of urban street trees, has promoted the concept of urban forestry in the UK, and been principal adviser to Trees of Time and Place. This millenium campaign encouraged as many people as possible to gather seeds from a favourite tree, grow a seedling and plant it for the future. Trees of Time and Place is supported by over 100 national organisations, and has inspired many tens of thousands of individuals and over 2,000 schools to grow their own trees from local seeds. Chris is committed to urban wildlife and wildlife gardening. He works from home in Wolverhampton, is president of the Urban Wildlife Partnership and vice-president of The Wildlife Trusts. In 1998 he was appointed by the Prime Minister as a trustee of the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Chris writes frequently in BBC Gardeners' World,

The Wild Side of Town 1987[click for larger image]
Celtic Music CM / CMC / CMCD 042. LP, cassette, CD, UK, 1987

 
Harvest Anthem
 
 
Butterfly Galliard /
Falling Star
 
I Was The Child
 
Another World In
The Night
 
Fox On The Rails /
Dance Of The Starlings
 
 
 
My Beautiful Bomb Pit
 
 
 

CD Bonus Track

Why Have You Stolen Our Earth? (3:52)

Wildscapes of Jason Smalley

related internet links

 
an independent group
from the UK that promotes
green roofs – roofs that are
intentionally vegetated
 

 the largest international wetland
conservation charity in the UK.
Founded in 1946 by the
artist and naturalist
Sir Peter Scott (1909 - 1989),
WWT has 9 visitor centres
around the UK,
where people can get closer to
 wetland birds and enjoy spectacular
wetland landscapes.

Britain's Wildlife

Badgers
.

Woodlands Junior School, Kent, England

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2008/2009/2010/2011
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