Earthforce

It was during 1976 that I became a little disillusioned with the electric rock category which most music had to fall into, if it was to have any chance of being played to an audience. Maybe it was due to the long hot summer in England that year, but I felt it to be the right time to pursue a quieter and more meditative approach to music. I sold my amp and electric guitar and bought the sitar and later, a 12 string guitar.

Having become familiar with a new style of music, I thought it time to 'test the water' early in 1977 and got into a few jam sessions during March, with Alan Shipgood and James Gleave, and early in April, with Alan, Tony Pettitt and Mick Marsh. Jenie and Raymond Critchell were also into the idea of this musical collective. However, the basic working unit became - myself (on sitar and 12 string guitar), Alan (on bass guitar and tabla) and Tony (on harmonium). We played one gig at a large indoor festival at Battersea Arts Centre, London on 28 May. At this time James was playing in Ken Hyder's Celtic-roots jazz band, Talisker.

By June it was becoming apparent that the larger collective idea would not come about - Jenie and Raymond were planning a move to France, Tony was about to move to Carmarthen, South Wales and James later departed for Europe.


EARTHFORCE RECORDINGS

In July 1977, Norman Jon Kissoon and I discussed the technical possibilities of making a recording to incorporate the music and ideas of all the people who had been involved. The first session took place at Farnborough, Hampshire on 30 and 31 July. We were unable to get all the music on to tape that weekend. Three weeks later, on Saturday 20 August, we completed the remaining tracks at Merrow near Guildford, Surrey.

By the end of August we had the design for the cover (three trees near Glastonbury Tor), sleeve notes, and the running order/splicing of the quarter-inch reel-to-reel master tape completed. The first cassettes were ready for distribution early in October 1977. In all, 60 copies were produced - spreading as far as USA, France, South Africa, Papua New Guinea and Australia.

The final event was a gig at the Bellerby Theatre, Guildford in November 1978, 'An Evening with Earthforce'. On the bill were John Lathey, Simon Rowan, Savourna Stevenson (on Celtic harp), myself on sitar with John Bland on tabla, and the electric band - blurring the Oa Band into Earthforce with the Oa line-up plus Nic Griffiths on saxophone.

................................................................................................................................................................................

THE BAND MEMBERS

Steve Bayfield : 12 string guitar, electric guitar, sitar, vocals

Alan Shipgood : bass guitar, tabla

James Gleave : electric piano, synthesizer

Tony Pettitt : harmonium, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, percussion

Jenie Critchell : acoustic guitar, vocals

Raymond Critchell : 12 string guitar, vocals

John Lathey : acoustic guitar

Mick Marsh : drums, percussion

John Bland : percussion

Kirsty Anderson : violin on Wild Mountain Thyme

Norman Jon Kissoon : recording and mixing

................................................................................................................................................................................

SONG OF THE MORNING
(Trad / lyrics S Bayfield)

Standing upon a hillside, awaiting the sun
Standing upon a hillside, awaiting the sun
The day is breaking, new life awaking
Day is a-breaking, the flow has begun

Wind blowing seaward, no cloud in the sky
Wind blowing seaward, no cloud in the sky
A smile is a greeting, in the garden of eden
Smile with a greeting, but leave with a sigh

Time long since passing, when truths were laid bare
Time long since passing, when truths were laid bare
The ways of nature, gifts from the maker
Ways of all nature, were songs we could share

So sing for the sun, and let's sing every day
My heart is a seed, and your love is the rain
In the valley of life, our place may yet be
Where woman and man and the earth
May find harmony

................................................................................................................................................................................

CARNMENYN
(T Pettitt, J Gleave)

Blow soft, my children of the wind
Grind down this history
This urchin, ragged land
Feel the pull of moontide in the pagan heart
Hear the roar of kings in battle-fine array
Upon Preseli's lonely moors
The purple of the heather
Like some sunset, swelling sea
That breaks forever
On some craggy, unknown shore
The hermit sleeps in a six foot cave
Somewhere deep beneath
The wizard's self sealed stone
And up, above the island hills
My zephyr children dance with clouds
And I hear still their singing in my hammered ears
And cracked lips move in mute refrain
The harmonies to sound

................................................................................................................................................................................

WANDERING
(S Bayfield, MCPS)

In my wandering -
I have swum in the seas of destiny
And drunk from the sparkling river of eternity
In my wandering -
The road I travelled, day upon day
'Til a passing smile led me the other way
Now the sun shines on my face, taking me away . . .

In my loneliness -
I believed the stars were my only guide
To help me find the trail to my other side
In my loneliness -
Yesterday was for evermore
And today must always wait on a distant shore
'Til the wind blows on my brow, and carries me away . . .

For my ladylove -
I would build a house made from willow boughs
With a pathway to the sea and windows in the clouds
For my ladylove -
I would sing a song that would help me say
My love for you will last . . .
For the sun shines on your face, and carries me away . . .
Yes, the sun shines on your face, and carries me away . . .

................................................................................................................................................................................

A SOLSTICE SONG
(S Bayfield, MCPS)

Meetings of the spirit
Places we have all known
To explore the two-fold meaning
Travellers coming home
All along the dusty highways
A million miles to roam
To find the lost connection
Somewhere in the land of stone

There's a vacuum in the city, there's an island with no sea
There's a gentle wind a-blowing, all the way to Glastonbury

The festival is over
To celebrate the sun
Brought us closer to the seasons
So it's only just begun!
And time will lead us, through the mountains
To yet another where and when
Come together as one family
To be nearer home again

Much to learn from what we're doing, many places we can be
So we got to keep on a-moving, doing what comes naturally

................................................................................................................................................................................

JENIE'S SONG
(J Critchell)

As I walk, a cloudless day
Begins to haze and lose the way
High far away I dream a senseless dream
Far in a world or is it reality

Here I am, the things I see
In cobbled streets and people free
All around the faces which appear
Far from delight and closer to fear

The sky around is red and mauve
The stillness dusk becomes untold
To share the silence is a wondrous thing
For people never know and realise it's for them

As he walks, he talks to me
I understand and try to see
The light in the sky is for eternity
And always understand for you and me it's free

................................................................................................................................................................................

EARTHFORCE CD

During the years 2002 and 2003 I digitally remastered a selection of Earthforce recordings, based on the limited edition cassette from 1977 and some of the live performances in 1977 and 1978. I then chose the best 11 tracks for release on CD (total running time 60 minutes). Recorded between May and August 1977 with the exceptions of Raga recorded live at the Bellerby Theatre, Guildford, Surrey on 26 Nov 1978, and A Solstice Song recorded on 10 Dec 1979.

Dawn
Song of the Morning
Carnmenyn
Wandering
Keep Moving
Carnmenyn (slight return)
Raga
Wild Mountain Thyme
A Solstice Song
Jenie's Song
Moonrise

"Ultra rare mid-70s UK acid folk rock recordings. Features sitar, moog, acoustic and electric guitars, assorted percussion instruments to create a Popul Vuh like soundscape. If you can imagine the perfect blend of Eastern trance/psyche and English hippy acid folk rock, this would be it. Very cool and freaky."

"Earthforce were an offshoot of Ebling Mis and Oa Band formed by Steve Bayfield. Hailing from the UK, the band was influenced by a wide variety of music including English folk and acid rock. This release is culled from sessions that have never been released before, and they sound like a cross between Popul Vuh and Gong. Very tasty, very spacey and mystical vibe throughout. Liner notes and photos galore, a very nice package."

Sound engineer: Norman Jon Kissoon of Atom Heart Visual Sound
Digital remastering: Steve Bayfield
Final mastering: Jeff Risdon
Produced by: Richard S Patz for ShroomAngel Productions
Cover design: Jilaen Sherwood of Dreamland Design
Release date: 14 May 2004
Released and distributed by ShroomAngel Productions
Catalogue no. SAP 002

Jenie Critchell 1957-1995
The Earthforce CD is dedicated to the music and memory of Jenie Critchell.

Enquiries and further information: Earthforce CD

................................................................................................................................................................................

EARTHFORCE VINYL LP

From April 2021 a selection of tracks, featured on the CD, will be available on a Vinyl LP.
Released by Lion Productions (USA) LP 181
Many of the original tracks were re-mastered in 2020.

Dawn
Song of the Morning
Carnmenyn
Jenie's Song

Keep Moving
Wild Mountain Thyme
Wandering
Moonrise

here is a selection of websites where you can purchase the album -
Light in the Attic
Code 7 Distribution
Juno Records UK
Revolution Music Company USA
I Music Denmark
HHV Berlin Germany
WOW HD New Zealand

Oa Band

Towards the end of 1975, I again teamed up with John Bland on drums, Alan Shipgood on bass, and were joined by James Gleave on keyboards and synthesizer (the early days of), writing all our own stuff in a continuous suite approach. It went under the name of Oa Band as a continuation of the Planet Oa vibe of 1972-73. There was however a noticeable difference in the overall style of music - a more jazz influenced form of rock, aiming for a greater dynamic range in content and intensity. I think we all learned much during this period, developing an under-standing, and friendships which continue to the present day - more than 30 years later.

Steve Bayfield

Alan Shipgood

James Gleave

John Bland

With hindsight, it is possible that our approach to writing and performing was too serious and we may have benefited from more of our light-hearted jam sessions, such as Uncle Oa's Last Freakout, an improvisation that happened while we were awaiting the arrival of James at a session in Greatham, Hampshire. It's usually the case that, when forming a band there has to be a general consensus of where musically, you are trying to get to. It would perhaps have been more interesting to just allow things to develop and for the band to find its own direction and identity. However, John moved to the Durham area in the spring of 1976, and that marked the end of this particular venture.

Steve Bayfield

Logos & AHVS

I moved briefly to Brighton, Sussex in 1974 and switched to playing bass in the extra-ordinary Logos band, with Mick Wilson, vocals and guitar, and Andy Gray on drums. Mick had written songs and instrumental numbers for the first part of a rock opera entitled The Garden of the Earth and was working on the second half. The general theme of the story was one person's journey across a strange and wondrous planet, towards an unknown goal and ultimate enlightenment. We played one gig doing a support for Global Village Trucking Co. I worked with them for several months. This proved, for me, to be a new direction in writing and playing, becoming aware of music as a more overall performance, and less of a collection of individual songs or tunes.

Later that year I spent the summer travelling around Cornwall with my brother and began writing pieces of music that were to become part of a complete 'suite' which reflected my all night experiences with nature at the Old Winchester Hill reserve near Petersfield, Hampshire. I attempted several times to record the entire piece, with the help of John Bland (drums), Paul Ellis (piano), Alan Shipgood (bass) and Norman Jon Kissoon's recording set-up from AHVS. Over the years I have made alterations to the music notes and score, and one day it may be possible to find time to sort through them all and try to complete the task.

ATOM HEART VISUAL SOUND

During the period 1974-75, I devoted much time to helping Norman Jon with the mobile recording side of AHVS, in and around London. Using a 10-inch reel-to-reel half-track, we recorded such bands as Henry Cow, Ian Carr's Nucleus, Steve Hillage and Gong, Robert Wyatt, Hatfield and the North, plus many theatrical events with Julian Glover, Isla Blair and Derek Jacobi.

Ebling Mis

Steve Bayfield

I was playing a rare old Del Rey guitar with Paul Coaker on bass (a Gibson EB 0, I believe). We were renting a large house in Fleet, Hampshire with John Bland, famous in the area as the DJ who fronted the Plastik Rock Disco and who then became our drummer, and Carole and Keith Lewis. Keith with Neil Soames ran Cosmic Amoeba Lites, one of those amazing light shows using coloured oils heated between glass slides. This house became known as Planet Oa or The Planet.

Paul Coaker

Paul, John and myself rehearsed and jammed solid for three months and finally started gigging with the new band Ebling Mis in early 1973. Loose and raw, it sometimes tripped out and sometimes tripped up, but never played safe. We did an assortment of gigs, from pubs such as The Crown in Alton, Hampshire (where Keith remembers us being kicked out for playing too loud!) to the larger free festivals in the summer of 1973 - including University of Surrey Free Festival, Windsor 73 (the band that opened the festival and appeared on an Open University film clip!) and Trentishoe Whole Earth Fayre where we were first on again. An amusing trip was had by one and all, as I recall.

John Bland

In July we played a gig in Guildford for the College of Art, where we supported a band called Phoenix featuring one, Roy St John - by this time he was based in London. He later moved back to St Louis, USA but has since returned to England.


WINDSOR 1973

The second Windsor Free Festival, organised by Bill Dwyer and Ian Jones was the most memorable of the three. Events started on Friday 24 August when we took charge of the generator and got John's record decks and PA going in the wooded area where the 72 Festival had been. This started after dark and ran well into the night. By 11am on the Saturday we had moved the van and gear to a spot which faced down the hill (to a place where the main stage was finally located) and here it was that Ebling Mis started the festival proper.

Steve Bayfield

John Bland, Paul Coaker

We also played on the Sunday night / Monday morning but this set bordered on disaster (as many did!) due to the mist and damp soaking into all the electronics and effects pedals. Later that night Ian Jones asked me to take over his duties as stage manager (I was the only person he recognised still awake who he could trust to do the job). This proved to be a most rewarding occupation and an opportunity to put into practice my belief that 'all bands are equal' and nobody had the right to jump the queue because they were more professional. It worked well. Every band, except one, contributed their PA system and John Bland somehow managed to wire them all together to produce a system that just about got the job done. It was estimated that between 10 and 15 thousand people attended.


WINDSOR 1974

The last Windsor Free Festival was in 1974. This turned to anarchy with running battles with police trying to force eviction, resulting in a compromise agreement that the festival would move to an approved site near to Stonehenge the following year (1975) and not be deemed 'illegal'. It continued there until the early 1980s when the government of the day decided it was to be stamped out.

................................................................................................................................................................................

One of the classic self-penned songs of the period
dedicated to Virginia Duncan

ARE YOU READY?

Tomorrow's sun rose from out of your eyes
The native dances and the fireflies
Mysterious moons that hypnotise
Are you ready, are you ready?

With your smile you scatter love all around
The lowly tramp wears a golden crown
All your memory banks are solid sound
Are you ready, are you ready?

In your heart you carry no shame
I want you to see that I feel the same
Everybody smiles when I say your name
Are you ready, are you ready?
Are you ready to love again?

Swamp & Rocharch

In the early part of 1971 I did a few more gigs with Roy St John at folk clubs but we then decided to try a band format again. Roy had many songs that justified being played loud and with more of a rock arrangement. Chris Hall joined us on drums and we formed Swamp. We played the Rainbow Club several times. Attendances were now much larger than in the early days, particularly at the all night gigs. Steve Crossley (formerly with skinhead band Bootlace Fungus) later joined us on bass guitar. Roy St John did return to the US and was living in St Louis, Missouri, but he has since moved back to the UK. Later that same year I began jamming and writing with vocalist / pianist / bass guitarist Simon Wiltshire.

This marked the beginning of a more experimental approach to music - avoiding the obvious and conventional rock styles. Chris Hall again joined us as drummer - however, Simon's career in teaching meant a move from Alton, Hampshire to London and much of our labours never bore fruit. Simon and I did a couple of local gigs at the end of the year, still using the band name Phoenix Gnasha, but before he departed he did put me in touch with a couple of local lads, Paul Coaker and Kev Wilcox, who were planning to get a band together. I started jamming with Paul (on bass) and Kevin (on drums) at the music workshop near Fleet, Hampshire, and with Stan Bailey on guitar. This became the line-up of the band Rocharch. We did a few gigs, including one at the end of the Santa Pod drag strip in Bedfordshire but we split up when Stan left to pursue his main ambition to become a classical violinist.


WINDSOR 1972

Paul and I played the Windsor Free Festival that August with a stand-in drummer called 'The Baron'. Eventually, John Bland joined us as regular drummer and this became the Ebling Mis band of 1973.

Farnham Wall of Sound

Heba Evans, Roy St John, Steve Bayfield

I began playing guitar in the sixties. The late Michael Heba Evans was the first person I jammed guitars with on a regular basis. In 1969 we started rehearsing with Roy St John (aka Chandler Holmes), all three of us playing guitar and doing some singing, and with Terry Murphy on drums. This became known as the Farnham Wall of Sound (a pun on the astonishingly small amount of equipment we had). We played one gig at the Guildford Civic Hall on 8 April 1970.

I did more gigs in 1970, playing acoustically at folk clubs in north-east Hampshire, some with Roy St John, and again playing electric guitar with drummers Rob Reeves and Dennis Roberts, and with John Lathey and Heba Evans on bass guitar. I also jammed with Cosmic Capers. This marked the beginning of the Rainbow Club evenings and the all night sessions held at Farnborough, Hampshire. Formerly called The Blue Moon, it was a ska club in the late 1960s and became a rock venue when George Collins took over its management (he also played some fine harmonica at some of the sessions). Other acts that appeared regularly, as I recall, were Arthur Bowstead and Tony Shaw, Tonk and Cold Fusion (later Fusion). Neil Soames, I believe, also had a hand in controlling the lighting.

Finding any venues in those days was virtually impossible - it usually meant someone having to hire a town or village hall (with no bar) and putting up posters or paying for advertising. It was normal to lose money on such ventures. For this reason the Rainbow Club was a gem of a place!