Keith Christmas
I've been following the trend and getting into singer-songwriters of late, and kept picking up obscure early 1970s compilations of folk-rock music with which I was invariably disappointed, except that on almost every one there tended to be a track by Keith Christmas and these simply blew me away. I was therefore delighted to find that he's still around, still playing - occasionally, in the West Country, in-between teaching - and more blues than folk nowadays. He also has his own website, where you can purchase CDs, listen to demos and generally chat, hang out etc.
His first album was recorded whilst he was still a student at Bath University studying Building technology. The next few in the early 1970s are all superb - full of strange mystical lyricism and extrordinary guitar playing. Like a manic version of Nick Drake, and every bit as good.
The best introduction is probably the recent Timeless and Strange compilation. Keith also played acoustic guitar on David Bowie's pre-Mick Ronson Space Oddity album, with Rick Wakeman and Herbie Flowers.
Download:
- Love like this (a recent demo, available like others from Keith's website)
- Waiting for the Wind (from his 2nd album Fable of the Wings)
- Fable of Wings (from Fable of the Wings, 1970)
Get these:
And this:
