Trees (band)
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Trees | |
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Background information | |
Origin | London, England |
Genres | Folk rock, psychedelic folk, progressive folk, progressive rock |
Years active |
|
Labels | CBS, BGO, Sony BMG, Sunbeam, Habla |
Past members | Celia Humphris Barry Clarke David Costa Bias Boshell Unwin Brown Barry Lyons Alun Eden Chuck Fleming |
Trees was a British
Formation
The original band comprised five members –
David Costa, son of British singer and radio presenter Sam Costa, was reading Fine Arts at the recently opened University of East Anglia when he met Barry Clarke (who had been working at Royd's advertising agency in London) through a mutual girlfriend who had suggested, as they were both guitar players, that they should connect. In David's words, following their first meeting—"I never went back to University, and Barry never went back to his office." Barry Clarke was living at the time in a house in Barnes, shared with Bias Boshell.
Bias Boshell and Unwin Brown had both attended
The five of them began rehearsing in the early spring of 1969, starting to do their first gigs and early demo tracks throughout June and July of the same year.[citation needed]
Career
Signed to
The original group disbanded in 1971 after recording the two albums. A second Trees incarnation formed in 1972 and played until 1973; this group featured Celia Humphris, Barry Clarke, Barry Lyons (ex-member of
This latest formation also contributed to Phil Trainer's solo album Trainer[2] (BASF, 1972)
Performance
Trees performed extensively throughout their career, predominantly on the university circuit but appearing twice at Fairfield Halls and at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London's South Bank, with varying degrees of success and at times recognised with significant critical praise.[3][4][5] Throughout their touring career they supported acts including Fotheringay, Fairport Convention, Matthew's Southern Comfort, Fleetwood Mac; Free and Faces on the same bill, Genesis, Family and Yes, and appeared at the Evolution Music Festival[6] in Le Bourget, Paris in 1970 alongside Ginger Baker's Air Force, Pink Floyd and Procol Harum. A very early gig in London's Notting Hill had them appearing with a virtually unknown David Bowie. The band were often accompanied on the road and supported by singer-songwriter Marc Ellington. They were originally managed by Douglas Smith and Clearwater Productions, a Notting Hill Gate company who also managed contemporaries such as High Tide, Cochise and Skin Alley and went on to manage Hawkwind and Thunderclap Newman.[citation needed]
Trees achieved ongoing support from early in their performing and recording career by radio DJs
Post-Trees
Following the demise of the original lineup, Bias Boshell went on to work as a keyboard player and songwriter with The
Celia Humphris continued with Trees' second lineup. She provided guest vocals for several songs on
Personnel
- Celia Humphris – lead vocals (1969–1972; died 2021)
- Barry Clarke – lead guitar (1969–1972)
- David Costa – acoustic guitar, mandolin (1969–1971)
- Bias Boshell – bass guitar, guitar, vocals, piano (1969–1971)
- Unwin Brown – drums, vocals (1969–1971)
- Barry Lyons – bass guitar (1971–1972)
- Alun Eden – drums (1971–1972)
- Chuck Fleming – fiddle (1971–1972)
Discography
Year | Album | Label |
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1970 | The Garden of Jane Delawney | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
1971 | On the Shore | CBS Records, 2007 Sony Rewind, Sunbeam Records |
1989 | Trees LIVE! (Italian) | Habla (bootleg) |
2020 | Trees (50th Anniversary Edition) | Fire Records |
Both The Garden of Jane Delawney and On the Shore have been continuously available since their original release in either vinyl, cassette or CD formats. A deluxe two-disc edition of On the Shore was released in 2007, containing previously unreleased and remixed material. A new edition of The Garden of Jane Delawney followed in 2008, also containing previously unreleased material as well as some new recordings. Both double packages featured an extensive essay by comedian, director and writer Stewart Lee.
A four-album box set of Trees' recordings, including demos, remixes, plus live recordings from the Trees' 1998 "reunion" On The Shore Band, was released in 2020 to mark the band's fiftieth anniversary.[1][9]
References
- ^ a b c Jim Wirth, "Trees", Uncut, No.283, December 2020, pp.40-43
- ^ Trainer discogs.com, Accessed 16 February 2018
- ^ "At Queen Elizabeth Hall third on the bill, and relatively unknown, were a group called Trees. They didn’t stay unknown for long. The capacity audience were won over by the group’s fine performance, and critics were full of praise." --Beat Instrumental, August 1970.
- ^ "It’s good to know that some rare and collectable British rock albums are rare and collectable for all the right reasons – i.e. they’re bloody marvellous." --Peter Dogget, Record Collector, 1993
- ^ "The importance of Trees is that, in addition to their undoubted musical excellence, their inspiration goes back independently to the folk and rock scenes of a few years ago, indicating that the long-awaited, long needed reconciliation between the folk and pop movements is actually beginning to happen." --Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, June 1970.
- ^ Evolution Music Festival, 1970 Accessed 10 December 2017
- ^ Casablanca discogs.com, Accessed 20 December 2017
- ^ "Terrascope Online", Facebook, 11 January 2021
- ^ "Trees: Trees (50th Anniversary Edition)". Pitchfork. Retrieved 7 November 2021.
External links
- Trees discography at Discogs
- Trees discography at MusicBrainz
- Trees at AllMusic