My initial scratch off notes from 15 years ago state: Spirogyra's debut has a slight Comus / Jan Dukes de Grey wigged-out vibe, then heads into more safe Fairport Convention / Pentangle areas, before heading back into the wyrd folkk as they might now call it. Love this sort of “mystery behind the bushes forbidden folk” sound.
On this revisit, I don't have that much to add really. As I state many times, the [Prog/Psych/Acid] Folk [Rock] description is usually misleading. Take out all the other identifiers, and you're left with a straight up folk album. Spirogyra is a great example of combining progressive rock and folk. It's definitely not as out there and adventurous as Comus and Jan Dukes de Grey, but there's no mistaking this for The Kingston Trio either. The key ingredients for St. Radigunds is the violin and the bass work, which is what gives it the rock element. Primary songwriter and acoustic strummer Martin Cockerham provides the designated "madcap" vocals and lyrics. Meanwhile Barbara Gaskin chimes in with some wonderful female vocals to offset the unpleasantness. It's her presence that often leads to Spirogrya being called a Canterbury band, which couldn't be further from the truth. At least as the identifying regional term has come to mean. Her next career move happened to place her in the middle of that troupe of musicians. In conclusion, St. Radigunds doesn't have the stellar reputation of other adventurous folk albums from the time period, but I personally consider it one of the beacons of the genre.
Ownership: CD: 2005 Strange Days (Japan). Purchased new online upon release. Mini-LP that replicates the B&C single sleeve original, including lyric inner sleeve. This replaced the Si-Wan reissue LP I owned prior.
Originally reviewed for the Outer Music Diary: Jul 2005 (and since edited on a recent listen)
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