In the autumn of 1972, Plainsong released their beautiful debut album “In Search of Amelia Earhart”. It was the height of the golden era of English folk rock. The record received universal critical acclaim for its musicianship and sublime singing, but just three months after its release the group disbanded in acrimony.
In the fifty years that have followed the album’s release, what we know about the original incarnation of Plainsong has been shrouded in myth and misinformation. “The Search for Plainsong” tells the true story of the group and their classic album for the first time. It is a cautionary tale told through the voices of the key protagonists and those who were lucky enough to see Plainsong in full flight or bought the album first time round. Plainsong, formed in London in late 1971; comprised of singer Iain Matthews, who with Matthews Southern Comfort had a worldwide hit with Joni Mitchell’s song ‘Woodstock’; former Liverpool Scene and Everyone guitarist Andy Roberts; piano and bass player David Richards; and the New York guitarist Bobby Ronga. The four met at Iain’s north London flat in December 1971 after recording and playing together in various combinations over the previous couple of months. They spent the afternoon working out an arrangement of ‘Along Comes Mary’, a Tandyn Almer song that had been a 1966 US hit for The Association, and agreed that if it worked they would go ahead and become a band. They worked throughout 1972, touring the UK and Europe, recording numerous sessions for the BBC plus two excellent albums (the second of which remained unreleased until 2005) before breaking up at the end of that year as Iain headed to California to begin a new career as a solo artist.
“In Search of Amelia Earhart” remains a folk-rock classic. For those who don’t know it, it might just be the greatest debut album you never heard.
‘A group that doesn’t come up and sock you in the eye, all decibels blaring, but kind of sneaks up and insinuates itself into your psyche almost before you have begun to notice it. By that time you are hooked by its gentle genius.’ – Karl Dallas, Melody Maker
‘In Search of Amelia Earhart” is, and let us not mince words, the finest display of gentle, sometimes liltingly so, English folkiness and rockabilly to surface in a long while.’ Cameron Crowe, San Diego Door
‘A startlingly fine album.’ Charles Shaar Murray, NME, This 6CD box set, released some 50 years after their 1972 debut with ‘In Search Of Amelia Earhart’, not only contains that album digitally remastered from the original tapes but also the ‘Now We Are 3’ second album, alongside a host of previously unissued tracks from Iain and Andy’s own archives and from the collections of fans worldwide.
Contains over 50% previously unreleased material, including: several rare 1970s BBC recordings, the full original 1972 Folk Fairport concert in Amsterdam, and excerpts from the very first concert by the reformed Plainsong in Mayrhofen, Austria in 1993. Plus 2020 remakes of Amelia songs originally recorded to accompany Ian Clayton’s book In Search Of Plainsong.
The Deluxe Edition comes with a CD of a previously unheard Plainsong concert,
The Fat Angel Sings 