Following on from the past thread on the Chimera – Holy Grail CD, I have now listened to this 2017 re-issue and thought it might be worth making a comparison between the two editions for anyone who might have one but not the other (or either). My overall impression is that if you like Lisa Bankoff and Francesca Garnett’s dual vocal folk / blues/ wyrd songs you need both editions for sure.
Check them out here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4g4teAExNoM&list=PLF-92rCh83ErtFY7XDvZ_7gikJi7YvZ-w
Chimera – S/T (Wooden Hill, CD 2004)
This is the slightly later CD edition of the ten track LP (10th Planet 2003) with nine bonus tracks.
LP / CD
Come Into the Garden / interlude #1
The Grail / interlude #2
Sad Song For Winter / interlude #3
Mary’s Mystery
Lady With The Bullets In Her Hair
Black Hat Babe
Song In E
Episode At Telegraph Hill
Morning Sounds
Peru
CD Bonus tracks:
Sad Song For Winter (alt mix)
Elegy To A Dead King
The Voyage
Of Reason
Reflections Of A Thought
Mr Binns Takes A Trip
Gypsy Wanderer
Piper Song
Ballad of a Lady Waiting
I am not sure on the source of these as the 2017 reissue notes the masters have only recently been found. Possibly later generation tape or clean acetates. Anyway, the sound is good. The bonus tracks are all Lisa and Francesca vocals over acoustic guitar. They sound like home demos but again in good sound quality. In fact I find them to be quite atmospheric. In ‘Mr Binns Takes A Trip, one of the girls narrates the daring doings of Mr Binns, the nearest we will ever get to a spoken word recording of their voices. Also, the Wooden Hill CD comes with extensive and detailed liners. The Secret Records disc has some minimal ones.
Chimera – Holy Grail (Secret Records CD 2017)
LP / CD
Black Hat Babe
Song In E
Episode At Telegraph Hill
Morning Sounds
Peru
Come Into the Garden / interlude #1
The Grail / interlude #2
Sad Song For Winter / interlude #3
Mary’s Mystery
Lady With The Bullets In Her Hair
CD bonus tracks
Gypsy Wanderer
The Game
The Painting
Indian Summer
Pipers Song
Light
Green Clouds
I Met A Stranger
Silver Man
Colour of Sadness
Beggar Man
This is all from master tapes (1/4 inch mix downs I suppose). The sound quality is consequently clearer as a result. Oddly, the sequencing for the LP on this edition reverses the two sides as they appear on the Wooden Hill set. So tracks 6-10 on the Wooden Hill disc become 1-5 here and 1-5 on Wooden Hill are 6-10 here. Presumably, this is how they appear on the tapes.
Apart from the clear sound, the real revelation are the bonus tracks 11-21. There are just two repeats from the Wooden Hill set in terms of titles ‘Gypsy Wanderer’ and ‘Piper Song’. However, as noted above, the versions of these on the Wooden Hill CD are acoustic sketches. Here, in common with the other nine bonus tracks, they are full band numbers, and every one of them is excellent. They are essentially another album in their own right. If all of these numbers were recorded in May 1970 as is claimed, they must have done a lot of after-hours recording to get them all in.
I am very pleased to own both these CD editions (as well as the LP) and would definitely recommend getting both.