Paul says: Here's another episode of the "Songwriters' Circle" BBC TV show. Just like other episodes, this one features three singer-songwriters taking turns performing their songs. In this case, the songwriters are Martin Simpson, Michael Chapman, and Steve Tilston. The episode has a theme, because all three of them are famous figures in British folk music.
Martin Simpson's career started in the 1970s. He didn't have any hits or famous albums. But he's steadily built up a following by releasing dozens of albums and touring frequently. He's mostly performed cover songs, especially of traditional music. He's still alive, and 76 years old, as I write this in 2026.
Michael Chapman's music is hard to describe, so I'll just quote the lead paragraph of his Wikipedia entry, which says he was a "British singer-songwriter and guitarist who released 58 albums, displaying a 'fusion of jazz, rock, Indian and ragtime styles [that] made him a cult hero.' He began playing with jazz bands, mainly in his home town of Leeds, and became well known in the folk clubs of the late 1960s, as well as on the progressive music scene." Note the use of the past tense, because he died in 2021 at the age of 80. He's probably best known for his 1970 album "Fully Qualified Survivor," which contains his most famous song, "Postcards of Scarborough."
That just leaves Steve Tilston. Like the other two, his music career began roughly around 1970. Also like the other two, he's had a long career with British folk music, releasing dozens of albums.
To be honest, I wasn't familiar with the music of any of these three musicians. But this was a nice listen, with the three of them all playing good songs and making interesting comments. It's a bit curious and disappointing that it didn't end with all three of them performing a classic song together, like all the other episodes I can remember of this TV series. But all three of them were/are talented guitarists, and often helped out with songs when it wasn't their turn to sing.
By the way, sadly, this appears to be the last episode of the TV series, in terms of broadcast order. I still have two more that I plan on posting. And there are another three or so that I haven't found, at least not yet.
This album is 58 minutes long.
01 An Englishman Abroad (Martin Simpson) 02 talk (Martin Simpson) 03 Postcards of Scarborough (Michael Chapman) 04 talk (Michael Chapman & Steve Tilston) 05 Weeping Willow Replanted (Steve Tilston) 06 talk (Martin Simpson) 07 Never Any Good (Martin Simpson) 08 talk (Michael Chapman) 09 In the Valley (Michael Chapman) 10 talk (Steve Tilston) 11 The Road When I Was Young (Steve Tilston) 12 talk (Martin Simpson) 13 Will Atkinson (Martin Simpson) 14 talk (Michael Chapman) 15 Just Another Story (Michael Chapman) 16 talk (Steve Tilston) 17 The Reckoning (Steve Tilston) 18 talk (Martin Simpson) 19 Home Again (Martin Simpson) 20 talk (Michael Chapman) 21 A Cowboy Phase (Michael Chapman) 22 talk (Steve Tilston) 23 The Slip Jigs and Reels (Steve Tilston)
This is almost solely because of my admiration of the wonderful guitarist and folk singer/artist Martin Simpson. I like Michael Chapman a great deal and Tilston is somewhat lesser known to me but as a legendary line up for this show series these three are together a powerhouse of folk roots!
I once got so carried away I had thought that Simpson was possibly our greatest guitarist and said so to anyone who would listen. Now I should perhaps say I have tempered that view largely because of his concentration on folk roots and his singing. Let’s be fair his singing is nowhere near as exciting ( or good! there I’ve said it) and whilst his guitar playing is frankly peerless his tying his coat to the tails of folk he remains a limited quantity as long as he continues to sing! Chapman is enigmatic and a unique creative force and voice in singer/songwriter originality and a voice all his own but Simpson remains amongst our very finest guitarists and I will not be persuaded otherwise.
I should say here that at my Mum’s funeral I had a solo work by Martin Simpson played as she tolerated her sons making all kinds of noise on both piano (me) and guitars (me and my beloved brother)rang out around the house for years so ‘She Slips Away' by Simpson about the death of his own beloved mother was my chosen work to reflect upon her in otherwise silent contemplation. It never fails to move me and I will post it here and see what you all think . . . . . . .
Well the perceptive amongst you (who ARE you talking to !???ED ) will have noticed that Brother Jobe dropped by with a treat for us and if you download one thing today check this.
*NOTE
MICHAEL CHAPMAN
1941-2021
Jobe says: "For those of you that don't know of his music, I offer his album "Fully Qualified Survivor" which features Paul Buckmaster and Mick Ronson. Sound's somewhat like a lost Bowie album. Don't miss this"
Plain and Fancy shared it a while ago and here are their notes from Matthew Flander:
Michael Chapman’s first four albums came out on Harvest Records, an EMI-run British label that served as a hot bed for the psych-folk scene. It was home to, among others, Pink Floyd, Syd Barrett’s solo work, and fellow prog-folk singer Roy Harper—whose own 1971 album for Harvest, Stormcock, is a masterpiece. If you’re looking for a comparison to Chapman’s sound, Harper is as close as you’ll get, at least in some ways. The first track on Full Qualified Survivor, “Aviator”, does little to break that comparison. It’s a nearly ten-minute epic, as moody and wandering as anything on Stormcock, though if you’re looking for an album of huge suites, it’s a bit of a red herring.
After that huge, excellent, opening, Chapman continues to develop his own deep, vibrant sound. “Aviator” sets it all up for you; once you set aside the heft, you’ll hear how it falls right in line with the other, tighter songs that follow. We get Chapman’s smoky rasp of a voice, his subtly intricate guitar playing, and his eye for a sharp line, a sinister bark, and a striking detail. It’s a stunning piece about isolation and paranoia—everyone seems to be coming from all angles to “take [his] time away”, and you can feel the world closing in on him, not only in his weary voice but in the silence on the other end of a ringing phone or the stones thudding on the roof.
The solitary feel Chapman establishes is nothing self-pitying or fey. There’s bite to these songs. You can feel him sneer when, say, someone tries to make a fool of him in “Stranger in the Room”. “You made your snide remarks”, he snaps, nearly spitting out the words. Even “Postcards from Scarborough”—a much sweeter bit of melancholia and the closest thing Chapman had to a hit—finds him mourning a lost love while still scowling at his memories themselves. “The food was so tasteless, the wine was so stale”, he growls, remembering his days alone.
The lyrics are fully realized here, as well written as they are well delivered, but Fully Qualified Survivor is excellent because it is just as dynamic musically. Where other folk singers would rely on the acoustic guitar (and maybe some swelling strings or go the other route, the way Harper could) over building their songs with drifting layers, Chapman’s sound may align with the folk movement, but it is rock and roll at heart.
Chapman enlisted some Grade-A players for the record, including guitarist Mick Ronson. This six-string legend would also later work with Elton John and was of course part of David Bowie’s Spiders from Mars on top of having his own solo career, but his work on Chapman’s record is revelatory. Check the swelling run-ups that burst out of “Stranger in the Room”, not to the mention the solos. The thick riffs he drops on “Soulful Lady” are downright funky, while his gentle, distant work on “Rabbit Hills” adds an intricate layer of depth to Chapman’s already weary vocals. The sharpness of his guitar playing worked well with the complex basslines of Rick Kemp—the unsung hero of the record—who circles rumbling notes all around Chapman, giving the whole album a mossy rock feel we wouldn’t hear again—at least not at this brilliant level—until Neil Young’s On the Beach in 1974.
Chapman leaves plenty of room to show off his own chops, of course, and mixes up the mood and tempo of the record with a series of solo acoustic interludes. His playing on these is lightning-quick and arresting—particularly the bright “Naked Ladies & Electric Ragtime” and the stunning slide work of “Andru’s Easy Rider”—but it’s how these pieces manage to fit well in the seams between these full-band songs that makes them all the more striking. Fully Qualified Survivor is, well, just what its title claims. This is an album more than worthy of being unearthed and of being appreciated anew. It avoids sounding like anyone else—and, let’s be honest, the early-70’s singer-songwriter camp can feel a bit homogeneous. It also avoids the over-sentimental schmaltz in which some of his peers indulged (another occasional drawback to that crowd).
In a time where we’re constantly trying to recapture sounds from the past, any past, it’s great to stumble upon the genuine article, something that came before and that did all the things people are still trying to do. It’s heartfelt. It’s dark. It’s intricate but immediate, rocking but lush. It does all those things at once, and it does them better than most artists could hope to do any one of them. So is Fully Qualified Survivor a lost classic? Is it a reason to rethink Michael Chapman’s place in folk and rock music? To both questions: A resounding hell yes.
by Matthew Fiander
Rings and Things
Aviator
*Now as far as I can work out this is long out of print although there was a remastered CD available in 2011 the original album (only Chapman's second!) coming out on Harvest in 1970 and so I consider it fair game here. Amazon UK list it for over £60 which is their way of saying it is out of print and those vinyl shops advertising it for sale are mistaken and their links lead nowhere - now if you know otherwise please get in touch andI will take it down but as far as I can tell it is not commercially available currently to date.
Unique, legendary singer songwriter guitarist, 'folk singer' doesn’t quite cover it somehow but we have lost another hero . . . .maverick, mercurial, funny, particular and he connects Elton John, Sonic Youth, Nick Drake and David Bowie, Michael Chapman dies at 80.
Born in Leeds in 1941, Chapman released his debut album, ‘Rainmaker’, in 1969. Since then, he has issued over 40 full-length albums. His final recorded effort, ‘True North’, was released in 2019 via Paradise of Bachelors.
Among the trees I have lain and passed my golden days
Among the trees I have spent my summers in a haze
Of lazy afternoons, watching all the rain, as it patterns the
verandah, then disappears again.....Come the sun
How I wish I could return to those summers once again
How I wish I could just sit in the presence of a friend,
Making music or just listening to the birds so far from sight
Watching as the dark shades of evening turn to night,
Gone the sun...
Michael Chapman.
First Broadcast: 21-MAR-1975
"Did I ever tell you the time I played bass for Wilson, Keppel and Betty?"
