
Basin Rock
Trevor Beales - Fireside Stories (Hebden Bridge circa 1971-1974)
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Anti-counter
culture
loner
folk
from
a
teenage
attic
in
the
heart
of
rural
Northern
hippiedom.
Today
the
valley
town
of
Hebden
Bridge
in
West
Yorkshire
is
world-renowned
as
something
of
a
bohemian
backwater.
It
wasn’t
like
this
back
in
the
late
1960s
and
the
early
1970s,
when
a
disparate
selection
of
radicals,
drop-outs,
heads,
musicians,
artists
and
writers
started
to
be
attracted
to
the
Calder
Valley.
Local
lad
and
future
poet
laureate
Ted
Hughes
called
the
area
“the
fouled
nest
of
industrialisation”.
Over
time,
those
seeds
of
radicalism
and
collectivism
ensured
Hebden
Bridge
evolved
into
a
place
where
people
could
be
themselves
and
all
shades
of
individual
oddness
not
only
tolerated
but
actively
encouraged.
But
back
at
the
turn
of
the
dreary
1970s
it
remained
a
monochrome
world
defined
by
its
unforgiving
surrounding
landscapes,
where
the
old
gritstone
over-dwellings
were
stained
with
soot
and
rain
lashed
down
for
weeks.
It
was
here
that
Trevor
Beales,
who
was
born
in
1953,
grew
up,
and
from
where
he
drew
musical
and
lyrical
inspiration.
Perhaps
it
was
this
dual
nationality
heritage,
unusual
in
the
valley’s
largely
white
working
class
population
at
the
time,
that
gave
the
teenager
Trevor
Beale’s
music
an
outsider’s
perspective.
The
discovery
of
Bob
Dylan,
Django
Reinhardt,
The
Byrds
and
James
Taylor
at
a
young
age,
lead
to
him
picking
up
a
guitar
at
the
age
of
ten,
and
he
was
soon
writing
his
own
originals
and
performing
them
at
local
(though
often
remote)
folk
clubs
and
pubs.
Recorded
in
the
attic
of
the
family
home
at
Ivy
Bank
in
Charlestown
on
the
verdant
wooded
slopes
at
the
edge
of
Hebden
Bridge
between
1971
and
1974,
these
early
recordings
are
collected
here
for
the
first
time
and
mark
Trevor
Beales
long-overdue
solo
debut.
In
these
songs
is
a
suffer-no-fools
sense
of
realism
that
is
defiantly
Northern,
yet
also
expresses
a
worldliness
that
belies
Beales’
young
years,
whilst
also
showcasing
an
inherent
storyteller’s
ear
for
narrative.
Here
is
a
postcard
from
the
past
at
that
crucial
musical
period
of
transition,
when
the
idealistic
exponents
of
the
1960s
emerged
into
an
austere
new
decade
that
was
to
be
shaped
by
strikes,
rising
unemployment
and
economic
upheaval.
Two
aspects
of
this
music
make
it
remarkable:
Beales’
natural
ability
showcases
a
sophisticated
guitar-picking
style
that
was
leagues
ahead
of
many
of
his
(older,
more
recognised)
contemporaries.
This
is
music
that
can
confidently
hold
its
own
with
pioneers
such
as
Davey
Graham,
Michael
Chapman,
Dave
Evans,
Bert
Jansch
and
Jackson
C
Frank,
as
influenced
by
jazz,
blues
and
steel
guitar
as
any
of
the
old
songbook
classics
from
ancient
Albion.
Secondly,
his
lyrics
are
a
far
cry
from
either
the
naïve
bedroom
scribblings
of
a
teenager
who
has
barely
left
his
upland
home,
nor
do
they
fall
foul
of
the
type
of
lazy
cliches
and
sub-Tolkien
imagery
that
was
still
in
abundance
in
the
early
1970s.
Most
remarkably
the
earliest
songs
here
were
laid
down
less
than
a
year
after
he
left
school
(an
unearthed
report
written
by
his
headteacher
on
July
3rd
1970
noted
he
had
“a
considerable
ability
and
interest
in
music”,
though
his
education
ended
abruptly
when
he
simply
walked
out
of
a
science
lesson
one
sunny
day
while
at
sixth
form,
never
to
return).
Trevor’s
music
is
grounded
in
reality
–
his
reality.
‘Then
I’ll
Take
You
Home’,
for
example,
considers
the
Guru
Marajai,
who
encouraged
his
acolytes
to
give
over
their
worldly
possessions,
yet
who
drove
a
Rolls
Royce
and
lived
like
a
playboy.
Unsurprisingly,
this
latest
in
a
long
line
of
spiritual
charlatans
found
several
followers
in
Hebden
Bridge,
and
Beales
casts
a
disdainful
eye
over
the
growing
popularity
for
such
false
prophets.
With
its
ancient
narratives
and
propensity
for
myth-making,
folk
has
certainly
produced
it’s
fair
share
of
cult
figures
who
have
enjoyed
rediscovery
or
career
resurgence
and
with
this
debut
compilation
of
home
recordings,
rescued
from
cassette
tapes,
Trevor
Beales
might
just
be
the
latest
addition.
Certainly
he
was
the
real
deal.
Crucially,
Beales'
music
is
never
jaded
or
cynical,
but
instead
possesses
a
poet’s
ear,
a
strong
sense
of
self
and
some
sound
critical
faculties.
And
much
of
it
recorded
at
an
age
when
he
could
neither
vote
nor
order
a
pint
of
heavy.
Trevor
Beales
died
suddenly
and
unexpectedly
on
March
29th
1987,
aged
33.
He
left
behind
Christine
and
their
young
child
Lydia.
Side
A
1.
Marion
Belle
2.
Tell
Me
Now
3.
Dance
of
the
Mermaids
4.
City
Lights
5.
The
Old
Soldier
6.
Sunlight
on
the
Table
Side
B
7.
Metropolis
8.
The
Prisoner
9.
Braziliana
10.
Then
I'll
Take
You
Home
11.
Ocean
of
Tears
12.
Fireside
Story
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