Deep-diving into the 70s tonight with a session from Principal Edwards Magic Theatre for John Peel at BBC Radio 1 on January 1970.
FYI: Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about Principal Edwards:
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre was a performance art collective made up of about 14 musicians, poets, dancers, and sound and lighting technicians. It existed between 1968 and 1971, after which core members formed a more conventional rock band under the shortened name Principal Edwards.
The collective was formed by students at the University of Exeter, who had originally intended producing an arts magazine. The initial musicians were Root Cartwright (guitar, mandolin, songwriter), Belinda “Bindy” Bourquin (violin, keyboards, recorder), David Jones (vocals, percussion), Jeremy Ensor (bass), Martin Stellman (vocals), Lyn Edwards (drums), and Vivienne McAuliffe (vocals). Dancers included Gillian Hadley (choreographer), John McMahon Hill, Eva Darlow and Monica Nettles, while Les Adey, Harry Housman and Chris Runciman were responsible for sound, lighting, props and effects. The name was taken from the Magic Theatre referenced in Herman Hesse’s novel Steppenwolf, and from Principal Thomas Charles Edwards, a theologian who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth and an ancestor of Lyn Edwards. According to Cartwright, the name had “no religious overtones, we just thought it sounded neat.”
Their first public performance was at an event called “Dance of Words” organized by students (one of whom was Jeremy Ensor) in Portsmouth and hosted by John Peel in May 1968, which also featured Fairport Convention, Free, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Alexis Korner, Gary Farr, Pete Brown’s Poetry Band with John McLaughlin on guitar, and poets Brian Patten and Michael Horowitz. They were signed by Korner’s management team and, with Peel’s active support, performed at similar events and gigs in London and elsewhere, sharing bills with Pink Floyd, The Fugs, Family, Free, King Crimson, Yes, Deep Purple, Elton John, Ten Years After and others. The group were the first to be signed to Peel’s Dandelion Records; though the label’s co-founder Clive Selwood later described them as “the most pretentious act I have ever come across”, and Peel’s radio producer John Walters described them as “incorporating all kinds of arty-farty nonsense”; and performed at the first Bath Festival of Blues in June 1969.
They released their first single, “Ballad (of the Big Girl Now and a Mere Boy)”, in July 1969, followed the next month by their first album, Soundtrack, produced by Peel and the band, and so called because music was only one aspect of their performance, which also incorporated dance, lighting and poetry. Most of the songs were composed by Cartwright, with lyrical contributions by other band members and associates. According to reviewer Pete Frame of Zigzag magazine, the album was “brimming with invention: time changes, unusual chord changes, interesting lyrics…”. The sometimes whimsical, sometimes epic (verging on progressive rock) writing style of Cartwright, was paired with the eclectic lyrical contributions of David Jones, Gillian Hadley and Monica Nettles, and was performed by vocalist Vivienne McAuliffe. The violin and recorders of Bindy Bourquin were another key element of the group’s trademark sound. Lyn Edwards, originally on bongos, took over on the drumkit.
With their education conflicting with their musical activities, members left their studies at Exeter and moved together into a large farmhouse/commune near Kettering, Northamptonshire to rehearse and as a base for their extensive touring, often as a support act for more established bands. During this time, the group opened for several acts including Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, and Fleetwood Mac. On one Friday evening in the 1969-1970 academic year they performed at a student dance at Rugby College of Engineering Technology, though people just stood and watched in awe. One member of the Entertainments Committee of the Students’ Union had seen them elsewhere and they were booked on his recommendation and they produced a fantastic performance. In 1970, they recorded their second album, The Asmoto Running Band, produced by Nick Mason of Pink Floyd, and named for an in-joke about a roadie’s poorly-written comment that they should aspire to being “a smooth running band”. It was released by Dandelion in January 1971; according to Cartwright, the first side of the LP was “a green concept album, in a tongue-in-cheek sort of way.”
They won a residency at the Hampstead Theatre Club in London, but there were differences over future direction. The original collective split up in December 1971, according to Cartwright as a result of “serious tensions between fringe theatre and rock priority, together with business hassles.”
With a sound very reminiscent of Gong and the German collective Amon Düül II, Principal Edwards has become a cult entity or sorts – the band you’ve heard about but never actually heard.
Now’s your chance.
