Short Reviews [Dando Shaft - 1993 - "Shadows Across the Moon"]

Formed in Coventry in 1968, Dando Shaft were one of the main instigators of the progressive folk scene with the way they combined psychedelic acoustic music with folk. They were originally a five-man line-up of guitar/vocalists Kevin Dempsey and Dave Cooper, multi-instrumentalist Martin Jenkins, bassist Roger Bullen, and tabla/percussionist Ted Kay, while singer Polly Bolton joined for the second and third albums. The mband broke-up in 1973, reforming to record ‘Kingdom’ in 1977 before going dormant once again. In 1984 Whippersnapper came into being, featuring past and future Fairport Convention violinists/vocalists David Swarbrick and Chris Leslie alongside Dempsey and Jenkins, and they included some Dando Shaft material in their live sets. In 1989 Dando Shaft were asked to reform to play a concert in Italy, and the original quintet plus Leslie played the one-off gig, which was recorded and later released as ‘Shadows Across The Moon’ in Italy in 1993. According to Discogs, Happy Trails only ever released this one album, so perhaps it is of little surprise that is hardly known outside of Italy and it has been incredibly hard to find copies. However, that has now been rectified by this reissue by Talking Elephant records, and the result is a revelation. I have long been aware of the name of Dando Shaft, due to the connection with Whippersnapper (I love anything which involves Swarb, such an important figure), but have not previously come across any of their music, and I can see that I am going to have to rectify that and grab the studio albums. Here is a band who had not been active collectively form more than 10 years, yet it sounds like they have been living continuously on the road. The acoustic guitar interplay is remarkable, while the use of tabla throughout gives the sound a very different feel indeed and allows for the music to contain plenty of space. Leslie is in his element, and his impact on songs such as “Kingdom” is considerable. This was still many years before he joined Fairport and became such an important performer, singer and songwriter in a line-up which has somehow stayed stable for more than 20 years. The vocal harmonies are wonderful, making me think at times of The Byrds, the melody lines free flowing, and the impression the band were having a great time and really enjoying themselves. This does not sound like a band looking back at history, but instead looking towards the future and why they never recorded or played together again is something of a mystery. Talking Elephant Records have been one of the most important labels in the British scene for years, with both reissues and new albums, but surely there can be few as downright enjoyable and essential as this one.