A to AUSTR is partly about King Arthur, Englands once and future king, and the Knights of the Round Table and their Ladies. An amazing synchronicity was the appearance of a Holy Grail-like chalice on a billboard behind Bill Nelson when the cover photos were being taken.
Most session musicians were from nearby Bretton Hall college. John Perfect, a lecturer there, later appeared in Fleetwood Mac with his sister Christine McVie. A to Austr was also Bill Nelsons recording debut. Chris Heinitz, (French horn on the Walker Brothers The Sun Aint Gonna Shine), supervised the original brass.
CHRIS COOMBS vocals, guitar, piano, lead guitar, glockenspiel, vox horn, harmonica, organ, recorder, percussion
MIKE LEVON mosquito box, triangle, effects, electronics
BRIAN WILSON bass, vocals, buzz guitar, organ, mandolin harp, glockenspiel, clarinet
BRIAN CALVERT lead guitar, guitar, vocals, lute, vox horns
TED HEPWORTH drums, water drum
helped by:
Bill Nelson guitar, hawaiian guitar Mike Gould trumpet
John Perfect tenor sax Lyn Cavell alto sax
George Mabon flute Gill Green cello
Al Green organ Dave Wood goüd
Yvonne Carrodus vocals, triangle Denise Calvert vocal, piano, harpsichord
Gill Maudsley spoken vocal Cath Wood raspberry saw
Shirley Levon recorder
\"A to Austr-Musics from Holyground -1970 UK\":
Private press higher key psychedelia, the most sacred UK LP there is, my rave of the isles as well. They do it all - folk rock, folk psych, psychedelia- quite mad really, sounds like 18 people were shut in a room with the mutual understanding that one could leave until an album was finished . . .
Bill Nelson (born December 18, 1948) is a prolific guitarist, songwriter, painter and experimental musician from Yorkshire, England.
Nelson was educated at the Wakefield College of Art, where he developed an interest in the work of poet and filmmaker Jean Cocteau. At this time he was also developing as a musician, drawing upon Duane Eddy as a primary guitar influence. He was involved in a music project titled \"A to Austr\" with Brian Calvert and Chris Coombs. They produced the album titled \"A to Austr: Musics from the Holyground\" which appeard on Holyground Records in 1970.
THUMBQUAKE & EARTHSCREW
by Chris Coombs
deep in the heart of Thumbquake Vale
many a mortal is tell-tale
whitened and frightened, innocently pale
your face is a mask that you borrow
patience and virtue all around the rim
under a grey mask of teardim
lips that are mouthing 'after I'm let in
cold is the colour of Earthscrew'
You can hear the competition for the limited number of keys near the end!
GRAIL SEARCH
by Chris Coombs
if I saw you in the sunlight
wouldn't know your burning arrow
so I'd get you by the moonshine
try to catch you like a sparrow
gonna get you by the river with a lover
that you never said before you had
like a ferret with a rabbit
but you're white and I'm tawny
you're invisible, elusive
I suppose you think it's funny
when I find you gonna hold you, gonna keep you
which no-one else has done yet so far as I know
lights! lights! lights! enter haut-boys with flaming flaring torches of bright gold and damask-scented neon signs with blazing plastic tapestries as I sing ever so high to reach you
I once saw you in a nightmare
or perhaps it was a dream
I put out my hand to reach you
and saw you did the same
but I woke up in a cold sweat, washed my pillow
and slipped it in-between two pieces of bread
dark, ever-so-dark and distant rode the knight
heading towards the dawn
over the jam and jumbled hills
and it never came any nearer; nearer, nearer
though 200,000 monarchs sought after you . . .
