Nottingham/Birmingham group circa 1970.

This group featured Andrew Morton who would later become part of the original line up of Slender Loris, again, a Nottingham/Birmingham group who were well known in both area’s during the mid seventies.

I found reference to this group from a short post from Andrew Morton himself:

“Andrew Morton
2021 Apr 19
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(Pictured and early version of Milkwood with Paul O’Brien on bass and Mary Field far right)

There recently came to light a letter from my late father written to my sister in the Summer of 1970, concerning a couple of gigs at The Dancing Slipper, a music venue in West Bridgford, Nottingham. I had some memories of the gigs, especially of Jim Cleary collapsing in a drunken heap in the middle of Trent Bridge and all of us, somehow sleeping in chairs and on sofas at my parents’ house. The band, with the somewhat unimaginative name of Milkwood, consisted of

Jim Cleary,
Dave Carroll,
Ruth Davis,
Mary Field
Andrew Morton

In his letter, my father mentioned one of the songs – She’s Got Religion- and enthused about the band’s favourable reception, which took me right back to 1970 and the genius of the age.
Milkwood was what we called “mixed media” -songs, some poetry and even dance. There was a fair amount of impro, which we called “blowing” which depended on random starting points which were followed up by Jim Cleary’s verbal creativity and Dave Carroll’s knowing musicality. Jim played a well-seasoned old Spanish guitar, Dave a Roger archtop and I an assortment of bass, banjo, Swanee whistle etc when I wasn’t playing my unplayable Framus. I was pretty much along for the ride, although one of my songs, The Swan Song Gong Song did become our only single, recorded at Zella.

But the glory of the thing, as well as the soaring five-part harmonies (Dave’s arrangements) was the co-writing of Jim Cleary and Dave Carroll. As far as I know, there are no surviving recordings of that material and from time to time, I try to recreate from memory what was going on. Here are some hints:

A massive portmanteau song called “He’s No Son of Mine” –
(Down by the bridge I could see him
Eyes on the water, face like a schooner…)
“Where Will the garden be After the Fall” – based on one of Mary’s poems.
“The Lead Guitar”
( …was a plastic star and his only key was G..
He took a tour of China
Care of Oppenheimer
And the boys back at IBM”)
Dave Carroll’s enchanting and very funny “We are the Quick Boys”
The haunting riffs of Jim and Dave’s Palm Court
“..I was downtown cruising easy
Moving swiftly through the gears
Blue Mercedes Car was on the move…”
The ISB parody “Yellow Jelly”
Jim’s “Bluebird”, sounding a bit like Albatross with Dave’s dreaming chords.

“Acrhie and Peter” –
(…knock on the door, it’s Archie and Peter
With Mantovani under each arm
It’s time to make take watercress sandwich
With maybe Liszt Tchaikovsky or Brahms..”

All this is tantalizing, and there are few people left I can share the memories with.

By the time we get round to 1973, and the much better remembered era of Jim Cleary’s song writing, all this improvisational poetic stuff is long gone and Jim is adopting a far more conscious approach to writing. This is the era of Big Ears, with the song of the same name, Eddie, Nothing Says Goodbye (a survival from the earlier period), The Metropole etc. Dave Carroll, although still a faithful musical partner to Jim, is off playing with The Idle Race or Tea and Symphony or Steve Gibbons and I am working with Phil Kirwan on early versions of Slender Loris.

Milkwood was a kind of innocence, untouched by the standard bump and grind of West Midlands rock and blues scene, existing in short-lived creative bubble which, for me, still represents some of the most interesting products of Jim Cleary and Dave Carroll’s imaginations. If I could just go back for one day…

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— with John Mostyn.