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Earth Song/Ocean Song

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Earth Song/Ocean Song
Studio album by
Mary Hopkin
Released1 October 1971
RecordedMay–June 1971
StudioAIR, London
Genre
Length39:28
LabelApple
ProducerTony Visconti
Mary Hopkin chronology
Post Card
(1969) 		Earth Song/Ocean Song
(1971) 		Spirit
(1989)
Singles from Earth Song/Ocean Song
  1. "Water, Paper & Clay"
    Released: 26 November 1971[1]

Earth Song/Ocean Song is the second album by Mary Hopkin, released in October 1971 by Apple Records. It was released over two years after her first album, Post Card, and would be her last for eighteen years.

Background and recording

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After signing to the Beatles' record label Apple, Hopkin became a star worldwide in 1968 following the success of "Those Were the Days", produced by Paul McCartney. The ensuing album, Post Card (comprising several songs written by Donovan and a number of show tunes), and follow-up single "Goodbye" in 1969, also both under McCartney's direction, continued Hopkin's success. However, later in the year, Hopkin agreed to stop working with McCartney, as she needed to release more material and he did not have the time. One of the producers put forward was Tony Visconti who had worked on the debut album for labelmate Badfinger (then known as the Iveys). His audition was recording a vocal overdub for Hopkin's Welsh version of "Sparrow". Not knowing who he was, and not realising it was an audition for her next producer, Hopkin did not mention Visconti to Apple, so they assumed he had not made an impression on her. Following this, Apple decided that Mickie Most might be a good fit as he had produced albums by Donovan.[2] Whilst success continued in 1970 with the Most-produced "Temma Harbour" and the Eurovision Song Contest entry "Knock, Knock Who's There?", Hopkin did not agree with his approach as she was not involved in the recording process as much as she wanted to be and had been relegated to just singing the vocals.[2]

Hopkin had grown tired of singing the pop songs that had made her famous and she wanted to experiment with a new musical direction. With her love of folk music, her brother-in-law and manager, Stan, played her the Strawbs' latest album Dragonfly. She later recalled that "it was so underrated, the production was so sparse and beautiful that I thought, that's the guy I want as my producer". The producer was Visconti, though Hopkin did not recognise him until they met.[3] After being asked to meet with Hopkin with the possibility of producing an album, Visconti was initially hesitant given their previous encounter, but eventually agreed. They met on 4 May 1971, the day after Hopkin's twenty-first birthday, and over lunch she spoke about how she was unhappy that Apple saw her as just a pop star as she had initially started out and found success on the television talent show Opportunity Knocks as a folk singer.[4][5] They discussed making an acoustic album with strings, and Visconti suggest recruiting several well-known folk musicians: Strawbs' lead singer and guitarist Dave Cousins, folk musician Ralph McTell and Pentangle double bassist Danny Thompson.[5][3] Recording began in May 1971 at AIR Studios in London and was finished by the time Hopkin started a twelve-week summer season performance at the Winter Gardens in Margate in mid-June.[3][6][7] According to Visconti, "we didn't make a straight up, honest, organic folk album. We wanted to use modern techniques and evocative sounds to make it a super-folk sounding album".[3]

All of the songs on Earth Song/Ocean Song except "International" were originally published by Essex Music International (later renamed Westminster Music), which had the largest catalogue of folk songs in the UK and was also part of the production company Visconti worked for. Visconti sourced about two hundred songs from which Hopkin selected the songs to record.[3][8] The exception, "International", was written by Gallagher and Lyle, who were signed to Apple Publishing and had previously written "Sparrow" and "Fields of St. Etienne" for Hopkin.[3] Two of the songs on the album were written by Ralph McTell. The first, "Silver Birch and Weeping Willow" was previously recorded on McTell's third album My Side of Your Window, and the second, "Streets of London", seen as his best-known song, was previously on his second album Spiral Staircase. The album also includes a version of Cat Stevens' "The Wind", first recorded by him for his fifth album Teaser and the Firecat, and also a version of Tom Paxton's "How Come the Sun" from his album of the same name released prior to Earth Song/Ocean Song.

"Water, Paper & Clay" features Hopkin playing the harmonium, though she could not pump the pedals and play at the same time, so whilst she was playing the keyboard, McTell and Thompson were on their knees pumping the pedals. She also recalled that after this, they went to the pub and after getting slightly drunk they went back and recorded the backing vocals. Strawbs' Dave Lambert joined them for this, and Hopkin noted that "he was the only one who could hit the high notes".[3]

Release and reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[9]
Encyclopedia of Popular Music[10]
Robert ChristgauB+[11]
Tom HullB+[12]

Prior to being able to record Earth Song/Ocean Song, Apple asked Hopkin to record one more pop song. Visconti chose an adaptation of a French song called "Quand je te regarde vivre" originally recorded by Gilles Marchal in 1970. The adaptation, "Let My Name Be Sorrow", had been recorded and released several months prior to Hopkin by Françoise Hardy. Hopkin's version was released as a single in June 1971, and was not the traditional pop song Apple were expecting,[13] with one reviewer describing it as "probably the nicest thing she has recorded, but also the least commercial".[14]

Earth Song/Ocean Song was released at the beginning of October 1971 in the UK and the following month in the US. Whilst the album was critically well received, it was not a commercial success. One single, "Water, Paper & Clay", was released in November 1971.[15] Reviewing the album for Record Mirror, Bill McAllister praised Hopkin's vocals, the song selection and the arrangements, describing it as "a gorgeous album which you would do well to possess.[16] Charles Langley for the Liverpool Daily Post described it as "a very satisfying album with the timeless qualities of a good singer, good songs and good music woven into certain success".[17] Record World described Hopkin as "the Welsh Circe, [that] raises her lovely and other-worldly voice in a number of new, airy songs".[18]

In Hopkin's words, "I'd finally done the album I wanted to, and Apple was encouraging about that, but I was then tied up in doing these horrendous summer shows, which preventing me from promoting that album. So it sort of fizzled out without a trace, because I wasn't there to promote it".[2] In July 1971, it had been reported that Hopkin had renewed her contract with Apple for a further two years.[19][7] However, following the release of the album, she decided to leave the record label in March 1972.[20] Having made the album she had always wanted to make, she felt like she there was little left to prove. After marrying Visconti in November 1971,[21] Hopkin gave birth to their first child in November 1972.[22] There had been plans to release a follow-up album to Earth Song/Ocean Song, with a number of songs having been recorded.[23] However, Hopkin decided to more or less withdraw from the music business and focus her attention on raising their child.[22][3] Over the subsequent decades since, she has released further singles and albums, and contributed backing vocals for a number of different artists.

Track listing

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Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."International"Gallagher and Lyle3:35
2."There's Got to Be More"Harvey Andrews3:55
3."Silver Birch and Weeping Willow"Ralph McTell2:48
4."How Come the Sun"Tom Paxton, David Horowitz5:44
5."Earth Song"Liz Thorsen3:54
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
6."Martha"Andrews4:52
7."Streets of London"McTell4:21
8."The Wind"Cat Stevens2:04
9."Water, Paper & Clay"Reina and Mike Sutcliffe4:10
10."Ocean Song"Thorsen4:05
Total length:39:28
2010 bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
11."Kew Gardens" (B-side to "Water, Paper & Clay")McTell2:24
12."When I Am Old One Day"Andrews2:25
13."Let My Name Be Sorrow"Bernard Estardy, Martine Habib3:29
Total length:47:46

Personnel

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Musicians

Technical

Charts

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Chart (1971) Peak
position
US Bubbling Under the Top LPs (Billboard)[24] 204

References

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  1. ^ "Doleful". Herald Express. 6 November 1971. p. 7.
  2. ^ a b c DeYoung, Bill (14 April 1995). "Mary Hopkin: 'She's A Joan Baez Type, But We'll Soon Alter That'". Goldmine. pp. 38–44. Retrieved 16 May 2024 – via Mary Hopkin Music.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Davis, Andy (2010). Earth Song/Ocean Song (booklet). Apple. 5099990581021.
  4. ^ Visconti, Tony (2007). The Autobiography: Bowie, Bolan and the Brooklyn Boy. HarperCollins UK. ISBN 978-0-00-722945-1.
  5. ^ a b Visconti 2007, p. 172.
  6. ^ Henry, Kevin (11 June 1971). "Single spins". Manchester Evening News. p. 12.
  7. ^ a b "The Mary Hopkin Friendly Society". www.maryhopkin.com. Retrieved 14 May 2024.
  8. ^ Visconti 2007, p. 173.
  9. ^ "Earth Song/Ocean Song - Mary Hopkin | Album | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  10. ^ Larkin, Colin (2011). The Encyclopedia of Popular Music (5th concise ed.). Omnibus Press.
  11. ^ Christgau, Robert. "Mary Hopkin". robertchristgau.com. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  12. ^ Hull, Tom (December 2010). "Recycled Goods". Static Multimedia. Retrieved 15 May 2024 – via tomhull.com.
  13. ^ Visconti 2007, pp. 172–173.
  14. ^ Kelleher, John (14 July 1971). "Pop". Cambridge Evening News. p. 4.
  15. ^ "Mary Hopkin - Water, Paper And Clay / Jefferson - Apple - UK - Apple 39". 45cat. Retrieved 15 May 2024.
  16. ^ "Mirrorpick/LPs" (PDF). Record Mirror. 16 October 1971. p. 21. Retrieved 15 May 2024 – via World Radio History.
  17. ^ Langley, Charles (16 October 1971). "Bridging the Beatle breach". Liverpool Daily Post. p. 5.
  18. ^ "Album Product" (PDF). Record World. 13 November 1971. p. 14. Retrieved 15 May 2024 – via World Radio History.
  19. ^ "England" (PDF). Record World. 3 July 1971. p. 46. Retrieved 15 May 2024 – via World Radio History.
  20. ^ Badman, Keith (2001). The Beatles Diary Volume 2: After the Break-Up 1970–2001. London: Omnibus Press. p. 68. ISBN 978-0-7119-8307-6.
  21. ^ "Mary Hopkin weds". The Observer. 5 December 1971. p. 1.
  22. ^ a b Visconti 2007, p. 196–198.
  23. ^ Visconti 2007, p. 233.
  24. ^ "Bubbling Under the Top LP's" (PDF). Billboard. 18 December 1971. p. 49. Retrieved 13 May 2024 – via World Radio History.
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