Artist: The David McWilliams Quintet

Title: Reaching For The Sun: The Major Minor Anthology 1967-1969

Condition:

Format: CD

Release Date: 2023

Label: Grapefruit

UPC: 5013929193123

Genre: Folk

Album Tracks

DISC 1:
1. God and Country
2. Redundancy Blues
3. The Silence Is Shattered
4. Hiroshima
5. Question of Identity
6. Time of Trouble
7. Echo of My Heart
8. In the Early Hours of the Morning
9. I'll Be Home
10. Leaves That Fall
11. Twilight
12. Hey Sally Sally
13. Reaching for the Sun
14. Sheelo Gone So Long
15. Midnight Sun
16. Pretty Bird
17. Days of Pearly Spencer
18. Can I Get There By Candlelight
19. For Josephine
20. How Can I Be Free
21. Brown Eyed Gal
22. Marlana
23. For a Little Girl
24. Lady Helen of the Laughing Eyes
25. Time Will Not Wait
26. What's the Matter with Me
27. There's No Lock Upon My Door
28. Tomorrow's Like Today

DISC 2:
1. Three O'Clock Flamingo Street
2. Harlem Lady
3. Four Seasons
4. Turn Homeward Stranger
5. Letter to My Love
6. City Blues
7. Reflections
8. Poverty Street
9. And I'm Free
10. September Winds
11. Young Man's Dream
12. Born to Ramble
13. This Side of Heaven
14. Mr. Satisfied
15. The Stranger
16. Follow Me
17. Oh Mama Are You My Friend
18. I Love Susie in the Summer
19. Who Killed Ezra Brymay
20. Fiori Nel Vento (Poverty Street, Italian Language Version)
21. Correrai, Correrai (MR. Satisfied
22. Italian Language Version)
23. Un Sasso Nel Cuore (Intangible, Italian Language Recording)
24. Lo Straniero (The Stranger, Italian Language Version)
25. Harlem Lady (Mono Version)
26. Days of Pearly Spencer (Mono
27. Version)

Two CD set. First complete anthology of late 60s recordings by highly-regarded Irish singer/ songwriter. Includes his best-known song, the huge European hit 'Days Of Pearly Spencer', as well as more than a dozen tracks making their CD debut. At the height of the protest singer boom that spawned the likes of Dylan and Donovan, Irish-born music industry heavyweight Phil Solomon received a demo tape from a young Ballymena-based singer/songwriter by the name of David McWilliams. Sensing the possibilities, the entrepreneur added McWilliams to his Irish-based roster of acts (The Bachelors, The Dubliners, Van Morrison's Them, etc) and placed the youngster on his fledgling record label Major Minor. Launched in a blaze of publicity in mid-1967, McWilliams coupled voguish songs about social deprivation with lighter, more romantic material, with producer and occasional Beatles/ Rolling Stones associate Mike Leander providing the striking string arrangements. Success was immediate: three charting albums were released in the space of eight months, with 'Days Of Pearly Spencer' - a swirling, cinematic slice of psychedelic pop/folk - becoming a huge hit single across Europe. However, that punishing schedule and a puzzling lack of financial reward saw a disillusioned McWilliams turn his back on the music industry in 1969, although he would return after a three-year sabbatical to resume his career elsewhere.