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Plainsong New Place Now 1999, Tangible Remember the so-called super-groups of the sixties and the seventies? Usually those bands had great names in the line-up, but somehow didn’t produce a lot of good music. And normally disbanded after one or two albums. Plainsong was formed back in 1971, produced a solitary masterpiece for Elektra (In Search Of Amelia Earhart) and shortly before the second album was finished they decided to call it quits. By today’s standards you may never even have thought of Plainsong as a supergroup, but at the time Fairport Convention founding member Ian Matthews was a formidable force on the singer/songwriter scene, while Andy Roberts was a influential figure on the English rock scene. It took them almost twenty years to pick up the pieces and surprisingly enough it worked out beautifully. All members of Plainsong have some sort of a solo career going, therefore new albums remain a rare thing. Clive Gregson, who may be known best for being a long time member of the Richard Thompson Band (but was also part of the still very much missed English folk rock duo Gregson & Collister), is the latest addition to Plainsong. Bassist Mark Griffiths, who was with the original Matthews Southern Comfort, completes the band. Plainsong was always a very vocal band: great voices and even better harmonies. Luckily enough some things never change. And with Gregson the band has found another strong singer, who actually fits in much better than his predecessor, Julian Dawson. Humming guitars, very laid back drums, often slightly melancholic melodies and it may have been mentioned beforehand, great singing. Really great singing. The choice of songs is an impeccable one. Apart from their own songs they picked some great (although not very well known) tunes from writers old and new. Such as Richard Farina, Chip Taylor or Boo Hewerdine. And it always sounds as if they specifically wrote the songs with Plainsong in mind. Listen to “What’s Wrong With This Picture” and you’ll recognize the magic touch of the band. Producer John Wood (Sandy Denny, Nick Drake) still knows his chops. He delivers one of the finest production jobs of the year. Plainsong has always been one of the few true super-groups, despite being underrated and underappreciated too often.—Michael Gasser