Mark Fry, Florence, 1971… Not pictured: Florence

Mark Fry to perform with members of SFA, Mercury Rev, Lemon Jelly, Tunng and The A. Lords in London on 19th April…

Published on April 4th, 2012 | Jonny Abrams

Quite the little supergroup Mr Fry’s got going here. Check out the press release and see if you get a bit hot under the collar as well…

Mark Fry and Members of Mercury Rev, Super Furry Animals, The A. Lords, Tunng and Lemon Jelly perform Songs from fabled 1972 acid-folk classic Dreaming with Alice and 2011 album I Lived in Trees

This April, the legendary English singer-songwriter Mark Fry, whose 1972 album Dreaming With Alice is now a psych-folk cult classic, will make a rare, live appearance at The Village Underground, London. With a bespoke band that includes members ofMercury Rev, Super Furry Animals, The A. Lords and Tunng – with Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen as MD – he will perform songs from Dreaming With Alice and his critically acclaimed 2011 album I Lived In Trees.

The Village Underground show will proffer a unique and dazzling portal into the lyrical, sun-dappled world of Mark Fry and a rare opportunity for fans, young and not so young, to bathe in what writer Jeanette Leech (Fry aficionado and author of Seasons They Change: The Story of Acid and Psychedelic Folk) rightly describes as “visual, visceral music that blends the colours of the decades.”

Mark Fry – vocals/guitar
Nick Franglen (Lemon Jelly) – music director/guitar/keyboards
Nick Palmer (The A. Lords) – guitar/accordion/vocals
Grasshopper (Mercury Rev) – mandolin/woodwind
Guto Pryce (Super Furry Animals) – bass
Martin Smith (Tunng) – percussion

Dreaming With Alice is one of those very particular albums whose potency and poetry seem to owe everything to their era but whose virtues only gain traction many years after their conception. Originally recorded in Italy in 1972 by 19-year old art student Fry, this late-period psych-folk obscurity grew to become a record connoisseur’s Holy Grail. Frequently bootlegged, described by Dream magazine as “one of those albums that feels like a secret you can’t wait to share”, and included in Record Collector’s Top 20 Strange Folk Albums, original copies of Dreaming With Alice began to change hands for as much as $3,000.

This all came as something of a surprise to the album’s apparently elusive creator who was now a long-established and successful painter based in northern France. Re-released in 2006, Alice was quickly adopted by a new generation of fans and its new-found success inspired Mark Fry to record again.

Treasured songs include “The Witch” and “Mandolin Man”, making fans of record collectors and musicians such as Kieran Hebden and MGMT, who recently included “Song For Wild” on their acclaimed Late Night Tales compilation.

After he had cut Shooting The Moon in 2008, he hooked up with young Dorset pastoralists The A. Lords to record 2011’s critically acclaimed I Lived in Trees, released on Second Language with a wonderfully sympathetic mix by Lemon Jelly’s Nick Franglen. Nick says of this show:

“This is one of a series of Sound And Music commissioned events I am working on, I’m thrilled that the first of them is this show with my good friend Mark Fry. His music has influenced so many people over the years; it’s a complete pleasure to be able to present it with this remarkable line-up of musicians.”

The co-commissioner Sound and Music is delighted to be supporting this event and will be helping to make sure Mark Fry’s Village Underground show is not a one off. Sound and Music’s mission is to promote and develop artists and audiences for contemporary music across the UK.

Mark Fry and Friends
Venue: The Village Underground, Shoreditch
Date: Thursday 19th April 2012
Time: 8pm (doors)
Tickets: £14
Box Office: ticketweb.co.uk
Nearest transport: Northern Line to Old Street/Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines to Liverpool Street

Artists: lemon jelly, mark fry, mercury rev, super furry animals, the a lords, tunng

About the Author

Jonny Abrams Editor of Rocksucker and the website's founder, Jonny is passionate about the music he listens to, both good and bad, as well as interviewing his favourite musicians.