I know what you mean with CD programs, they can be very tacky. Robin Hood and Celtic things are not my cup of tea. I always find that the more you delve into the culture of the period you find things that are much more vibrant and "wild". The title "Elizium" is in some ways a joke. I used to play in a gothic rock band here in Germany, we made a few CD's and were often accused of copying an English band who shall remain nameless.But one of their LP's was called "Elizium". But the idea for this "tribute" came from a book I read about the poet Michael Drayton, called "Michael Drayton and the passing of Elizabethan England". One of his poetry collections mentioned in the book was called "The Muses Elizium". I wanted something that didn't limit it to be another "Music from the time of..... The aim was to invoke the spirit of the age and not look nice in a museum shop.
I think one thing that we have done for the first time is using a longer version of the poem to Dowland's "It was a time". Dowland only prints the first three verses and we included two of the others from manuscripts one of which may refer to cannabis ! Poulton and other writers never mention the longer poem, althrough for other songs where longer texts exist they do ! The funny thing was we had fixed the order of the pieces on the CD before found the text. The next block was called "Ale & Tabacco" which fitted perfectly to the last line of "It was a time" in the new version - "Witching Tobacco I will flee to thee". Our Scottish CD will explore the links between England and Scottish music in the 17th century. It is very interesting that lute songs by Jones, Bartlet or Dowland were still popular in Scotland long after they had been forgotten in England. Ritchie Blackmore doesn't play the lute, more something lute-like. But an older recording of us playing "Joy to the person" was featured on a compilation CD that also included Mr. Backmore's new Combo. best wishes Mark -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
