A. L. Lloyd

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Albert Lancaster Lloyd (29 February 1908- 29 September 1982), usually known as A. L. Lloyd or Bert Lloyd, was an English folk singer and collector of folk songs, and as such was a key figure in the folk music revival of the 1950s and 1960s.

Lloyd was born in London and was brought up in a musical household, his father being a fisherman well versed in songs of that trade and his mother a formally trained musician. Orphaned at the age of 14, he emigrated to Australia where he worked on various sheep stations in New South Wales. It was during this time that he began to write down folksongs he learned. When he returned to the UK in the 1930s he took on a more formal study of folk music, doing much of his research at the British Museum, when not earning a living on whaling ships in the Antarctic.

In 1938 the BBC hired him to write a radio documentary about seafaring life, and from then on he worked as a journalist and singer. A proponent of communism, Lloyd was staunchly opposed to Adolf Hitler, and, in 1939, he was commissioned by the BBC to produce a series of programmes on the rise of Nazism.

He has recorded many albums of English folk music, most notably several albums of the Child Ballads with Ewan MacColl. He has also published many books on folk music and related topics, including The Singing Englishman, Come All Ye Bold Miners, and Folk Song in England.

While Lloyd is most widely known for his work with British folk music, he had a keen interest in the music of Spain, Latin America, and Southeastern Europe.

1 Discography
2 Bibliography
3 External links

[edit] Discography

English Drinking Songs, Riverside Records (USA) LP, 1961. CD Reissue: Topic records
England and Her Folk Songs (A Selection From The Penguin Book), with Alf Edwards, Collector Records (UK) 7" EP
First Person (Some Of His Favourite Folk Songs), Topic Records (UK) LP, 1966
The Best Of A.L. Lloyd, Xtra (UK) LP, 1966.
Leviathan, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1967. CD Reissue: Topic records

[edit] With Ewan MacColl

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads 9 Volumes, Washington albums, 1952
Thar She Blows! (Whaling Ballads and Songs), Riverside Records (USA) LP
English and Scottish Folk Ballads, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964
Bold Sportmen All, Topic Records (UK) 10", 1958. CD reissue: Topic Records
Gamblers and Sporting Blades (Songs Of The Ring and the Racecourse), Topic records (UK) 7" EP, 1962
A Sailor's Garland, Xtra Records (UK) LP, 1966
Blow Boys Blow (Songs of The Sea), Tradition Records (USA) LP, 1967. CD Reissue: Tradition, 1996

[edit] Compilations and Contributions

Blow The Man Down, Topic Records (UK) 7" EP, 1956
The Iron Muse (A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music), Topic Records (UK) LP, 1963
Farewell Nancy (Sea Songs and Shanties), Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964
The Bird In The Bush (Traditional Erotic Songs) , Topic Records (UK) LP, 1966
Singing The Fishing - A Radio Ballad, Argo Records (UK) LP, 1967
The Valiant Sailor (Songs & Ballads of Nelosn's Navy), Topic Records (UK) LP, 1973
Sea Shanties, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1974
The Transports A Ballad Opera by Peter Bellamy), Free Reed (UK) 2LP, 1977
Topic Sampler No. 1 - Folk Songs, Topic Records (UK) LP
Topic Sampler No. 2 - Folk Songs, Topic Records (UK) LP
Topic Sampler No. 3 - Men At Work, Topic Records (UK) LP
Topic Sampler No. 6 - A Collection Of Ballads & Broadsides, Topic Records (UK) LP
Topic Sampler No. 7 - Sea Songs & Shanties, Topic Records (UK) LP

[edit] Recorded and Edited By

Folk Music of Bulgaria, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1964
The Music of Albania, Topic Records (UK) LP, 1966

[edit] Bibliography

A.L. Lloyd & Igor Vinogradoff, Shadow of the Swastika, John Lane The Bodley Head Ltd, 1940.
A.L. Lloyd (Compiler), Corn On The Cob (Popular and Traditional Poetry of the USA) , Fore Publications Ltd, 1945.
A.L. Lloyd (Compiler), Come All Ye Bold Miners (Ballads & Songs of the Coalfield), Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 1952.
R. Vaugh Williams and A.L. Lloyd (Editors), The Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs, Penguin Books, 1959.
A.L. Lloyd, The Golden City, Methuen, 1960.
A.L. Lloyd, Folk Song in England, Lawrence & Wishart Ltd, 1967. Paperback edition: Paladin, 1975.