The Legendary Ten Seconds: “Murrey And Blue” (2017) CD Review

In 2012, the remains of Richard the Third were discovered beneath a parking lot in Leicester, sparking a renewed interest in the king, and raising again questions about the common perceptions of him and his deeds. The Legendary Ten Seconds, led by Ian Churchward, began releasing music focused on the history of King Richard III. In fact, the group has dedicated several albums to the subject, including 2014’s Loyaulté Me Lie, Tant Le Desiree (which was also released in 2014, and re-issued last year), 2015’s Richard III, and 2016’s Sunnes And Roses. The fifth (and, I believe, final) album in this series, Murrey And Blue, was released in 2017. This one goes a little outside of Richard III’s history, and includes songs inspired by a few different books.

The disc contains short notes about each of the songs. The first track, “The Boar’s Head,” was inspired by one of Toni Mount’s books about life in the medieval times. I am now adding her work to my ever-growing list of books I need to read. This song takes place at Christmas, and has a pretty sound, fitting for its subject. Part of the track’s beauty is due to the backing vocal work by Pippa West “Bring out the boar’s head/And the Christmas pie/Eat, drink, be merry/And raise your tankards high.” This is a great choice to add to your holiday play list this December. Surprise and delight your guests with this one. That’s followed by “John Judde.” This song was also inspired by Toni Mount’s work, and is about a man who died at a battle at St. Albans. As it begins, there is a rumbling in the distance, like cannon fire, creating a strong sense of atmosphere. And that guitar work is great. This track also features some really nice work on drums, helping to make it one of my personal favorites. The mix of medieval and progressive vibes works particularly well on this track.

Interestingly, “The Medieval Free Company” was inspired by a War of the Roses re-enactment group, which is named Medieval Free Company, and particularly by an archery display put on by the group. This track features some good backing vocal work by Pippa West. “Mercenaries one and all/Wars of the Roses, we recall/Our landless knight he leads us well/As daylight fades, we bid farewell.” Then we are treated to the first of the album’s instrumental tracks, “Plantagenet Pavane,” a lovely dance. That’s followed by “Francis Cranley.” As I mentioned, on this album, the subject occasionally strays a bit from the actual history of Richard III, as this song is about a character in K.E. Martin’s novel The Woodville Connection. It’s another book that I have not yet read. But Richard is a character in this murder mystery, and apparently the book contains a lot of historical detail. This song is beautiful as it begins, and is sung from the perspective of Francis Cranley. This track too contains some pretty backing vocal work, and interestingly, this one, like the first track, also mentions Christmas. I love the whole feel of this song, especially the work on keys, and it is another highlight for me.

From a song about The Woodville Connection, this album takes us to “The Woodville Household,” which is about Sir Anthony Woodville. “The Woodville household of Sir Anthony/Residing at Ludlow so pleasantly/Our young prince in Anthony’s care/Royalty, culture, you’ll find it there.” This song has a rather bright and cheerful sound, but with a hint of what was to come with the final line, “So soon to meet our destiny,” delivered three times. That’s followed by “The Month Of May.” This song takes place in 1483, the year of Richard’s coronation. It was an eventful year, to put it mildly, as you hear from this song: “The news of the queen is very disturbing/Remaining in sanctuary, so we are learning/The date of the coronation is set/One Sunday in June, it’s not happened yet.” The coronation mentioned in those lines is not Richard’s, but Edward’s. Pippa West joins Ian Churchward on vocals for this track, singing those lines I quoted, as well as other stanzas. We then get the album’s second instrumental track, “John Nesfield’s Retinue.” This one contains different sections, including some pretty and pleasant moments, and some more forceful parts, those featuring some good work on drums, perhaps reflecting his military service under Edward IV and then Richard III.

“Seventh Of August” is another track inspired by a book, this time by Chris Skidmore’s The Rise Of The Tudors. “A fiery red dragon on green and white/And a banner of St. George under which they’d fight/The seventh of August, 1485/French mercenaries by his side.” Later that August of 1485, Richard met Henry Tudor at Bosworth Field, and that is where Richard was defeated. Elaine Churchward provides some beautiful backing vocal work on this track. Well, I have a lot of reading ahead of me. “The Seventh Of August” is followed by “The Dublin King,” named after The Dublin King: The True Story Of Edward Earl of Warwick, Lambert Simnel and the Princes in the Tower, a book by John Ashdown-Hill. Honestly, I’d never heard of Lambert Simnel before hearing this song. “Was he really Lambert Simnel/A mere pretender to the throne/A Yorkist prince, it has been claimed/And the truth, it is still not known.” There is an interesting vibe to this song. As it begins, there is the sound of a storm. And between verses, there is some nice work on guitar. It builds from there, this track having a series of hills and valleys, and featuring some good work on percussion too. This is another of the disc’s highlights. It is followed by “Lambeth MS474,” an instrumental tune named after the Book of Hours owned by Richard III, in the collection at Lambeth Palace Library. The last of the tracks making up the main body of this album is “Shining Knight,” a song dedicated to all the female fans of Richard III. “Oh, to touch his raven hair/She’ll lose herself in despair/So much stronger than she’ll ever be/In every dream, it’s him she’ll see.”

The final three tracks are listed as bonus tracks. Actually, there are four more tracks, though only three are listed on the CD case. The first of those listed is a different version of “The Court Of King Richard III,” a song originally included on Tant Le Desiree. This version, recorded in 2017, includes new bass and vocal parts. Camilla Joyce joins Ian Churchward on vocals for this one. That’s followed by a different version of “White Surrey,” another song from the Tant Le Desiree album, this version also recorded in 2017 and also featuring Camilla Joyce on backing vocals. Both versions include the sound of the horse galloping toward the end. The last song listed on the case is a different version of “The Month Of May,” this one featuring Pippa West on lead vocals throughout the track. She had delivered a good deal of the lyrics in the album’s first version, including that last line, which is given a cappella, and here she sings the entire song. She does a great job. The album’s final track, the unlisted track, is a different version of “John Judde,” with the keyboard doing the guitar part in the middle.

CD Track List

1. The Boar’s Head
2. John Judde
3. The Medieval Free Company
4. Plantagenet Pavane
5. Francis Cranley
6. The Woodville Household
7. The Month Of May
8. John Nesfield’s Retinue
9. Seventh Of August
10. The Dublin King
11. Lambeth MS474
12. Shining Knight
13. The Court Of King Richard III
14. White Surrey
15. The Month Of May
    

Murrey And Blue was released on November 1, 2017.