THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,590) Dave Waite & Marianne Segal — “Paper Flowers”
The dorks at Polydor didn’t release this glittering UK folk rock gem?! They folked themselves. It would have been a hit!
Richard Allen tells us that “[t]hree tracks, ‘Paper Flowers’, ‘It’s Really Quite Alright’ and ‘I Can’t Love You More’, were produced in 1969 by Jon Miller for a possible single and whilst these employed Phil Dennys’ rich orchestration and the work of top sessions musicians such as Herbie Flowers and Barry Morgan, they were never released.” (excerpt from No Sense of Time, https://mariannesegal-jade.com/audio/) Marianne Segal recalls:
Dave said he’d written a song. We tried it and it worked, so we recorded it! The first version is a recording . . . produced by Jon Miller and arranged by Phil Dennis for a possible single in 1969 on Polydor. The second version is a demo.
liner notes to the CD comp Dave Waite & Marianne Segal: Paper Flowers
Forced Exposure tells us more:
Before the legendary ’70s UK folk rock band Jade, there was a folk duo — Dave Waite and Marianne Segal. Well known on the live circuit of the mid- to late ’60s, Dave and Marianne slung guitars in the boot of their Triumph and travelled the university and folk clubs of England at a time when folk was groovy and Carnaby Street was still swinging. Their music was a fusion of English and American contemporary folk artists such as John Renbourne, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, The Mamas and The Papas and Peter Paul and Mary but it also contained a spark of ever-so-English vocal purity that gave the duo a sound more suited to the label ‘folk-pop.’ . . . [Paper Flowers, the CD collection of their unreleased songs from this era is] one of the great lost UK folk albums of the 1960s. In part comparable to Sandy Denny and The Strawbs and with the folk-pop sensibilities of US West Coast contemporaries such as The Mamas and Papas, [it] is a rare acoustic snapshot of an era known more for its volume and wild theatrics than for its gentle rustic melodies. Paper Flowers is the sound of summer days in Hampstead, beautiful people, beautiful clothes, incense, innocence and mythic ’60s mystery. Marianne and Dave weave magical harmonies on original and contemporary ’60s folk material . . . .
https://www.forcedexposure.com/Catalog/waite-marianne-segal-dave-paper-flowers-cd/FLASH.002CD.html
However, Waite wryly observes that:
The duo, and the two years we had with it, was the sweetest of times, however the “groovy” element was, as now, a media myth. If you had cash or a “thing” then you could “groove” but for most people life went on as usual in its post World-War Two shades of concrete grey. Yet, for Marianne and I, the world was wide open and we were able to work in the places we wanted to go, and do exactly what we wanted, when we wanted. Despite the subsequent canonisation of the ’60’s I suppose we really did have a groovy time and in retrospect what could be better than that?
liner notes to the CD comp Dave Waite & Marianne Segal: Paper Flowers
Richie Unterberger tells us more, more:
Both Dave Waite and Marian Segal are most known for their work as two-thirds of the obscure early-’70s folk-rock group Jade, who released an album highly similar in approach to the first two albums Fairport Convention [see #1,199] made with Sandy Denny as singer in the late ’60s. Prior to forming Jade, however, Waite and Segal worked as a folk duo, playing material that trod on similar territory as Denny did in her pre-folk-rock days, though it was more influenced by the pop-folk of acts such as the Seekers (and, in the latter part of the Waite-Segal partnership, Joni Mitchell).
https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dave-waite-mn0000519093#biography
Richard Allen tells us more, more, more:
Dave Waite . . . grew up in the South London suburbs in a very musical family. By the mid-1950s, he was – in his own words – “a dedicated guitar freak” . . . . By the late 1950s, [he] was in and out of various trios and duos until 1960 when he became part of The Countrymen who . . . traded a clean cut, middle of the road folk-pop sound that was very popular with BBC variety audiences. They issued recordings on Pye and had both a TV and radio series. . . . By 1967, The Countrymen had fallen apart after management wrangles so Dave was looking for something new . . . . Playing solo at universities and folk clubs he honed his style . . . . A chance meeting in 1967 cemented the musical union that was to give birth to Jade. Dave spotted Marian performing . . . . “I was looking for something and so was she. We wanted to play the same material and best of all what I saw and heard that night with her oh-so English voice, counterpoised against a transatlantic guitar style, told me she was the other part of what I wanted to be doing”. From that moment on, Dave Waite and Marian Segal became a well-known duo on the UK folk scene . . . . Marian progressed to writing her own songs but she did not feel confident with them in a live environment until Dave began to encourage her. Six months into 1968, Marian finally felt confident enough to include her songs in the duo’s set list . . . . Dave recalls: “They loved Marian’s songs and the places she took them to, in just one line. I stood and saw how she made the connection between herself and the audience.” By this time, the duo had attracted the attention of famed folk agent Sandy Glennon, who took them under his wing . . . . Eventually, and after much hard work, Dave and Marian established themselves on the circuit which enabled them to work at clubs all over the UK . . . . [and] regular radio spots . . . and appearances on regional television shows . . . . In 1969, Sandy Glennon introduced them to record producer Jon Miller. Jon . . . . hooked up with Dick James to form a publishing company, Jamil, that aimed to sign up new British acts. He invited Dave and Marian to record some demos and as a result, the duo signed to DJM for both publishing and recording. . . . Realising that times were changing and that the ‘60s pop folk sound had become dated . . . Miller decided that [they] should move away from the lightweight American style folk sound and travel in a heavier, more progressive direction. He introduced Rod Edwards, one half of The Piccadilly Line (later Edwards Hand) [see #151, 663, 806, 813, 911] and came up with the name Jade whilst also offering to manage the group.
from No Sense of Time, https://mariannesegal-jade.com/audio/
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