Search - Duncan Browne :: Give Me Take You

A Gem From a Tender Soul of British Folk

Juan Mobili | Valley Cottage, NY USA | 07/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This man was an unknown to me until so very recently -so if you stumble into this page by those strange turns of internet life, you have a companion in me ... I guess.
Now, as I'm sure you experienced many a time, the newness of one's encounter with something beautiful does not preclude the depth of one's experience, nor the value of what one has seen.
Duncan Browne, musically speaking, is a younger brother to Donovan Leitch, a childhood friend of Vashti Bunyan's, and a soft-spoken cousin to the Incredible String Band.
This is bonafide British Folk, the psychedelic variety as it is now know as ... soft melodies, strings caressed rather than strummed, tales of young girls in wondrous places and magical beings, the obligatory harpsichord, tasteful and simple strings, and chorus voices seeming to float in the Summer's air.
Well ... you get the picture -I'm sure- and either you are still reading on suddenly called by your love for this kind of music, or I'm now speaking to myself.The whole album is a trove of treasures which manage to sound tender, after all these years, rather than naïve and outdated -a remarkable feat in itself for any work over thirty years old.
So, because you are still reading, I must tell you that this album can -must!- be listened from beginning to end. That is how consistently delightful it is, but if I must make some choices I'd choose both versions of "Alfred Bell," pure, sad nectar, the single the never took off -On The Bombsite, studio and demo versions alike- and "Give Me, Take You" which gives this gem its title.
Treat yourself to the sounds of a gentle soul, the kind of young man you may wish your son to become ... or hope you still are."

The exquisite 1968 debut album of Duncan Browne

Lawrance M. Bernabo | The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota | 01/15/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"There are several elements that make. Duncan Browne's 1968 debut album "Give Me Take You" stand out. One is that Browne's lyricist David Bretton is a legitimate poet, which gives these songs a dimension usually missing in folk and folk-rock music on either side of the Atlantic. Additionally, Browne has a superb singing voice that matches well against any other singer-songwriter from that period. Browne's work also introduces elements of classical music into the fusion of folk, rock, and pop that are covered by these songs, that gives several of these songs a most distinctive sound. Unfortunately because the label he recorded for was going down for the count, Browne's debut album was not the commercial success it should have been; only one single, "On the Bombsite" was released and Andrew Loog Oldham cut short the recording sessions. The result was that it five years before Browne released his next album, a self-titled work that is just as good; but it is difficult not to think on what Browne might have done during that period in the studio. "Give Me Take You" is a melancholy collection of introspective songs (e.g., "I Was You Weren't," "Alfred Bell"), and while I came across Browne's work because I was trying to get beyond the work of Sandy Dennis, Richard Thompson, and other luminaries of the British folk-rock scene, the classical elements make it unique. There is a simple innocence, if not a naïveté to these songs, that give Browne his own niche in this genre. As is often the case with these remastered and reissued albums from the 1960s and 1970s, there are five bonus tracks, including the Mono Single Versions of "On the Bombsite" and "Alfred Bell," along with the demo version of the former, and a pair of previously unreleased tracks, "Resurrection Joe" and "Final Asylum." David Bretton does the liner notes, a necessity forced by the death of Browne in 1993. There are a lot of excellent albums from this period in British folk-rock music waiting to be rediscovered by new generations on this side of the pond, and Duncan Browne's "Give Me Take You" is one of them. One of the nice things is that most of the reviews of this album will lend you to more such gems for you to track down."

A WORK OF BEAUTY

Mr. J. Mccarraher | Surrey UK www.mccarraher.co.uk | 03/25/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I had the enormous pleasure of meeting David Bretton today, the lyricist on this album. Sadly, Duncan died some 13 years ago, but we met to discuss the forthcoming book I am writing about his life and work.

Few albums touch a listener in the way that this album can. The musicianship is of a very high calibre, the singing is divine and the songwriting exceptional. David and Duncan had a good thing going at the time and it is a relief to know that this album is readily available - a polished gem waiting to be unearthed by a new generation.

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