Dr Space Toad, Alain Stivell & the Moody Blues

Paul Francis, then known as Jean Paul Dionysus, at the time he played at Druid grove meetings in London

Every so often, as we hurtle through the Space-Time Continuum we bump into old friends we haven’t seen for years. The internet has of course increased the likelihood of these asteroid collisions hugely – so with great delight Dr Space Toad and I have collided after no contact for perhaps twenty years.

Dr SpaceToad, aka Paul Francis the Troubador, used to join us for Druid grove meetings back in the late eighties, and would play for us his song ‘The Sailor and the Magician’ inspired by druid ceremony. He contacted me recently to let me know he’s planning to include the song in a new album due out soon, but in the meanwhile his latest album ‘Time Machine’ is out, and available on Amazon and CD Baby. Paul writes:  “It took years to build the Time Machine: A Psychedelic voyage through the Universe from planet to planet in a Time Machine with Dr Space Toad and his unusual crew: Captain Sensible, Captain Barrington White and Monty the Oxymoron, using the original plans for Galileo’s Pendulum Clock as a guide.” Recommended if you like Pink Floyd, Arthur Brown and the Doors, you can sample the album through this link. I particularly like ‘It’s Not Unusual to be Unusual’ – Tom Jones really letting his hair down this time!

More news when Paul’s next album with the druid song comes out. Meanwhile a piece of musical history: recently I was staying with Myrdhin the Breton harpist, a well-known Druid and author of several books on Druidry. I had met both him and Alain Stivell back in the 1970s when Ross Nichols had invited them over on separate occasions to play at events for The Order of Bards Ovates & Druids. Myrdhin told me that it was on that visit to London that Alain Stivell felt his career took off, since after the Order event he went to a pub where the Moody Blues were playing. He ended up joining in with them on stage…