Editing Gordon Giltrap (section)

=== 1970s ===
In 1970, Giltrap signed to [[MCA Records]] and released his next album, ''Testament of Time'', which was again a mixture of songs and instrumental pieces.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018 First edition, Steve Pilkington, p. 39</ref> on two future albums. It was to be one of the pieces he chose to play on his first television appearance, on ''[[Disco 2 (TV series)|Disco 2]]''.

At this stage, he was managed by [[Miles Copeland III|Miles Copeland]] who, amongst others, also managed [[Wishbone Ash]]. Strings on the album were arranged by [[Del Newman]], who also played keyboards. Newman had already worked with many artists of that era including [[Cat Stevens]].<ref>Perilous Journey 2018 First edition, Steve Pilkington Page 38</ref> Thus began a lasting friendship, and later Giltrap wrote the foreword for Newman's 2010 autobiography ''A Touch From God (It's Only Rock and Roll)''.<ref>''A Touch From God – It's Only Rock and Roll'', {{ISBN|9781906358792}}</ref> With Newman's influence, the album had a much fuller sound than Giltrap's previous two albums and he regarded it as a significant step forward.<ref name=":0" />

His association with Copeland ended when he moved to [[Philips Records]], releasing the 1973 album entitled ''Giltrap''. This album featured a much larger band. On some of the songs he experimented with early instruments (played by Douglas Wooton and Rod and Joseph Sleeping) and some of his lyrics clearly reflected an interest in historical events. The drummer on this album was [[Nicko McBrain]], who a decade later would join [[Iron Maiden]]. The front cover photographs reflect Giltrap as a proud father blowing bubbles together with his then two-year-old son, Jamie. The opening track, "When I See My Son", further reflected that pride. This was the last album on which he sang lead vocals.<ref>''Perilous Journey'', First Edition 2017, Steve Pilkington, p. 46</ref> As he became less convinced by his lyric writing capabilities he began seeking a different path.

While popular on the folk and university circuit, Giltrap reached a turning point and received greater recognition during the 1970s. During this time, Giltrap started to concentrate on more purely instrumental pieces, and in 1976 released the album ''[[Visionary (Gordon Giltrap album)|Visionary]]'', based on the art and poetry of [[William Blake]]. Whilst recording, he missed the birth of his daughter Sadie, who was born in March 1975.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.56</ref>

''[[Visionary (Gordon Giltrap album)|Visionary]]'' was produced by Jon Miller, who along with guitarist Roger Hand and keyboard player Rod Edwards<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.rodedwardsmusic.com/page2.php|title=Rod Edwards Music.com|website=Rodedwardsmusic.com}}</ref> were known as Triumvirate Productions.<ref>''Perilous Journey'', First Edition 2018, Steve Pilkington. p. 58</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/label/823876-Triumvirate-Production|title=Discogs|website=Discogs.com}}</ref> Hand and Edwards, having listened to demos of some of the material for ''Visionary'', decided that it was time for Giltrap to be dragged, initially reluctantly, into the realm of rock music.<ref name="auto2">''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.57</ref> With this new sound, however, Giltrap found a different audience and gained greater commercial success.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.59</ref> The success of this album prompted Giltrap to move on from the singer-songwriter approach and to form the Gordon Giltrap Band,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.discogs.com/artist/1389762-Gordon-Giltrap-Band|title=Discogs|website=Discogs.com}}</ref> which toured extensively in the UK at that time.

Once the demos for ''Visionary'' were finished, Giltrap found himself with a three-album record contract with Electric Records.<ref name="auto2"/> He was then offered a UK tour supporting the English progressive rock band [[Renaissance (band)|Renaissance]]. He was invited to appear on BBC's ''[[The Old Grey Whistle Test]]'' hosted by [[Bob Harris (radio presenter)|Bob Harris]]. Supported by his full band, they performed "Robes and Crowns/Awakening" and "Lucifer's Cage". Footage of the latter performance can be seen on the program 'Guitar Heroes at the BBC'.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00lkrr7/episodes/guide|title=Guitar Heroes at the BBC|website=Bbc.co.uk}}</ref>

A European tour followed at the end of 1976 as a support act to [[Wishbone Ash]]. They played several dates in Germany and were also booked to tour [[Switzerland]]. Unfortunately, upon arriving in [[Zürich|Zurich]] Giltrap was hit by a car and broke his collarbone.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.66</ref> As he was then unable to play guitar ,the rest of his tour was cancelled.

His follow-up album, ''[[Perilous Journey]]'', consolidated his success, being named one of the best albums of 1977 by ''[[The Sunday Times]]''. It peaked in the [[UK Albums Chart]] at No. 29.<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">{{cite book|title=British Hit Singles & Albums|last=Roberts|first=David|publisher=Guinness World Records Limited|year=2006|isbn=1-904994-10-5|edition=19th|location=London|page=227}}</ref> A single taken from the album, "Heartsong", received extensive airplay and reached No. 21 in the [[UK Singles Chart]].<ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums" /> The track was later used as the [[theme tune]] of the [[BBC TV]] series ''[[Holiday (TV series)|Holiday]]''. Another of Giltrap's tracks, "The Carnival", was specially commissioned by ITV for the theme tune to [[ITV (TV network)|ITV]]'s holiday programme ''[[Wish You Were Here...?]]''.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.164</ref>

"Heartsong" has subsequently become the tune for which Giltrap is best known and still features in his live sets. "Heartsong" was eventually nominated for an [[Ivor Novello Award]] for the best instrumental/ orchestral piece for that year, losing to [[Elton John]]'s "[[Song for Guy]]". Giltrap later said of the track's creation, "It began with a song I did in the late '60s called 'Starting All Over'. When I lived in London I began to mess around with it and stumbled on the riff for what would become 'Heartsong'. I kept working on it, and eventually recorded the guitar part for it. Then we added the rhythm section from [[Simon Phillips (drummer)|Simon Phillips]] (drums) and [[John G. Perry]] (bass)."
<blockquote>"At the time I never thought of this as anything other than a jolly little tune, but my producers Rod Edwards and Roger Hand realized the commercial potential in what we had. The melody really came out when the [[Minimoog|mini moog]] part was added, and then Eddie Spence (keyboards) came up with the fast moving synth figure. Edwards and Hand recorded Eddie at half speed, then played it back at normal speed to get the desired effect. That was something they learnt from working with [[George Martin]]."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/gordon-giltrap/heartsong|title=Songfacts|website=Songfacts.com}}</ref>

Whilst ''Visionary'' had evolved from acoustic compositions adapted for a bigger band, ''[[Perilous Journey]]'' was composed with a bigger band sound in mind. It appeared occasionally to be more keyboard dominated but Giltrap was unperturbed by this as the pieces were his own compositions and he was pleased with the arrangements which he had worked on with Rod Edwards and Roger Hand.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.71</ref></blockquote>

In this period, albums had to flow from artists at consistent rates and few acts dared to allow time for the public to forget them. Such was the case with Giltrap who released his next album, ''[[Fear of the Dark (Gordon Giltrap album)|Fear of the Dark]]'', in 1978.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.giltrap.co.uk/news/general/archives/General_News/2948|title=Gordon Giltrap|website=Giltrap.co.uk|language=en-gb|access-date=17 May 2019}}</ref> At this stage, after the success of his previous two albums, Giltrap was riding on a high. Material for ''Fear of the Dark'' was relatively swiftly assembled.

The title track, in shortened form, was released as a single but failed to match the commercial success of "Heartsong".<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.86</ref> It reached number 48 in the singles charts and the band appeared on ''[[Top of the Pops]]''. Another song on the album, "Fast Approaching", was a reworked track, vastly different from the original which had appeared on Giltrap's first album. It was extended to five minutes and featured Giltrap on both [[acoustic guitar|acoustic]] and electric guitars. He was now becoming far more familiar with the latter instrument and at this stage really enjoyed playing his [[Gibson Les Paul]].<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.89</ref> Giltrap's electric guitar playing is a feature on this album but he was always first and foremost an acoustic guitarist and before too long the electric guitar featured less and less in his work.

In 1979, Giltrap toured the ''Fear of the Dark'' album with a band that consisted of [[John Gustafson (musician)|John Gustafson]] on bass, who was active in the early Mersey scene and a top session player, and [[Ian Mosley]] on drums, who went on to work with [[Steve Hackett]] and latterly became a full-time member of [[Marillion]]. Old stalwarts Rod Edwards and Eddy Spence shared keyboard duties. Singer Shirlie Roden made a guest appearance on '"Innerdream". One of the dates on the tour was at the [[Oxford Polytechnic]], where the subsequent ''Live at Oxford'' album was recorded.

By this stage in Giltrap's career, he was beginning to be concerned about becoming too predictable. He decided to move away from playing with a band and move back towards solo work. Giltrap's next album ''The Peacock Party'' which was released in 1979, was inspired by a book of the same name. This was in part illustrated by [[Alan Aldridge]] who also painted the colourful cover of the Giltrap album. A previous book entitled ''[[The Butterfly Ball and the Grasshopper's Feast]]'' had inspired an album by [[Roger Glover]] of [[Deep Purple]] which featured a host of stars. The Triumvirate team had also been working on an album inspired by the book featuring the voices of [[Judi Dench]] and [[Michael Hordern]] and it also featured celebrated musicians including [[Gerry Conway (musician)|Gerry Conway]] and [[Bruce Lynch]] both of whom had previously worked extensively with [[Cat Stevens]]. Aldridge appeared to prefer Triumvirates's version and it was he who brought his next book ''The Peacock Party''  to the Triumvirate team to see if they were interested in another project. Triumvirate felt this was a good project for Giltrap to pursue.<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.107</ref>

Giltrap's pieces on this album are less complicated but still feature a full band sound. The whole feel of the album is more upbeat than his previous three. The tracks are shorter in length and, ironically, feature Giltrap playing more electric guitar than previous albums.

As previously mentioned, Giltrap had decided at this stage to move away from more commercial music<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.105</ref> and concentrate solely upon self-penned intricate guitar pieces. Whilst working on ''The Peacock Party'' he decided to retain the big band sound and incorporated many musicians within his pieces with whom he felt comfortable working. For example, the album featured the first of Giltrap's several collaborations with violinist [[Ric Sanders]] of [[Fairport Convention]] and [[John Etheridge]] of [[Soft Machine]] also features.

This album showcased Giltrap's talents from his strident electric guitar work on the opening track, "Headwind" to the intricacy of second acoustic track "Magpie Rag". This track incorporates a complex, oft-repeated riff around which the whole piece is based. The final track, "Dodo's Dream" has become a standard feature of his live performances in which he uses a looper and overdubbing to build up the piece.

When he finished recording, he embarked on a small tour in his favoured trio format which featured Ric Sanders on violin and long-term ally Eddie Spence on keyboards. This diversion concluded at a tricky time in his life when his first marriage broke up and his mother, with whom he was very close, died at age 58 having contracted cancer .<ref>''Perilous Journey''. 2018, First edition, Steve Pilkington, p.111</ref>

The tour to promote the album comprised Giltrap, [[Clive Bunker]] on drums, Rod Edwards on keyboards and 'Bimbo' Acock on saxophone, flute and additional keyboards. The tour was a success and boosted Giltrap at a time when he was feeling really low.