So, throughout the 1980s The Pathfinder' went to ground once more - spoken of with enthusiasm only by those who had participated in the project and remembered it fondly while 'in their cups' 'A memory in the hawthorn hedge!'And so it remained, until the late nineties, when Mally one day informed me that he had done a full computer sequence of the whole piece.
Not long afterwards, reverting to the 'single handed' principle of the Coast-to-Coast Walk , I sequenced up the parts that had been dropped from the original libretto, I overdubbed a complete vocal part over it and wrote the whole lot to a master CD.
A few copies, a bit of classy label design and the Pathfinder, after years of
tribulation, had finally made it onto a saleable disc. How easy it was in the end!
Now there are two versions of the Pathfinder. The original 70s recordings, and the 90s sequenced version. Mally created the sequence faithfully in the spirit of the original, and his work is excellent, with the advantage of a stylistic homogeneity that was lacking in the earlier version, due to the staggered sessioning and multiple vocalisations.
Of course MIDI has its downside too, in that parts of it tend to sound artificial,
but overall the job is well done - and feels much more complete than the original.
Its really all a matter of taste! So now in 2002, middle aged and grey, it seems that
at long last, I have reached the end of that north country journey I made so long ago,
when I walked from that clifftop at St. Bees. But is the journey really over?
Pathfinder was once envisioned, first as a documentary film, and then as a son-et-lumiere. Songs derived from it have been much gigged down the years, but the piece as a whole has never been performed live.
Now with the advent of the internet, the story is online for all to see, this project that stirred so many hearts and initiated so much activity from so many people. Who knows? Perhaps in the early years of the 21st century a whole new band of friends will be sallying forth to 'take to the land and follow the ley!'
Jim Jarratt 1996
All musical and lyrical material on this site is COPYRIGHT JIM JARRATT & MAL LAWS 2002. No part of THE PATHFINDER may be reproduced or performed for commercial purposes without the express permission of the authors. While it is accepted that parts of the site may be freely downloaded for private use, we ask in return that you respect the ownership of our work.