Ed Welch's Clowns: The Lost Masterpiece Before the Fame

Before Blockbusters, before The Wurzels, before the LSO, a 23-year-old classical prodigy and an American folk legend made one quietly perfect pop album. It's finally back.

If you know Ed Welch at all, you probably know him for what came after. The Blockbusters theme, instantly lodged in the brain of every British viewer from 1983 onwards. The Confessions film scores. The Snow Goose with Spike Milligan and the London Symphony Orchestra. Musical direction for The Wurzels. Songs for Thomas & Friends. A CV so varied it borders on the absurd. But before any of that, before he became one of British television's most prolific composers, Welch made a solo album that almost nobody heard, and it might be the finest thing he ever did.

Clowns arrived on United Artists in September 1971, the debut of a 23-year-old arranger who'd been steeped in classical music since childhood. Welch had been a head chorister at Christ Church Cathedral, won a scholarship to Trinity College of Music to study composition alongside Arnold Cooke, and upon graduating in 1965 walked straight into United Artists Music, where he wrote arrangements, composed B-sides, and learned the industry from the ground up. He was no stranger to the studio. But Clowns was something different: a deeply personal collection of songs, composed and arranged by Welch, with lyrics by the American folk singer-songwriter Tom Paxton.

The Welch-Paxton partnership was unlikely on paper. Paxton was already an established figure in American folk, a Greenwich Village veteran aided early on by Pete Seeger. Welch was a classically trained Englishman barely into his twenties. They worked mostly at a distance, Welch posting cassette tapes of new compositions and Paxton sending back lyrics. Paxton's frequent trips to London gave them opportunities to refine ideas in person. The result was a set of songs that drew from neither folk nor rock tradition directly, but from a rare intersection of pop accessibility and classical sophistication. Comparisons to Elton John and Bernie Taupin were inevitable, though the parallel did the album few favours: Clowns slipped quietly through the cracks on release.

The album's session players tell their own story. Cozy Powell, then a few years away from his distinguished career in what he called "heavy" music, plays drums throughout. Michael de Albuquerque handles bass and also produced the record, while Alan Gorrie, later the bassist, singer, and founder of the Average White Band, plays guitar. Recorded at Central Sound Studios with engineer Paul Holland, the sessions reportedly took just two hours. The result sounds nothing like a rush job.

Musically, Clowns moves between upbeat pop, tender balladry, and carefully layered orchestral arrangements with a lightness that belies its craft. "Maybe It's Today" delivers simple, heartfelt expressions of love, elevated by precise, multi-tracked studio work. "It's Another Beautiful Day" draws from everyday moments, carrying sadness alongside a shimmer of hope. "What Did I Do That Was Wrong," written in New York about a certain woman with guitar taking a central role, carries a double meaning. And "The Bird Song," which Paxton famously sang to his children, closes the album on a note of warmth and faith. Each song approaches love from a different angle: heartbreak, longing, joy, optimism. As a whole, Clowns is cohesive and rich in melody, tasteful and hook-filled, never forced.

This new remastered edition from Think Like A Key Music (TLAK1235) features the original eleven-track album plus four bonus tracks: two non-LP singles produced by Michael de Albuquerque, "It Ain't Easy (But I'll Try)" / "Fridays" from November 1971 and "I Should Have Been A Lady" / "All The Way To Richmond" from June 1972. All fifteen tracks have been sourced and remastered by Prof. Stoned. The singles provide perfect insight into what would have been had this album gotten the recognition it deserved, and they offer a companion to the unique and timeless classic that is Clowns.

Despite the album turning 55 years old this year, it remains a hidden gem eager to be rediscovered. A uniquely personal album, and a distinctive entry among the many works to which Ed Welch lent his name. Before the theme tunes and the film scores and the television libraries, there was this: eleven songs about love in all its forms, made by a young man who could already arrange rings around his peers, and a folk poet who gave those arrangements words worth singing.

Tracklist

1. Clowns
2. Maybe It's Today
3. I Couldn't Wait To Tell You
4. Smile Like A Movie Star
5. It's Another Beautiful Day
6. It's All Down To You
7. What Did I Do That Was Wrong
8. Down In The City
9. Show Me The Way To Your Heart
10. The Bird Song
11. We Can Make It

Additional Tracks

12. It Ain't Easy (But I'll Try) (Non-LP Single, November 1971)
13. Fridays (Non-LP Single, November 1971)
14. I Should Have Been A Lady (Non-LP Single, June 1972)
15. All The Way To Richmond (Non-LP Single, June 1972)

Musicians: Drums: Cozy Powell · Bass: Michael de Albuquerque · Guitars: Alan Gorrie & Ed Welch · Piano: Ed Welch · Vocal Backing: Jo Meek, Maria Popkievitch, Frank Aiello, Alan Gorrie & Michael de Albuquerque · Orchestra (leader David Katz) · Arranged & Conducted by Ed Welch

Original Recording Credits: Produced by Michael de Albuquerque · All songs written by Ed Welch & Tom Paxton (except "It Ain't Easy (But I'll Try)" and "I Should've Been A Lady" by Ed Welch) · Recorded at Central Sound Studios · Engineer: Paul Holland

Catalog: TLAK1235 · 2026 Remastered & Expanded Edition · Coordinated by George de Albuquerque & Roger Houdaille · Sourcing and remastering by Prof. Stoned · Sleeve notes: Xander Pas

Ed Welch — Clowns is released May 22, 2026 on Think Like A Key Music.