The 101 strangest records on Spotify: Dave & Toni Arthur – The Lark in the Morning

Reading on mobile? Listen here For a generation of children, Toni Arthur was the bewitchingly odd woman who would regularly appear on Play School in the early 70s. But the multi-talented Arthur, alongside her husband Dave, had another life, that of a fantastically accomplished singer of traditional English and Scottish folk songs. On this follow-up to their 1967 debut, Morning Stands on Tiptoe, they were joined by the brilliant Barry Dransfield on fiddle, but it's the duo's astonishing close-harmonies that the album is really built on. With a sleeve featuring the pair looking like medieval lovers hidden in a forest, The Lark in the Morning has long been a serious collector's piece. One listen to Arthur's unaccompanied vocal on The Merchant's Daughter of Bristol – a 17th-century ballad about female emancipation – or their lusty take on the Scottish folk number All Frolicking I'll Give Over will soon show you why.