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Folk
Music Of The British Isles & Europe
England
Ewan
MacColl -> Julie Murphy
| EWAN MACCOLL |
Recall 149 |
Antiquities |
● CD $16.98 |
Two CD selection of 29 tracks recorded by this important
artist for Cooking Vinyl in the 80s. It includes original compositions
(new and old), songs by his wife Peggy Seeger and traditional songs - First
Time I Saw Your Face/ Cam Ye Oer Frae France/ Ballad Of Accounting/
Looking For A Job/ Moving On Song/ We Remember (Naming Of names) / The
Machester Rambler/ Maggie Went Green/ The Press Gang/ The Driver's Song/
The Joy Of Living, etc.
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| EWAN MACCOLL |
Topic TSCD 502 |
Chorus From The Gallows |
● CD $15.98 |
Songs about criminals and crime - with Peggy Seeger/
guitar & banjo - Derek Bentley/ Jamie Raeburn's Farewell/ Hughie
The Graeme/ The Treadmill Song/ The Crafty Farmer/ Jimmy Wilson/ Van
Dieman's Land, etc.
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| IAN MATTHEWS |
Line 9.00014 |
Shook |
● CD $18.98 |
10 songs - Shorting Out/ Wild Places/ Wish, etc.
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| JULIE MATTHEWS |
Road Goes On Forever RGFCD 030 |
Such Is Life |
● CD $17.98 |
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| TOM MCCONVILLE |
Old Bridge Music 01 |
Cross The River |
● CD $16.98 |
14 tracks, 44 mins, recommended. Tom McConville is an
excellent singer and fiddle player from the North of England. His singer
is warm and affecting and he is a smooth and lyrical fiddle player. At
times he is joined by other musicians like Des Hurley/ fiddle, Andrew
Hurley/ bodhran, Chris Newman/ guitar, bass and mandolin. The songs are a
mix of traditianal and contemporary and include a fine Robert Burns poem
set to music - How Can My Poor Heart, the powerful Johnny Miner
by Ed Pickford and a fine unaccompanied version of I Wish The Wars Were
All Over. The instrumentals includes jigs, reels and a waltz. On a
couple of tracks the twin fiddles of McConville and Dez Hurley are very
effective. (FS)
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| SHELAGH MCDONALD |
Mooncrest CRESTCD 040 |
Stargazer |
● CD $15.98 |
Reissue of 1971 album by English singer/ songwriter
including several previously unissued sides.
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| RORY MCLEOD |
Cooking Vinyl COOKCD 018 |
Footsteps And Heartbeats |
● CD $22.98 |
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| RORY MCLEOD |
Cooking Vinyl COOKCD 48 |
Travelling Home |
● CD $22.98 |
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| RORY MCLEOD |
Cooking Vinyl COOKCD 51 |
Angry Love |
● CD $22.98 |
9 tracks, 42 min, highly recommended. Previously on Forward 004. Rory
MacLeod is wonderfully talented singer, songwriter and musician who writes
some brilliantly perceptive, witty and tuneful songs covering such topics
as capitalism, race relations, the oppression of people who dare to be
different, the pain of aging, a nostalgic view of his mother and some
excellent love songs. In spite of the seriousness of the topics Rory's
lyrics are so witty and his tunes so memorable that they are much more
likely to be remain in your memory than tuneless soapbox messages. Rory is
a fine singer with a rich cockney accent and a talented musician - he
accompanies himself on guitars, harmonicas and percussion and is joined by
several other talented musicians who provide banjo, mandolin, trumpets,
drums, keyboards, etc. The arrangements are varied & wonderful drawing
on a wide diversity of music including elements of blues (Farewell
Welfare), calypso (Pauline's Song - try and stop yourself from
singing along with this one if you can!), tangos (the wonderful The
Wind Is Getting Stronger), reggae (Angry Love), etc. (FS)
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| RALPH MCTELL |
Red House 86 |
From Clare To Here - The Songs Of Ralph
McTell |
● CD $14.98 |
16 tracks, 68 mins., recommended Ralph is among the warmest
of all the folk song writers of this generation. Since his first and
biggest hit, Streets of London in the early 70s, he has remained an
engaging poet with an eye for little details that make his stories
particularly human. This 1991 compilation includes Streets, three
new versions of older songs, and one previously unreleased track, Summer
Girls, along with slections culled from earlier recordings. No
reference is made to which albums were mined for this CD, so if your
McTell collection is large, you may already have many of these. If not,
this is a fine set, with Ralph's big baritone helped by the likes of
Richard Thompson, Maartin Allcock, Phil Collins, Gerry Conway, and more.
Moody, romantic, lush, and honest. (DC)
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| MR. FOX |
Castle Music America 667 |
Mr. Fox/ The Gypsy |
● CD $11.98 |
Now available domestically. The two albums by short lived
but fine folk group now on one CD.
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| THE MRS ACKROYD BAND |
Mrs Ackroyd Records 7 |
Oranges And Lemmings |
● CD $16.98 |
13 tracks, 49 minutes, good. A bunch of the usual suspects
in the English trad scene (e.g. Martin Carthy and June Tabor) rally 'round
the fictitious Mrs. Ackroyd and come up with - a comedy album. Written
mostly by Les Barker and produced by Chris Harvey, this disc contains a
few chuckles: Tabor and Lesley Davies barely keeping tongues in cheek
while trading verses on The Trains of Waterloo, the tragic tale of
a banker who falls afoul of a commuter train; Carthy's droll paean to The
Hard Cheeses of Old England; and a parody of a Tammy Wynette
spell-along, dedicated to the Welsh town with the longest name in the
world. Half these tracks suffer from a home-production sound (drum
machines, wheezy synthesizers), but the other half are quite pretty
ballads, despite the sometimes funny, sometimes stupid lyrics. Recommended
only if you host a public radio program; the rest of you will probably
enjoy it once, then maybe play your favorite tracks for friends. (JRB)
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| THE MRS ACKROYD BAND |
Mrs Ackroyd DOG 010 |
Gnus & Roses |
● CD $16.98 |
16 tracks, 60 mins, recommended Yes, you read it right - it
is "Gnus & Roses" and it means that Britain's master of the
parody and pun is back with his "band" which includes Eliza
Carthy, Lesley Davies, Martin Carthy, Chris Harvey, Norma Waterson, Martin
Allcock and others. This is a collection of mostly song parodies massacring
traditional folk songs (My Husband's Got No Porridge In
Him/ Johnny You're So Peculiar/ The Schwartzenegging Song/ Belle's Bonnie
Bogey, etc), contemporary folk writers (Down With The Sausage Roll/
The January June), pop hits (Send In The Cones/ Leader Of The
Treens) and even blues (Born Under A Road Sign). There are also
several original Barker songs (Dachshunds With Erections Can't Climb
Stairs/ Nobody Hugs A Hedgehog and others) but these are not as
interesting as the parodies. It doesn't all work but there is some great
stuff here. My Husband's Got No Porridge In Him sung unaccompanied
by Norma Waterson is true genius being several parodies rolled into one.
(FS)
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| JULIE MURPHY |
Beautiful Jo 26 |
Black Mountains Revisited |
● CD $18.98 |
9 tracks, 45 mins, recommended Splendid singer from Wales,
formerly with the group Fernhill. She performs a diverse collection of
material - most of it traditionally based. Some of the songs are straight
traditional songs, others are updated traditional songs, there's original
songs with traditional tunes and more. Accompanying musicians includes
Martin Simpson/ guitars, Danny Thompson/ double bass, Stacy Blythe/
keyboards, Nigel Eaton/ hurdy gurdy and others. Highlight is the chilling Sylvie
sung to the tune of Nottamun Town (FS)
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