NEWSLETTER #129
Folk Music - American, British Isles,
Europe
Albion Morris -> Gabriel Yacoub
| ALBION MORRIS KARAN CASEY AOIFE CLANCY DR. STRANGELY STRANGE FLOOK THE JOHNSTONS PATRICK STREET |
JOHN RENBOURN JEAN RITCHIE DAVE SWARBRICK VARIOUS JOHN WILLIAMS GABRIEL YACOUB |
| ENGLAND | ALBION MORRIS | Foad 30 | Still Dancing After All These Years | ● CD $21.98 |
| Recent recordings with narration by Shirley Collins and
instrumental work from Ian Cutler, Michael Gregory, Phillip Pickett, Graeme
Taylor, John Watcham and others. |
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| IRELAND | KARAN CASEY | Shanachie 78053 | Distant Shore | ● CD $15.98 |
| 11 tracks, 41 mins., recommended. Fronting the band Solas,
Casey's voice floated above their damn-the-torpedoes energy. Here, to
showcase the crystal clarity and vulnerability of her voice, she's pared
back the arrangements and created some lovely dynamics in a collection old
and new, in English and Irish. Easing into things sweetly, by the end of the
second track, Tim O'Brien's Another Day, she's got you by the throat
and all you want to do is sing along on the chorus. Her high voice soars
beautifully on slow, intimate songs like Just a Note, over liquid
guitar and flute. And while The Four Loom Weaver never shouts, it's a
heck of a rocker, just the same. (DC) |
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| IRELAND | AOIFE CLANCY | Appleseed 1065 | Silvery Moon | ● CD $15.98 |
| 11 tracks, 44 mins., recommended. Clancy is daughter of
Bobby Clancy of Clancy Brothers fame, so it's no surprise she's one fine
singer. Her voice is smooth as silk, and well showcased in spare, tasty
arrangements from simple piano accompaniment to a full band of guitar,
fiddle, flute, bass, and percussion. And while she's chosen a nice mix of
traditional and contemporary songs by the likes of Mark Simos and Ron Kavana,
her voice seems best suited to the slow ballads, like the opening track
The Nightbird. The set ends with a duet with her father on Kisses
Sweeter Than Wine. (DC) |
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| ENGLAND | DR. STRANGELY STRANGE | Progressive Line 570 | Kip Of The Serenes | ● CD $23.98 |
| Reissue of first album from 1970 by this cult folk band very
much in the vein of the Incredible String Band. Unlike their second album
listed last time this one is all acoustic featuring accompaniments on
guitar, whistle, organ, piano, glockenspiel, mandolin, percussion, etc. All
original songs by group members Ivan Pawle, Tim Goulding and Tim Booth. With
titles like Strangely Strange But Oddly Normal/ Roy Rogers/ ..On The West
Cork Hack and Strings In The Earth And Air you can be sure you're
in for psychedelic folk experience. |
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| IRELAND | FLOOK | Flatfish 004 | Rubai | ● CD $17.98 |
| 14 tracks, 40 mins., highly recommended. This is one wild UK
quartet of neo-trad whizzes, building intense grooves and pulsing rhythms
under two killer flutes. On this, their third CD, they exhibit an almost
exhausting virtuosity, taking jigs and reels into places where few bands
besides The Horseflies have succeeded in going. The guitar, mandolin, and
bodhran band bed here is augmented by guests on bass, fiddle, trombone,
wah-wah mandolin, e-bow guitar, and percussion. It would be difficult to
describe the arrangements other than to say that each tune zings with new
invention and that Greek, African, and other boundary-leveling influences
pop in at just the right moment. It's all beautifully recorded and
dazzlingly performed. Boy, would I love to see these guys live! (DC) |
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| IRELAND | THE JOHNSTONS | Castle CMRCD 612 | Give A Damn - The Folk-Rock Years | ● CD $13.98 |
| 23 track compilation of sides recorded between 1968 and 1971
by this fine Irish folk quartet which found them moving away from the
traditional flavored acoustic sounding recordings they had performed
previously to a more contemporary folk rock style showing the influences of
West Coast stylings. They perform several originals along with songs from
the pens of Joni Mitchell, Leonard Cohen, Ewan MacColl and other lesser
known writers. |
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| IRELAND | PATRICK STREET | Green Linnet 1222 | Street Life | ● CD $15.98 |
| 10 tracks, 46 mins., recommended. Another masterful set from
four of the finest British Isles musicians of our time, Andy Irvine, Ged
Foley, Kevin Burke, and Jackie Daly. As on previous CDs, they pass around
the spotlight, doing what each loves best with the help of the rest. Jackie
and Kevin play their wonderfully tight instrumental sets, this time mixing
in well-known session tunes like Saddle the Pony and Drowsy Maggie
and giving them a unique Patrick Street sparkle. Ged offers an Aussie
love-gone-wrong song and If We Had Built a Wall, a lament on Irish
partition. Andy weighs in with his requisite dreamy love ballad Green
Grows the Laurel and self-penned pro-union tip of the hat to Woody
Guthrie. It's all played with such masterful ease-another lovely hour with
the boys. (DC) |
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| ENGLAND | JOHN RENBOURN | Vestapol DVD 13032 | Rare Performances, 1965-1995 | ● CD $23.98 |
| 90 mins., incl. 64-pg. text w/tab, essential. Now on DVD. A
brilliant series of video clips spanning the entire career of one of the
era's defining guitarists. We see John bouncing ideas and laughs off Bert
Jansch in the pre-Pentangle days, then 3 songs with the seminal Pentangle in
full flower, before stepping off into collaborations with the Renbourn Group
and Stefan Grossman and many awesome solo performances. Most of the
camera-work is guitar-friendly, clearly illustrating hand positions and
picking technique. Well-chosen repertoire of more than 25 songs shows the
breadth of Renbourn's skills, from the medieval Trotto to the moody
Irish Lament for Owen Roe O'Neil to the smirky American Candyman
to exquisite jazz arrangements like Goodbye Porkpie Hat. One of the
most impressive pieces here is Little Niles, originally written for
jazz piano, but sculpted perfectly here on the guitar (and provided in tab
notation). Entertaining and well-produced - a real video gem. (DC) |
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| AMERICAN | JEAN RITCHIE | Smithsonian Folkways 40145 | Ballads From Her Appalachian Family Tradition | ● CD $15.98 |
| ENGLAND | DAVE SWARBRICK | Storyville 1025702 | Lift The Lid And Listen | ● CD $16.98 |
| Excellent album of traditional tunes originally issued in
1978 - with Roger Marriot/ melodeon, harmonica, flute & whistle; Beryl
Marriot/ piano; Simon Nicol/ guitar & bass; Dave Pegg/ bass; Savourna
Stevenson/ harp, Bruce Rowland/ drums and others. |
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| MISCELLANEOUS | VARIOUS ARTISTS | I-C-U-B4_T CUP 8023 | War On War | ● CD $16.98 |
| A collection of mostly new anti-war songs featuring mostly
European artists along with a few from the USA - Robb Johnson, Adam Brodsky,
Attila The Stockbroker, Jaune Toujours, Vera Coomans & Tom Theuns, Luther
Zevenrgen, Leon Rosselson, Jospeh Porter & others. |
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| IRELAND | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Rounder 6005 | Traditional Irish Music In America - The East Coast | ● CD $15.98 |
| 21 tracks, 51 mins., good. In the mid-70s Mick Moloney
headed a huge field recording project to capture the Irish American musical
scene where it flourished most, along the east coast and in Chicago. This CD
spotlights Moloney's recordings of 2 generations of players from Boston, New
York, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, those who didn't already have
recordings out but who nevertheless were influential in maintaining and
passing on the traditional styles. Featured ore accordionists Sean McGlynn
and Gene Kelly, fiddlers Brian Conway, John Vesey, and Maureen Fitzpatrick,
and flutists Mike Flynn and Paddy Cronin. The sound is as one might expect,
recorded mostly in livingrooms, but the energy is there and players looking
for new repertoire or old-country ornaments will find plenty to interest
them. (DC) |
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| IRELAND | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Rounder 6006 | Traditional Irish Music In America - Chicago | ● CD $15.98 |
| 19 tracks, 40 mins., good. This is a companion CD to the
"East Coast" Rounder collection, also recorded and produced by Mick Moloney,
a fine player in his own right. It's a smaller stylistic sample than the
East Coast CD and gives more attention to the oldest available players,
including flutists Frank Thornton and accordionist Terry Teahan, both born
before the First World War. The whole 1970s Chicago scene is highlighted,
all the way to a final track by the then very young but already influential
fiddler Liz Carroll. As field recordings, these are of interest mostly to
those building repertoire or serious about emulating particular regional
styles. The liner notes are excellent and comprehensive, reminding us of a
rich chapter in the development of traditional music in America. (DC) |
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| MISCELLANEOUS | VARIOUS ARTISTS | Sanctuary 81284 | Troubadours Of Folk - The 60s Acoustic Explosion | ● CD $19.98 |
| 2 CDs, 41 tracks, 128 mins., recommended A wonderfully
spotty trip to the British folk scene of the 60s - but only spotty because
the folk scene ran the gamut from brilliant to painfully bad. It's all here
in all its innocent glory, from visionaries like Roy Harper, Bert Jansch,
and-yes-Donovan, to a scattering of English acts that tried desperately to
sound American and came up as outtakes for "A Mighty Wind." 500 Miles
provides a perfect explanation of why skiffle king Lonnie Donegan never made
the jump to the U.S. (or to the late 60s, for that matter). We get what is
possibly the worst song the Incredible String Band ever recorded-a Dr.
Demento gem. A pre-Velvet Underground Nico tries in vain to sing over a
nightmare Petula Clark orchestration, and Sandy Denny just sounds terrified
singing This Train. But other early work by Andy Irvine's band
Sweeney's Men, Jansch and Renbourn, Ralph McTell and more show the glorious
side of a musical movement that never quite knew what direction it was
headed. At times nostalgic, at times unwittingly hilarious, and with fairly
comprehensive liner notes, this is a fun, if flawed collection. (DC) |
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| IRELAND | JOHN WILLIAMS | Green Linnet 1215 | Steam | ● CD $15.98 |
| 13 tracks, 46 mins., recommended. One heck of a polished
album by a tremendously gifted Irish accordion player. Williams, who first
announced his chops to American audiences as a member of Solas, here takes
center stage, backed by the best studio talent the scene can offer for a
rollicking set of dance music that covers considerable emotional territory.
With the likes of John Doyle, Seamus Egan, Dennis Cahill, and Randall Bays
helping drive the arrangements, you know you're going to get rock-steady
high-energy jigs and reels. But Williams mixes his textures and moods well,
switching from accordion to concertina and then to whistle and flute as
well, trading lead licks with fiddler Liz Carroll on several tracks. It's
all beautifully done and delivered with masterly confidence. (DC) |
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| FRANCE | GABRIEL YACOUB | E.L.F. Production 003 | The Simple Things We Said (Les Choses Les Plus Simples) | ● CD $16.98 |
| 14 tracks, 49 mins, essential Lovely new album from this
brilliant French singer, songwriter and guitarist - his first in quite a
while. On this album Gabriel revisits some songs he has recorded before
along with some newer compositions. Gabriel is one of the finest singers
anywhere with a wonderful soulful and smoky voice. Arrangements are kept
simple - most tracks are just Gabriel on guitar or mandocello with Nathalie
Riviere/ violin and Yannick Hardouin/ bass plus occasional additional
instrumental or vocal accompaniments. Gabriel's music is deeply steeped in
traditional music and although the material is mostly contemporary there is
a strong traditional feel throughout. Gabriel is expert at working with
harmony vocals and a couple of tracks feature this spine chilling sound. My
favorite track here is the magnificent Jour De Lessive based around a
poem by late 19th/ early 20th century writer and proto beatnik Gaston Coute
set to a simply gorgeous tune by Gabriel - it alone is worth the price of
admission. The title song is a lovely song about communication and it opens
the CD sung in English and ends it in French. (FS)
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