NEWSLETTER #144
Folk Music - American, British Isles, etc.
Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick
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Various Artists
| OYSTERBAND |
Westpark 87118 |
The 25th Anniversary Concert |
● DVD $18.98 |
122 mins, essential
One of Britain's great bands
celebrates 25 years together (actually 27 years but they took their time
getting this celebration together!). Their newest member,
drummer Lee
Partis, has been with them for 14 years so as you can imagine the band is
as tight and empathetic as any band could be and for this live concert
recorded at London's Forum theater in December 2003 they are joined by
uileann piper James O'Grady who blends in seamlessly with the rest of the
group. Their material is mostly original often with a dark, gloomy message
but presented with powerful and straight ahead rhythms and catchy singable
hooks. John Jones' lead vocals are consistently intense and convincing
while Ian Telfer's taut fiddle and concertina sound sound always lurks in
the background to keep things tense. Harking back to their days as a
straight folk band they also do stunning versions of the traditional songs
Molly Bond and Blackwaterside. June Tabor who recorded an
album with them joins them for two songs and they are also joined by
Chumbawamba (acoustic) for a couple of songs. I was ready to give this a
"highly recommended" rating but then for their final encore The Oysters,
June and Chumbawamba join together in an acapella version of the
traditional Appalachian hymn Bright Morning Star - one of my all
time favorite songs - and when those icy fingers crept down my spine and
tears came to my eyes I knew that nothing less than "essential" would be
appropriate. The concert itself last 91 minutes and as bonuses we have 20
minutes devoted to seeing the band getting ready for the show which is
full of factoids - my favorite being that their smallest show was at a
club in Norway where they sold zero tickets but sold four CDs to the bar
staff. Their is also a very goofy music video of them doing New York
Girls from their 1989 album "Ride" plus a discography of their albums.
Fabulous! (FS)
|
| MARTIN
CARTHY & DAVE SWARBRICK |
Topic TSCD 556 |
Straws In The Wind |
● CD $16.98 |
14 tracks, 63 mins, highly recommended
Marthy Carthy &
Dave Swarbrick have worked together on and off for more than 40 years and
have achieved a musical empathy that is spine chilling as this gorgeous
album amply proves. The songs are all traditional and mostly drawn from
the "Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs" including the stunningly moving
Ship In Distress and the grisly Lord Thomas And Fair Eleanor.
There are three instrumental tracks featuring Dave's superb fiddle - a set
of traditional tunes and two original compositions - on the lovely My
Heart's In New South Wales the duo are joined by guitarist Kevin
Dempsey. Martin provides intelligent and witty backgrounds to all the
music. A gem! (FS)
|
| PAUL CLAYTON |
Empire Musicwerks 450 765-2 |
Whaling And Sailing Songs From the Days Of
Moby Dick |
● CD $12.98 |
20 tracks, 40 min., recommended
Seems to be a more or less
straight reissue of a Tradition LP recorded in June 1956 by Clayton,
himself the descendant of a whaling family. These songs date from the
middle of the 19th century and several are actually mentioned in the works
of Herman Melville and in Dana's classic Two Years Before The Mast, as
well as in other literature. Some were collected by Clayton from the the
logs of old whaling ships. (Many of the songs were apparently sung by the
sailors as they did their various tasks on the ship.) With simple guitar
accompaniment, Paul Clayton does an admirable job of lending the songs an
authentic feel, achieved, ironically, by rendering them in the folk
tradition of his own time. Among the most charming of his efforts is
Johnny's Gone To Hilo, The Girls Around Cape Horn, The
Turkish Revelee, and Boney Was A Warrior. A fascinating album.
(JC)
|
| SANDY DENNY |
Castle CMRCD 1181 |
Where The Time Goes |
● CD $14.98 |
18 tracks, 23 tracks, highly recommended
Sandy Denny was
truly one of the great voices on the British folk scene and her death in
1978 at the age of 30 robbed the world of a remarkable talent. She came to
the attention of most listeners when she joined Fairport Convention in
1968 but prior to that she had been active on the London club scene for
several years. The recordings here were originally made in 1967 for the
Saga label and feature Sandy accompanied by her own guitar and the Johnny Silvo Folk Four, Alex Campbell and others on a selection of American and
British traditional songs along with contemporary songs from Jackson
Frank, Tom Paxton, Alex Campbell and others. This is the first reissue to
include all known alternate takes, some of which are quite different to
the familiar ones and has been remastered from best available sources (the
original master tapes no longer exist). As a bonus we also get her two
songs with The Strawbs from the same year which included the first
recording of her most famous song Who Knows Where The Time Goes.
Although her greatest years were ahead of her and the material and
arrangements are occasionally dull the breathtaking crystalline purity of
her voice is evident and her recording of Jackson Frank's You Never
Wanted Me and Tom Paxton's The Last Thing On My Mind are real
spine chillers. Includes in depth notes by Sandy's biographer Clinton
Heylin. (FS)
|
| BOB FOX |
Topic TSCD 555 |
The Blast |
● CD $16.98 |
10 tracks, 47 mins, highly recommended
Bob Fox is one of
Britain's finest folk performers with a warm, rich North of England voice
and a superb guitar style. He is best known for his work with Stu Luckley
but has also turned out a number of fine solo albums of which this is the
best. Some of his previous recordings have featured arrangements that get
in the way but this is just Bob and his guitar on a selection of mostly
traditional songs along with more recent compositions. Almost all the
songs relate to the life of the working man - particularly coal miners and
men who work on ships and the disc opens with a stunning rendition of Ed
Pickford's A Miner's Life and including fine versions of Alex
Glasgow's All In A Day, The Broomfield Wager, the
heartbreaking Recruited Collier and others. I've admired Bob Fox's
work for many years and I think this is his finest recording since his
albums with Stu Luckley in the 70s. (FS)
|
| BOB FRANKE |
Waterbug 66 |
The Other Evening In Chicago |
● CD $16.98 |
28 tracks (17 songs), 75 min., nearly recommended
A
pleasant enough traditional guitar toting folksinger/songwriter, Franke
has a voice that's always finding its limits and songs generally good
enough to make listeners forgive it. His troubadour affectations can be a
little off-putting at times, but at his best (as on A Healing In This
Night, Hard Love, and Love Bravely, Elizabeth, written
for his daughter), Franke can turn out a beautiful moment or two. His
sense of humor seems confined to amusing numbers, such as My Lover's
T-Shirts, even though it would be welcome on some of his stiffer
efforts. Excessive sincerity can be a fault in song if not in life. His
first album, "One Night In Chicago" (now out of print) is referred to in
the title here on this live show, performed on WFMT radio's "Folkstage"
and released on Andrew Calhoun's always interesting Waterbug label. (JC)
|
| PENTANGLE |
Castle CMQCD 555 |
Solomon's Seal |
● CD $22.98 |
9 tracks, 35 mins, highly recommended
This is known as the
"lost" Pentangle record, as it was their last recording sessions and
initially only came out in a limited vinyl addition. Consequently, the
master tapes were deemed lost ever since, so no proper reissue, let alone
CD issue has come out until now. Recently rediscovered (I'll let you read
the liner notes for that story,) and re-mastered at the Abbey Road tape
room, this is a real joy to the ears and (possibly) worth the wait.
Capturing the English Folk legends at full power with the usual wide
palate of musical styles and influences (is that a Sitar that I hear on
track 3?) Fans of the band will love this. (JM)
|
| PETE SEEGER |
Smithsonian Folkways 40153 |
American Favorite Ballads, Vol. 4 |
● CD $14.98 |
28 tracks, 72 min., highly recommended
Few have had
greater influence on American music than has Pete Seeger. These enduring
and endearing recordings (waxed in the 1950s and early 1960s) feature
Seeger and his banjo or 12-string guitar as they apply themselves to some
of the the most famous and greatest American ballads. You Are My
Sunshine, Banks Of The Ohio, Old Maid's Song, Go
Down, Moses, and others are well known in any number of versions by
countless performers, but there is something archetypal sounding in
Seeger's versions. Other traditional pieces such as All My Trials
and No More Auction Block are haunting glimpses into America's
perfect past. And Seeger's humorous "conversation" in Hole In The
Bucket is perfectly executed. This volume includes a 32-page booklet
with extensive song notes by Guy Logsdon and Jeff Place. (JC)
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Gott Discs 047 |
The Radio Ballads - The Song Of Steel |
● CD $16.98 |
14 tracks, 57 mins, highly recommended
Between 1957 and
1964 the B.B.C. presented a series of eight "radio ballads" devised and
compiled by Ewan MacColl, Charles Parker and Peggy Seeger telling the
stories of rarely heard communities. The programs were sound montages
featuring songs, instrumental music, sound effects and the recorded voices
of those whose lives were dealt with in the program. These have been
reissued on CD by Topic (801 through 808 - $14.98 each). In 2006 the B.B.C.
decided to revisit the concept and called on the services of John Leonard
as executive producer and the brilliantly talented John Tams as music
director dealing with contemporaries issues. Tams and a group of
incredibly talented singers and songwriters provide the music behind and
around the stories told by the participants. This first volume deals with
the decline of steel making industry in Sheffield and Rotheram and more
than 40 men and women were interviewed about hard shifts feeding red-hot
furnaces, rolling out steel bars and slaking fierce thirsts with pints of
beer. They tell stories of horror, hardship and death as well as tales of
humor and stoicism. The stories and the music combine to tell a powerful
and moving story that will linger with you long after hearing it. (FS)
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Gott Discs 048 |
The Radio Ballads - The Enemy That Lives
Within |
● CD $16.98 |
The second volume in this powerful and moving series deals
with people living with HIV/ AIDS. The spoken word part has people
suffering from the virus or living with people with the virus telling
their stories interspersed with songs written and performed by Jez Lowe,
Chris While, Karine Polwart, Julie Matthews and John Tams.
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
Smithsonian Folkways 40166 |
Classic Labor Songs From Smithsonian
Folkways |
● CD $11.98 |
27 tracks, 78 min., recommended
Recordings date from the
1950s to the 1990s, and unsurprisingly, many of the finest moments come
from Woodie Guthrie (1913 Massacre), Pete Seeger with the Almanac
Singers (Talking Union), Mike Seeger (Cotton Mill Colic),
and Hazel Dickens (Black Lung. But many lesser known, more recent
performers offer fervent labor statements, including the excellent The New
Harmony Sisterhood Band (Union Maid), Bobbie McGee (Bread And
Roses), Larry Penn (Been Rolling So Long), Eddie Starr (I'm
Union And I'm Proud), and Kenny Winfree (I'm A Union Card). The
26-page booklet is full of nifty vintage photos and informative notes. One
picture shows workers holding a sign that says, "We want clothes for our
children and enough for them to eat." How dare they? (JC)
THE ALMANAC SINGERS: Casey Jones (Union Scab)/ Talking
Union/ HAZEL DICKENS: Black Lung/ ANNE FEENEY: We Just Come to Work Here,
We Don't Come to Die/ JON FROMER: We Do the Work/ JOE GLAZER: Automation/
Solidarity Forever/ The Mill Was Made of Marble/ Too Old to Work/ We Shall
Not Be Moved/Roll the Union On/ WOODY GUTHRIE: 1913 Massacre/ JOHN HANDCOX:
Roll the Union On/ TOM JURAVICH: VDT/ BOBBIE MCGEE: Bread and Roses/
AGUILA NEGRA: De Colores/ NEW HARMONY SISTERHOOD BAND: Union Maid/ JOHN
O'CONNOR: Carpal Tunnel/ LARRY PENN: Been Rolling So Long/ UTAH PHILLIPS:
The Preacher and the Slave/ ELAINE PURKEY: One Day More/ FLORENCE REECE:
Which Side Are You On?/ PAUL ROBESON: Joe Hill/ MIKE SEEGER: Cotton Mill
Colic/ PEGGY SEEGER: Aragon Mill/ EDDIE STARR: I'm Union and I'm Proud/
JOE UEHLEIN: Hold the Fort/ KENNY WINFREE: I'm a Union Card
|
| VARIOUS ARTISTS |
West Virginia University Press 8 |
Coal Digging Blues |
● CD $15.98 |
19 tracks, 46 mins, highly recommended
Powerful and moving
collection of field recordings made in 1940 by folklorist George Korson in
West Virginia featuring songs by and about coal mining. There are three
white solo singers with guitar and three African-American harmony groups.
The songs deal with the trials and tribulations of life in the mines, the
important changes made by the unions, conflicts within the union, the
beloved Franklin D. Roosevelt and the loathed scabs. Sound quality is
excellent and 20 page booklet has informative notes by Mark Allen Jackson.
An invaluable and important release. (FS)
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