New music I'm enjoying
Two CDs dropped on the mat this morning that lifted my spirits more than somewhat: An Evening With and 's new album Backbone.
A.L. Lloyd  - Bert as he was most usually known -  was one of the movers and shakers of the postwar folk revival. As mentioned earlier in these blogs, Bert worked as a , as a on Australian sheep stations, as a journalist (with the great photographer ) and as a producer for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio for Schools. He was an interesting man in every way, an autodidact, a communist, and a musicologist who played a major part in the early years of Topic Records and a great carrier of songs. He helped the greatly in their early years and produced two seminal works on English folk song: The Singing Englishman and Folk Song in England. He sang in folk clubs and at festivals here and abroad and probably brought more songs into the revival than any other single person. Bert sent me many songs, the words written in his clear slanting style, the music noted on hand-drawn staves.
The new album, An Evening With... was recorded at the Top Lock Folk Club in Runcorn in 1972, probably a few days after I saw him at Bury Folk Club. It is Bert at his best, wry and whimsical, arch and passionate. The songs range from big ballads like to sexy romps like Nine Times a Night. There are seventeen tracks, most of them introduced by Bert in his own wonderful way. The quality of the live recording is very good and the re-mastering by Fellside has brought out the best in a terrific album.
Those of us more used to heavily accompanied singing might find the sparseness of the CD a little difficult, but words and music alone - uncluttered by accompaniment - can sometimes get right to the heart of things. For me Bert always did this. He was one of the best. More power to Paul and Linda Adams at Fellside for producing such a classic.
is a great singer, banjo player and melodeon player who has been on the scene for decades and has ploughed his own furrow through countless live appearances and a whole clutch of albums. Like Bert he is an unflinching devotee of the tradition and a passionate and unbending performer. He is never preachy or self-righteous though, and to my way of thinking has always produced great versions of songs and tunes whether modern or from the tradition.
Pete's new album, Backbone, is absolutely superb; great songs and tunes performed with the kind of hard-earned familiarity that only years of singing and playing can bring. He is in better voice than ever and every track on this CD rang out like a bell as I listened to it for the first time. Favourites? Byker Hill, Poor Old Horse and The Blind Man He Can See spring first to mind but really there isn't a duff track on the CD. It hangs together as a whole and is - Â dans mon humble opinion - one of the best albums of the year so far. Self-produced on the Backshift label, it is well worth checking out.
Has anyone else heard these albums? What else are you enjoying these days?
A.L. Lloyd  - Bert as he was most usually known -  was one of the movers and shakers of the postwar folk revival. As mentioned earlier in these blogs, Bert worked as a , as a on Australian sheep stations, as a journalist (with the great photographer ) and as a producer for ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ Radio for Schools. He was an interesting man in every way, an autodidact, a communist, and a musicologist who played a major part in the early years of Topic Records and a great carrier of songs. He helped the greatly in their early years and produced two seminal works on English folk song: The Singing Englishman and Folk Song in England. He sang in folk clubs and at festivals here and abroad and probably brought more songs into the revival than any other single person. Bert sent me many songs, the words written in his clear slanting style, the music noted on hand-drawn staves.
The new album, An Evening With... was recorded at the Top Lock Folk Club in Runcorn in 1972, probably a few days after I saw him at Bury Folk Club. It is Bert at his best, wry and whimsical, arch and passionate. The songs range from big ballads like to sexy romps like Nine Times a Night. There are seventeen tracks, most of them introduced by Bert in his own wonderful way. The quality of the live recording is very good and the re-mastering by Fellside has brought out the best in a terrific album.
Those of us more used to heavily accompanied singing might find the sparseness of the CD a little difficult, but words and music alone - uncluttered by accompaniment - can sometimes get right to the heart of things. For me Bert always did this. He was one of the best. More power to Paul and Linda Adams at Fellside for producing such a classic.
is a great singer, banjo player and melodeon player who has been on the scene for decades and has ploughed his own furrow through countless live appearances and a whole clutch of albums. Like Bert he is an unflinching devotee of the tradition and a passionate and unbending performer. He is never preachy or self-righteous though, and to my way of thinking has always produced great versions of songs and tunes whether modern or from the tradition.
Pete's new album, Backbone, is absolutely superb; great songs and tunes performed with the kind of hard-earned familiarity that only years of singing and playing can bring. He is in better voice than ever and every track on this CD rang out like a bell as I listened to it for the first time. Favourites? Byker Hill, Poor Old Horse and The Blind Man He Can See spring first to mind but really there isn't a duff track on the CD. It hangs together as a whole and is - Â dans mon humble opinion - one of the best albums of the year so far. Self-produced on the Backshift label, it is well worth checking out.
Has anyone else heard these albums? What else are you enjoying these days?
Comment number 1.
At 30th Jul 2010, growland1 wrote:Bert Lloyd was also a great broadcaster. He did a series of 12 half hour radio programmes for Radio 3 in the early 1970s drawing on the treeasures of the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ archives, which would be well worth repeating. Titled 'Songs of the People', or something like that. Ethnic music from around the world, incredible stuff, brilliantly themed and commented upon. And he also did a wonderful hour long tv programme about Maramures, Romania, broadcast maybe in the late 1970s. It'd be nice to see that again too.
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