This review is written by Dai Woosnam, daigress@hotmail.com, 8/06
Bob and Gill are stalwarts of the UK folk
scene. For some years now, they have been the
driving force behind the Chippenham Folk Festival, and Bob is the son
of the much-loved Len & Barbara Berry, better known as the Portway
Pedlars.
And here they have come up with a pleasing album with content that
lives up to its title. Sweet songs like “May Dew” that I
haven’t heard since Derek & Dorothy Elliott, and the very
antithesis of that song, the dark and compelling “Gay Green Gown” from
the singing of Graham & Eileen Pratt.
They are surrounded by the usual crack team of WildGoose instrumentalists.
All are on top form, with non-regular member of this backing
club, Jo
Veal from Hekety, standing out even in this august company! Pity we
could not have heard even more of her inspired clarinet playing.
When it comes to the total 49 minutes, were there any false
moves? No, not really. However on
reflection, they may consider that the sea shanty (track 9) might have
been best left to others. It never quite “happens”.
But I want to look at the plusses.
And to comment on three tracks.
First, Shep Wooley’s “Dockyard Wall”.
Now, this song is a bit of a phenomenon. It is fast
becoming the “Yesterday” of the folk canon! Is there
a LIMIT to the number of people who record it, I wonder?
That dockyard wall now has more young women waiting there than ever
waited on the Reeperbahn on a Saturday night!
I’m sure Shep is delighted. The more the merrier. That’s HIS pension looked after.
And so what am I complaining about? Don’t they do a “decent job” on it?
Yes they do. The best version I have heard since Tom Lewis’s, in fact.
(Don’t let my jaded mutterings mislead you. It is just that I am dockyard-walled-out, pro tem!)
And the other two songs? Well, these are the standout cuts.
First, “I Wandered By A Brook Side”. Yes, I know,
this is a song that has been recorded by several performers
too. But, I had forgotten (if I ever learned in the first
place!) that the truly GLORIOUS melody was written by Bob’s mother
Barbara. And how well the tune fits the simple (but
telling) words of the poem by Baron Richard Monckton Milnes.
And then the other zenith mark: Gill’s impassioned delivery of that
truly searing song about the wife-beater “Calum Moore”. I
haven’t heard this song since Vin Garbutt recorded it on his “Little
Innocents” album. Here it gains even greater power being sung by
a woman (though in theory, it shouldn’t). Plus maybe this
“power” is added to by Anahata’s brooding cello (always giving
testament to what happened the night before).
And the 14 songs are accompanied by that hallmark of a WildGoose album:
the very classily-presented liner notes. Here, they do not
fail me. Wonderfully legible, as ever.
And whereas, many other folk labels have spelling errors in their liner
notes as almost “de rigueur”, not so with WildGoose. Clear
effort is made with the proof-reading.
However, I did spot one tiny one. “Gay Green Gown” was collected from IsAiah Sully, and not “Isiah”.
A minor point. Don’t let that detract from a very decent CD.
Dai Woosnam
Grimsby, England
daigress@hotmail.com
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