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n second place, the passing of Kate McGarrigle was marked by a hand- some anthology of the McGarrigle Sisters’ early work, putting together remastered versions of their classic first two albums with a third CD of demos and unreleased recordings from the same early 1970s era. It was all produced and annotated by Joe Boyd and Anna McGar- rigle, with fine sound quality and atten- tion to detail in the package.
Half of the top dozen were historic world music recordings, reflecting the fact that world music fans are increasingly looking backwards rather than engaging with what’s being made now, and again that labels like Analog Africa and Sound- way care a great deal about the informa- tion and memorabilia making up the whole package.
Indeed, as we mentioned last year, certain labels are not doing themselves any favours by their misguidedly cheap- skate habit of only sending preview CDs without the packaging to reviewers, or even worse in the case of one US re-issue label who could have done much better otherwise, expecting reviews from mp3 downloads. Er, no…
So to recap, in this section it’s any form of compilation by genre or artist, any reis- sues or first-time issues of older recordings (even when including some new material), local licences of albums which have appeared elsewhere in previous years, any remix albums, and all ‘Various Artist’ com- pilations (whether new or reissue).
REISSUES & COMPILATIONS
1. Hedy West Ballads & Songs From The Appalachians (Fellside)
2. Kate & Anna McGarrigle Tell My Sister (Nonesuch)
3. Various Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974-79 (Analog Africa)
4. Various ‘80s World Music Classics: When The World Was Young (Nascente)
5. Home Service Live 1986 (Fledg’ling)
6= Martin Carthy The Essential (Topic)
Various Cartagena! Cumbia & Descarga Sound Of Colombia 1962-72 (Soundway)
7= Peter Bellamy Merlin’s Isle Of Gramarye (Talking Elephant)
A.L. Lloyd Bramble Briars And Beams Of The Sun (Fellside)
9= Sorry Bamba Vol. 1 (Thrill Jockey)
Various Oak, Ash And Thorn (Folk Police)
Various Opika Pende: Africa At 78 rpm (Dust-To-Digital)
Western Jazz Band Songs Of Happiness, Poison & Ululation (Stern’s)
Runners up (alphabetically): Peter Bel- lamy Oak Ash And Thorn (Talking Ele- phant); Tim Buckley Tim Buckley (Rhino); Sandy Denny Sandy Denny (Universal Box Set); Dr Strangely Strange Heavy Petting (Hux); Fania All Stars Our Latin Thing (Strut); Woody Guthrie Live Wire (Rounder); Muzsikás Fly Bird Fly (Nascente); Tabu Ley Rochereau The Voice Of Lightness Vol. 2 (Stern’s); Leon Rosselson The World Turned Upside Down (Fuse); Ebo Taylor Life Stories (Strut); Richard & Linda Thompson Live At The BBC (Universal); Various Afrolatin (Via Kinshasa) (Syllart); Various Angola Soundtrack: The Unique Sound Of Luanda 1968-1976 (Analog Africa); Various Bahamas – Goombay 1951-1959 (Frémeaux & Associés); Various Begin- ner’s Guide To Scandinavia (Nascente); Various Golden Beirut – New Sounds From Lebanon (Out Here); Various Hear Me Howling! (Arhoolie); Various The Inner Octave (Rif Mountain); Various The Karindula Sessions (Crammed); Various Kosher Nostra – Jewish Gangsters Greatest Hits (Essay); Various Something Is Wrong: Vintage Recordings From East Africa (Hon- est Jon’s); Various To What Strange Place: The Music Of The Ottoman-American Diaspora 1916-1929 (Tompkins Square); VariousWorld Routes: On The Road (Nascente); Nimrod Workman Mother Jones’ Will (Musical Traditions).
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n these days of downloads, it’s quali- ty packaging that can make a big dif- ference to whether you buy the CDs or the files. Artistic skill can produce a must-have artefact of beauty, along with enhancing the listening pleasure by providing ambience and information.
And there are few better exponents of the art of making must-have artefacts than the Dust-To-Digital label. There’s a full review of their fabulous winner on page 60. Let’s just say it deserved it!
1. Various Opika Pende: Africa At 78 rpm (Dust-To-Digital)
2= June Tabor & Oysterband Ragged Kingdom (Topic)
Kate & Anna McGarrigle Tell My Sister (Nonesuch)
4. Jackie Oates Saturnine (ECC)
5. Leon Rosselson The World Turned Upside Down (Fuse)
6. Various Bambara Mystic Soul: The Raw Sound Of Burkina Faso 1974-79 (Analog Africa)
Runners up (alphabetically): Cecil Sharp Project Cecil Sharp Project (Shrewsbury Folk Festival); Ry Cooder Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down (Nonesuch); Andrew Cronshaw The Unbroken Surface Of Snow (Cloud Val- ley); Dub Colossus Dub Me Tender (Yeka Sub City); John Fahey Your Past Comes Back To Haunt You (Dust-To-Digital); Richard & Linda Thompson Live At The BBC (Universal); Vari- ous Hear Me Howling! (Arhoolie); Various …I Lis- ten To The Wind That Oblit- erates My Traces: Music In Vernacular Photographs 1880-1955 (Dust-To-Digital); Various Kosher Nostra: Jewish Gangsters Greatest Hits (Essay); Various Some- thing Is Wrong: Vintage Recordings From East Africa (Honest Jon’s); Various World Routes: On The Road (Nascente).
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