f116 NORMA WATERSON
An Introduction To Norma Waterson Topic TICD012
This is part of Topic’s series of CDs introducing established artists. As an “introduction” this gives you a great flavour of the body and diversity of recordings that Norma has been involved in from 1964 to the present day.
Her voice is distinctive, warm and effort- less in its delivery and the material is wonder- fully varied, reflecting her life-long wish to preserve and share this glorious repertoire by simply singing great traditional and contem- porary songs.
It opens, rightly, with a solo song swiftly followed by a duet with her sister Lal. The solo establishes her unique vocal timbre for the uninitiated and allows you to then identi- fy her throughout the following tracks. The duet, where she sings harmony, shows the similarities and differences between the voic- es of these siblings and also lets you know that this CD isn’t Norma on her own but one where she “predominantly features”, and where there are different groupings depend- ing on which album the track has been taken from. Favourite songs for me are T Stands For Thomas because of the Lal and Norma dynamic and the chilling Oxford Girl for the story and tune.
The introductory sleeve notes are good and informative but each track listing is of all the artists on the original album, not who is on the actual track. That irritated me a bit.
Not an easy job to pick the tracks to introduce such a prolific, great singer, so well done Topic – this really does the job.
topicrecords.co.uk Jo Freya Norma Waterson
BEN WALKER The Fox On The Downs Folk Room FRR1801
PHILLIP HENRY True North Dragonfly Roots DRCD005
Two CDs from guitarists best known for their work with singers, here putting themselves into the limelight. Ben Walker’s intricate, limpid playing superbly complements Josi- enne Clarke’s vocals; on this four-track mini- album he first tackles A Trip To Nettelbed, from the 1760 Thompson’s Compleat Country Dances, and John Dowland’s Lachrimae Pavan, both of which suit him down to the ground, with the variations on the former and the lute-like solemnity of the latter per- fect vehicles for his ribbon-like guitar weav- ings. His own A Day At The Races/The Fox On The Downs is an Irish-inspired medley with rasquedo right-hand work, and The Cross Kings/The Pepperpot brings everything home with flourishes and good humour. An excel- lent calling card all round.
folkroom.co.uk
Phillip Henry’s debut solo album, after five with Hannah Martin, is what you’d expect from a master of many slide styles: immaculate playing on Dobro, Weissenborn and National guitars, plus the 22-string Indi- an Chaturangui, which Henry learned under its designer, Pandit Debashish Bhat- taracharya. This variety of tones and sounds suits the equally varied selections of tunes and songs, from O’Carolan’s Welcome (Irish- Indian fusion on the Chaturangui) and Tim O’Brien’s wanderer’s song, Brother Wind, through to tunes by Tim Edey (Little Bird) and Devon fiddler Helena Torpy’s Attingham Waltz; the space around the sounds is always
to the fore, and this is a slow-paced, medita- tive album most of the time, although the inspired medley of Blind Willie Johnson’s I Can’t Keep From Crying Sometimes and Grace’s 1996 hit Not Over Yet, and the final Chaturangui tune, Kalyan Variations, break the mood a little. Henry mentions “the essence of slide guitar” in the sleevenotes, and this album is a pretty good example of just that.
philliphenry.co.uk Chris Frederick
EDDI READER Cavalier Reveal REVEAL077CDX
SIOBHAN MILLER Mercury Songprint Recordings SPR002CD
KARAN CASEY
Hieroglyphs That Tell The Tale Vertical VERTCD113
It’s a good (or expensive) time for those who like music from women with voices to die for.
First off the blocks we have Eddi Reader, with a follow-up to her highly regarded Vagabond album. Even though she’s celebrat- ing 40 years in the limelight, it’s still hard to categorise Eddi Reader’s music (and pigeon- holing is bad anyway). But to plagiarise Dou- glas Adams, her albums are almost but not entirely unlike folk music (or folk rock, or acoustic pop, or smoky jazz or…). However, they’re always superbly enjoyable. Eddi’s warm, honeyed, languid voice continues to put her own emotional stamp on diverse material, continuing her usual practice of mixing up new songs with traditional songs and, of course, Robbie Burns.
Eddi and husband John Douglas con- tribute several new songs (including the poppy Wonderful and the thoughtful Go Wisely) while Boo Hewerdine’s gorgeous Starlight is a slow waltz that takes me back about 60 years, to watching my parents ball- room dancing – very evocative. With over 25 musicians (of the calibre of McCusker, McGoldrick and Cunningham) and backing vocals from Annie Grace and Siobhan Miller, the arrangements are full and varied, but absolutely spot on and never ever detract from the singing. Cavalier is a lovely laid-back album to warm the heart as the nights draw in. A warning, though, to those who get afflicted with earworms – there are several candidates here, including the syncopated Pangur Bán and the Primrose Lass, especially for cat lovers.
revealrecords.co.uk
Siobhan Miller was brought up in the Scottish folk scene, and is one of those rare charismatic singers that can hold large audi- ences spellbound just singing traditional songs unaccompanied. More recently she’s been spreading her wings covering contem- porary songs and using more in the way of accompanying musicians. Mercury marks another step along the road, with a crossover album of entirely her own songs (some co- written with husband, bass player and pro- ducer Euan Burton, others with Kris Drever and Louis Abbott). The songs, by accident or design, are loosely themed around the impor- tance of memories.
With a significant overlap of musicians from Eddi Reader’s album and some backing vocals from Eddi herself, the arrangements are fuller and more mellow than on her earli- er albums, suiting the contemporary material. That, plus her wonderful voice, means Mer-
Photo: © Judith Burrows
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