Released in 1977, Jackie Daly's remarkable debut of music from the Sliabh Luachra, the mountainous border between Cork and Kerry, has long been recognised as an important landmark recording. It captured Daly at the peak of his powers and helped to re-establish [...]
Accompanied, as on Airs and Graces, by Nic Jones (guitar), Tony Hall (melodeon) and other notable players, Tabor again blends striking revisions of traditional songs with new pieces by Eric Bogle No Man's Land, Now I'm Easy and Dave Goulder The Easter [...]
Traditional and contemporary songs sung with grace and feeling are interspersed with bagpipe jigs and fiddle reels transposed to guitar in this multifaceted collection. The CD includes bonus tracks from Dick's 1977 instrumental collection Coppers And Brass and two songs from the [...]
His musical thinking enriched by his experience in folk-rock pioneers Steeleye Span, Martin Carthy approached this 1979 album (produced by Ashley Hutchings) with fresh ideas and collaborators such as trumpeter Howard Evans and John Kirkpatrick on accordion and concertina. Martin Carthy vocals, [...]
This album glows with the very special energy of a natural musical partnership, as June Tabor's bold steps are faultlessly tracked by guitarist Martin Simpson. As well as compositions by Richard Thompson, Bill Caddick and other contemporary writers, Tabor offers a song [...]
Nic Jones' wonderful 1980 release, Penguin Eggs, was named Folk Album Of The Year by both Melody Maker and Folk Roots and has subsequently been called one of the 100 Greatest British Albums. This mature work of a brilliant song-interpreter and guitarist, [...]
First released in 1974 and produced by Ashley Hutchings, Sweet Wivelsfield is a classic Martin Carthy album and served as a benchmark recording for many other artists. The ominously chiming guitar chords of Trimdon Grange and the ingeniously borrowed melody of King [...]
This mixture of love songs, odes of parting and political commentaries such as Worker's Song and World Turned Upside Down is Gaughan's most complex and emotionally penetrating album, and has come to be recognised as a masterwork. "Album of the Decade." - [...]
An updated Rigs of the Time and Jack Rowland's long story of magic metamorphosis are among the many arresting moments on this 1982 set, for which Martin Carthy is again joined by John Kirkpatrick and Howard Evans. Richard Thompson plays guitar on [...]
Scored for a group of musicians including fiddles, flutes, mandolins and Alistair Anderson's concertina and Northumbrian smallpipes, Steel Skies is a magnificent suite of composed tunes with roots deep in the traditional music of the British Isles. The compositions take from the [...]
This collection, drawn from Martin Simpson's three earliest Topic albums, finds him working both solo and with other musicians in a variety of inventive settings. 1 First Cut Is the Deepest 2 Roving Gambler 3 This War May Last You for Years [...]
June Tabor's vocal artistry is especially vividly captured in this 1983 album, produced by Andrew Cronshaw. It opens with a song by Lal & Mike Waterson, closes with one by Joni Mitchell and takes in on the way the African-American spiritual Lay [...]