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| Author |
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| 25 new of 157 responses total. |
krj
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response 51 of 157:
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May 30 17:04 UTC 2002 |
On BBC Radio 2's Mike Harding show yesterday, we heard a track from
Maddy Prior's new album. On the Park Records web site, this is billed
as Maddy Prior's Girls, with Maddy's daughter Rose Kemp, and Abbie Lathe
on additional vocals and instruments. The song was "A Stitch in Time,"
which Martin Carthy has been doing a lot for the last few years.
It sounded a lot like the Silly Sisters material by Maddy Prior and
June Tabor.
http://www.parkrecords.com/tourmpg.htm if you want to read a bit
about the act. I didn't find any mention of the album on the web site.
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krj
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response 52 of 157:
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Jun 5 13:53 UTC 2002 |
Listeners to that BBC Radio 2 folk show participated in a poll
to name the "Top 50 Folk Albums."
This actually happened a while ago but the Beeb has dusted it off
and reposted it, probably because the top-rated album has just been
reissued.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/folk/features/top_50_10.shtml
Fairport's LIEGE AND LIEF was voted the #1 album, no surprise.
2. Nic Jones, Penguin Eggs
3. Ashley Hutchings, Morris On
4. Kate Rusby, Sleepless
5. Albion Band, Rise Up Like The Sun
6. Pentangle, Basket of Light
7. Dick Gaughan, Handful of Earth
8. Shirley Collins and the Albion Band, No Roses
9. Steeleye Span, Please to See The King
10. Planxty, Planxty
and visit the web site if you are enough of a fan to want to see the
next 40 titles. Some ancient Americans also make the list:
Dylan, Joni Mitchell, Tom Paxton, Paul Simon.
The list is centered on the 1970s recordings; Kate Rusby is the only
performer whose current work is well rated. Clearly we British folk
fans are a backward looking group.
(I have 35 of the listed albums, heh.)
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dbratman
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response 53 of 157:
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Jun 6 17:45 UTC 2002 |
Of course we folkies are a backward-looking group. We were backward-
looking in the 70s, too. (Why d'ye want t'listen to all them old folk
songs, eh?) Electrifying folk was seen by some as a desperate attempt
to seem relevant.
I am not such a careful collector. I only have about 12, I think, of
the listed albums - some I can't remember if I have or not - including
only 3 of the top ten. But I have at least some record of 8 of the
performers on the top ten list, all except Nic Jones, whom I don't much
like, and Kate Rusby, a name unfamiliar to me.
Interesting that "Please" should be the top-rated Steeleye album. I'd
definitely consider it the best of their three early-period albums, but
my heart in Steeleye, as with the Beatles, is with their mid-period
work (in Steeleye's case, "Below the Salt" through "Commoners Crown"
and trailing off a little from there).
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krj
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response 54 of 157:
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Jun 7 00:08 UTC 2002 |
In party, gelinas asked if he should buy LIEGE AND LIEF, since he's
been enjoying some Steeleye Span compilations I loaned him.
I said that musically he would probably enjoy that Fairport album,
but I wanted to play my copy of the new reissue to see if the
sound quality problems which plagued all previous issues had
been fixed.
Yup, Island did the reissue right. Where has this master tape been
for the last 15 years or so? This album is never going to win any
audiophile awards, but it now matches the other Fairport albums
from the 1968-1970 period in quality, with no extra hiss or fuzz.
I think it sounds pretty darn good.
So: order the "Island Remasters" issue from amazon.co.uk
for about $12. Do NOT buy the USA issue on the
A&M label which is common at Borders, it does not sound very good.
<krj cranks the volume up some more>
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krj
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response 55 of 157:
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Jun 17 02:48 UTC 2002 |
Not folk except by association, but I don't know where else to put
this:
Richard Thompson now has an official web page at
http://www.richardthompson-music.com
According to the tour schedule, Thompson is in Austin next Friday
June 21. (Note for Mickey.) He's also at the Philadelphia Folk
Festival, which we are skipping this year, and I see no Michigan
stops on the current schedule.
There is now an online order system for those Official RT Bootlegs,
so maybe now I can get off my tail and order "Celtschmerz," the
1998 release; there is also a new one for 2002, "Semi Detached
Mock Tudor."
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mcnally
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response 56 of 157:
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Jun 17 23:20 UTC 2002 |
Someone was kind enough to send me another recent live Thompson release,
a copy of "Two Letter Words" that they'd picked up at a show and had
autographed for me. Pretty good performances, and much appreciated for
the live versions of stuff from the "Mirror Blue" album. I despised the
Froom-produced studio versions so much that it's nice to see my opinion
confirmed that the album had some good songs underneath all of the
execrable production.
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krj
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response 57 of 157:
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Jun 18 02:30 UTC 2002 |
That's some new definition of the term "recent..."
The Richard Thompson website says that "Two Letter Words" dates
from 1994. :) There have now been four of the official bootlegs.
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mcnally
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response 58 of 157:
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Jun 18 02:45 UTC 2002 |
Looks like the shows where it was recorded took place in 1994 but I don't
recall seeing it for sale at the last RT show I went to (Seattle, 2000..)
so I was assuming the CD was compiled and released after that. I'm probably
wrong..
Anyway, they're good performances..
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dbratman
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response 59 of 157:
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Jun 19 21:30 UTC 2002 |
In this sort of music, 1994 is ultra-recent.
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krj
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response 60 of 157:
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Jun 19 23:22 UTC 2002 |
Re: RT official bootlegs selling at concerts: I think a couple of things
have happened. First, RT is no longer under a contract with a major
label in the USA. Major labels don't generally want their artists
selling CDs at gigs because it makes the CD retailers unhappy
about the competition, assuming that the artists' CDs have anything
resembling decent distribution.
Second, with the opening of an official web-site, I think RT
has brought the authorized bootlegs "in-house," so to speak.
The first three such discs were done on the Flypaper imprint by
Frank Kornelussen for the very-loosely-organized RT fan club.
But the 2002 release is on Beeswing Records, which would appear
to be RT's own, new, label.
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mcnally
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response 61 of 157:
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Jun 19 23:41 UTC 2002 |
Isn't this a hopeful sign of things working out the way that technology
optimists say they should: technology empowering the skilled but
marginalized musician to bypass the major labels and distributors to
make a go of it by selling directly to the listeners?
RT definitely isn't the first to go this way, but I sure hope it works
out for him..
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krj
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response 62 of 157:
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Jun 25 21:28 UTC 2002 |
The new Maddy Prior CD is due out on July 8 or so in the UK.
It's billed as Maddy Prior & The Girls, the title is BIB AND TUCK,
and the track list on amazon.co.uk looks promising.
I don't know what the state of Park Records distribution is in the USA;
it'll probably be just as cheap to order it from amazon.co.uk, since
after the VAT refund it should be about 10.5 UKP.
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krj
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response 63 of 157:
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Aug 5 04:06 UTC 2002 |
More dinosaur news:
Linda Thompson, ex-wife of Richard, has a new album out on Rounder,
her first releast in 17 years, titled FASHIONABLY LATE.
Lots of press coverage: the BBC has an interview with her on their
web site, and Carson mentioned that NPR's weekend morning edition
had a feature on her today.
Peter Knight's website reports that there will be a Steeleye Span
tour (UK only) and album late this year. The lineup, if I remember
correctly, will be: Maddy Prior, Peter Knight, Bob Johnson, Rick Kemp,
Liam Gennocky on drums. Essentially this is the classic, and also late
1980s, lineup, with a few changes: Tim Hart's never coming back,
apparently old drummer Nigel Pegrum isn't either, and longtime bassist
Kemp (Mr. Maddy Prior) replaces Tim Harries, who held the bass slot
for the late 1980s and 1990s.
The album will be re-recorded "greatest hits," selected by fans who
voted at the Park Records web site.
Other than that, I'll just mention that we love the new Coope Boyes
& Simpson album.
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krj
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response 64 of 157:
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Aug 12 21:04 UTC 2002 |
I've just been handed a note listing a Linda Thompson appearance
at the Ark for October 21.
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carson
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response 65 of 157:
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Aug 15 03:57 UTC 2002 |
(the NPR piece on Linda Thompson can be heard in RealAudio at
http://www.npr.org/ramfiles/wesun/20020804.wesun.18.ram. it's a twelve
minute piece that includes snippets from the album.)
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carson
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response 66 of 157:
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Aug 31 16:32 UTC 2002 |
(CNN.com has an article on Linda Thompson this weekend.)
http://www.cnn.com/2002/SHOWBIZ/Music/08/31/arts.us.linda.thompson.ap/i
ndex.html
(note that the URL wraps.)
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krj
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response 67 of 157:
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Sep 1 23:25 UTC 2002 |
Thanks carson! I didn't expect to see such a nice story about Linda
in the mainstream, since her commercial presence is almost nonexistent.
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anderyn
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response 68 of 157:
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Sep 3 00:18 UTC 2002 |
Linda and Teddy Thompson are coming to the Ark in October or November.
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scott
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response 69 of 157:
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Sep 3 00:41 UTC 2002 |
Linda Thompson is listed for Oct. 21.
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krj
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response 70 of 157:
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Sep 8 01:35 UTC 2002 |
NP: MacAlias, HIGHWIRED. A duo of two Scottish women, Gill Bowman &
Karine Polwart. Karine is better known as the singer for Malinky,
a hot new Scottish traditional band; in this act, they are doing
mostly singer-songwriter originals with a faint tinge of country,
with a couple of songs by Trad or Robert Burns mixed in.
I didn't like this at all on first listen many months ago, but
it sounds better today.
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krj
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response 71 of 157:
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Oct 26 10:29 UTC 2002 |
Very nice Linda Thompson article at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10562-2002Oct24.html
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dbratman
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response 72 of 157:
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Oct 29 00:05 UTC 2002 |
I didn't even know about her longstanding voice problems.
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krj
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response 73 of 157:
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Dec 9 03:59 UTC 2002 |
Geezer news: the new Steeleye Span album should be out.
http://www.parkrecords.com/ss7.htm
The title is "Present: The Very Best of Steeleye Span" and it's
new recordings of their favorite tracks as selected by a
website poll. It's a 2-cd set with 17 tracks.
I forget all the details of the lineup, but Maddy Prior is back in
the band as the only female voice, and Bob Johnson is back on
electric guitar. There is a somewhat alarming report that
Johnson dropped out of the December tour due to "a minor heart
condition," being replaced for the tour by a recent Albion Band
guitarist, Ken Nicol.
There's also a report that the Albion Band has broken up, after about
15-20 years of more-or-less continuous existence and with a career
going back to about 1972. The various Albion Bands were Ashley Hutchings'
third great folk rock band, after he'd been involved in the founding
of Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span. The Albion work from the 1970s
is some of the greatest British folk-rock; the band was wildly uneven in
the early 1980s (Twila likes this period, but I gave up on them for
a few years) and then rallied at the end of the 1980s before the wheels
fell off in the 1990s. The last few Albion CDs I bought were
pretty dire; I don't even try to buy them all any more.
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anderyn
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response 74 of 157:
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Dec 9 15:08 UTC 2002 |
I do like early 1980s Albion, but I also like earlier Albion. I agree that
1990s Albion is not so good. :-)
I'm looking forward to the new Steeleye. (Will have to see if it's available
Stateside.) Nice lineup of songs and folks.
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krj
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response 75 of 157:
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Dec 9 20:10 UTC 2002 |
I wouldn't expect US distribution until after Christmas; the album was
only released at the end of December. Park Records may still be having
US distribution problems: I don't recall having seen Maddy's last
two albums (GOLD FRANKINCENSE & MYRRH and BIB & TUCK) in American bins.
(Park's previous US distributor, if I remember correctly, went out
of business maybe a year ago?)
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