A wide range of songs - long, short and tall – all with a touch of the briny about them - but not a shanty in sight. It has a distinctly maritime leaning – and also revisits some songs that have been in our repertoire for many years. We’ve also, again, taken the opportunity to work with some additional performers we admire: Keith Kendrick makes a welcome return – he hasn’t been able to make any of our recordings since Where Umber Flows – and it’s been a delight to work with the Askew sisters, Emily and Hazel, (whose combined ages are less then either of us!) who are a formidable duo in their own right, both singing and playing, and who have their own CD with Wild Goose. Malcolm Woods and Joan Holloway have kindly added the odd bit of percussion and we actually got Doug Bailey out from behind the desk for a bit of chorus work too! – and there you have it. Track Listing: 1. The Chesapeake and Shannon 2. Tarry Trousers 3. Padstow Bar to Lundy Light/Wreck of the Montagu 4. The Bold Princess Royal 5. The Herring’s Head 6. Little Fishes 7. The Death of Nelson 8. The Watchet Sailor 9. Young Susan 10. Bonnie Sailor Laddie 11. The Spirits of George’s Bank 12. Short Song Set 13. The Blackbird 14. The Ship In Distress 15. Firing the Mauritania 16. The Convict Maid /10,000 miles Reviews: Tony Hendry The Living Tradition (01 July 2009) I remember Tom and Barbara Brown as strong voices on the London folk scene in the 1990s. Then they made their escape to North Devon. Since then, they have enjoyed a golden autumn to their career as one of Britain's best harmony duos. They are noted for their broad repertoire but their fourth CD, Beyond The Quay, has the tang of the sea throughout. This is a satisfying hour of fighting sailors, wrecked ships, maritime romance, and wondrous herring. But no shanties. Many songs are unaccompanied, but there is low?key musical support from Hazel and Emily Askew on a range of instruments, Keith Kendrick on concertinas, Malcolm Woods on roped tenor drum, and Joan Holloway on nakkers. The Askews, Keith, and producer Doug Bailey provide a distinguished chorus. The young Askew sisters really get traditional music in a way that some of their peers don't -it's great to hear them joining hands with an older generation. The songs are well-researched, with credits scrupulously given in the liner notes. My favourites include the rousing opener The Chesapeake and Shannon (Anglo-US naval battle in 1813); The Herring's Head (an argument song also known as King of the Sea, heard in various versions all around our shores); The Death of Nelson (from the singing of George Dunn of Staffordshire); The Blackbird (from the Shropshire singer May Bradley); the Short Songs set (verses from five songs to the tunes of Brighton Camp and The Sailor's Hornpipe); and Firing The Mauritania (written by Redd Sullivan when he was a stoker on the ship and finding it a rubbish job). Tom and Barbara's voices are rich and warm, conveying their lifelong delight in traditional song. Each takes their solos - he goes for bounce and strong rhythm, she is more stately. Together in harmony, they have the natural understanding, which comes from nearly 40 years as a couple since they met at Padstow in 1969. Long may they continue. Dai Jeffries Rock n Reel (04 May 2009) Tom and Barbara have been around for years, part of the lifeblood of folk clubs and festivals since the 70s. They’ve been part of innovative projects and done the unglamorous jobs at festivals and, because what they do might now be considered unfashionable, it’s easy to forget what good performers they are. Their fourth duo album has a nautical theme with broadsides and ballads, girls left behind and embarrassing shipwrecks. Among those innovative projects was Over the Bar from which come two songs composed by Tom, ‘Padstow Bar to Lundy Light’ and ‘Wreck of The Montague’, put together in a ten-minute track that’s one of the highlights of the record. Later comes ‘Firing the Mauritania’ by Redd Sullivan, describing the job he actually did in the 1920s. Other top tracks are the opening ‘The Chesapeake And Shannon’ and the old favourite, ‘Little Fishes’. Support comes from the Askew Sisters and Keith Kendrick among others but Tom and Barbara are more than capable of holding a stage unaided. Here, the guests add contrasting musical textures – flute, fiddle and percussion – without detracting from the essence of Tom and Barbara’s performances. Dave Sutherland Tatters (newsletter of Traditions at the Tiger) (01 January 2009) Tom and Barbara Brown, no strangers to Traditions at the Tiger (T.A.T.T.), are these days as well known around the Village Halls of Great Britain, where they perform their popular themed evenings, as they are in the country’s folk clubs. Therefore it is fitting that their latest album, their fourth, is also a themed collection and, as the title suggests, the theme is a nautical one. Beyond the Quay is made up of sixteen tracks and not a shanty among them as the liner notes affirm; some songs like The Bold Princess Royal, Tarry Trousers, The Ship in Distress and The Death of Nelson are well enough known around the clubs but there are others such as The Watchet Sailor, The Spirits of George’s Bank, Bonnie Sailor Laddie and Young Susan which may not be so familiar. It is doubtful that The Browns could put an album of this type together without including a number of pieces from their native West Country and here we have a local version of The Herring’s Head, a set of salty parodies and comic rhymes and a cracking working of Tom’s own Padstow Bar To Lundy Light coupled with his arrangement of Wreck of the Montagu. Barbara’s rendition of the former is the song of the album for me, and a must for anyone who has spent time in Cornwall, for if this does not evoke memories then nothing will. There is a freshness about all the songs contained on the album, never more so than on The Bold Princess Royal, a song that I have heard countless times, but on this hearing I am forced to re-assess this tale for the second time in forty odd years as more enlightenment emerges. This is a worthy effort from Tom and Barbara Brown who are ably assisted by Emily and Hazel Askew, and our own Keith Kendrick and hopefully it will receive the widespread hearing that it deserves. One final note on the songs, there is the glorious chorus song Firing the Mauritania from the pen of the late Redd Sullivan and written from personal experience. Not the sort of thing that you’ll find on your average CD. |
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