Sunday 16 October 2016

Kate Rusby - Life In A Paper Boat


Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very fine album



I love Life In A Paper Boat.  Kate Rusby has again produced a fine mix of the traditional and her own compositions, all excellently arranged and performed.

Really, the first two tracks tell you most of what you need to know: Benjamin Bowmaneer is a traditional ballad about the Napoleonic Wars (which I used to sing along to in my Folk Club youth and which brought back real nostalgic pangs) beautifully arranged and produced to give quite a modern sound but remaining absolutely true to the spirit of the original, and Hunter Moon is a stunningly lovely song written by Rusby herself…and that's the story of the album.  Beautiful arrangements and production (by Damien O’Kane who has done a superb job) of fine material.  Kate herself sings magnificently (of course), the musicianship throughout is top class and especially in the title track, the social bite is still there.

It really is a pleasure for this old folkie to see English folk music being both preserved and developed by so many brilliant artists in recent years.  Kate Rusby is at the forefront of them (and has been for many years) and this is a very fine album even by her extraordinarily high standards.  Very, very warmly recommended.

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