Alela Diane - Cusp

Rating: 5/5

Review:
Back to her best

Alela Diane is a really good songwriter and performer, but I didn't get on at all well with her last album, Cold Moon, which was for me an unsuccessful collaboration with Ryan Francesconi.  With Cusp, she's solo again and back to her best, which is very, very good.

Cusp is about motherhood in its different aspects, and the songs again show Alela's remarkable ability to express what is in a human heart.  Lyrically brilliant and full of her trademark lovely but slightly quirky melodies, it's a collection of very fine songs.  There are some absolute stunners among them, like Song For Sandy (about the death of Sandy Denny) and Yellow Gold, and the whole album is a classy treat.

I probably don’t need to go on at length here; if you know Alela Diane's work, it's enough to say that this is among her best.  If you don't, I strongly recommend that you give this a try.  It really is top-class stuff.

Raunchy Business; Hot Nuts & Lollypops

Rating: 5/5

Review:
very enjoyable

This is an album of very good barrelhouse, boogie and blues from the 20s and 30s.  It is also a collection of unmitigated filth, which I find very amusing and enjoyable.

Given the premise of the collection, it is worth emphasising that the music is generally of a very high standard.  There's some excellent piano work, the rhythm sections are good and some of the singing is terrific, so it's an enjoyable collection musically.  The lyrical content is thinly disguised (and in one case undisguised) descriptions of sex.  There's a wide range of metaphors including pencils, hot dogs, warm ovens and so on, none of which takes a PhD in Freudian psychology to decode, and part of the fun of this album is in wondering how on earth some of these songs got past the moral censors of their day.  Not all did, and the unreleased version of Shave 'Em Dry is about as explicit and unsubtle as you can get, but most are little gems of subversive inventiveness.

In short, this is an excellent compilation of fine music and very amusing lyrics.  Very warmly recommended.

Crispian St Peters - The Pied Piper

Rating: 4/5

Review:
A surprisingly good collection

I was surprised by how good this compilation is.

Like most others who were there at the time, all I remember of Crispian St Peters is You Were On My Mind (which I loved) and The Pied Piper (which I didn't).  In fact, he recorded a lot more very decent stuff.  It's pretty standard 60s-sounding pop in a way, but the man had a good voice and the material isn't bad at all.  The overall sound really brings back an era for me and the songs – often about Losing The One He Loves – are quite affecting at times.  Evidence, perhaps, of the truth of Noel Coward's saying, "Extraordinary how potent cheap music is."

This isn't a collection of timeless classics, but it's much better than you might expect.  If you're interested in 60s and early 70s pop, I can recommend it.

I'm With Her - See You Around

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A very fine album

This is a very fine album.  I'm With Her comprises Aoife O'Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins, a trio of three superb musicians and singers, all of whom already have a top-notch body of work as singer-songwriters and as members of ensembles including Nickel Creek and Crooked Still.  They plainly just click with each other to produce a wonderful sound and some terrific music in places.

There's a mix of songs here: each member has written some and there are a couple of covers.   It's very good material, made special by the sheer class of their instrumental work and vocals, with superbly arranged and sung harmony work.  I was lucky enough to see then at London's Bush Hall a couple of weeks ago and they were absolutely stunning.  The album doesn't quite catch the magic of the live performances, but it's very, very good.

The production and recorded sound by Ethan Johns is excellent, and I can recommend See You Around very warmly indeed.

(You may also be interested in Applewood Road, another trio of excellent singer songwriters.  Their album from 2017 is also excellent.)

Albert Ammons - King of Blues and Boogie Woogie 1907-1949

Rating: 5/5

Review:
A fine compilation

This is a really good compilation of some of Albert Ammons's great recordings.  He was one of the very finest of all the boogie-woogie piano men and there's a wealth to enjoy here from real stompers like the classic Boogie Woogie and the opener Jump For Joy, to atmospheric blues like Chicago In Mind.  There are some great collaborations (Bedroom Blues with Sippie Wallace on vocals is a real gem) and the whole thing is a very decent cross-section of Ammons's style and career.  (I have appended a track-list at the end of this review).

The sound is as good as can be expected on recordings of this age and I can recommend it very warmly.

Tracks:

A1	Shout For Joy
A2	Boogie Woogie Stomp
A3	Boogie Woogie Blues
A4	Suitcase Blues
A5	Bass Goin' Crazy
A6	Boogie Woogie
A7	Chicago In Mind
B1	Bedroom Blues
B2	Buzz Me
B3	Doing The Boogie Woogie
B4	Sweet Patootie Boogie
B5	Hiroshima
B6	Margie
B7	Tuxedo Boogie
B8	Bear Den Boogie
B9	Rhythm Boogie

Hearts and Flowers - Of Horses, Kids and Forgotten Women

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Enjoyable stuff

This remains a pretty good album. 

I was only vaguely aware of Hearts And Flowers at the time and in a way I can see why; when this was originally released in 1968 there was a lot of music which sounded very like this.  Even now, there are moments which sound very like The Byrds, Gordon Lightfoot, the Beatles (of course) and quite a few other people of the time.  It's slightly generic as a result, without a very distinctive feel of its own, but it's well done and an enjoyable listen.

If you like 60s slightly psych-ish, harmony-driven music, there's a lot here to enjoy and it's definitely worth a try.

Foghat - Original Album Series

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Excellent value

Like so many of this Original Album Series, this is excellent value.  Frankly, the music isn't quite as good as I'd remembered it to be: at this distance, much of it sounds just a little generic and slightly undistinguished, but it's decent enough stuff.  Certainly if you like 70s rock, this is well worth a try; it's all pretty listenable and there's some very good stuff on it (notably the excellent live version of Slow Ride).

For me, this is a nice bit of nostalgia rather than a box of real classics, but at this bargain price it's well worth it.

The albums included are:

Foghat (1972)

Energized (1974)

Fool For The City (1975)

Foghat Live (1977)

Tight Shoes (1980)

Al Stewart - Original Album Series

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent box

This is an excellent box at a real bargain price.  Five of Al Stewart's earliest albums are included, all of which are very good:

Bedsitter Images

Love Chronicles

Zero She Flies

Year Of The Cat

Time Passages

Personally, I'm surprised at the omission of Past, Present & Future, which has always been a favourite of mine, but at this price, I'm not arguing.

Good sound, nice presentation and excellent music.  Don't hesitate.

Gay and Terry Woods - Backwoods

Rating: 4/5

Review:
Still a very good album

Gay and Terry Woods have never quite had the recognition they deserve for their own work and for their role in founding Steeleye Span.  They were fine musicians who made a big contribution to the folk scene and produced some fine albums, of which this is one.

Backwoods was originally released in 1975 and has held up very well, I think.  Largely their own compositions, the material is good and the performances are excellent.  Gay's distinctive vocals are especially notable, I think – I have loved her voice since Hark! The Village Wait, and the style here suits her very well.  While Steeleye Span were by this time sounding more like a folk-influenced rock band, Gay and Terry are still firmly in folk with some electric influence, which is a genre which fits them very well.

I can't say that this is a classic album, but it's a very good one, and I can recommend it warmly to anyone who likes the folk sounds of the mid-70s – or just likes good folk music.

June Tabor - An Introduction to June Tabor

Rating: 5/5

Review:
An excellent introduction

This is an excellent introduction to the work of one of the truly great folk singers of the last 40 years.  Seasoned June Tabor fans like me won't need it because we've already got most or all of her work, but if you're looking for a place to start, this will do you very well. 

There's a good, representative selection from June's extensive catalogue here, from early, unaccompanied classics like the brilliant, haunting And The Band Played Waltzing Matilda, to a great version of The Dark End Of The Street from Ragged Kingdom, her 2011 reunion with the Oysterband.  In between are some absolute gems, like her heart-stoppingly lovely version of Shallow Brown and the beautiful Unicorns. 

There's a wealth of great stuff here.  If you want a way into June Tabor's work or just a selection which represents some of her finest work and great collaborations, don’t hesitate.  This is an outstanding collection.

Julie Fowlis - alterum

Rating: 5/5

Review
Excellent

I agree with the rave reviews that alterum has attracted – it's excellent.  I saw Julie Fowlis as part of the Transatlantic Sessions at the Royal Festival Hall a few days ago and she was brilliant.   The album is just as good.

Fowlis has a wonderful, pure, expressive voice and also has the technique and depth of feeling to create something really special with it.  She sings largely in Scots Gaelic, although the fabulous Camarinas is partly in the Galician language and there are two songs in English, including an absolutely wonderful version of Go Your Way My Love. 

I can't praise this album highly enough.  The whole thing is a pleasure: beautiful singing, fine instrumental backing and excellent, restrained and atmospheric production.  It's a gem and a real find for me.  Very warmly recommended.

Dick Campbell - Sings Where It's At

Rating: 3/5

Review:

I have read mixed things about this album.  Many people think it's just another bad Dylan rip-off, although Gene Sculatti describes it as "the sole masterpiece of the fake-Dylan field," which encouraged me to try it.  I'm afraid I'm with the majority; it's not terrible (which sets it above quite a lot of stuff from that period), but it's really pretty ordinary.

Dick Campbell and his producer Lou Reizner set out to make a Dylan-esque record in the wake of Highway 61 Revisited.  Frankly, they didn’t manage it.  In spite of a pretty star-spangled backing band including Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, the sound seems limp and tame compared with Highway 61, and the songwriting and performance aren't anywhere near "masterpiece" standard.  Campbell tries to sound like Dylan, but often sounds like just another mid-60s folkie with occasional flashes of Barry McGuire, and most of the time it's about as angry and threatening as a Peter, Paul & Mary album.  The lyrics seem to lack much real bite and are sometimes simply badly written; Sandi, for example repeats the name "Sandi" over and over again, but every time the emphasis is on the wrong syllable. 

To me, this is a mildly interesting period piece.  It's not so bad that I actively dislike it, but it's not one I'll be playing much, that's for sure.