If you are a regular follower of EFDSS then you’ll know all
about ‘The Full English’ Project. For those of you who don’t it is basically
the English Folk Dance and Song Society’s project to archive their collections
onto a large online database. Called ‘The Full English’. Like a big breakfast
of folk songs and dances of English origin… it’s very clever.
Some of the most meaningful and exciting of the songs
archived have been adapted by Fay Hield and a team of musicians to great an
album called… well I’m sure you can guess.
Folk enthusiasts have been waiting patiently for the arrival
of their CDs and I like to think that I speak for most when I say the wait has
been well worth it. The collection is absolutely fantastic, really utilising
the skills of some of the best folk artists on the block and creating beautiful
songs for us.
The tunes in the collection are not simply a case of “let’s
do this one, this one looks good!” but Fay and her team have chosen very
carefully to reflect the world of folk and its current position in British
life. The songs have been adapted and altered as needed but not in a butchered
way.
Fay, Martin Simpson, Rob Harbron, Sam Sweeney, Nancy Kerr, Ben Nicholls and Seth Lakeman have united their superpowers of folk to form an Avengers style team up!
Fay, Martin Simpson, Rob Harbron, Sam Sweeney, Nancy Kerr, Ben Nicholls and Seth Lakeman have united their superpowers of folk to form an Avengers style team up!
The album starts off with ‘Awake Awake’ (Fay Hield) which
frankly sets the bar high for the rest of the album. The vocals are beautiful,
the tune is gripping and exciting with perfect harmonics with the backing
vocals.
‘Stand By Your Guns’ (Seth Lakeman), ‘Rounding the Horn’ and
‘The Servant Man’ (The use of swapping vocals in this track are really
effective!) are all foot tapping catchy tunes which suggests to me one of the
main purposes of the collection is to be gripping, and catch people in a net
almost.
We also get soothing tracks, with the instrumental ‘William
and Nancy’ and ‘Creeping Jane’ which sounds almost like the kind of story tune
a father would sing to his children on a sunny day.
Most of the tunes are stories and I found myself hanging on each word, particularly in ‘Arthur O’Bradley’.
The entire collection shows the experience and skill of all the artists and words will never be able to fully project what this album has to offer to any music lover. Those who are varied in their genre, or those who want a sample of folk because they have not tried it before must add this to their collection!
Most of the tunes are stories and I found myself hanging on each word, particularly in ‘Arthur O’Bradley’.
The entire collection shows the experience and skill of all the artists and words will never be able to fully project what this album has to offer to any music lover. Those who are varied in their genre, or those who want a sample of folk because they have not tried it before must add this to their collection!
DFTBA
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