The Yellow Handkerchief by Phoebe Smith; John Howson; Plenty of Thyme by Cyril Poacher;Rod Stradling; Come Hand to Me the Glass by George Townshend; Rod StradlingReview by: Martin GraebeFolk Music Journal, Vol. 8, No. 1 (2001), pp. 118-121Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4522659 .

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The Yellow Handkerchief Phoebe Smith

Produced by John Howson. CD, VT1 36CD, Veteran, 1998.

t12.99 (incl. p&p to UK and Eire).

Arailablefrom Veteran, 44, Old Street, Haughley, Stowmarket, Suffolk, IP14 3NX

Plenty Of Thyme Cynl Poacher

Produced by Rod Stradling. CD, MTCD303, Musical Traditions, 1999.

212 (incl. p&p).

Availablefrom Musical Traditions, 1, Castle Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 2HP

Come Hand To Me The 6lass George Townshend

Produced by Rod Stradling. CD, MTCD304, Musical Traditions, 2000.

212 (incl. p&p).

Xailablefrom Musical Traditions, 1, Castle Street, Stroud, Glos, GL5 2HP

FOLK MUSIC JOURNAL VOLUME 8, NUMBER 1, 2001, PP.118-122 ISSN 0531-9684

Falling costs of digital editing and CD production are making it possible to release, on CD, material either that was available previously on vinyl (or shellac) or that was originally taped purely for the personal use of the collector. This is giv- ing us recordings that may sometimes fall short of 'studio quality' but which, none- theless, are immensely valuable and enjoy- able. These three CDs of English singers from the post-war years are excellent examples of this important 'new wave' of traditional music.

John Howson's Veteran label now boasts a catalogue of forty releases of singers and musicians from England, Ire- land and Scotland on cassette and CD. The Yellow Handkerchief by Phoebe Smith has fourteen tracks (in sixty minutes), the majority of which were recorded by Mike Yates in 1975/76. Two tracks from Peta Webb and one each from Paul Carter/ Frank Purslow and Rod Stradling add to this store. Some of these recordings have been issued before on Topic records. The CD is described as 'Traditional songs and ballads from England's greatest gypsy singer' and one is left in no doubt from the outset that Phoebe Smith has a won- derful voice. Her style of performance is extraordinary and that, initially, made this the hardest of the three recordings to get my head round. The pace is extremely measured; Barbara Allan, for example, takes up just over eleven minutes. I would have liked to hear her singing live because, reading between the lines of the notes, I suspect that she was a performer who would respond to the enthusiasm of the audience. There is a marked contrast

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Reviews - Sound Recordings

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REVIEWS - SOUND RECORDINGS 119

between the recordings made by Yates at the Smith home and the live recordings, which are technically less perfect but which convey the energy of the singer in performance. I think Howson has made a good decision in representing both types of recording on the CD. There is also a short track, 'Lavender', from Joe Smith, and Peta Webb's recording of Phoebe step-dancing to Martin Byrne's fiddle picks up the pace nicely from the regal performance of 'A Blacksmith Courted Me' (described as her favourite song) which precedes it.

Rod Stradling's online magazine Musical Traditions was reviewed in the last Journal (7.5 (1999), 678-79) and the recordings of Cyril Poacher and George Townshend are also Musical Traditions products 'con- ceived with the intention of bringing music which might never achieve com- mercial publication to the small audience which values it'.

Cyril Poacher

Plenty of Thyme

The Cyril Poacher CD Plenty of Thyme contains thirty-one tracks, using the full seventy-four minutes of the CD, recorded by Ginette Dunn, Tony Engle, Neil Lan- ham and Keith Summers, nearly all at his home in Blaxhall, Suffolk. This CD con- tains the greater part of his repertoire, which moves from 'Bold General Wolfe'

to 'Two Little Girls in Blue', passing such landmarks as 'Nancy of Yarmouth' and 'Lamplighting Time in the Valley' on the way. These recordings were made when Cyril was between the ages of 55 and 67, and the power and quality of the singing is a revelation. It is also a great perfor- mance by a man who clearly enjoyed per- forming; the notes quote from Ginette Dunn 'he is serious about his singing and how people regard it, since for him the singing role is endowed with value and he takes the spotlight with gravity'. The hints about Cyril's cantankerous nature and Keith Summers's tales of Cyril's adventures with fruit machines, when taken with the songs, help paint a picture of a real character.

.......... . .... ... ........

George Townshend Come Hand to Me the Glass

Come Hand to Me the Glass is the title of the George Townshend CD, and in this case the recordings are all from one

source, Brian Matthews, who recorded Townshend in 1960 and 1961 when he was (by my arithmetic) seventy-eight years old. Matthews made most of these

recordings at George Townshend's house in Lewes on a domestic tape recorder. This CD also delivers a full seventy-four minutes, this time with twenty-five tracks, including a compilation of five

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120 FOLK MUSIC JOURNAL

songs where the quality of recording and performance did not justify inclusion of the whole song but where the tune was of interest. George Townshend's repertoire in- cluded party pieces such as 'The Farmer's Boy', 'The Mistletoe Bough' and 'My Grandfather's Clock' as well as hunting songs (such as 'The Echoing Horn' and 'Bold Reynolds') and other lovely old country songs. His version of 'The Life of a Man' is masterful. It is also a repertoire that reflects the popularity of particular songs in Sussex. The Copper family sang some of the songs, for example, and it is noted that George's father knew the Cop- pers. This is a fine record of a fine singer who, despite shaky intonation at times, is confident and clear in his singing.

Notes for CDs like this are critically important and the Voice of the People series sets a new standard for others to aspire to. The Veteran CD has a coloured, slip- in booklet that serves as the CD cover in conventional fashion. In eight small pages you will find three essays. The first, on the family, quotes from Phoebe's son Manny's recollections. The second, by Mike Yates, describes how he came to record the songs, and the third, by Danny Stradling and Peta Webb, puts Phoebe's singing into context. There are also the necessary notes on the recordings but no notes on the songs or song texts.

The Musical Traditions CDs each come with separate illustrated A5 booklets which document both singer and songs. Initially I was concerned about this approach; I am not the most organized of individuals and I believed that anything that required filing separately from the CD would get lost. Indeed, my fears have been borne out to the extent that I have absolutely no idea where the booklet for my Bob Hart CD has got to. However, the day is far from lost since the content,

together with those for all the Musical

Traditions CDs, is available in full on the Musical Traditions website. The booklets for the Poacher and Townshend CDs are each sixteen pages. In the case of Cyril Poacher, half is biographical detail and the other half describes the songs. For the George Townshend booklet the space given over to the songs increases to enable the inclusion of the song texts, albeit in a tiny typeface. This is another good reason for having the booklet avail- able in electronic form with letters more suitable for eyes that have seen more than half a century. An innovative feature is the inclusion of a list of the singer's known repertoire of songs.

There are lots of opportunities to say 'if only ...!' in this world and of course we would like to know more and to hear more. My personal wish is that we could hear more of the singers talking about their lives and their songs rather than having it second hand. It is a similar impulse that leads us to feel that the paper records left by Sharp, Baring-Gould and others do not tell us enough and wish that they had adopted the phonograph with greater enthusiasm, or left us more photographs of the singers. I suspect that our future selves will wonder why more use was not made of film and video and pore over the few scraps that remain, cursing us gently.

As I said earlier, availability of new technology has eased the way for record- ings like these. Small-scale CD burners make it possible for Rod Stradling to pro- duce specialized recordings on CD-R at an affordable price. All three of these CDs offer extraordinary value for money. Desktop publishing makes the production of the documentation to a 'professional' standard easier. The Internet solves some of the difficulties of distribution and opens up possibilities for interactivity.

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REVIEWS - SOUND RECORDINGS 121 REVIEWS - SOUND RECORDINGS 121

Digital editing techniques make it possible to process old tape recordings to get a much cleaner sound and to edit out extra- neous noises. There are some dangers in this and there is, on one of these CDs, a point where I believe I can detect such an edit by a partly lost syllable. However, I had listened to it several times before I noticed it, and on all these CDs the sound quality is generally good - with excep- tions that are usually noted and explained.

So, after nearly a month of listening to these three CDs, which of them will go with me to that mythical desert island? The track that I found myself humming in unguarded moments was Phoebe Smith's version of 'Game of All Fours'. This is a tremendous performance, recorded live, which demonstrates the energy and the response to the audience that is missing from the armchair recordings of her. It is also a track that demonstrates vision on the part of the producer, John Howson, and some courage on the part of the col- lector, Rod Stradling. That is because the tape was damaged and there is a nasty drop-out during the song. There would have been no question of including it in a more commercially oriented recording. With the values that drive these record- ings the imperfection is rightly seen as a small price to pay.

MARTIN GRAEBE

Gloucester

Digital editing techniques make it possible to process old tape recordings to get a much cleaner sound and to edit out extra- neous noises. There are some dangers in this and there is, on one of these CDs, a point where I believe I can detect such an edit by a partly lost syllable. However, I had listened to it several times before I noticed it, and on all these CDs the sound quality is generally good - with excep- tions that are usually noted and explained.

So, after nearly a month of listening to these three CDs, which of them will go with me to that mythical desert island? The track that I found myself humming in unguarded moments was Phoebe Smith's version of 'Game of All Fours'. This is a tremendous performance, recorded live, which demonstrates the energy and the response to the audience that is missing from the armchair recordings of her. It is also a track that demonstrates vision on the part of the producer, John Howson, and some courage on the part of the col- lector, Rod Stradling. That is because the tape was damaged and there is a nasty drop-out during the song. There would have been no question of including it in a more commercially oriented recording. With the values that drive these record- ings the imperfection is rightly seen as a small price to pay.

MARTIN GRAEBE

Gloucester

English Village Carols: Traditional Chrstmas Carolling from the

Southern Pennines

Compiled by Ian Russell. CD, Smith- sonian Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40476, Smithsonian Institution, 1999.

The past few years have seen a growing awareness of the widely varying musical

English Village Carols: Traditional Chrstmas Carolling from the

Southern Pennines

Compiled by Ian Russell. CD, Smith- sonian Folkways Recordings SFW CD 40476, Smithsonian Institution, 1999.

The past few years have seen a growing awareness of the widely varying musical

textures found in vocal harmony tradi- tions from different parts of the world. It is a surprise to many people to discover that in certain parts of England such tradi- tions still flourish, and are still being transmitted mainly by aural learning. This album is devoted to vernacular Christmas carol singing in areas to the north, west and south of Sheffield, including parts of South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Notting- hamshire. It is a tradition that is varied as to repertoire, singing styles and contexts, strongly rooted in individual commu- nities, and still in the full vigour of devel- opment. This is in no way an album which records for posterity things past, or in danger of disappearing; most of the singers and performers are still alive and active, and the recordings were made between 1983 and 1997.

Eleven singing groups are represented on the album. Each has a completely dis- tinctive sound, ranging from the open- throated pub-singing sound, distinguished from purely secular social singing by the fullness of its harmony, to a rehearsed and balanced sound more reminiscent of a church choir. Some are full and confident ensembles, others are on a smaller scale, more intimate and less assertive. The dif- ferent sounds are the result of different singing contexts and the degree of organi- zation, and the notes make this necessary information concisely available. The recordings are part of long-term study and immersion in the traditions, not the fruits of single collecting visits.

The repertoire of these Christmas sing- ings is very heterogeneous. Ian Russell has selected songs which lie outside the familiar canon of popular carols, favouring those which are seen by the singing com- munities themselves as central to their local tradition. He has found room for items whose subject is not closely related

textures found in vocal harmony tradi- tions from different parts of the world. It is a surprise to many people to discover that in certain parts of England such tradi- tions still flourish, and are still being transmitted mainly by aural learning. This album is devoted to vernacular Christmas carol singing in areas to the north, west and south of Sheffield, including parts of South Yorkshire, Derbyshire and Notting- hamshire. It is a tradition that is varied as to repertoire, singing styles and contexts, strongly rooted in individual commu- nities, and still in the full vigour of devel- opment. This is in no way an album which records for posterity things past, or in danger of disappearing; most of the singers and performers are still alive and active, and the recordings were made between 1983 and 1997.

Eleven singing groups are represented on the album. Each has a completely dis- tinctive sound, ranging from the open- throated pub-singing sound, distinguished from purely secular social singing by the fullness of its harmony, to a rehearsed and balanced sound more reminiscent of a church choir. Some are full and confident ensembles, others are on a smaller scale, more intimate and less assertive. The dif- ferent sounds are the result of different singing contexts and the degree of organi- zation, and the notes make this necessary information concisely available. The recordings are part of long-term study and immersion in the traditions, not the fruits of single collecting visits.

The repertoire of these Christmas sing- ings is very heterogeneous. Ian Russell has selected songs which lie outside the familiar canon of popular carols, favouring those which are seen by the singing com- munities themselves as central to their local tradition. He has found room for items whose subject is not closely related

This content downloaded from 188.72.127.133 on Tue, 10 Jun 2014 20:16:19 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions