June's vocal artistry is vividly captured in this, her fourth album, from 1983. It opens with a song by Lal & Mike Waterson, "The Month of January", closes with one by Joni Mitchell, "The Fiddle & the Drum", and takes in on the way the African-American spiritual "Lay This Body Down."
This album is an old friend – I haven't heard it for at least a decade, as my original cassette version was damaged; a recording that dates from 1983 and - I think anyway – one of Tabor's finest solo albums from the period; it's a typically eclectic mix of classic and contemporary folk songs from the British isles and America all beautifully performed. Notes are very sparse, with references on the origin of the traditional songs on the disc, but no credits for the accompanists. There's some very powerful and moving stuff on this disc – I recommend it if you can find it for a reasonable price. The CD has a playing time of 36.26 minutes; shame there are no sound samples available.
There are very few voices in the world with the radiant clarity that June Tabor's voice possesses. This album is among her most compelling, simply because the spare instrumentation of the accompaniment allows her to shine. The dark lyrics produce a stark contrast to the beauty of of her singing, and the effect is unforgettable. This is traditional English music at its most powerful.
Don't stop with this CD, though. Do yourself a favor and look into her other solo albums, all of them uniformly excellent, and her varied collaborations with such folk stalwarts as Maddy Prior, Martin Carthy, Nic Jones, and Andy Irvine.
I'm by no means a folk expert, but as the saying goes, 'I know what I like' - and I like this a lot. For example, I get bored listening to up-tempo jigs and dances, I don't have the purist's appreciation for rough vocals and I don't enjoy 'prettified' folk arranged for classically trained voices. So I'm a picky listener.
But this hits all the right buttons!
Arrangements are sparse and haunting, letting June's wonderful voice - neither too pure nor primitive - work its subtle magic. The highlight is definitely 'The Scarecrow' - one of those songs that is just breathtakingly good - but, really, just about everything here works well to make the album a disturbing, intense experience that you won't soon forget.
So why not five stars? The two north American songs ('Lay This Body Down' and 'Fiddle and Drum'), beautifully performed as they are, and fine in their own right, just don't fit with the rest of the material, to my ears; and the piano on 'She Moves Among Men' is too ornate: that beautiful song needed a less showy arrangement.
This is nit-picking, of course: this really is a wonderful album and it's absolutely worth your time.
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