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album reviews

Eliza Carthy

The Kings Of Calicutt 8½ ( 1997 )
Trip to Fowey-Cuckold Came Out of the Amery-Indian Queen / Whirly Whorl / Bonaparte's Retreat / Little Bear-Wobbly Cat-Upton Stick Dance / Mother Go Make My Bed-Flower of Swiss Cottage / Good Morning Mr. Walker / Holm Band Tune-Dave Roberts' Tune-Jemina's Jug / Sheffield Park-Polly Bishop's Slip Jig-Roger de Coverley / Fisher Boy / If You Will Not Have Me You May Let Me Go-The Pullet-The Storyteller

English folk music has often struggled through the years following Rock music really taking off. Blame The Beatles! Traditional English folk music has never made the breakthrough it looked like making, even after The Beatles (!?) when Fairport Convention were making amazing records together. At a certain point, I think everyone realized this was going to remain a minority thing. Topic Records in the UK have a rich history of keeping Folk Music alive, releasing a variety of excellent records through the years, and now they've brought us Eliza, too. Big noises have surrounded Eliza, especially at the time she released this particular album. Not since the heyday of Fairport Convention has traditional English folk music sounded so alive and relevant. She plays a mean fiddle, she sings beautifully in a voice simply infused with generations of folk singers. Well, it runs in the family. Her father is Martin Carthy, a man who taught Bob Dylan a thing or two about English folk music, and her mother is Norma Waterson of the family vocal group The Watersons. So? Well, lets take the opening track as an example. One of ten traditional folk songs here. It contains one hell of a modern bass groove. The bass playing is fantastic throughout actually, full credit to one Barnaby Stradling who plays the bass guitar here. Eliza plays fantastically well, and the other musicians support with empathy and no little accomplishment and talent. Sure, you've got a fiddle, you've got an old English folk song, but the playing is youthful, full of flair and imagination. 'Whirly' is the first vocal tune, the bass continues to sound inventive, Eliza sings beautifully and really brings the lyric alive. The sound of the album as a whole makes me grin and be happy and generally feel alive and glad to be so!

Best song here for me is 'Bonaparte's Retreat' which begins with vocal harmonizing between Eliza and band member Saul Rose. It sounds absolutely beautiful. The fiddle comes in, perfect and alive - the bass and drums come in, and wow! The vocals return, and everything moves upwards and simply soars. This is truly fantastic stuff. 'Tractor' is a beautiful instrumental with some exotic instrumentation, 'Mother' is played with energy and the bass is again notable. 'Mr Walker' has a sound, 'Bonaparte's' has a sound, 'The Kings Of Calicutt' has a sound, and this is an utterly distinctive sound truly bringing this kind of folk music right bang upto date and more. Eliza has a beautiful voice, this is vital stuff.

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Readers Comments Lynne flystitch5@aol.com just playng this cd for the first time (yes, i know but I'm a new convert) Now this is the album for me - great fiddling, great rhythms and a great voice. Was disappointed by some of her later tracks. (but by no means all of them.)

Eliza starts writing songs. Eliza employs dance programming and technology and integrates her folk fiddle playing right slap bang into the middle of it. Certain songs stretch out over five/six minutes length, but never overstay their welcome. There is a pop song here too in 'Walk Away', a performance with only a faint trace of Folk, but it's done damn well. The same basic core of musicians that created 'Kings Of Calicutt' are all present here as well, most importantly Barnaby Stradling who works as a vital cog in this modern sounding Folk record. This daring and imaginative folk record, that includes a little smattering of Techno alongside old folk songs, a few startling songs of Eliza's and more. 'Accordion Song' is an Eliza original, light on words, very full in terms of accomplished and imaginative playing, especially the Piano and Keyboard sounds, which are simply glorious. '10,000 Miles' is a song, 'Trad. Arr', sounds like it was written yesterday. Her vocals here are so pure and clear, a fine vocal performance that brings tears to my eyes. The song is happy with brilliant fiddle and joyous bass and really deserves to be heard by far more people than most likely will hear it. 'Billy Boy' sounds incredibly modern, so much so, it actually comes across as being ten years ahead of it's time. I've never heard Folk music played or performed - sounding quite like this. Her vocal is glorious again, her voice improved over the 'Kings Of Calicutt' tracks. 'Time In The Son' is the second original song here, just Eliza, a fiddle and a spine-chilling yet attractive delicate guitar part. After two minutes, acoustic bass comes in, beautifully recorded Piano parts..... I could listen to this sound all day. Pretty damn good song, too! The lyrics deserve a mention. Folk singers trying to write NEW folk songs often come across a problem of the language, which obviously has greatly changed since 1910 or something. Far too many uses of 'Thee' and archaic language construction often hampers certain writers attempts at coming up with new folk songs. Eliza side-steps that, doesn't use archaic language, yet somehow, this stands as very much a folk song even though it's performed in a modern way. Confused? You shouldn't be, just be quietly impressed instead.

'Stumbling On' is performed as well as everything else here, but isn't as striking as the opening half of this set, which has been so enjoyable and striking it was always going to be a difficult standard to maintain. Having said that, 'Greenwood Laddie' is definitely a high-point with gorgeous instrumentation throughout. 'Walk Away' a cover of a Ben Harper song for those that wanted to know, brings something to the album a little easier to whistle along with, and adds variety to an already impressively varied yet cohesive album. The closing three songs which include the dance/programming/techno elements may initially sound so strange to a folk fan, that they never get to appreciate them, but..... 'Adieu Adieu' eases you in slowly, utilizing a Moog, 'Russia' opens with the sound Of Eliza's fiddle playing, the electronic sounds come in, Barnaby's bass sounds groovy as well, the fiddle comes back in. Not quite cohesive as a song this, but it's very interesting listening at the very least, and not something that's really ever been done before, either. The title song, the final of the three 'electronica' tracks, is the most striking and impressive of all. Eliza plays supremely well, techno comes in, a very well produced techno track too, nothing too base or obvious, this is clearly intelligent stuff. It's also very enjoyable stuff. Not for everyone perhaps, although 'Red' as a whole should contain at least a few songs that ARE for everyone, of whatever tastes, unless you happen to like death-metal. She hasn't tackled that yet, to my knowledge...... 'Red' is a great album, especially the first half, although the second isn't actually that bad either, come to think of it. Ah, what the hell! Just buy the thing, won't you!?!

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'Rice' was initially released together with 'Red' in a double CD package, and it really is literally the other side of Eliza, being an album of traditional folk songs performed in a traditional and time honoured fashion. She does this kind of thing very well, though. Well, of course she does, she was born into the tradition, born into folk music. Born to be a star? Sadly not, probably, but who knows? You know you are listening to a 'proper' folk album when the word 'jig' occurs somewhere on the tracklisting! Don't disappear just yet, though, please. Let's take a look at what we actually have here. 'Blow The Winds' for starters. Eliza sings beautifully and with a perfect feel for the song she is singing, backed by a single acoustic guitar. Her voice carries this, and carries it well. Her fiddle comes through for the second half of the song, and her playing remains as impressive as ever. 'The Snow It Melts The Soonest' is incredibly sad sounding, but so very beautiful and heartbreakingly gorgeous. 'Picking Up Sticks' is very much traditional folk, yet even though this is certainly no groundbreaking and startling 'Red' or 'Kings Of Calicutt' this is still infused with energy and comes alive in the hands of Eliza and Saul Rose doing well in particular on the melodeon. 'Miller And The Lass' is ridiculously well performed, ridiculously grin inducing and so very happy, it makes me glad to be alive to hear it. If i'd be born at a different time, I may not have come across Eliza Carthy, and that my friends would have been a real shame. Yeah, I love Eliza, I love her music. There has been nobody else quite like her as far as i'm concerned, certainly not in the last twenty years or so, at least. Nobody really even comes close. She is prodigiously talented as a player, and her vocals are affecting and so very english. 'Herring Song' is another cheerful little song, a great folk song - this album is so full of them, I wonder where she gets them all from.

I won't go through every song here. Let's just say that not a single piece here is less than enjoyable. The album is perhaps slightly long at fifty nine minutes, but only perhaps. 'Haddock And Chips' and 'Zycanthos Jig' aren't as enjoyable as other songs here, but they still stand up in terms of conviction and performance, most importantly. 'The Americans Have Stolen My True Love Away' is another old traditional song, as old as the hills seemingly. She sings this especially beautifully and full of such feeling, it's really a wonder. Same comments apply to 'Benjamin Bowmaneer', actually. Eliza plays Piano on this one, and again, it's beautiful. 'Rice' is beautiful as a whole, although 'Red' wins over it slightly for it's innovation and impressive display of variety.

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Eliza joins Warners in an attempt to take her innovative, modern folk sound to a wider audience. She also writes the entire album herself, in collaboration with a variety of her touring band members and associates. Now, all of this would be fine and dandy if the mixing wasn't absolutely terrible, and if even a single song here featured her trademark fiddle playing. 'Time In The Son' from 'Red' revealed an intriguing writing talent waiting to blossom. For the most part, this album reveals someone who can write pretty and attractive melodies as well as songs of more depth. These aren't really folk songs, though. Even some of the more extreme dance experiments on 'Red' sounded more 'Folk' that pretty much anything from this album. I wouldn't care about that, if the mixing, especially the recording of her vocals, wasn't, as I've already said, absolutely terrible. No matter which hi-fi system i've played this on, her vocals sound distorted. Something like 'Train Song' is a wonderful song, with Violin/Viola attractively played over the top of fascinating and well put together lyrics. Her vocals keep breaking up, however, and it's not her actual singing that's the problem, her singing is fine, often beautiful. The problem is entirely this distortion, which results in her vocals 'breaking' up in terms of fidelity. The worst offender by far is 'Perfect'. A really nice song, but the vocals are so distorted it's a wonder the album was even allowed to be issued in this form. It's deeply disappointing. 'Perfect' underneath the distorted vocals sounds like a hit single, it's a great little song, but difficult listening because of the production and mixing. The major label record company wanted her to perform a contemporary cover song, something fashionable. Eliza chooses 'Wildwood' by Paul Weller, which must have dismayed her new PR people wanting to break Eliza in America. Or, did they really want to? This album received neglible promotion, in the UK for example, as far as i'm aware, it sold less than the 'Red/Rice' double set, which was selling at £19.99 a throw.

'Breathe' has Barnaby Stradling on bass, the very same guy who so enriched the sound of her 'Red' & 'Kings Of Calicutt' albums. The distortion is still here, yet this is a good, strong performance - one of the few tracks here that wouldn't have sounded totally out of place on any of her previous albums. 'Poor Little Me' and 'Whole' are songs containing interesting ideas that never fully take off, 'The Company Of Men' however is the single best piece here. Startling lyrics, beautiful instrumentation and strings that really enhance the song. The closing 'Fuse' is Eliza and strings alone, one of the saddest sounding songs here, but no less beautiful for sounding sad, quite the opposite in fact.

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One alarming thing about this new Eliza Carthy record. It's been out over a week at the time i'm writing this review, yet only one of the major record stores seem to be stocking it at all. How will she sell any records, that way?? It's a shame, because.... Eliza is back! Boo to Warners! Hurrah to Liza! Yeah. Sorry, getting carried away, as usual. Also at the time of writing, Eliza Carthy will probably have completed recording the follow-up to this album. Prolific? Yes. That project is reputedly a full Eliza Carthy Band recording, new songs, hopefully more 'Red' than 'Angels And Cigarettes' but time will reveal that. This little album here is a return to the sound of 'Rice' for the most part. The concept was to record a traditional album of purely English folk songs, and that she's done. The opening 'Worcester City' is definitely a statement that she's back after the pop styled 'Angels And Cigarettes' dissapointed many of her long-time fans. Barnaby Stradling plays acoustic bass, Eliza plays great fiddle lines see-sawing all over the place, and the vocal is cool enough. 'Just As The Tide Was Flowing' was a song released on Topic Records 'Voice Of The People' series chronicling an entire history of English folk music, with recordings going right back to the early part of the 20th century. The song was featured on one of the discs that made up 'Voice Of The People' - found and loved by Eliza. It's a beautiful song, and a real spine chilling performance with impossibly affecting vocals full of sadness and feeling. Eliza plays an Octave Violin and a melodeon makes up pretty much all of the rest of the instrumentation. Sparse, seven minutes long, utterly captivating from beginning to end. Thank you Eliza for this.

I'm not altogether convinced by the sound quality here - the acoustics of the actual recordings are not quite upto the standards of 'Rice' or 'Red' in particular. It's likely not a great deal of time or money was spent on this album, it was initially sold only at gigs, and judging by its lack of high-street presence, has not been a high priority as such for either Eliza or Topic Records. Don't get me wrong, the performances themselves are generally gorgeous and beautiful, the songs all chosen well and songs that resonate. This may not be her finest work, but it's a welcome return to the fray, a welcome return to Folk music after 'Angels And Cigarettes' had displayed little actual folk influence at all. 'Limbo' is a lovely song, a few jigs and happy songs ( instrumentals wonderfully performed ) follow. 'Bold Privateer' features beautiful delicate Piano work and another perfect vocal from Eliza, full of feeling. 'In London So Fair' was recorded live in someone's living room and Eliza plays really beautiful Piano. The closing song is a little strange thing, but an enjoyable strange quirky thing! 'Anglicana' itself is enjoyable - a consistent and very rewarding listen, ultimately.

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Readers Comments chris heath dyceman@aol.com i just bought anglicana after hearing limbo on mark and lards afternoon programme on radio 1. I am so glad i did! I shall be buying the rest of her stuff as soon as poss. I am a convert! By the way, this is my first foray into folk music, my main love is dance music! house ,drum and bass etc....

Rough Music is in the Book of Days on October 28th and is described as a form of community punishment practiced all over England. If a man were seen to be (say) beating his wife, or ‘allowing himself to be hen-pecked’ it says here, he could expect to receive a concert of Rough Music. Basically if they thought you had been naughty (it doesn’t say how or if they proved this) all the men, women and children of the village would go round to your house in the middle of the night, call out your name and proceed to bang pots, pans, tin lids and buckets or whatever came to hand, to bring your crimes to attention and drive you out. When my family moved to North Yorkshire at the beginning of the seventies there was a case of a man being driven from our area by this method. However, we’ve tried to make the album a bit nicer than that

I must admit on the whole I have a preference for the more progressive music that Eliza has made. The album i'm waiting for her to make would sound akin to 'Red' yet contain all new self-penned material alongside a couple of radical makeovers of old tradditional folk tunes. 'Rough Music' isn't that album. In actual fact, it sits somewhere in the middle of 'Anglicana' and 'Red'. True, no experiements with dance and loops here and true, the song selection here is almost entirely tradditional, yet there are elements of the progression and innovative energy that Eliza brings to her best 'searching' music. The title of the album is explained in the sleeve notes, please find excerpt above. It's an appropriate title, the album going for a rawesque, eavesdropping into a bunch of friends playing their hearts out.... organically.... type of feel. Pause for breath. This is a great little album that takes a small amount of time to get into because initially it sounds so unremarkable, just like a quickly thrown together project for the sake of getting a new record out. There's a subtly at work, however. The feel of the playing is so wonderfully natural, the record really does capture a live feel, as if the four musicians ( including Eliza ) are in the corner of the living room with you. Let's take the cover of Billy Bragg's 'King James Version' for proof. Mr Bragg writes songs that don't always make for good covers, Kirsty Macoll's version of 'A New England' being the obvious exception. This is just for the fact you HEAR Mr Bragg's phrasing, his words. Well, Elizas mum did a great version of a Billy Bragg tune, too. Eliza's performance of 'King James Version' just sinks into you after a few listens. It embeds itself into you as if it is now the only performance of the song that exists in the world.

'Mr McCusker & Mr McGoldricks English Choice' is a quality, timeless instrumental performance from Eliza and friends, 'Cobblers Hornpipe' is rendered in such a way you can imagine the modern bass lines running through it. They aren't there, but it's praise for Eliza, Ben and everyone involved that they produce such alive sounding performances. Eliza is joined on vocals for the 'chorus' parts on the acapella 'Maid On The Shore' and it's another spine chillingly warm and loving performance. Eliza always had 'it'. She's still got that 'it' and now her advancing experience is telling in terms of her vocal performances, certainly. As such, 'Gallant Hussar' sounds holy. 'Mohair' is the self penned Eliza original here and like all her best compositions, it makes you yearn for that fully self penned project. And if somebody is going to mention 'Angels And Cigarettes' to me at this point, i'll retort with 'don't be silly'. An Eliza progressive folk album full of her modern vision, her stupendously alive playing and intelligently innovative arrangements.... well. For now, i'll just cherish 'Rough Music'. It's nearly there.

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Readers Comments Zoe zoezedo@gmail.com This was the first Eliza album I listened to and is one of my faves. I especially think "Upside Down" and "Mr McCusker & Mr McGoldrick's English Choice" are great.