Folk/acoustic Friday: braving
infatuation, heartbreak, pregnancy, Thatcherism, corporate drudgery and bad 90s hair, these artists come bearing gifts.
It was the first Scots Gaelic song in the top 40; unfortunately, by the time of
Coisich, A Ruin's 1992 release, Capercaillie still hadn't had their hair cut since the 80s. Never mind; despite being pregnant with eventual twins, Cara Dillon is immaculately coiffed, and nails old standby
P Stands for Paddy on the Blackstaff Sessions. Somewhat less glamorous surroundings, but Thea Gilmore's
You and Frank Sinatra suffers not at all from being performed in her front room.
For those of you who like your folk with added social commentary,
Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson deliver some good old lefty-folk polemic,
revisiting Blake's Jerusalem in biting three-part harmony and asking the eternal question:
why am I a soldier?, while Martha Tilston takes acoustic aim at
the banality of office life, and Chumbawamba (yes,
that Chumbawamba)'s cover of the Bee Gees'
New York Mining Disaster plays as an eerie lament to a vanished way of life. Still, at least the
blackleg miner need fear no more...
It isn't all doom and gloom, however; Suzanne Vega tells the story of
her first romance, and Maddy Prior flirts outrageously with the camera during this glorious 1976 performance of
All Around My Hat.
Until next time,
fare thee well, and if you miss your way home, well, just
follow the heron.
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Steeleye Span were on Crackerjack. Wow. The kids of today are surely missing out, they don't even have Smash Hits or Top of the Pops anymore. It's a sad sad world.
posted by Helga-woo at 4:37 PM on April 11