Woodbine & Ivy Band - Woodbine & Ivy Band

by Malcolm Carter

published: 27 / 1 / 2012

Woodbine & Ivy Band - Woodbine & Ivy Band

Label: Folk Police Recordings
Format: CD

intro

Imaginative dbeut abum from British duo the Woodbine & Ivy Band, which takes ten folk songs and both injects them with new arrangements, and also uses a different singer on each song

This collection of ten traditional songs performed by a group of Manchester musicians who have taken their name from a line in the in the opening track, ‘Spencer the Rover’ is going to be hailed as a turning point for British folk in years to come. The idea to take ten traditional British and Scottish songs and have a different vocalist on each cut was interesting enough but when those singers include such names as Fay Hield, Jackie Oates and Jenny McCormick you know the album is going to be special. Add to that the fact that legendary producer Bill Leader helped Peter Philipson and Michael Doward to record the sessions, and you have the recipe for one of the most important British folk albums in years. While appealing to folk aficionados who will know these songs backwards and by a number of diverse artists already (and who will not be offended or disappointed by these new arrangements), this album will do much to introduce a whole new generation to these important songs and genre. John Martyn’s version of ‘Spencer the Rover’ will be familiar to many, but to hear Fay Hield take the vocals is like hearing the song for the first time again. Shorn of Martyn’s slurred vocal delivery Hield’s crystal clear, very English tones leave behind the menace Martyn injected into the song and take the song into a completely different direction. When Hield, the backing vocalists and the band reach a crescendo as our wanderer returns home, it’s really a breathtaking moment. After years of thinking that Martyn’s cut on ‘Sunday’s Child’ was the definitive version. maybe it’s time to think again. We are all going to have our own favourite version of the songs featured on this album, ‘Alison Gross’ was always a highlight of Steeleye Span’s ‘Parcel of Rogues’ album, but here the Woodbine & Ivy Band have accentuated the spaghetti western style stylings of this tale about an ugly witch that Steeleye Span only slightly touched upon in the instrumental passage of their version. While it can’t be said that the version here, sung by Rapunzel and Sedayne, is a better or more interesting take than the Steeleye one, it also has the effect of making you feel that you are hearing the song for the first time again and surely that’s the whole point of this album? Taking age-old traditional songs and giving them not only new arrangements but making them appeal to a new audience is no mean feat. ‘Gently Johnny’ will be known from the early 70's film ‘The Wicker Man’, the version here sounds like Jenny McCormick is being backed by an unusually subdued Crazy Horse in places. Jenny’s vocals really do add another dimension to the song; to call them sensual would be an understatement. Each one of the ten songs has something to offer and any folk fan will want to hear these new arrangements especially given the stellar choice of lead singers, but for those who have been tempted to try traditional folk songs but are at a loss as to where to start then this album and tracks like ‘Poor Murdered Woman’, with vocals here taken by Olivia Chaney, which meld the old with the new perfectly is the best place to start. For those who have been tempted by weird-folk, psych-folk, call it what you will, there are tracks like Elle Osborne’s ‘Under the Leaves’ that will have you shaking with the atmosphere they create. Same goes for the closer, ‘The Roaming Journeyman’ by James Raynard, it’s folk music like you’ve never heard before and leaves you wanting more. ‘The Woodbine & Ivy Band’ is an album that takes chances and could have turned into a rambling mess of sound, but it’s held together by not just a strong set of songs but by some incredible arrangements and playing and a group of vocalists who are the best in their genre. Not just an important folk album, it’s one that should be heard by any music lover.

Track Listing:-

1 Spencer The Rover
2 Alison Gross
3 Twa Corbies
4 Gently Johnny
5 Poor Murdered Woman
6 Under The Leaves
7 Out With My Gun In The Morning
8 Derry Gaol
9 The Green Wedding
10 The Roaming Journeyman