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Ragged Kingdom
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About us
Since 1939, Topic Records has been a fervent and consistent champion of “the people’s music.” During that time, it has withstood wars, shortages, austerity, economic disaster, the vagaries of fashion, corporate onslaught and various cataclysmic shifts in the fortunes of the recording industry, to retain its proud and distinctively individual role as a beacon of integrity and true values. This fortitude has resulted in its unquestionable claim to being one of the oldest, surviving truly independent record label in the world.
With its origins in the Workers’ Music Association, through the mid-20th century folk revival to the present day, Topic Records has established itself as not only the pre-eminent British folk music label, but one widely respected throughout the world. Topic has undoubtedly released some of the most influential folk recordings of modern times, by a host of revered artists, from Anne Briggs to Peggy Seeger to June Tabor to Ewan MacColl to Martin Simpson to Nic Jones to Shirley Collins and many, many more.
Not content to merely rely on the undeniable splendours of the past, Topic Records continues to look forward to the future with considerable optimism for both itself and the genre to which it has long been central. The label has recently released acclaimed new albums by Martin Simpson, Eliza Carthy, new signing Rachael McShane & The Cartographers (‘When All Is Still’), as well as a veritable who’s-who of modern British folk in the shape of ‘Vision & Revision : The First 80 Years Of Topic Records.’ Its new ‘An Introduction To…’ series, launched in 2017 has, to date, compiled 14 definitive primers of the likes of Topic artists Anne Briggs, Shirley Collins, Nic Jones, Norma Waterson, Martin Simpson, June Tabor, John Tams, Martin Carthy and more. Likewise, its new Topic Treasure series takes the label’s seminal releases and gives them a new lease of life with remastering, specially-commissioned sleeve notes and unseen photographs and images.
The British folk scene is currently in rude health with young performers constantly bursting out from the undergrowth offering ever fresher takes on “the tradition” and pretty much all of them, undoubtedly, consciously or otherwise, in some small way, owe a debt to Topic Records.
Track Listings
1 | Bonny Bunch Of Roses |
2 | That Was My Veil |
3 | Son David |
4 | Love Will Tear Us Apart |
5 | (When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen |
6 | Judas (Was A Red-Headed Man) |
7 | If My Love Loves Me |
8 | The Hills Of Shiloh |
9 | Fountains Flowing |
10 | The Leaves Of Life |
11 | Seven Curses |
12 | The Dark End Of The Street |
Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Twenty-one years after June Tabor and Oysterband collaborated on the classic 'Freedom And Rain' album they've reconvened to record the magnificent 'Ragged Kingdom'. June Tabor & Oysterband's 'Freedom And Rain' remains one of the finest collaborative albums of the past three decades. Bringing together the immense, individual talents of the sublime English folk singer Tabor and the raucous roots rebels Oysterband, it produced something quite new and enduring. When they reunited last year to perform at fRoots Magazine's 30th birthday party at The Roundhouse, they felt the chemistry spark again. And 21 years on, they've made the brand new 'Ragged Kingdom', a brilliant, belated follow-up that mixes the traditional with the contemporary in startling fashion. The trad. 'Bonny Bunch Of Roses' rubs shoulders with PJ Harvey's 'That Was My Veil'; a lush, acoustic version of Joy Division's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' nestles beside the Scottish trad. song '(When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen'. Stylistically, the participants have each grown even more in stature in the intervening years. June becoming an eclectic song interpreter, drawing inspiration from many sources, and Oysterband systematically re-exploring their own acoustic folk roots. Together, they bring all of this added artistic weight to the project yet with a deftness of touch. "The spark" says Oysterband's Ian Telfer "is we really feel we do something together which is different from what we do as separate acts. There is something in the combination of June's exquisite dark voice with the supple energy of Oysterband that greatly pleases us. June comes to recording fantastically well prepared: every nuance of meaning and feeling considered in advance and plotted in her mind. Then she stands in the studio and delivers one perfect take, like an act of Chinese calligraphy. Or maybe Chinese cooking: the work is all in the preparation. We deliberately left some of the tracks just a little raw: the current zeitgeist definitely favours sounding 'real', and that's just fine by us." Ragged Kingdom was recorded first at Rockfield Studios near Monmouth and then at Metway Studios, Brighton, with Oysters' regular producer Al Scott, Feb to April 2011. "What unites the material on Ragged Kingdom" Telfer continues "is finding the story in the song, and the exact drama in the story: pop songs are often story songs too, and we tried to find things where the story wasn't banal, which had some shading in them.' Love Will Tear Us Apar't is a great lyric, and so is 'The Dark End Of The Street'."
Review
Twenty-one years ago, June Tabor and Oysterband got together to record what is now recognised as an English folk-rock classic. It wasn't exclusively a folk album, though there were some traditional tracks, but rather an eclectic, powerful reworking of anything from Lou Reed to Shane McGowan. Now, at long last, comes the followup that so many of us have been asking for, and it's no disappointment. The energy is still there, along with the desire to startle and experiment, but so is a new maturity and emotional depth, and even greater variety. The traditional songs include Bonnie Bunch of Roses, in which the stomping backing is never allowed to overshadow Tabor's no-nonsense storytelling; then there's a glorious melodeon and fiddle-backed treatment of Fountains Flowing, that song of parting and grief, and there's delicate, unaccompanied vocal harmony singing on the Scottish lament (When I Was No But) Sweet Sixteen. The contemporary songs range from a fiddle-backed stomp through Dylan's Seven Curses, through to a thoughtful, gutsy reworking of PJ Harvey's That Was My Veil, and a pained, acoustic version of Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart, which features a powerful duet between Tabor and John Jones, who come together again for a very English treatment of the bittersweet Dark End of the Street. This was worth waiting for. --Robin Denselow, The Guardian
This is one reunion that works so magnificently it even overshadows the magical memories of their previous collaboration 21 years ago. --Colin Irwin, fRoots
Glorious. (FIVE STARS) --Mojo
Product details
- Is Discontinued By Manufacturer : No
- Language : English
- Product Dimensions : 5.55 x 5.08 x 0.31 inches; 2.61 Ounces
- Manufacturer : Topic Records Ltd
- Item model number : 714822058520
- Original Release Date : 2011
- Date First Available : July 31, 2011
- Label : Topic Records Ltd
- ASIN : B0056ZWYRQ
- Country of Origin : USA
- Number of discs : 1
- Best Sellers Rank: #120,146 in CDs & Vinyl (See Top 100 in CDs & Vinyl)
- #1,534 in Traditional Folk (CDs & Vinyl)
- #1,701 in Contemporary Folk (CDs & Vinyl)
- #2,499 in Folk Rock (CDs & Vinyl)
- Customer Reviews:
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That is, apart from Track 8: The Hills of Shiloh where with just a lone guitar accompaniment - Alan Prosser, I'm guessing - June floors us with sung storytelling at its best.
In terms of essential recordings by Tabor, The Hills of Shiloh would be in my top 5 - if you are a fan and don't mind the idea of paying for a whole CD to get one Tabor Classic in CD quality sound, I predict you won't regret buying it. If you're into MP3s then I can think of no better way of spending a dollar.
Thank you so much June (and Alan?) for this gift, and to the late Shel Silverstein and Jim Friedman who wrote this masterpiece.
Top reviews from other countries
All these musicians are now middle-aged, youthful energy having given way to a mature gravitas. June Tabor's voice gives the album its defining sound; surely in the history of modern folk music there's none with such natural power and so able to convey depth of feeling.
The full-on amplified rock-folk numbers with Oysterband behind the vocals of Tabor (sometimes paired with those of John Jones) are uniformly excellent. The album opens with `Bonny Bunch of Roses' an imagined conversation between Napoleon Bonaparte's second wife and their son following the great man's demise, the boy being cautioned not to provoke Britain (the `bonny bunch of roses') lest he share the fate of his father. The song is Irish in origin, one of the lines ironically proclaiming "England, Ireland, Scotland, their unity has never been broke..." - well, it was written in circa 1820! The song gallops along in a minor key with power and pace, and has an anthem-like quality.
Others in the same musical vein are `Son David' with some great guitar work, `Judas' and `Fountains Flowing', all classic danceable folk-rock numbers guaranteed to get concert audiences on their feet.
The slower numbers don't always work so well, and whether you like them or not is going to be a matter of taste. The unaccompanied trad-ballad `Sweet Sixteen' on the theme of teenage pregnancy ruining the life chances of a girl in a traditional rural community is, frankly, a dirge which even June's angelic voice is unable to rescue from mediocrity. `The Hills of Shiloh' is an American song written in the 1960s - not the 1860s - about a Civil War battlefield and fares little better, unless this kind of melodrama floats your boat of course.
`Ragged Kingdom' has received universal acclaim from aficionados, claimed to be an `instant classic' and so forth. This acclaim is not wholly undeserved because the album is a fine piece of work with some truly great moments, but the choice of some of the material for inclusion, IMO, could have been wiser. The overall result is uneven, and IMHO does not eclipse Tabor-Oysterband's previous triumph, the unambiguously excellent and enduring `Freedom & Rain.'
I went to that concert because of Tabor, but have now been seduced by Oysterband as well. Tabor's dark, brooding voice still reaches most deeply and soulfully I think on the very simply accompanied The Hills Of Shiloh, and/but she is equally at home as chanteuse with the driving rhythms of Oysterband, and a more folk rock fusion. From the exciting opening track Bonny Bunch Of Roses the listener is taken unstoppably through Tabor and Oysterband's John Jones duetting on Joy Division's Love Will Tear Us Apart and Son David.
It's probably wrong to expect a studio album to quite reach the excitement of a live concert, but Jones' voice seems a touch more exposed, on piano high notes in the studio, against Tabor's powerful, but never straining vocals, specifically on Love Will Tear Us Apart. Notes which seemed to be pushed through only through felt emotion from Jones in that live performance here seems almost to be the result of technical strain on Love Will Tear Us Apart, though in the tight duetting on Dylan's Seven Curses Jones soars freely, and he is beautifully tender with Tabor on the closing track The Dark End Of The Street
Highlights for me are the excitement of the opening track, the aforementioned The Hills of Shiloh, the dynamism and vibrant excitement of If My Love Loves Me - particularly Ian Telfer's violin, the folk/religious ballad The Leaves Of Life, contrasting again, the driving, punchy beat and some beautiful acapella from Tabor and Oysterband.
But, hey, on subsequent plays, I find myself adding more tracks as highlights!
Oysterband and Tabor seem to spur each other enjoyably on. My big regret on this album is the non-inclusion of a couple of numbers from the live show last week - an electrifying performance of Jefferson's Airplane's White Rabbit and Velvet Underground's All Tomorrow's Parties (admittedly the latter one featured on the previous album 21 years ago) both proving Tabor can out Nico Nico and out Slick Slick. Her voice is truly amazing, and Oysterband have just the energy to match it. Rock's loss has been Folk's gain, with Tabor. She could I think sing almost anything .
I love the dark and painful reflective melancholy of Tabor's vocals, but the drive imposed by Oysterband's more urgent music works as a brilliant accelerator to Tabor, and she imposes a discipline and restraint well on them, so the balance point between the two is wonderful, electrifying.
The "folk" songs on the album are almost exclusively great with "Bonny Bunch of Roses" kicking off the album in great style. The key to the Oysterband style is rhythm and the drums and bass really kick up a storm on this one, never missing a beat. Other songs are lead by mandolin-driven rhythms and on several songs hammered dulcimer provides melody making for an interesting and varied listen. Tabor's vocals are as good as you'd expect throughout the album although, perhaps because of the nature of the backing music she fails to conjure up the emotion that listeners might expect from her recent solo albums which feature a smaller ensemble and generally stick to a repertoire of slower, folk material.
So, a good album full of interest and plenty here to enjoy for fans of Tabor and of folk rock. The headlines will mention the choice of covers but it is the original folk songs that provide the highlights.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 17, 2022
Performances of the 12 tracks vary from vocals only, vocals with acoustic backing through to purer electric rock. As you'd expect, playing and arrangements are very professional/ appropriate to material and Tabor & Jones are both in fine voice. For me, the Dylan song doesnt ring any bells but everything else is appealing and entertaining. I cant remember hearing a better PJH cover and the Joy Division cover is also outstanding (as it was on their CD of selected 2004 Big Session live numbers).
It doesn't always work when 2 separate respected acts collaborate but this definitely does.