English Drinking Songs

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Total Tracks: 14   Total Length: 36:18

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Steve Hochman

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Steve Hochman has been a music critic since he was 7 -- when the Beatles came to America -- but didn't turn pro until he was 27. He covered pop music for the L....more »

04.22.11
The loose feel and sly vibe of an evening around a table at an English pub.
1998 | Label: Topic / IODA

Without alcohol, there'd be a lot fewer British folk songs. And without Albert Lancaster "Bert" Lloyd (1908-1982), we'd have heard a lot fewer British folk songs of any kind. One of the key song collectors and scholars of the 20th century, he was a huge influence on and mentor to several generations of folkies and folk-rockers. This album, with accompaniment by Alf Edwards (concertina) and Al Jeffery (banjo and harmonica) nicely evokes the loose feel and sly vibe of an evening around a table at an English pub, songs of and for some friendly tippling — including key versions of such to-be folk standards as the fermented "John Barleycorn" and the bawdy boast "Rosin the Beau." And as for the jolly "Three Drunken Huntsmen" and "The Drunken Maidens," well, if not for alcohol, perhaps they could have found each other. Tally ho hawk away me boys.

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By Steve Hochman, eMusic Contributor

"Music should be used as a tool of revolution, in a cultural and educational sense" is the stated mission of English folk-centric Topic Records, staking claim on the title of "probably the oldest independent record label in the world" with a 1939 gestation in the Socialist-leaning Workers Music Association. But the very first title released by Topic was not concerned with dry propaganda, but rather too-wet ale: Paddy Ryan's "The Man the Waters the Worker's… more »

They Say All Music Guide

A collection of songs from widely differing periods and places, all sung (with vocal backup from an unnamed group) by the inimitable A.L. Lloyd, who also annotated the pieces. Some of the pieces are presented in variant versions here — “The Foggy Dew,” for example, has none of the usual sentimentality, while this version of “Maggie Mae” is as prosaic as any you will find — and others are performed in as bawdy a manner as could be managed in 1961. This is a splendid collection that is well worth seeking out. Lloyd’s contributions to the folk revival of the 1950s and 1960s are beyond value. Aspiring traditionalists would be well served in making a point of collecting the Topic CD releases. – Steven McDonald

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