Search - June Tabor :: Ashes & Diamonds

If you like Traditional folk, this is a MUST!

bek@okla.net | Oklahoma | 06/09/1998

(4 out of 5 stars)

"If you like Traditional Folk, this CD is a must. June Tabor has a rich, sulty contralto that lends itself best to this type of music.Songs vary from three-handkerchief tearjerkers to bright and funny. FLOWERS OF THE FOREST is the definitive version of this eulogy for lost soldiers. DEVIL AND BISHOP MCGLYNN is hilarious! It's solid enjoyment from the first to last cuts."

A must-have

Caroline | United States | 03/05/2001

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Wow. I doubt that the tradiitonal songs on this album have ever been sung better than they are here, anywhere, by anyone. June Tabor's contralto demonstrates a versatility and sensitivity that is very, very, rare. In her hands, the songs transcend themselves...She manages to recover the sensuality and stateliness of 'lord maxwell's last goodnight,' which, if you just heard the lyrics, you'd think was pretty much a non-ballad. "The Devil and Bailiff McGlinn" is gleeful and playful, as it is meant to be, "The Easter Tree" is stark and dark, "Cold and Raw" is spunky and rollicking. The only missteps are two very metiocre non-traditional songs, found on tracks five and eleven, with bad lyrics and schmaltzy accompanament. but for any collector of trad music, this is a must-have."

Suprisingly diverse

mianfei | 03/19/2004

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Recently deleted, June Tabor's second serious album, whilst lacking the amazing beauty of her masterpieces Aqaba and Angel Tiger, possessed a surpring diversity of material that was put together with the care good music deserves.



The opener "Reynard The Fox" was in fact more effective than Tabor's earlier collaboration Silly Sisters in giving her music a lighter feel, whilst the accessible "Now I'm Easy" showed that Tabor never had to sing desolate, dark music to be effective, whilst the Australian-themed "Streets Of Forbes" showed an echo of her classic 1990s style with its sparse, even hushed piano. The follow-up (in theme as well as on the record) "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight" featured some beautiful, harpsichord-like guitar from Nic Jones that gave a cathedral feel Tabor would never replicate, but her soft voice was in prime form.



"Clerk Saunders" was a long and not altogether memorable a capella piece, but Tabor more than made up for it with "The Earl Of Aboyne", which illustrted the darkness inherent in ancient England like few other songs, and the earthy closer "No Man's Land"/"Flowers Of The Forest". The synthesiser of the former song sounded remarkably unlike pop, but rather like guitar or even horn effects, whilst Jon Gillespie showed himself to be as good a pianist as Huw Warren was later. Tabor gave an oddly eccentric, echo-like vocal on the a capella "The Easter Tree" to round off an album that perhaps deserves more acclaim."