Search - Young Tradition With Shirley & Dolly Collins :: Holly Bears the Crown

A Veritable Treasure ...

Jan Zijlstra | Murfreesboro, TN United States | 11/20/2001

(5 out of 5 stars)

"If this is not the best seasonal album to come out of England, I'd like to hear the one that's better! The young Tradition (Heather and Royston Wood plus Peter Bellamy) were, as Heather puts it in her liner notes, distinct individuals. That's what makes their singing so very special - you can follow the individual parts and never tire of the sheer impact that three people who sing their hearts out can have.
Shirley and Dolly Collins may seem an odd admixture ... Shirley's is a voice of rare purity, which you either do or do
not care for - depending on which stage you're at in your life. Her sister Dolly's accompanyment on the pipe organ creates a strangely perfect, if somewhat alienating, music.
It is the record's variety - the blessedly unpolished acapella singing alternating with unmitigated purity with some spoken word added for good measure - that makes it such a standout.
It took some thirty years for this record to be released. Sadly many of the people who created it are no longer with us - Royston Wood, Peter Bellamy and Dolly Collins all passed away - but what a legacy they leave. Let's celebrate that legacy!"