The Liberty to Choose is a new compilation from Fellside Records featuring songs from The New Penguin Book Of English Folk Songs which was published in June last year. This isn’t the first release of its kind from Fellside, in 1995 they released ‘A Selection of Songs from The Penguin Book of English Folk Song’ which featured the likes of Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick, Roy Harris and Jez Lowe. Fellside are very good at pulling together compilations and this new release keeps their track record with musical direction in the hands of Brian Peters they chose three very fine young folk singers, all of whom have been BBC Folk Award winners: James Findlay, Bella Hardy and Lucy Ward.
A full listing of the songs covered are below but if you do want to start delving into a world of songs that can be painful, satirical, erotic, dramatic or funny then this is a good start, the book is also highly recommended as it delves deeper than the previous edition on subjects such as nonsense songs: the suggestion of some song origins being from religious ritual or pagan past are not always well founded. The Herrings Head for example (which, to avoid any confusion, does not make an appearance on the album) may well have been a question and answer drinking game. The songs unravel another world that is both fascinating and entertaining. Songs that do appear include The Baffled Knight, based on a regular theme in song of clever tricks played by girls putative suitors to preserve their virtue and The Molecatcher (a personal favourite Harp and a Monkey track) deal with marital infidelity. Some songs also go against the grain of a fateful ending as on The Hungry Fox in which the fox gets his catch for a change…but sad tales are never far away, The Faithful Sailor Boy is a sad song of loss in war.
The original Penguin Book of English Folk Songs was published in 1959 and very soon became the bible for many English folk singers. The new publication was edited by Steve Roud and Julia Bishop and involved extensive research to include lesser-known discoveries along with music and annotations on their original sources meaning. What used to be a book you could slip in your jacket has become a heftier tome which is worth its weight in gold (and also available as a Kindle Edition) …veritable rich pool of English history and culture.
Tracklisting
1. The Baffled Knight
2. The Seeds of Love
3. Young Rambleaway
4. Jolly Waggoner
5. The Trees They Do Grow High
6. The Molecatcher
7. Barbara Allen
8. The Female Highwayman
9. Bonny Light Horseman
10. Captain Ward & the Rainbow
11. The Hungry Fox
12. The Cruel Mother
13. Van Dieman’s Land
14. Claudy Banks
15. The Faithful Sailor Boy
16. The Moon Shines Bright
Buy: The Liberty to Choose:
Buy: The New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs:
Amazon: Hardcover | Kindle Edition