From: Pete Fyfe [petefyfe_at_aol_dot_com]

Sent: 29 April 2012 09:00

Subject: Pete Fyfe: Peggy Seeger- Live review & attached sleeve

Attachments: Peggy Seeger - Live.jpg

 

PEGGY SEEGER - Live (Appleseed Recordings APR CD 1129)

 

Many years ago I remember seeing Peggy Seeger & Ewan MacColl ?live' at the Croydon Folk Club in the austere surroundings of the Arnhem Gallery at the Fairfield Halls. The reason I mention this is that the performance had me spellbound and many of today's younger folk artists could do worse than study this CD for an appreciation in the art of ?communicating and engaging' with your audience. There are no pregnant pauses or ?umming and erring' just a homely approach that makes you feel as if you've known Peggy all your life. Of course it also helps if you are comfortable with your voice (which she is) with excellent diction and a reasonable musician to boot. With a varied selection of tracks of which there are fifteen (an additional 8 tracks if you count the spoken word) featured here she seamlessly moves from her own self-written songs (the pithy "Everyone Knows" and "You Don't Know How Lucky You Are") to the traditional "Loving Hannah" and an acapella rendition of "I Been A Bad Bad Girl". This is a lady who lives life to the full as is obvious from the Sky-Diving photo in the accompanying booklet and although some may find the recording lacking a little in bite I personally find it charming harking back to the good old days (?) when we used to (be able) to sit cross-legged on the floor of The Ship in Croydon. Ah?such memories. www.peggyseeger.com

 

PETE FYFE