From: Pete Fyfe
[petefyfe_at_aol_dot_com]
Sent: 08 May 2012 05:29
Subject: Pete Fyfe: Short Sharp
Shanties
Attachments: Short Sharp Shanties.jpg
VARIOUS ARTISTS - Short Sharp
Shanties Volume 3 (Wild Goose Records WGS388CD)
So here I am, sitting in Fyfe
Mansions (OK, my flat in Croydon) with a strong South-Westerly lashing against
my window panes eating a Tuna sandwich (I know I shouldn't but it's the only
fish I like) and even David Dimbleby going on about a "stormy outlook ahead".
How suitable then to be writing a review of this, the third and final in the
series of Wild Goose Recordings "Short Sharp Shanties". All hail the foresight
of Doug Bailey in enlisting a cosmopolitan crew including Keith Kendrick, Tom
& Barbara Brown, Jim Mageean, Jeff Warner, Sam Lee, Roger Watson and Jackie
Oates for, as Bailey explains in his sleeve notes this not a vanity project and
by adding musical accompaniment including contributions from that well-known
salty dog Brian Willoughby on guitar it opens the interpretations for a free
flowing, spirited performance that will suit the general public and not just
the die-hard acapella traditionalist. It must have been an interesting process
choosing who sings what but at the end of the day all of the songs including
popular standards "Dead Horse", "Do Let Me Go", "The Bull John Run" (at least
under their modern-day titles) are given a sprucing up and, as I've mentioned
before become somewhat more consumer friendly. Over the past two or three years
I must admit to having been very seriously seduced by the call of the sea and
this set of three albums (there are 20 tracks here) are all worth purchasing by
any self-respecting Shanty singer and those that just wish they were. www.wildgoose.co.uk
PETE FYFE