House in the country Kate McGarrigle guesting with the Albion band live in 1978. I think this is one of Kate's best performances ever. Her vocals are tender and crystal clear and with the great backing it is perfect. Her singing partner does a great job and together they truly honour the song and the respective musical talent, as well as that of the band. I always said Kate & Anna missed a trick when they gave Anna all the high parts in the 70s. This proves it.
Michael Row the Boat Ashore The Water is Wide Two very familiar songs that the group of singers breathed new life into. Michael is engaging and exuberant , and Water has become a mesmerizing dream. Pete was able to unite a community into one as he led his songs - no one else did it better and the spirit of his memory is honored here. So appropriate of you to post these now, as Pete's birthday is May 3. Kudos to you Keam for your good timing . House in the Country Wow ! This one's a keeper. Lovely song , beautifully performed . New to me, but an instant classic to my ears . If and when you have time, perhaps you'll tell us a little more about the song and this band. This song is one I will be returning to listen to many more times . P.S. @Regandron you crack me up.
Yay glad to see you back! And you're welcome. Pete was a legend. I know very little about the song "House in the country" but I know a bit about The Albion Band. The albion band, also known as "The Albion Dance Band", "The Albion Country Band" and "The Albion Christmas band" id a British folk rock group led by musician Ashley Hutchings. Hutching also created two other famous groups in the genra, Fairportconvention and Steeley Span. They've come apart and reappeared over and over through the years, starting out in the early 70s.
HAPPY 50th ANNIVERSARY Keam! I just realized we've reached your ' Golden Anniversary ' Keam -50 pages of beautiful music , dedicated research and postings on your part and thoughtful , funny and engaging comments from our thread community . So I was wanting to post a song for you with the word Golden to commemorate this wonderful day - and I thought of one by a group called Silly Wizard . ( In fact Albion reminds me a little of this band ) And the song is called Golden Golden - hope you enjoy it. Thanks for being a high point of SHF and a home and haven during this last most unusual year. May you be as free as a wild stream and may your heart always be golden . Anf hooray to you Keam, hooray for the McGarrigle family and friends - and hooray to all the fine folks here on the world wide McGarrigke thread
OMG Thank you! This makes me so happy you have no idea Thanks to all you guys too for your help. You've kept this thread alive
Do you love an Apple In 2015, Martha Wainwright released an album of children's songs with her half-sister Lucy Wainwright Roche entitled "Songs in the dark". The idea first came about based on a mixtape that they would play when Lucy came to help take care of Martha's oldest son, Arcangelo, shortly after Kate's death. This song in particular was one that Kate had sang to her children when they were young. Overall, it is a simple and beautiful folk song. The crackling fire in the background really add to the ambiance and does a lot to make it feel more cozy and authentic. Lucy and Martha's voices really go very well together, similar yet very different, and then Anna's voice lies like a blanket in the background, cradling their voices in the choir. Sometimes, at the end of a sentence, you can really hear Anna's voice shine. Otherwise, it's just a sort of darker echoe that melts in with the other two voices beautifully. I get chills every time I hear it.
Baby Rocking Medley Also from "Songs in the dark", This one's a bit fun. It's different because it has two songs and a recitation in it. First, it's a cute ditty about an island where babies grow on the trees and when there is a storm they blow down. But the parents who come by only take babies that smile, so you can't cry. Then, we're given recitation by Anna about the struggles of motherhood. She does it terribly well - she should consider voice acting as a second career - and it's fun to hear the exhausted mothers confession in the night. The whole thing closes out with "the hostile baby rocking song", which is about a mother giving babies away with a half a pound of tea. Perfect for a child that knows no better.
Cool River - Maria Muldaur Finally, the original. Maria Muldaur's version of Anna's song "Cool river" which she co-wrote with her friend Audrey Bean. Originally only inviting Kate to participate (on the merit that she had contributed The work song for Maria's prior album), Anna one way or another ended up being invited down to participate too - I can talk about it in detail if people want the long story - and they lay down these amazing harmonies, impressing Greg Prestopino and/or Joe Boyd enough for them to win their own contract with Warner Bros. Looking back, I think Maria's version really stands strong. In some ways, I like it more than Anna's own interpretation. It's a bit fuller and more attractive, while still pinning down the sorrow of it.
Travelin' Shoes Some nice backing vocals being laid down by Kate here. It's bluesy, it's poppin', it's addictive. You want to sing and dance along. The McGarrigles have always been good team players and this is the heart of it. Kate rocks it out with all the others, and you can tell she likes it. Those high 'spikes' combined with the slide down to those lower notes are perfectly fitted and goes with the genre and style as well as all the other performers.
Well yes...it's jusst Martha and Lucy isn't it? Don't get me wrong I LOVE the whole album and this is an awesome song...but I try to keep to the topic. Unless I missed something? If I did I'll have to have a realisten...
Absence Makes the heart grow fonder Finally, some Loudon Wainwright. Featured on his 1975 masterpiece Unrequited, the song fits chronologically somewhere right between his & Kate's 1976 divorce, and their 1973 separation, where Loudon left wife and newborn son to run off to Europe with a dancer. A temporary time of peace and reconciliation. In the song, Loudon begs and complains about his mistakes, while Kate & Anna echoe the sentiment, almost a little taunting in a way. I always thought Kate & Loudon musically were quite a good combo, and Anna fit into the equation seamlessly. It's a good album (including the aptly named "Rufus is a tit man"), but this is my favourite song of them all. It's good and I like it, plain and simple. Some very nice, early sister harmonies and Loudon's distinct voice.
Absence Makes The Heart Grow Fonder Sorry Loudon mate , stick to comedy. This is lyrically pathetic cliche-ridden rubbish. And i am half-a-fan. well maybe not quite half.....
A few thoughts : Do You Love An Apple Even without knowing the background story of how the McGarrigles heard the song -there is something haunting and bittersweet about it. The song story itself is part of it - faded youth and hopes contrasted to duty and loyalty and every day marital love. And the voices sustain the feeling - their voices blend here about as perfect as any voices in harmony can be. Travelling Shoes Another song with amazing vocals - the voices are almost percussive and it's all really bouncy and upbeat - what else can one say ? - except I wonder who the guy singing bass is . Baby Rocking Me Heh heh heh - well the first thing I thought. of was where I first heard this song - which was on a Jefferson Starship album . Where it was done in , of all things , an old timey style . I may like the Starship version better but certainly enjoyed the harmonies on this one. The song was originally called The Baby Song , and was, I believe , written by a country folk singer named Rosalie Sorrels ( and likely how the McGarrigles first heard it . ) Rosalie, along with her friend /companion Utah Bruce Phillips never gained the wider renown that people like Joan Baez , for example , did - but their songs are still mainstays in spirited song circles to this day . El Condor Pasa Oh thank you for posting this @Hightops - it's simply one of my favorite songs of all time. The harmonies work so well in this , it's a wonder that Simon and Garfunkle did not really harmonize on their original take of this . Just a great song, though, any way you cut it- makes the spirit soar- and I' m always glad to hear it again in any version. Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder I think it's a good song - terrific voices throughout too- but not a great one. I ' ve heard Loudon address their relationship in a bare-the -soul -til- it - hurts narrative more powerfully in other songs . His song about their actual divorce - Your Mother and I - is harrowing and riveting, heartbreaking and yet oddly thoughtful - and it's as good a song as it EVER gets in addressing the strange uncomfortable situation of a married couple with kids having to re -fashion and reconcile what it means to be - and to have been- family. Btw when I first heard the song , I wondered if it made some listeners feel a little....... off center.... knowing the history of Kate and Loudon and yet hearing them sing this song about their own selves in seamless harmony. But I guess that 's not so unusual. After all, if Joan Baez and Bob Dylan could get together and enjoy sharing music again on his famed Rolling Thunder tour after a bitter breakup , I guess it's all ok for K &L. And while we're on the subject, if you want to hear a really excellent song relating to all the mixed feelings of breaking up with someone who is drawn as being unknowable and endearing and exasperating and inspiring - listen to Diamonds and Rust by Joan , singing about the lost days when they were just Joanie and Bobby. And this, my friends , is my own subtle* way.... *- subtle as an oncoming train *-subtle as thunder crashing *- subtle as a big ol' boulder- sized careening rolling stone ......of being the early bird , perhaps the very first on SHF to wish Bob Dylan a monumentally Happy Birthday ! May 24 - he will be 80 years forever young. Have a great one Bob!!!! (And now, back to our usual program)
"Do you love an apple" was recorded (exactly the same version as the one sung here by Lucy and Martha - there are lots of different versions of this folksong, but this one is notable for the term "bugger all" which I think is unique to this one) by Irish group The Bothy Band in 1975 on their debut album. They were mainly an instrumental, jigs and reels type of band, but with the occassional song by either Triona or Michael, the O'Domnaill siblings (gaelic spelling, not sure that's right). "Do you love and apple" captured lots of our hearts back then, and became widely sung in Ireland and the UK, and probably also North America too. I must be spoiled because this version by Lucy and Martha sounds a bit lame to me, compared to the Bothy Band version and several others that I've heard.
Great writing as always my friend! As for the comments aboyt Absence makes the heart grow fonder...I can only imagaine their troubles with their marriage was not quite so well known at the time as it would be later - with say, songs like "Blues in D", "Go Leave" and "Kitty Come Home". "Your mother and I" is actually not about Kate & Loudon. Released in 1986, it's about the end of his next relationship - when he split from girlfriend Suzzy Roche, who he started wooing immidiatly following his first divorce. The sing itself turns to their daughter Lucy. I love Diamonds and Rust. Bought the CD for that track alone. Not a huge bob fan - orefer the covers of his music to his own most of the time - but happy Birthday Anyway!
I'll have to try and find that version. So far, I personally find the Wainwright Sister one best of the Ones I've tried.
No new review, but I'd really like to hear you people's thiughts on Martha's new sing "Love will be reborn". Personally I think it's a lot like K&A's "Heartbeats Accelerating" album.
I am sorry, i know I must come across as so disagreeable. I just don,t think my deep love for the McGarrigles obliges me to like the output of their various family members, which i will judge on their merits. My problem here is the vocals. Kate and Anna’s vocals and harmonies are always precise. Here Martha’s vocals are all over the place, for me it becomes unlistenable. I accept that it is a different style, and for people who like that sort of thing, well good luck to them.
