Vario - Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson (CD)

A good tribute album often can be a benefit if the subject of the tribute is relatively obscure, serving as a chance to place a figure or style squarely in a new context. While Migrating Bird itself is like many other efforts -- a mix of the quite enjoyable and the well-meant but not always successful -- as a chance to showcase British folksinger Lal Waterson, who came to prominence in the 1960s as part of her family group, the Watersons, and then performed and released irregularly on her own and with others until her passing in the late '90s, it's a gentle treasure. It's also a good sampler of whatever the psych-folk scene can be called these days, ranging as it does from a near contemporary veteran of Waterson's (Vashti Bunyan, who concludes the disc with an interpretation of the title track) to Young Turks such as Alasdair Roberts, whose "The Bird" is a lovely, delicate interpretation with just voice and piano able not only to demonstrate the song's beauty but his own fine gifts. Other efforts of interest come from Victoria Williams, whose older, twang-tinged voice comes off to intriguing effect on Waterson's most well-known effort, "Red Wine and Promises," and the inimitable Michael Hurley, with his own striking singing and the gentle touch of accordion resulting in one of the album's warmest, most inviting contributions on "How Can I Leave?" Charlotte Greig matches him with a similar instrumental approach on "Her White Gown," her own resonant voice another strong standout. At its worst the disc is fair but never horrible; if songs like Nancy Elizabeth's "Cornfield" and Jeb Loy Nichols' "Stumbling On" leave little impact, they still sound pleasant and aren't a disservice to Waterson's memory. ~ Ned Raggett

General

Label:	Forced Exposure
Release date:	October 2007
Originally released:	April 2008
Recorded by:	Various Artists • Vario
Dimensions:	125 x 144 x 5mm (L x W x T)
Format:
Categories:	Music > Easy listening Music > Relaxation / meditation Music > Pop / Rock Music > World
LSN:	XWL-A61-YSE-7
Barcode:	5099950680627

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Disk 1

1	Fine Horseman - King Creosote
2	Cornfield - Elizabeth, Nancy
3	At First She Starts - Yorkston, James
4	Red Wine Promises - Williams, Victoria
5	So Strange Is Man - Blackwell, Lavinia & Alex Neilson
6	Bird - Roberts, Alasdair
7	How Can I Leave - Hurley, Michael
8	Wilson's Arms - Danny & The Champions Of The World
9	Her White Gown - Greig, Charlotte
10	Stumbling On - Nichols, Jeb Loy
11	Never The Same - Crowley, Adrian
12	Memories - James, Richard
13	Phoebe - Grant, Willard Conspiracy
14	Dazed - Sabbath Folk
15	Song For Thirza - Woolsey, Lindsey
16	Welcome Sailor - Youngs, Richard
17	To Make You Stay - Memory Band
18	John Ball - Olson, Mark
19	Migrating Bird - Bunyan, Vashti

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