Various: Migrating Bird - The Songs of Lal Waterson

At first I felt a little ashamed that I haven't spent more time with this wonderful album in the three and a bit years that I've had it. Then I remembered about the hobby of working through my entire music collection, which has slightly hampered keeping in touch with all the new releases.

I was predisposed to like Migrating Bird as it was put together by one of my very favourite artists, Charlotte Greig, and features another of them, Alasdair Roberts, along with several others that I like. Having said that, beyond the Bright Phoebus album, which Paul kindly gave me as an illicit CD-R, I know none of the Lal Waterson songs that make up this tribute.

In the notes, Charlotte writes,

Soon after Lal's funeral [she died of cancer in 1998], along with my husband, I set up a club in Cardiff for alternative folk and country music. For the last few years, every time we've had musicians staying with us, whether from the UK or US, we've played them Lal's songs. After a while, we started asking these artists to record some of her compositions, with the idea of making a tribute album that would reflect how far her influence had spread. Together with a few invitations issued further afield, this, finally, is the result: a small offering to remember her by, made out of love, respect and admiration

Though it's very much a genuine tribute, for some reason I can't put a finger on it reminds me of The 6ths' ersatz tribute album Hyacinths and Thistles. (I can almost map the artist equivalents: King Creosote is to this album what Momus is to The 6ths; Nancy Elizabeth to Claire Grogan; Victoria Williams to Melanie; Alasdair Roberts to Bob Mould; though I couldn't say who Migrating Bird's Marc Almond is!)

Somehow all the artists sound like themselves; they really own the songs — the American singers, too, sound completely at home with the material (the one slightly comic exception being Victoria Williams' attempted mimicry of Lal Waterson's Yorkshire pronunciation of "bugger", rendered as "booger", which has a slightly different meaning in the US). Yet it really hangs together as a coherent album. I don't know the circumstances of the recordings, but the production is consistently spare and economic throughout.

The quality is so consistent that it's slightly invidious to pick out highlights, but my favourites include Nancy Elizabeth and Sabbath Folk — and why I still don't know The Memory Band's music better is beyond me (…oh, yes, see above). Alasdair Roberts seems to be accompanying himself on piano (at least, no other musician is credited), which I can't remember him doing anywhere else. His performance sounds to me like two parts Neil Young (the solo piano songs like The Bridge and Journey Through the Past) and one part Ivor Cutler. An unusual but delicious cocktail.

As soon as my eMusic credits refresh in a week's time, I'll be downloading this Lal Waterson album, and probably this Memory Band one.

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Comments

[M.J. Nicholls]

I love Vashti Bunyan's song on this one, so very haunting.

[David]

Good to hear from you, M.J., and, yes, that Vashti song is short, sweet, and a little eerie.