It would be difficult to find a better traditional British folk record than this. June Tabor's career was at its artistic peak when she recorded this in 1983, and in my opinion her voice has never come across on record as good as this, either before or since.
She has achieved a fine balance of traditional and contemporary (songs by Bill Caddick, Lal Waterson and Joni Mitchell) material, and even where the songs weren't written especially for her, she makes it sound as if they were.
The opener, trad song "The Month of January" sets the standard: Tabor's vocals over delicate, unobtrusive background instruments - a major plus factor for the entire disc.
The modern songs, "The Scarecrow" and "She Moves Among Men" are haunting both musically and lyrically with their powerful evocations of abuse and neglect. On the latter the piano comes to the fore in a powerful solo which demonstrably illustrates the violence lurking beneath the surface of a barmaid's daily life. In the wrong hands this could have come across as a mere feminist rant, but here your sympathies lie entirely with the victim.
"A Smiling Shore", a chronicle of the experiences of a Holocaust survivor, though more restrained, has a similar net result.
The traditional pieces are delivered largely acapella and provide the chance to admire the strength of Tabor's voice. "One Night As I Lay Upon My Bed", though at heart a typical folk song of forbidden love brought to fruition, is the most graceful.
While the songs generally take some of the bleaker experiences of life as their subject matter, this only adds to the force of the performance and makes it more distinctive. It is ironic that such a CD should come packaged with a cover illustration of a girl enjoying the company of her cats, but then this is one for people who want to look beneath the veneer of outer appearances.
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How does it compare to the artist's other releases
Outstanding
Cover / Inlay Design and Content
Good
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