"From her first recording June Tabor demonstrated a mature command of traditional and contemporary songs alike, singing them, often unaccompanied, with remarkable individuality and expressiveness. The emotions and meanings she uncovers in the old songs give them a new resonance that has caught the imagination of audiences far beyond the folk scene. June Tabors vocal artistry is especially vividly captured in this 1983 album, produced by Andrew Cronshaw. It opens with a song by Lal & Mike Waterson, closes with one by Joni Mitchell and takes in on the way the African-American spiritual Lay This Body Down." (Topic Records)
"This album was originally released in 1980 when June Tabor was just coming into her own as a solo artist. On A Cut Above, she is teamed up with uber-guitarist Martin Simpson and begins to show the darker colors that would typify her subsequent work. "Admiral Benbow" (a gorgeous sea song with a lovely choral tag at the end) and the cheerfully despairing "Flash Company" are light enough, but her hair-raising a cappella performance of "Number Two Top Seam," a song about a coal mine explosion, shows her at her best -- stark, chilling, and beautiful. She also manages to cut Linda Thompson with her rendition of "Strange Affair," possibly the saddest and most beautiful of all the sad and beautiful songs written by Linda's ex-husband Richard. Martin Simpson, who is the very soul of taste throughout this album, marks "Strange Affair" with an ill-advised slide guitar solo, but it's the only mistake anyone makes on this album." (Allmusic) Eerste uitgave op CD in 1989.
" There's not a single June Tabor album that isn't worth owning, and this one is as worthy as any other. That said, "Reynard the Fox" didn't really need a phase-shifted synth accompaniment (note the recording date), and the line "A whole generation that were butchered and damned" doesn't need any more brutality in its delivery than is already contained in its imagery. But that's exactly two mistakes in the course of 44 minutes, and you'll forget them instantly at the sound of her calm, ironic assurance on "Streets of Forbes" and "Now I'm Easy." And if she makes "I'll kiss your mouth ten thousand times" sound a bit more like a threat than a promise on "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight," think of it as further evidence of her artistic depth -- any moppet could have delivered that line as sensual promise. The drums on "Now I'm Easy" are as perfect as the synth was inappropriate on "Reynard the Fox," by the way, and so is Nic Jones' guitar everywhere it appears." (Rick Anderson)|
Quercus means oak in Latin and the roots of this particular tree dig deep into British folk music, while leaves and branches reach upward to embrace jazz-inspired lyrical improvising. The trio features the venerable English singer June Tabor whose dark voice has an uncanny ability to underscore the emotional essence of a ballad: As I get older, I understand more the depths of sorrow and joy that made the song, she has said. Tabor, who was recently voted BBC Folk Awards Singer Of The Year, is joined in the Quercus project by Welsh jazz pianist and composer Huw Warren, and by English saxophonist Iain Ballamy, well-known to ECM listeners as co-leader of the band Food. This is the first Quercus album but the trio has existed already for seven years, patiently developing its unique idiomatic blend. (bron: ECM)
De zangeres is op haar best in het vertolken van traditionele folksongs. En dat doet ze hier, met effectief terughoudende viool- en pianobegeleiding en met gastoptredens van Martin Simpson (gitaar) en Kathryn Tickell (northumbrian smallpipes).
Britse folkzangeres, die qua klankkleur soms dicht in de buurt komt van Sandy Denny. Omdat ook haar repertoire stilistische verwantschap heeft zal dit dezelfde liefhebbers aanspreken. Vooral haar ingetogen, maar o zo intense, veelal uiterst sober vertolkte ballades roepen herinneringen op aan Denny-parels als "Late November". Materiaal op deze verzamelaar komt van al haar albums uit de periode 1977 ("Airs And Graces") t/m 1992 ("Angel Tiger").
Bijzondere, atmosferische samenwerking uit 1990 tussen zangeres met bezwerend stemgeluid en folkrockband die zich een stuk rustiger houdt dan normaliter.
Thema-album waarop de roos centraal staat: veel door Tabor bewerkte traditionals waarin rozen voorkomen (we ontwaren ook 'Er Is Een Roos Ontloken'), ingetogen gearrangeerd voor piano, viool en cello en bezwerend gezongen door Tabor.
Dit album is een live-registratie door de BRTN van een concert ter herdenking van de slachtoffers van de loopgravenoorlog bij Ieperen tijdens de Eerste Wereldoorlog. Net als de oorlog zelf was deze herdenking ook een internationale aangelegenheid. Met zangers en spelers uit Engeland, Amerika, België, Nederland en Wales. Daarbij heeft Shoshana Kalisch een Joodse achtergrond en Marwan Zoueini en enkele leden van The Lone Tree Orchestra een Arabische achtergrond. Het zijn passend ingetogen liedjes in folkstijl. Veelal in de West-Europese traditie maar de deelnemers met een Joodse en Arabische achtergrond verloochenen hun wortels niet. Droevige maar ook troostrijke muziek.(GR Muziekbank)
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