"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.
"British guitarist Martin Simpson covered rock, country and urban blues, originals and traditional tunes, and even Irish, gospel, and country pieces. This disc's 17 cuts cover every base, from anti-war numbers to reels, duets with his wife Jessica, folk tunes on dobro, acoustic guitar, and jew's harp, and oldtime rural numbers that recall the voices of the Delta masters. Anyone unable to make quick leaps through genres need not approach Simpson's work; he not only makes radical shifts from song to song, but sometimes within individual songs. His vocals are pleasant and often engaging, while his playing is accomplished on acoustic, sometimes spectacular on electric, and never less than enjoyable on any instrument." (Ron Wynn, Allmusic)
"Droomgroep met Los Lobos-voorman David Hidalgo, folkgitarist Martin Simpson, violiste Viji Krishnan en percussionist Srinivasan. Voegt op deze kaleidoscopische CD vol subtiele kruisbestuivingen een nieuw hoofdstuk toe aan World." (DvdB, Oor)
Instrumentale op akoestische gitaar gespeelde folk-melodieen, uitgevoerd door een meester op dat gebied.
"Cool & Unusual is a typically engaging and entrancing collection of acoustic guitar work from Martin Simpson, finding the guitarist blending together a vast variety of sounds -- American and British folk, Celtic, country, worldbeat, blues -- into a signature sound that is singularly entrancing." (Allmusic)
Britse folk-zanger/gitarist. Interpreteert hier met o.a. oude makker Martin Carthy (g) folktraditionals. De man heeft een bezwerende folky zangstijl en een fraaie fingerpicking-techniek. Dat moeten fans van Bert Jansch, John Renbourne & Nick Drake ook horen.
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