CD Review- Carthy Chronicles (cont'd)

A better songwriting effort from Martin is "Company Policy," a scathing expression of outrage over the war in the Falklands, sung over a driving, mountain dulcimer-like guitar part. It's a highlight of "Carthy Contemporaries," begging the question of whether one can contemporize one's self. Martin's taste in contemporary songs is quite unpredictable, with the constant in all his work being the striking melody. Carthy's contemporary song choices are often less interesting than the old ones, and the marriage of politics (no matter how laudable) to music generally drags down the quality of the art. Such songs seem to "instruct" me. The ballads work in more natural ways, speaking a language of transformation. For me, despite some great tracks, "Carthy Contemporaries" is the least compelling of the four CDs. John Kirkpatrick's "Dust to Dust" and Dave Goulder's "January Man" plod interminably, belaboring the obvious. Here also are songs from Bertolt Brecht ("Wife of the Soldier" provides a masterful example of understatement), Bob Dylan, Leon Rosselson, Maggie Holland, Cyril Tawney ("Monday Morning, sung a capella, Tawney just "has it"), Adam McNaughton's "O'or Hamlet," Sydney Carter's lovely "Lord of the Dance," and Mike Waterson's "A Stitch In Time," representing the singer's ardent feminist streak.

Only about half the tracks on "Child:Carthy" are from the Francis J. Child collection. "Lucy Wan" is a brilliant interpretation of a tragic incest ballad, and listening to it against an earlier recorded version illustrate why Martin (& Swarb, again) is so damn good. Often in performance, when his audience is applauding, Martin continues to hum to himself. It appears that he's thinking about something he could have done better with the just-finished song. His phrasing is truer here than when he was young; in this later version he doesn't put the stress on the second syllable of "Lucy," to emphasize the rhyme. It's there anyway and doesn't need pushing. And now the last chilling lines are delivered without drama, as fact: "when the sun and the moon dance on yon hill, and that may never be." Georgie, having slain his pregnant sister, has moved beyond the pale of human community into a place of flat affect - that's what it's like, when your life has become so wretched that there's no capacity to feel it. And that subtlety of delivery enables the listener to experience the power of that moment all the more deeply. Martin Carthy is worthy of attention because of the quality of the thought that goes into his work - an uncompromising, unapologetic devotion to life as it is truly and deeply lived. "The Whale Catchers" is a marvelous folksong I hadn't heard before; "Lord Randall," "False Knight On The Road" and "Geordie" are here as well. Alas, "Willie's Lady" isn't here. Nor "Broomfield Hill," from "Landfall," nor Brass Monkey's "Factory Girl," nor e.e. cummings' "All In Green," which Martin set to music by Mozart on his "Right of Passage" album. If you are a Carthy fan, you'll need this collection. And if you're new to him, "The Carthy Chronicles" is a great place to start. It supplements, rather than substitutes for, his other recordings.

Quoting Martin, on hearing an 80 year old Norfolk traditional singer named Sam Larner presented by Ewan MacColl at a London club in 1958: "What normal 17-year old is going to sit in front of an 80-year-old fisherman, a guy who's been at sea and sings as weirdly as it's possible to sing, and then walk out of there at the end of the evening thinking he's had a life changing experience? What 17-year old? -Me. And I'm not that special. It must happen all the time. They'll be blown away and completely taken over by this force. It's not romance, it's having a glimpse of something, and when you have a glimpse you want more. It was 43 years ago when I saw him, but I still get excited hearing Sam Larner sing."

For a couple of generations, Martin Carthy has set a towering standard for excellence. His music both preserves and transforms traditional material. I hope the young people he inspires to love traditional music will do more than learn songs from his discs; I hope that they follow his example by doing diligent source research to unearth new old music, and follow their hearts in its expression. It's that quality of search that brings music to life. "The Carthy Chronicles" is a treasure. Perhaps Free Reed will plan for another box set in 2021, when Carthy reaches the age Sam Larner was in 1958. [-Andrew Calhoun]

Treats

See a neat slideshow from Carthy's 60th B'day party

If you have Real Player 8, you can watch a video clip

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