Aleyn

by

June Tabor

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June Tabor really is a challenging singer.

* In the first place she really does have an amazing voice. This CD is a marvellous recording of a powerful, rich voice. Where the music is haunting, the ghosts weave through the timbre of her song. Where the song is powerful, her voice rouses, stirs, pounds, and then calls emotions out of you as though you were a child.

* The arrangements are fascinating -- but they don't all work. There are some real surprises, musically, on the CD. Not entirely what you would expect when you buy a June Tabor album, if you know June Tabor; and some tracks are not at all what you would expect from something filed under British Isles/Folk.

* The big disappointment is the selection itself. Many of these songs are painfully trite ballads, and the arrangements and vocal power that makes the good stuff so good really makes these unbearable.

So: while this is a worthwhile purchase, it is hugely flawed. The good old traditional pieces tend to have more melodrama than is good for them and the more contemporary or experimental bits fail more than they succeed.

The real gems here are 'the Great Valerio' by Richard Thompson (how could it be bad?), 'di Nakht' a yiddish song by auschwitz survivors (this is where the ghosts are), and 'No Good at Love' by Adrian May. No winners among the traditional!