We have here another offering from Empire Musicwerks in their selective reworking of the old Tradition Records catalogue of seminal folk music. In A.L. Lloyd and Ewan MacColl, we have two interpreters of traditional music at the top of their game, accompanied throughout by the skilled instrumentalist (and eventual landmark musicologist) Ralphy Rinzler.

The disc opens with the forebitter/capstan shanty "Row, Bullies, Row," weaving the vocals with Rinzler's spirited guitar work. It is followed by the energized bunting shanty "Paddy Doyle," rendered in a cracking uptempo a cappella by Lloyd and MacColl. The a cappella halyard standard "Wild Goose Shanty" is next, with "While Cruising Round Yarmouth," an old ballad collected by Harry Cox, propelled by guitar and mandolin, closing the first set.

An exceptionally rapid halyard shanty for voice alone, "Old Billy Riley," opens a second set, followed by an unusual version of the ballad "Handsome Cabin Boy," in which the gender-bending title character emerges as the captain's wife. This gives way to the mandolin-driven capstan shanty "South Australia," which in turn yields to the title track "Blow, Boys, Blow," an a cappella topsail shanty dating to the old African slaver runs.

Next up is my favorite tune, a version of the quick-time capstan shanty "Whup Jamboree," which is fiercely paced by Rinzler's frailing banjo. The tempo slows considerably for the plaintive ballad "Banks of Newfoundland," a melody rooted firmly by the accordion accompaniment. There follows the wishful "Whiskey Johnny," a halyard shanty sung in hopes of a dram to ease the burden of heavy hauling. The Mediterranean strains of "Do Me Ama" are next, a ballad in which the servant wins what the squire may not have.

In the standard "Jack Tar," the perils of a sailor loose on shore with pay are explored; oddly enough, warnings agains the wiles of women figure prominently in this banjo-driven ditty. Another shore-bound ballad, "Paddy West," sings of the propietor of a Liverpool boarding house and his unorthodox school for seamen. The disc closes with the oldest of the tunes, the timeless short-line shanty "Haul on the Bowline" (which dates to the era of Henry VIII), and the a cappella halyard shanty "A Hundred Years Ago," a song long associated with the port of Baltimore, but one known equally by British and American clipper rounders.

Here, then, is a taste of salt, sea, shore and a life abovedecks and in the rigging. It speaks of an age nearly lost, and captures a moment in which the hard life of the sea is leavened by a stirring tune and a closely held sense of humor. I recommend the disc highly to all who yearn for the age of sail and sailors.

by Gilbert Head
Rambles.NET
30 December 2006