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On the surface, there is little connection between cherished Brit icon Robert Wyatt and cherished icon-in-the-making Antony Hegarty beyond the fact The Unthanks covered a selection of both over two nights at London’s Union Chapel in December 2010. But both singer-songwriters are unified by being highly idiosyncratic and intuitively melodic mavericks with a stark, intimate simplicity that often unfolds as luminous ballads. As Unthanks pianist and producer Adrian McNally says of both, "There is never a spare note played or one struck to impress." On top, both songwriters have a very strong political polemic that doesn’t overwhelm with sloganeering. How fortunate that The Unthanks come from the same tradition, while Rachel and Becky Unthanks’ voices are blessed with that same stark, intimate simplicity. In other words, it’s a perfect match.
The covers come in two halves. First, it’s six of Hegarty’s songs, mostly drawn from his breakthrough album I Am a Bird Now. Given Hegarty’s transgender politics and drive to establish a liberated perspective beyond machismo, it’s fascinating to hear his songs sung by women. Bird Girl is arguably Hegarty’s most heartbreaking tune, but For Today I am a Boy and You Are My Sister are more gripping because of their context. As older sis Rachel recalls between songs, she and Becky have a brother in-between their ages, and that Becky reckoned when she reached her brother’s age, she’d actually become a boy. Even better is hearing You Are My Sister sung to each other by sisters in blood as well as spirit, the arrangement and tone touching rather than cloying.
The nine Wyatt covers (well, eight, given Stay Tuned is written by Anja Garbarek but covered by Wyatt on Comicopera) are broader in spirit and intent, giving the Unthanks band more instrumental scope and even a playful interlude, namely the speedy clog-dancing that accompanies Dondestan. But they know that the ballads – which also match Hegarty’s primary soundscape – are the key to their connection with Wyatt. It’s hard to single out any of the eight beauties here but Lullaby for Hanza, Lisp Service, Free Will and Testament and Sea Song (also covered on The Bairns) are especially knee-weakening.
This album is the first in what will be a series of Unthanks albums titled Diversions, between official studio sets, as the band continues to look beyond the safe confines of whatever ‘trad folk’ is expected from them. Whatever follows will have a lot to live up to.
--Martin Aston
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Neil Spencer, The Observer, November 20th, 2011
The group's chamber folk...is a perfect fit for contemplative pieces such as Wyatt's "Sea Song"...while Hegarty's "You Are My Sister" might have been written for the Tyneside siblings... A triumphant excursion - ****
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 37 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
The Unthanks seem to positively relish the challenge of expanding their "folk" boundaries into areas so diverse that the label becomes meaningless. This year's brilliant "Last" contained wondrous cover versions of artists as diverse as Tom Waits and King Crimson. In "Diversion Vol 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons" they now take on the lifting beauty of the transcendent songs of Anthony Hegarty and combine then with the songs of that hardy English genius Robert Wyatt a man not afraid transcend the musical boundaries of jazz, soul and incorporate avant-garde impulses (see separate review of his "Greatest Misses")
This new(ish) album by the Unthanks recorded in pristine quality at the Union chapel in December 2010 bring out the best in the two sisters who carve a slightly unbalanced game of two halves. Actually there are more Wyatt songs on here (9 out of 15) but you can barely see the joins. It all starts with Hegarty's big ballads that are tailor made for the voices of Rachel and Becky and "Bird Gehrl" rises skyward as a superb opener. What a song to start on, but the Unthanks hold no fear and "You are my sister" is sung as duet with those superb Northumberland voices whispering the words over a Adrian McNally rolling piano accompaniment. And what better way to follow it than with the equally great "For today I am a boy" this reviewers favourite on the album thus far. The Wyatt songs are equally treated with due reverence but given that Unthanks treatment which inevitably diverges from the originals. The facts that you can't see the sister's clog dancing on the chirpy "Dondestan" does not detract from its exuberance. Alternatively a slowly forming "Lisp Service" rolls out in dark formation with haunting strings and a suitably dour vocal. The jazzy blues of "Stay Tuned" confirms what a brilliant Wyatt song this (even if he did cover it) and one of the best vocals on the album follow. It is a great version of "Sea Song" however which draws you in and that will place a heavy toll on the CD players repeat button. Its seven minute plus of some of the best musical excellence heard in 2011 and how you envy the lucky few who saw this feast of music live. Throughout the banter between the songs demonstrate yet again that the sisters are far from their own self portrait as "miserable buggers". "How many have you seen us before" they ask before Rachel tells a story of how Becky wanted to be a dog as a young girl until they realise that the story has other possible connotations and fall about laughing.
Ultimately the Unthanks continue a journey in current British music which is so unique that's its almost unchartered. The Independent has called this album "a feast of vulnerable balladry with a political heart". There is nothing wrong with that at all particularly if it cements the already heady reputation of these Northumberland musical explorers. One for Santa's list I would suggest.
This new(ish) album by the Unthanks recorded in pristine quality at the Union chapel in December 2010 bring out the best in the two sisters who carve a slightly unbalanced game of two halves. Actually there are more Wyatt songs on here (9 out of 15) but you can barely see the joins. It all starts with Hegarty's big ballads that are tailor made for the voices of Rachel and Becky and "Bird Gehrl" rises skyward as a superb opener. What a song to start on, but the Unthanks hold no fear and "You are my sister" is sung as duet with those superb Northumberland voices whispering the words over a Adrian McNally rolling piano accompaniment. And what better way to follow it than with the equally great "For today I am a boy" this reviewers favourite on the album thus far. The Wyatt songs are equally treated with due reverence but given that Unthanks treatment which inevitably diverges from the originals. The facts that you can't see the sister's clog dancing on the chirpy "Dondestan" does not detract from its exuberance. Alternatively a slowly forming "Lisp Service" rolls out in dark formation with haunting strings and a suitably dour vocal. The jazzy blues of "Stay Tuned" confirms what a brilliant Wyatt song this (even if he did cover it) and one of the best vocals on the album follow. It is a great version of "Sea Song" however which draws you in and that will place a heavy toll on the CD players repeat button. Its seven minute plus of some of the best musical excellence heard in 2011 and how you envy the lucky few who saw this feast of music live. Throughout the banter between the songs demonstrate yet again that the sisters are far from their own self portrait as "miserable buggers". "How many have you seen us before" they ask before Rachel tells a story of how Becky wanted to be a dog as a young girl until they realise that the story has other possible connotations and fall about laughing.
Ultimately the Unthanks continue a journey in current British music which is so unique that's its almost unchartered. The Independent has called this album "a feast of vulnerable balladry with a political heart". There is nothing wrong with that at all particularly if it cements the already heady reputation of these Northumberland musical explorers. One for Santa's list I would suggest.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
This is the fourth Unthanks cd I have bought so I am biased.
This really works extremely well on both the Robert Wyatt and the Antony and the Johnsons sets .
I particularly like Sea Song , being a big fan of the Wyatt original.
The whole album is awesome , as the Unthanks drift from the shores of trad folk music and make music which is increasingly eclectic and wholly exquisite.
Fans of folk music ,Kate Bush, Bjork and more will find something to savour here.
Lets hope they record the songs of Jeff Buckley , Portishead, or the Cocteau Twins next....
This really works extremely well on both the Robert Wyatt and the Antony and the Johnsons sets .
I particularly like Sea Song , being a big fan of the Wyatt original.
The whole album is awesome , as the Unthanks drift from the shores of trad folk music and make music which is increasingly eclectic and wholly exquisite.
Fans of folk music ,Kate Bush, Bjork and more will find something to savour here.
Lets hope they record the songs of Jeff Buckley , Portishead, or the Cocteau Twins next....
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Audio CD
I am biased - I love the Unthanks, from their full on traditional renditions of traditional fayre to their atmospheric broody evocations of old and new material they are a delight. I have never got my head around Antony and the Johnsons but this recording is opening me up to their music. Robert Wyatt is and has always been a musical 'one-off', at times soulful, surreal, deeply emotional and romantic and of course political in it's widest sense. The Unthanks version of Sea Song, Becky's rasping vocal unlike any others, is simply beautiful.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
hmmm
I utterly adore the other three cds. This one is a disappointment. A song which goes: You are my sister, I love you, I hope all your dreams, come true - that is not what I have... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Richard Ashton
Enchanting
An enchanting set of songs. Just when I thought the Unthanks were starting to lose the freshness and vitality that made The Bairns so special, they come back with this exceptional... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Dave Gilmour's cat
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