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Diversions Volume 3: Songs from the Shipyards

The Unthanks Audio CD
4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
Price: £10.95 & this item Delivered FREE in the UK with Super Saver Delivery. See details and conditions
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
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"Music as tough as it is gentle, as ancient as it is modern, and as coldly desolate as it is achingly intimate. They might not end up being the best-selling British all-girl group of all time, but they're well on their way to being the most charismatic and imaginative" Paul Morley, Observer Music Magazine Top 50 Albums of the Year (number 17)

"Every now and again, and ... Read more in Amazon's The Unthanks Store

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Frequently Bought Together

Diversions Volume 3: Songs from the Shipyards + Diversions Vol.2: The Unthanks With Brighouse And Rastrick Brass Band + Diversions, Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & The Johnsons- Live from the Union Chapel, London
Price For All Three: £31.09

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Product details

  • Audio CD (5 Nov 2012)
  • Number of Discs: 1
  • Label: Universal
  • ASIN: B009HOU6FO
  • Other Editions: MP3 Download
  • Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 6,693 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Listen to Samples and Buy MP3s

Songs from this album are available to purchase as MP3s. Click on "Buy MP3" or view the MP3 Album.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Samples
Song Title Time Price
Listen  1. The Romantic Tees (Prelude) 1:33£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  2. A Great Northern River 3:40£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  3. Black Trade 4:36£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  4. Fairfield Crane 1:52£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  5. Big Steamers 5:19£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  6. All in a Day 3:24£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  7. The Romantic Tees 9:43£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  8. Shipbuilding 3:46£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen  9. Monkey Dung Man 2:06£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen10. Taking on Men 1:27£0.89  Buy MP3 
Listen11. Only Remembered 3:55£0.89  Buy MP3 


Product Description

Product Description

Diversions Vol. 3 contains the music created by The Unthanks for the Tyneside Cinema commissioned film of the same name, Songs From The Shipyards - a beautiful and moving film, tracing the story of shipbuilding. Made by internationally acclaimed North-East filmmaker Richard Fenwick, Songs From The Shipyards is made from archive footage from the past 100 years, and illustrates in microcosm the highs and lows of Britain s industrial journey. Fenwick and The Unthanks collaborated on the film from the start of the creative process, devising a strong political and human narrative to the story, and creating a unique, powerful, live audio-visual event, in which The Unthanks would perform a live soundtrack to the film.
Diversions Vol. 3 is a studio album that documents a non-sequential best of the live soundtrack. It is part of a series of side-project releases for The Unthanks, all three of which have been released inside a prolific 12 month period. Vol. 2, released this summer, charted their collaboration with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, while Vol. 1 featured an exploration of the music of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons. On that project, The Unthanks resisted the temptation to tackle Shipbuilding, which was written for Wyatt, knowing that the Shipyards project was just around the corner! The Elvis Costello/Clive Langer classic features on Vol. 3 and represents a rare lead vocal by Unthanks pianist and producer Adrian McNally, backed up by eerie vocals from the rest of The Unthanks. Having performed as no less than a 10-piece live band since 2009, and more recently with an entire brass band on stage, Songs from the Shipyards is a much more sparse and intimate affair, bringing the vocals of Rachel and Becky sharply back to the fore, and is the first record to capture purely the core 5-piece unit that is The Unthanks.
The music draws on the folksong book of the shipbuilding industry, and with the industry being a relatively young one, there is no trad material. Rather, the album is almost a celebration of the many songwriters from the North East who have written about the subject over the past 40 years. They include Johnny Handle, Jez Lowe, Graeme Miles, and the late Alex Glasgow. The centrepiece of the record however is The Romantic Tees - a self-penned piece devised by Adrian McNally, written to accompany a part of the film called Launch the beautiful, iconic, cult 1973 film made by Amber Films. With the sounds of the working life from Launch trundling along in the background of The Romantic Tees, you can almost smell the shipyards coming through the speakers. Composed around speech, in much the same way that composers like Steve Reich used the rhythm and tones of speech as the starting point for creativity, McNally uses the prose of Graeme Miles to question our relationship with the past.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, beautiful, and very Unthanks 5 Nov 2012
Format:Audio CD
I bought the CD after seeing the show, and haven't stopped listening to it since. It is haunting, beautiful, and - more so than the previous 'Diversions' albums - very much in the Unthanks' tradition. They didn't release it until today because they wanted people to see the show with Richard Fenwick's accompanying film before hearing the songs. I was lucky enough to see the show, and it is true, the combination of film and songs is unsurpassable, But if the songs are all you have, they are well worth having in their own right.

The film charts the boom and decline of British shipbuilding, focusing on the Tyne, and the songs that accompany it are a combination of contemporaneous songs (including Elvis Costello's 'Shipbuilding') and a number from Jez Lowe, whom I hadn't heard of before but will be investigating on the strength of this, in particular the sinisterly jolly 'Monkey Dung Man' which charts the malign and lingering effects of the use of asbestos (and like so many blighted lives, ends all too soon).

Rudyard Kipling's poem 'Big Steamers' is transformed by an ethereal tune and Niopha Keegan's air of fierce naivete from a tritely jingoistic poem into a song that raises the hairs on your neck. The one slightly awkward note is struck by Adrian McNally's foray into Steve Reich-style minimalism with 'The Romantic Tees' (which interestingly, most of the sleeve notes are devoted to - it doesn't warrant it). The only other nit I would pick is that while the show opened with an upbeat, optimistic 'Taking on Men', on the CD we only get the sad reprise from the end, which seems a pity.

Those however are only the most minor details - this is an Unthanks album up there with their best - and that's very good indeed.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Songs from the shipyards by the Unthanks 13 Dec 2012
Format:Audio CD|Amazon Verified Purchase
Just love folk songs as they tell a story. this is my first one of the shipyards and it's great.
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Thanks Unthanks 27 Jan 2013
Format:MP3 Download|Amazon Verified Purchase
I came to this album through a recommendation from a friend, I don't own Diversions Vol 1 or 2.

If I had heard this last year it would have been one of my three favourite albums of the year.

The harmonies are beautiful and the invocation of the working class North East in the lyrics is beautiful.

I love their version of Shipbuilding although I still have to say the Elvis Costello version with Chet Baker on trumpet is the best.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars One of the best things I heard in 2012
One of the best things I heard in 2012. Worth the price of admission for the cover of "Shipbuilding" alone. Read more
Published 21 days ago by Peter Jesperson
5.0 out of 5 stars Thank bloody Nora for the Unthanks
I was waiting for something special from the "Unthanks" and I think this is it. I was not engaged by their previous diversions offering, covers of Robert Wyatt etc. Read more
Published 24 days ago by "Belgo Geordie"
4.0 out of 5 stars (Steve) adorable
I wasn't going to review this one as i couldn't do better than Sarah288's excellent review, but seeing a fellow reviewer do a surprisingly unkind character (musical) assassination... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Peter Hill
5.0 out of 5 stars Tees-side writ large
As one who comes from the land of three rivers, I found it both stimulating and exciting good to hear voices from home
Published 1 month ago by Rev. Patricia Billsborrow
5.0 out of 5 stars different
not everybodies cup of tea I suspect
But personally I love it.
A change from traditional folk music but very haunting
Published 2 months ago by P. barry
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb record.
Once more , a delicate gem by the Unthanks. Evocative, elegant, impeccable. "The romantic tees" theme is masterful in its appearing simplicity. Buy it!
Published 3 months ago by piero crida
3.0 out of 5 stars Unthanks Experiment.
This CD is interesting but not engaging. Needs careful listening to and if you like the Unthanks then this is well worth a buy.
Published 4 months ago by Mr. Keith D. Elms
5.0 out of 5 stars The girls are unique
Great to hear a few "new to me" tunes.
The singing remains hauntingly beautiful.
I wish I could sing along!
Published 4 months ago by C. A. Russell
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful Voices......
These songs speak to me I'm from Teeside and My husband Tyneside ..... Superb..... The Unthanks can really tell the life of the Industrial North and the stories of two once great... Read more
Published 4 months ago by Angie Gilmore
5.0 out of 5 stars A Comparison with their other work.
The sisters from my wife's native north east never fail to entertain at a consistently high standard. Their sound is always good it's just a pity they never come to the Midlands.
Published 4 months ago by David Alec Pybus
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