Having read the earlier reviews and have enjoyed immensely Linda's contributions on Radio 4, I was really looking forward to this double CD. It appears, however, to be very different from what was described for the book. The recordings go back as far as 1986 and were made for Linda's own personal use, so they are of variable quality in all senses. Hattie Hayridge introduces the performances and explains their context but it seemed to me that, particularly in the earlier sessions, Linda's timing and confidence were very far from what they came to be. Most disappointingly, all her Radio 4 work was squeezed into the last nine minutes as a medley of brief snippets without particular rhyme nor reason. All in all, it most definitely does not do her justice and is far, far from being The Very Best of Linda Smith.
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