|
Amazon.co.uk allows you to pay for your items in your local currency. Restrictions apply. Learn More. |
Special Offers and Product Promotions
- Purchase a product from the Music Store sold by Amazon.co.uk and receive £1 to use on an album download in our MP3 Store. Here's how (terms and conditions apply)
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
Track Listings
| 1. Summerfield Avenue |
| 2. The Cottager's Reply |
| 3. John Ball |
| 4. England In Ribbons |
| 5. Mad John |
| 6. Riches On The Bold |
| 7. The Lady Of York |
| 8. Come Down Jehovah |
Product Description
Review
Although a respected stalwart of the U.K. folk scene for three decades now, it was only with 2005's critically-lauded The Lark Descending that Kent-born songsmith Chris Wood rose from the supporting cast to become a leading player. A powerful yet sensitively performed collection of traditional and self-penned material, The Lark! established its creator as an artist with a deep connection to the English landscape and people, harking back to a bygone age without yearning for it mawkishly.
The Trespasser sees Wood continuing to explore similar themes, and once again it's a quiet triumph. While the traditional songs are as expertly delivered as ever, it's his own compositions - delivered in a tremulous voice seeping emotion - which really stay in the memory. Opening offering, Summerfield Avenue, is dreamily pretty, if a little slight, but the album instantly moves up a gear with The Cottager's Reply; a passionate eulogy to the importance of family roots which epitomises Wood's gift for marrying delicate acoustic textures to poetic lyrics of real depth.
At 13-minutes long, England In Ribbons forms the epic centrepiece of The Trespasser. Originally recorded as part of a BBC Radio 3 tribute to traditional dance, music and song, it recreates the ancient travelling Mummers plays that once toured the English countryside in a gently swirling torrent of fiddle, guitar and narrative to become Wood's Tam Lin or A Sailor's Life. Come Down Jehovah, which closes the album, is a another highlight; Wood duets hauntingly with acclaimed Scottish vocalist Karine Polwart, giving the track a stark, spectral grace that recalls Bonnie 'Prince' Billy's best work.
As the founder of the English Acoustic Collective, a project dedicated to promoting folk music and teaching its instruments through an annual summer school, Wood's commitment to the future of his chosen genre clearly runs deep. If he continues to produce albums with the fragile beauty and profoundly human warmth of Trespasser, then that future should be very bright indeed. --Chris White
Find more music at the BBC This link will take you off Amazon in a new window
Product Description
8 tracks:
Summerfield avenue; The cottager's reply; John Ball; England in ribbons; Mad John; Riches on the bold; The lady of York; Come down Jehovah.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best album yet from English folk stalwart,
By
This review is from: Trespasser (Audio CD)
Chris Wood's "Trespasser" is loosely concerned with the idea of enclosure and imprisonment -- from the enclosures of common land in the agricultural revolution which drove the rural workforce into urban wage-slavery, to the creeping loss of liberty which afflicts English society today.
"Mad John" tells the story of rural poet John Clare, driven insane by the loss of the land in which he loved to wander; "Summerfield Avenue" quietly mourns the generation swindled by the post-war "you never-had-it-so-good" suburban confidence trick. Sometimes it's impossible to tell traditional songs ("The Lady of York", "John Ball") from Wood's own compositions ("England in Ribbons", "The Cottager's Reply") without consulting the sleeve notes, so rooted is his gift in the fabric of English history and tradition. A bearded bear of a man, Chris Wood doesn't have the youth or good looks of a Seth Lakeman or a Kate Rusby. However, his gift for songwriting and communication through music is so strong that almost any listener will be moved by something on this album. Even if you think you don't like folk music, give it a try.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Finest Social Commentary,
By
This review is from: Trespasser (Audio CD)
While those in search of an up-beat barn dance floor filler should look elsewhere, there is unlikely to be a CD that sheds more insight on the past and present state of the UK than Trespasser. While focussed around the broad theme of the enclosure, Wood casts his net to cover topics including rural house prices, the mummer's plays, consumerism and rebellion, all of which is combined with excellent sleeve notes and a song with as good a punch line as you'll hear anywhere. Trespasser will be a strong contender for 2008's album of the year (and not just in Anglicana categories) - highly recommended.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best English folk album in twenty years ?,
By
This review is from: Trespasser (Audio CD)
I don't listen to too much folk these days so I'm sure there are other great albums out there that I've missed, but to my ears 'Trespasser' is just like hearing June Tabor, Nic Jones, and Dick Gaughan for the first time, it's that good. I first heard the track 'England in Ribbons' late one night on BBC Radio 3 'Late Junction' and was so moved by it I leapt out of bed to find pen and paper ! Now, at last I've found it again on the best C.D. I've bought in ages. Chris Wood is a weaver of quiet magic, telling stories of deep Englishness to which we should all listen. This is music that taps all the way down to the root, like the very best poetry. Go out and buy it, there's no better music around than this.
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
|
Most Recent Customer Reviews |
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Listmania!
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
