With Jeff, December 13, 2007 - December 21, 2007, in Norwich, Vermont
Excerpt from track 3, The Coventry Carol.
The singing is a cappella. The northern accents go well with the old english carols. It sometimes sounds more like a roomful of singers than just a trio. It certainly beats the pants off the tripe they are playing in the stores this week! I went Christmas shopping (finally) this morning and I heard ‘The Little Drummer Boy’ three times before lunch time. (Perhaps my all time least favorite christmas song.)
…But I am done with christmas-shopping now.
Essence of winter sleep is on the night…
But I won’t mind listening to this album one last time before I hand it on. The harmonies have the texture and architectonic structure of a well-made bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich. (On toast, with mayonnaise and just a touch of dijon mustard.)
It makes me want to hear their other albums, which I understand are either traditional songs and ballads from the British Isles (Hindsight and Triple Echo) or original lefty socially conscious compositions.
My brother gave me Hindsight, Coope, Boyes, and Simpson’s traditional music album for Christmas. Virtually, for now, since it takes a while for the CD to ship from England.
I don’t think Peter ever got a response from No Masters when we wrote to ask what they thought of making a Handmeon out of this album. Now I’m happy to be able to point out that they have already sold one CD as a result (In addition to A Garland of Carols itself, that is.)
We’ve talked quite a bit about how Handmeon might help artisans promote or even sell their work, but we’ve usually thought in terms of arts and crafts items. I had never thought of recorded music. Being wrong is usually more interesting than being right, which is fortunate, because it is also a lot easier…