The Fragile | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 9 February 2012 (UK) | |||
Recorded | Golcar, Huddersfield, [1] West Yorkshire | |||
Genre | Folk; chamber folk | |||
Length | 50:48 | |||
Label | No Masters (NMCD39) | |||
O'Hooley & Tidow chronology | ||||
|
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
The Guardian | [2] |
The Fragile, the second album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 9 February 2012 on the No Masters label. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian. The album's title is derived from the words of one of its songs, "Mein Deern", about the dying hours of Heidi Tidow's German grandmother. [1] The album features guest performances by Andy Cutting, Jackie Oates, Jude Abbott, Cormac Byrne, Anna Esslemont, Sam Pegg, The Solo Players and London's Diversity Choir.
According to O'Hooley & Tidow, all the songs on The Fragile are linked by the common theme of vulnerability. [1]
A single from the album, "The Last Polar Bear", was released in November 2011. The track was reissued on 1 November 2012 as a double single with "Gentleman Jack". [3] This is a song, also from the album, about Anne Lister, an early 19th-century Yorkshire lesbian gentlewoman. [4]
The words of "Little Boy Blue" are from a 19th-century poem by the American writer, Eugene Field. The poem, about a young boy and his toys, suggests that he dies and is taken by angels and his toys wait for him to return.
"She Lived Beside the Anner" is a traditional folk song from Tipperary, Ireland. [5]
In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian described The Fragile as an "intriguing, ambitious set" and said that the album's cover version of Massive Attack's "Teardrop" was "an exquisite reworking". [2] Guardian music critic Jude Rogers voted it as one of the best tracks of 2012. [6]
Northern Sky praised the album's "complex string arrangements and fine instrumental accompaniment" and "highly accomplished pieces of musical composition; you can never second guess what's around the corner in terms of sonic exploration". [7] Reviewing the album for Folking.com, Dai Jeffries said "The confidence, power and earthiness of their voices both solo and in harmony are what shine through this excellent album. [8] Folk Wales Online described the album as a "beautiful, entrancing, hypnotic CD" and "breathtakingly original". [9]
Northern Sky music magazine's reviewer described the song "The Last Polar Bear" as "utterly beautiful", saying "This is how love songs should be written". [10]
Holger Brandstaedt, reviewing the album for FolkWorld, said: "The influence of the producer is unmistakable. Some of the tracks sound clearly by Chumbawamba, others have their godfathers in The Beautiful South". [11]
Total album length = 50:48
The album was recorded at Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow's home in Golcar, West Yorkshire, in September and October 2011 and also at Hill Top Studio, Leeds. Diversity Choir's contribution was recorded live at St Anne's Church, Soho, London. The album was mixed and mastered by Neil Ferguson of Chumbawamba at Hill Top Studio, Leeds. [12] and was released on 9 February 2012 on the No Masters label.
The illustrations on the cover, which was designed by Boff Whalley, are by Kate Aughey. [13] The photographs of O’Hooley & Tidow standing in the sea were taken by Casey Orr at Sandsend in Whitby. [14]
Chumbawamba were a British anarchist punk band formed in 1982 and disbanded in 2012. They are best known for their 1997 single "Tubthumping", which was nominated for Best British Single at the 1998 Brit Awards. Other singles include "Amnesia", "Enough Is Enough", "Timebomb", "Top of the World ", and "Add Me". The band drew on genres such as punk rock, pop, and folk. Their anarcho-communist political leanings led them to have an irreverent attitude toward authority, and to espouse a variety of political and social causes including animal rights and pacifism and later regarding class struggle, Marxism, feminism, gay liberation, pop culture, and anti-fascism.
Fragile or The Fragile may refer to:
Readymades is the tenth studio album by Chumbawamba. It also features vocal samples from contemporary and traditional folk artists, some of whom Chumbawamba would go on to work with in the future. The album's title refers to the use of everyday objects as art by Marcel Duchamp.
"Teardrop" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack. Vocals are performed by Elizabeth Fraser, former lead singer of Cocteau Twins, who also wrote the lyrics. It was released on 27 April 1998 by Circa and Virgin as the second single from the group's third studio album, Mezzanine (1998). A harpsichord-driven track, "Teardrop" was originally set to feature vocals from Madonna, whom Massive Attack turned down in favour of Fraser.
The Unthanks are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their debut album, Cruel Sister, was Mojo magazine's Folk Album of the Year in 2005. Of their subsequent albums, nine have received four or five-starred reviews in the British national press. Their album Mount the Air, released in 2015, won in the best album category in the 2016 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. In 2017 they released two albums featuring the songs and poems of Molly Drake, mother of singer-songwriter and musician Nick Drake.
ABCDEFG is the fourteenth and final studio album by British rock band Chumbawamba. It was officially released on 1 March 2010, but copies that were pre-ordered from the band's website arrived the week before.
The Bairns was the second album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, which then comprised Rachel Unthank, her younger sister Becky, pianist Belinda O'Hooley and fiddle player Niopha Keegan. Produced by Adrian McNally and released by Rabble Rouser on 20 August 2007, it was nominated for the Best Album award at the 2008 BBC Folk Awards and was also nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. It received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Belinda O'Hooley is a singer-songwriter and pianist from Yorkshire, England. Formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset, she now records and performs as O'Hooley & Tidow with her wife Heidi Tidow.
O'Hooley & Tidow are an English folk music duo from Yorkshire. Singer-songwriter Heidi Tidow performs and records with her wife, singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley, who was formerly a member of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset. O'Hooley & Tidow were nominated for Best Duo at the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. Their 2016 album Shadows was given a five-star review in The Guardian, and four of their other albums, including their 2017 release WinterFolk Volume 1, have received four-star reviews in the British national press. From 2019 to 2022, their song "Gentleman Jack", from the album The Fragile, featured as the closing theme for the BBC/HBO television series Gentleman Jack. Their album Cloudheads was released on 21 April 2023.
Lucy Victoria Ward is an English singer-songwriter from Derby, England. She performs, with a voice described as expressive and powerful, traditional English folk songs as well as her own material. Three of her albums, Adelphi Has to Fly, Single Flame and I Dreamt I Was a Bird, have been critically acclaimed and have each received four-starred reviews in the British national press.
TwickFolk organises acoustic music events in and around Twickenham, south-west London. A registered charity, it is run, not for profit, by a small group of volunteers. It was established in January 1983 and is now one of the best known and most highly respected folk clubs in London and the South East of England.
Silent June is the first album by O'Hooley & Tidow. Recorded between August and November 2009 at their home in Golcar, Huddersfield, it was released on 22 February 2010 on the No Masters label, distributed by Proper Records.
The Hum, the third album by the folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 17 February 2014 and received four-starred reviews in The Guardian and The Irish Times. Inspired by the sights and sounds of the Colne Valley, it has been described as "a collection of songs paying homage to the West Riding village of Golcar", the former industrial village in the West Riding of Yorkshire where Belinda O'Hooley and Heidi Tidow share a home together.
Adelphi Has to Fly, the debut album of British singer-songwriter Lucy Ward, was released in the United Kingdom by Navigator Records on 13 June 2011. It was critically acclaimed and received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Single Flame, the second album of British singer-songwriter Lucy Ward, was released in the United Kingdom by Navigator Records on 19 August 2013. It was critically acclaimed and received a four-starred review in The Guardian.
Summat's Brewin', the fourth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released in August 2015 in a limited edition of 1,000 signed copies. The songs on the album explore society’s fascination with drink, drinking and real ale.
Adrian McNally is a record producer, a composer/songwriter and a musician with English folk group the Unthanks, which he also manages. As well as producing all of the Unthanks' albums he has produced the compilation album Harbour of Songs for which he was commissioned by The Stables in Milton Keynes as part of the London 2012 Cultural Olympiad, an album for Belinda O'Hooley and albums for Jonny Kearney & Lucy Farrell.
Shadows, the fifth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 29 July 2016 on the No Masters label.
WinterFolk Volume 1, the sixth album by the Yorkshire-based folk music duo O'Hooley & Tidow, was released on 3 November 2017 on the No Masters label and distributed by Proper Music. The album is described as reflecting on "some of the darker hued aspects of yuletide, considering the season in an alternative, real way, from the absence or loss of children, to domestic violence at Christmas, from global warming to poverty, religion, displacement, migration and loneliness".
Inversions is an album, released on 28 June 2019, by British singer-songwriter and pianist Belinda O'Hooley. Jude Rogers in The Guardian called it "a set of beautiful piano and spoken-word pieces". Mike Ainscoe, for Louder Than War, described it "a series of touching and heartfelt outpourings...Revealing and yes, in a way, cathartic, Inversions captures Belinda O'Hooley at her most insightful".