The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band

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The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band.jpg
Live album by
Released30 July 2012 (UK)
Genre British folk music; British brass band music
Label Rabble Rouser (RRM010)
Producer Adrian McNally
The Unthanks chronology
The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons
(2011)
The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band
(2012)
Songs from the Shipyards
(2012)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Daily Express Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svg [1]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [2]
The Observer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [3]

The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, the sixth album by English folk group the Unthanks, was released on 30 July 2012. Its extended title is: Diversions, Vol. 2: The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. Recorded at Salford's The Lowry, at Leeds Town Hall, at Derby Assembly Rooms and St George's Bristol, it was the Unthanks' second live album. It was acclaimed by the critics, receiving a five-starred review in the Daily Express and a four-starred review in The Guardian.

Contents

History

In a project commissioned by the Durham International Festival of Brass and supported by Arts Council England, and starting with concerts at Durham Cathedral and at London's Barbican Hall, the Unthanks began a UK tour in July 2011 with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band, performing new brass arrangements of songs from all four Unthanks albums, as well as new material. [4] The recording is of performances on that tour.

The album is designated Vol. 2 in the Unthanks' Diversions series and follows on from Vol. 1 ( The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons ), which was released in December 2011. Vol. 3 ( Songs from the Shipyards ) was released in November 2012 and Vol. 4 ( The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake ) in May 2017.

Reception

In a five-starred review, Martin Townsend in the Daily Express said it was "easily" the Unthanks' "best and most mature album to date". [1] In a four-starred review, Robin Denselow of The Guardian described the album as the Unthanks' boldest experiment yet. [2] Jeanette Leach, for BBC Music, said that while the album is "often emotionally naked, it is musically restorative. By entwining folk and marching bands, two boldly working-class styles, The Unthanks offer a strong hand of comfort to these tales of ordinary sadness". [5] Kitty Empire, reviewing the album for The Observer, said: "The emotional clout is undeniable". [3] Karin Horowitz of Bright Young Folk, described it as "[a] suitable validation of The Unthanks’ evolving originality and their ability to blend traditional folk with a new edge". [6] Tom Moyser, reviewing the album for For Folk's Sake, said: "every track is as reassuringly traditional as logs on a fireplace, but they crackle with a new wit in combinations that, without contradiction, show British folk – and brass band music – at its most innovative". [7]

Track listing

Several of the tracks were recorded live at Leeds Town Hall Leeds Rathaus.jpg
Several of the tracks were recorded live at Leeds Town Hall
Three tracks were recorded live at St George's Bristol Stgeorgeschapel.jpg
Three tracks were recorded live at St George's Bristol
  1. "The King of Rome" (Dave Sudbury); recorded live at The Lowry, Salford for the BBC Folk Awards, 7:38
  2. "Trimdon Grange Explosion" (Tommy Armstrong); recorded live at Leeds Town Hall 6:29
  3. "The Father's Suite"; recorded live at Derby Assembly Rooms. Voice of Jack Elliott taken from the BBC film Death of a Miner
    1. "George" (Adrian McNally) 3:26
    2. "The Happiness or Otherwise of Society (Jack Elliott)" (Adrian McNally) 1:27
    3. "The Father's Song" (Ewan McColl/Adrian McNally) 5:58
    4. "George II" (Max McNally/ Adrian McNally) 4:08
  4. "My Lagan Love" (Traditional) 4:24; recorded at Derby Assembly Rooms
  5. "Queen of Hearts" (Roud 3195) (Traditional); recorded live at Leeds Town Hall 3:56
  6. "Gan to the Kye" (Traditional); recorded live at Leeds Town Hall 5:49
  7. "Felton Lonnin" (Roud 3166) (Traditional); recorded live at St George's Bristol 7:27
  8. "Blue Bleezing Blind Drunk" (Traditional); recorded live at St George's Bristol 5:41
  9. "Newcastle Lullaby" (Traditional); recorded live at Leeds Town Hall 6:12
  10. "Gresford (The Miner's Hymn)" (Robert Saint); recorded live at St George's Bristol 4:30
  11. "Fareweel Regality" (Terry Conway); recorded live at Leeds Town Hall 6:19

Personnel

The Unthanks

performing with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band , conducted by Sandy Smith

Production

The album was produced by Adrian McNally and mastered by Nigel Palmer at Lowland Masters [8] in Saffron Walden, Essex.

Album artwork

The illustration on the album cover is by Becky Unthank (who is the lead singer on "The King of Rome") and depicts the character Charlie from the song. The sleeve design was by Steven Wainwright and featured photography by Graham Whitmore, Ken Drew and Jeff Goldberg. [8]

Related Research Articles

Brighouse Town in West Yorkshire, England

Brighouse is a town within the metropolitan borough of Calderdale, in West Yorkshire, England. Historically within the West Riding of Yorkshire, it is situated on the River Calder, 4 miles (6.4 km) east of Halifax. It is served by Junction 25 of the M62 motorway and Brighouse railway station on the Caldervale Line and Huddersfield Line. In the town centre is a mooring basin on the Calder and Hebble Navigation. The United Kingdom Census 2001 gave the Brighouse / Rastrick subdivision of the West Yorkshire Urban Area a population of 32,360. The Brighouse ward of Calderdale Council gave a population of 11,195 at the 2011 Census.

Rastrick Village in West Yorkshire, England

Rastrick is a village in the county of West Yorkshire, England, between Halifax and Huddersfield. The population of the Calderdale Civil Ward at the 2011 census was 11,351. It is perhaps best known for its association, along with its neighbour Brighouse, with the Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band. Along with Brighouse, it is part of Calderdale, but shares a Huddersfield postcode and phone number.

Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band

The Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band was formed in 1881. It is based in Brighouse, in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England.

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 Nick Drake.

"My Lagan Love" is a song to a traditional Irish air collected in 1903 in northern Donegal.

<i>The Bairns</i> (album) 2007 studio album by Rachel Unthank and the Winterset

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 OHooley

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.

The King of Rome Racing pigeon

The King of Rome was a successful racing pigeon, winning a 1,001-mile (1,611 km) race from Rome, Italy to Derby, England, in 1913. Bred and trained in England, it was owned by Charlie Hudson of Derby. It set a new long-distance record for a racing pigeon of England.

OHooley & Tidow

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<i>Last</i> (Unthanks album) 2011 studio album by The Unthanks

Last, the fourth album by English folk group the Unthanks, was released on 14 March 2011. It reached number 40 in the UK Albums Chart and was well received by the critics, receiving a five-starred review in the Sunday Express and four-starred reviews in The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.

<i>Heres the Tender Coming</i> 2009 studio album by The Unthanks

Here's the Tender Coming, the third album by English folk group the Unthanks, and the first under The Unthanks moniker, was released in the United Kingdom on 14 September 2009 and in North America on 23 March 2010. It was Folk Album of the Year for Mojo and received four-starred reviews from The Observer and The Guardian. In the sleeve notes for the album, Rachel Unthank said that although the Tender in the album's title track refers to the boat that is on its way to press men to sea, "the title of this song seemed to encapsulate for us the feeling of our new album, which is perhaps calmer and a little warmer in contrast to the stark bleakness of The Bairns".

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<i>The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons</i> 2011 live album by the Unthanks

The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons, the fifth album by English folk group the Unthanks and the first to be recorded live, was released on 28 November 2011. Its extended title is: Diversions Vol. 1: The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony & the Johnsons: Live from the Union Chapel, London.

<i>Songs from the Shipyards</i> 2012 soundtrack album by The Unthanks

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<i>The Songs and Poems of Molly Drake</i>

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<i>Lines</i> (Unthanks album) 2019 studio album by The Unthanks

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References

  1. 1 2 Townsend, Martin (26 July 2012). "CD Review: The Unthanks, Diversions Vol 2". Daily Express . Retrieved 15 August 2012.
  2. 1 2 Denselow, Robin (26 July 2012). "The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band: Diversions Vol 2 – review". The Guardian . Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  3. 1 2 Empire, Kitty (29 July 2012). "The Unthanks With Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band: Diversions Vol 2 – review". The Observer . Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  4. McNally, Adrian (8 September 2011). "The Unthanks get tender with brass". The Guardian . Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  5. Leach, Jeanette (21 August 2012). "The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band Diversions Vol. 2 Review". BBC Music . Retrieved 2 June 2013.
  6. Horowitz, Karin (July 2012). "The Unthanks – Diversions Vol. 2 – The Unthanks with Brighouse & Rastrick Brass Band". Bright Young Folk . Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  7. Moyser, Tom (2 August 2012). "Album: The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band – Diversions vol. 2". For Folk's Sake. Retrieved 20 July 2015.
  8. 1 2 Album sleeve notes