June Tabor and A Sailor's Life (again)

[Mark]

I kept my self away from the last JT bashing session bye and large, having witnessed the unfortunate "Sailors" episode at Crop.

But I'm gonna stand up and be counted in this one!

June has the most beautifully controlled singing style, her voice is one of the best I have ever heard (that is a personal thing obviously), and her interpretations of so many songs are definitive.  

If you judge her purely on one poor performance, caused by u/s monitors, I suggest you go and have your bumps read.....or something  

[Sandra]

Absolutely Mark.

June interprets songs in a very special way that makes my spine tingle. Her 'Love Will Tear Us Apart' is one of my all time favourites.

She also has great presence on stage. I know some criticise her for not being more 'animated' but her expression comes from her voice and her face as she talks and sings.

If you see her with other musicians, such as Martin Simpson or the Oyster Band, it is obvious from the way they treat her that they have very great respect for her.

As you say, if you judge her by one outing that went wrong then you are cutting your nose off to spite your face. She is magnificent.

[Jim]

ok i'll come clean i dont really hate her and indeed have a couple of her cd's and the one with the oysters
i did know about the monitor problems and i suppose that the mere attempt at doing it was worth keeping it for posterirt on the "real time" video cropredy 87 or whatever it was called
and she doesnt hate me cos she recorded "bonny james campbell"

[tullist/raymond]

It is also worth noting that June Tabor's surprise performance at Croprey in 1988 was outstanding! She joined Filarfolket for their encore and sang RT's "Pharoah" form the yet to be released Amnesia album.

Now Pharoah would strike me as a song nearly written for interpretation by June, that I would like to hear.
If you ever see her with her little "axe" earrings she gives the impression that she might not be one to offer your Cropredy 87 opinions to her face.
I came to know her in 76 w the first Silly Sisters record which I liked immensely. I have purchased a couple of her things through the years including one w Martin Simpson where they are standing by the Thames in London and she has high booties on and I think loads of eye makeup. Probably purchased cause I thought she looked pretty hot. I cannot claim to be strongly moved by the few things I have of hers, but in the proper format she is quite potent and original, I believe once a librarian.
Might be one of only 3 or so people on this board who liked her Sailors life at Cropredy, in fact I liked it alot and not just because RT and Ric were smokin on it. Part of it was my joy at seeing it back in the repertoire for a night, and part would be because I have comfortability level w things atonal from years of part of my listening being dedicated to elements of jazz music where atonality is a regular player, or even dating to Tull's Passion Play, "melodies decaying in sweet dissonance." Simon was right in the movie  when he opined that it was a song which, normally at least, would be very much down her street and I still think so. Yet I have no doubt that the rest of the TAW's are correct in their personal assessment, and most certainly I always respect and enjoy Jim's take on this, yet I am not surprised that he actually has a couple of her items in his collection. Funny old world.

[RichardH]

You people are debating the merits, including monitor problems, of a performance in a rural field well over 20 years ago. This artist has recorded some magnificent things since (Ok Hard Love, Sudden Waves, Night Comes in) Can you imagine what a proper professional performance backed by the likes of, RT, might sound like, Give that one performance a break, YouTube is really unforgiving!

[fstix (Michael)]

The Oyster Band 25th Anniversary DVD, which should still be available, has June T on a couple of tracks, including White Rabbit.  The vocal control and intensity - and tunefulness - is palpable.

[Jim]

You people are debating the merits, including monitor problems, of a performance in a rural field well over 20 years ago. This artist has recorded some magnificent things since (Ok Hard Love, Sudden Waves, Night Comes in) Can you imagine what a proper professional performance backed by the likes of, RT, might sound like, Give that one performance a break, YouTube is really unforgiving!

no way

[Hurricane (Dan)]

I've said this before but I'll repeat it for the benefit of KK. The "infamous" June Tabor performance at Cropredy was a result of bad monitors. She couldn't hear the band. This kind of thing can happen when you come on for just a couple of numbers.

The WAY she sang Sailor's was nothing to do with the monitors.

Sorry, the WAY she sang Sailor's was nothing to do with monitors.



Edit: all better now

[MarkC]

June is one of my all time favorite singers, ever since "Silly Sisters"; I never get tired of hearing her.

[John From Austin]

I love the Silly Sisters albums, and June's version of "Beat the Retreat" on the RT tribute album of the same name is spectacularly gorgeous (with wonderful guitar accompaniment by Martin Carthy on acoustic and David Hidalgo on electric, IIRC).

[MarkC]

Sorry, the WAY she sang Sailor's was nothing to do with monitors.



Edit: all better now

And you know that because...

Trust me, having been a performer my whole adult life, I can tell you that bad monitors are a DISASTER. I remember one gig (at a relatively famous venue, too) where I, literally, could not hear a single note I played all night; I had to play entirely by sight.

That said, I don't think June's version of "A Sailor's Life" was all that bad...off key, yes, but still done with feeling which counts for far more, IMO. And if the monitors were that bad, she certainly deserves a belated standing ovation. However, I suspect the real problem for some is that she is no Sandy Denny. And I agree, she isn't.

Of course, Sandy was no June Tabor, either.

[MarkC]

Not that anyone would (or should) care, but I just remembered that the gig I referred to above was one where we opened for Fairport Convention. 1996, if memory serves, at the Coach House in California.

Life is weird sometimes.

[Edthefolkie]

I remember listening to that performance at Croppers and thinking "hang on, something up here". Duff monitors sounds like a good explanation, because being June, she should have blown everybody away. And yeah, she's not Sandy - just different, not worse.

She can be superb even in a loud environment - long ago and far away, she was on at the Enterprise in Chalk Farm. The room was crammed and it was like an oven, so all the windows were open. No PA. June's singing was interspersed with Routemasters, RTs and taxis outside, loud gentlemen of an Irish persuasion and sundry liggers downstairs, and rumblings from the Northern line and the West Coast Main Line over the way. She was magnificent - not a dry eye in the house when she did "The Band Played Waltzing Matilda". And of course every male in the house had their eyes out on stalks anyway.

Mind you she is une femme serieuse! At a benefit gig somewhere around the same time, she gave us a telling off (a bunch of us were being "cool" and hanging out at the bar until somebody well known came on, and she tore my mate off a strip for rabbiting - quite right too. He still winces at the memory).    

[KascadeDan]

Cant blame her if it was monitor problems. I'll try and listen to some more of her stuff so I can make my mind up fully. I'm still not a huge fan of the song though.

[jaypeter (Peter)]

Cant blame her if it was monitor problems. I'll try and listen to some more of her stuff so I can make my mind up fully. I'm still not a huge fan of the song though.

I used to feel the same about A Sailor's Life (and Sloth!). Give it another decade or two.