Wammers' Album Club Tuesday 18th April, Quercus - Quercus

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occasional thinker

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 11, 2009
989
213
73
Steel City
AKA
Dave
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
4661186-1x1-700x700.jpg


Up a bit early because of Easter, I offer you a touch of late evening listening.

Quercus are June Tabor (vocals), Iain Ballamy (saxes) and Huw Warren (piano) and this, their only album together so far, lies at the junction of folk, jazz and classical with a slight nod to pop.

The songs and (one) instrumental range in date between the two Elizabethan ages, with lyrics from Shakespeare, Burns and Housman joined by newer verses from Barker, Ballantine, Gordon and Norbet. The arrangements are relaxed but intense, and silence is used to effect. The recording is a live one, and criticism has been made of the "breathiness" from Ballamy's sax when he tries for some low notes; personally I am happy to live with this, given the excellent recording and dynamic range (it's on ECM). The recordings were made in 2006, but the album was not released until 2013.

They have gigs upcoming in Oxford on May 10th and London on May 11th - if you like the music then I strongly suggest that you see them live (http://www.brightfieldproductions.co.uk/tabor.htm). A second CD is promised for May, so it might even be available at the concerts.

Have a listen and see what you think.

Links:

ECM player:   http://player.ecmrecords.com/quercus

 
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notaclue

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 20, 2005
9,583
435
128
Nowhere, West Europe
AKA
Duke of Steepletone
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Houston, we have a problem... Not available in the UK on Spotify.

But the ECM player looks like it will play the album all the way through (looks like with no other options to skip or even pause) so we'll have to use that. Or else a) buy the album b) leave the country.

 

Bazzer

Moderator
Staff member
Oct 22, 2009
31,086
1
22,185
173
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Houston, we have a problem... Not available in the UK on Spotify.

But the ECM player looks like it will play the album all the way through (looks like with no other options to skip or even pause) so we'll have to use that. Or else a) buy the album b) leave the country.
I'm on Ticket.com where do I need to go ?

 

greybeard

Super Wammer
Wammer
Mar 7, 2010
12,022
14,356
208
Cornwall
AKA
Colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Have not been able to play this :(  

Bingo found it, not the easiest work around, but I shall give this a listen later.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

notaclue

Wammer
Wammer
Jul 20, 2005
9,583
435
128
Nowhere, West Europe
AKA
Duke of Steepletone
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I found that the ECM player just repeats track 1.

I considered listening to track 1 a full 11 times to pretend I had listened to the whole album, but felt once was enough.

Track 1 was OK. Very elegant folk.

I have no idea what the rest of the album would be like.

 
Last edited by a moderator:

Bazzer

Moderator
Staff member
Oct 22, 2009
31,086
1
22,185
173
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I found that the ECM player just repeats track 1.

I considered listening to track 1 a full 11 times to pretend I had listened to the whole album, but felt once was enough.

Track 1 was OK. Very elegant folk.

I have no idea what the rest of the album would be like.
Oh blimey , Dave I think is on holiday , I wonder if there is a link anywhere else ?

 

greybeard

Super Wammer
Wammer
Mar 7, 2010
12,022
14,356
208
Cornwall
AKA
Colin
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
I gave this a listen last night. I love June Tabors voice, but the songs are so downbeat. Beautifully recorded, but to distraction, you could hear the reed, which made it sound slightly distorted. Not a bad album, but too downbeat for me 3/5 

 

occasional thinker

Wammer
Wammer
Mar 11, 2009
989
213
73
Steel City
AKA
Dave
HiFi Trade?
  1. No
Sorry guys!

I'm back from the Linn of Dee but can't help much, I'm afraid. The album used to play right through on the ECM link, and I posted a Spotify link without checking that it worked (doh!). It seems that ECM (a jazz label with some very good artists) has clamped down on streaming services.

The best I can offer are the 30 second per track clips on the Amazon page (where a CD can be purchased from other vendors for about £8.50 inc. post)  https://www.amazon.co.uk/Quercus/dp/B00AWXZ9TC

Apologies again, though IMHO it's an album worth getting - or come to my next bakeoff.

 
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