Name: A Cut Above
Brand: City Hall Records
SKU: 1388538
Price: 10.9 USD
Availability: InStock

A Cut Above

Rating

Performer Notes

Personnel: June Tabor (vocals); Martin Simpson (guitar); Ric Saunders (violin); Dave Bristow (piano, synthesizer); Jon Davie (bass).
Additional personnel: Louisa Livingstone, Dik Cadbury.
Recorded at Millstream Studios, Cheltenham.
Personnel includes: June Tabor (vocals); Martin Simpson (guitar); Ric Saunders (violin); Dave Bristow (piano, synthesizer).
June Tabor's collaborations tend to be a bit more lighthearted than her usually somber solo records--think of the aptly-named SILLY SISTERS records with Maddy Prior--and 1989's A CUT ABOVE is no exception. Guitarist Martin Simpson had recorded with Tabor before, appearing on her ABYSSINIANS and AQABA albums, but he takes a more active compositional and musical role here, co-writing many of the songs with Tabor. Simpson's guitar is the key musical element, with the delicate backing of Ric Saunders' violin, Dave Bristow's keyboards and Jon Davies's bass providing occasional and subtle support. As always, however, Tabor's brilliant, bell-toned voice is the immediate and eternal focal point of these 10 songs. Highlights include the sprightly opener "Admiral Benbow" and the chilling coal-mining ballad "Number Two Top Seam," which Tabor performs unaccompanied. Not one of Tabor's best-known albums, A CUT ABOVE does more than live up to its title.