Now this is another, just spotted...

OAK ASH THORN – Various Artists (Folk Police Recordings FPR. 003)
This year sees the 20th anniversary of Peter Bellamy's death, and the new record label Folk Police has launched itself with a splash to salute the memory of this immensely important and influential artist in suitably inspirational fashion. Back at the start of the 1970s, Peter released a pair of LPs (Oak & Ash & Thorn and Merlin's Isle Of Gramarye) which contained spare and triumphantly simple settings of poems by Kipling (taken largely from his charming Puck Of Pook's Hill collection). Criminally, these LPs have never reappeared on CD, and at least part of the intention of this Folk Police CD is to render these settings available again for today's audience, here by engaging the willing services of assorted "purveyors of folk brut and other rough music". Now this is what I call a tribute album – for it's one that makes true capital out of being both a genuinely felt homage and a sometimes radical reimagination of the original work/s. Some tracks are straightforwardly affectionate acoustic renditions, others determinedly weird; several I have to admit are downright scary, and some merely strange; but all of them without exception (and this is unusual for any tribute disc!) succeed in capturing the often peculiar essence of the Bellamy settings in the context of the charismatic and often childlike essence of the original poems – and this is quite an achievement, even if you may not actually like all the sounds you hear (there are some distinctly uncomfortable, jarring and seriously challenging moments – but that's all part of the attraction of this ride). I'll try to give you a flavour here: the distinctive voice of Jon Boden opens the collection with a rendition of Frankie's Trade – but it's distinctive in that you're hearing his voice distorted through a wax cylinder, duetting with itself and continually morphing across the ether through the course of the song to an ever-fluctuating instrumental backdrop: immoderately weird! In complete contrast, Olivia Chaney's limpid take on The Brookland Road is balm to the ears, and Charlie Parr's sparse banjo-backed slant on Cold Iron even more unexpected a sound. On Poor Honest Men, Tim Eriksen wears his various hats (from old-time champion to Cordelia's Dad) convincingly and gives us one of the disc's most cathartic musical experiences. Emily Portman, with Finn McNicholas, provides a nightmarishly sumptuous childhood trip through The Heavens Above Us, while the Unthanks' chillingly poised arrangement of Oak & Ash & Thorn is pure genius. Then there's Trembling Bells' glorious psych-folk excursion through Sir Richard's Song, while Elle Osborne imaginatively and gingerly treads The Way Through The Woods and Pamela Wyn Shannon "beehives herself" on a crazily beewitching (and quite Williamsonesque) rendition of A Bee Boy's Song. As a taster for their own forthcoming Folk Police release, Rapunzel & Sedayne offer a powerful, almost forbidding take on the little-heard Harp Song Of The Dane Woman, while Lisa Knapp gives us a spectral, fiddle-rich account of The Queen's Men that complements Jackie Oates's delightful (and also fiddle-rich) A Three Part Song. Sam Lee's version of Puck's Song incorporates samples of Bob Copper and a skylark, whereas the contrasting tellingly-hued felicities of the tracks by The Owl Service and Cath & Phil Tyler can't fail to entice even the casual ear. Last but not least, there's Fay Hield's marvellous rendition of Looking Glass (the only track here to have been sourced from an existing available record). Every single track is genuinely unmissable, magnificent in its own way and an intensely worthy tribute to Bellamy, Kipling, their memories, the healthy state of "folk brut" (or whatever you want to call it) – and yes, a brilliantly designed and packaged "badge of honour" for this new label to wear with pride. Album of the year already? Without doubt…!
- David Kidman, www.folkandroots.co.uk

It is indeed a splendid CD!