June Tabor Discussion

Subject: June Tabor Discussion Forum
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 01:49 AM

I am utterly transfixed by the singing of June Tabor and I'd like to initiate a discussion of her music through this forum.I don't seek to repeat any of the previous discussions of her product here,but it may happen spontaneously.Please forgive.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 01:51 AM

There will be a new release from Martin Simpson including JT sometime in the Fall 2011.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 01:52 AM

There will be a new release from JT and the Oysterband sometime this Fall of 2011.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 01:54 AM

Does anyone know of a good,reliable charting of CD sales for the Trad/Folk genres?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: The Sandman
Date: 18 May 11 - 08:01 AM

have you listened to many other singers?Ithik she sings very well
no disrespect to june tabor, but anne briggs version of Reynardine is [imo]equally good.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 18 May 11 - 08:30 AM

What exactly do you want us to discuss about her?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Joe Nicholson
Date: 18 May 11 - 08:43 AM

My absolue favourite is june singing The Leaves in The Woodland from Peter Bellamys Transports.

Joe Nicholson

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 18 May 11 - 02:02 PM

ho hum....

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,mrprofrob
Date: 18 May 11 - 02:18 PM

What distinguishes JT from many others is not only the extraordinary range and fullness of her voice (and the fact that she knows when to breath when using it), but her understanding of the words and the rhythm they engender in their musical setting.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 18 May 11 - 02:23 PM

I first heard June sing in 1968, and was impressed....

Kitty

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 18 May 11 - 03:00 PM

I've had the pleasure of seeing her in concert here in Michigan a number of times. Unfortunately not for a few years now. Amazing voice, phrasing and a keen ear for selecting great songs. She's also very approachable and pleasant to talk to.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 03:08 PM

I just found a copy of a BBC Transcription LP of June Tabor performing live at Sidmouth circa 1976.She sings "Robin Hood","Flash Company",and "The Easter Tree".Impressive.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Alan Whittle
Date: 18 May 11 - 06:55 PM

she sang the Monty Python song - dressed up as a viking......?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 18 May 11 - 07:51 PM

Whatever it is, it'll end in tears...

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 18 May 11 - 10:20 PM

Regarding the most recent comment.Serious subject matter(lyric) does not always equate to sad.,depressing,or tragic subject matter (lyric).

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 19 May 11 - 07:52 PM

She also sang The January June, in aid of Guide Cats for the Blind... (Les Barker, you're a bastard!)

Kitty

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: michaelr
Date: 19 May 11 - 10:22 PM

As a singer, she's a sort of female counterpart to Richard Thompson - the voice sounds a bit dolorous, with that doom and gloom element. She's sort of the Anna Magnani of singers.

(I'm not saying that's a bad thing; quite the opposite.)

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Old Vermin
Date: 20 May 11 - 11:43 AM

Anna Magnani? Who? Looked her up on good old ever-reliable Wikipedia.

- ""living she-wolf symbol" of the cinema."

"Magnani was superstitious and consulted astrologers, as well as believing in numerology. She also claimed to be clairvoyant. She ate and drank very little and could subsist for long periods on nothing more than black coffee and cigarettes. However, these habits often affected her sleep: "My nights are appalling," she said. "I wake up in a state of nerves and it takes me hours to get back in touch with reality."[5]"


"She died at the age of 65 in Rome from pancreatic cancer."

Let's hope not, shall we?


Ho-hum, indeed.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: michaelr
Date: 20 May 11 - 12:18 PM

I didn't know any of that about Anna Magnani; I just think JT's voice sounds the way AM's face looked in her classic films. It's a stretch, I admit.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Hoody
Date: 20 May 11 - 12:28 PM

discussin June Tabor ?

like, wot, is she well fit or a minger ?

well, she not too bad for one of them folky hippy birds,
but she looks like my mate Bazzas nan, innit.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 20 May 11 - 12:33 PM

Got news for you whippersnappers: Anna Magnani was one of the greatest actresses of the post-war international cinema. Her debut I believe was in Rosselini's "Open City" (1945).

I don't know about that personal stuff, but she had a dramatic and sultry screen presence.

As for June Tabor, she takes a sentimental stinkeroo like "Roses in Picardy" and turns it into genuinely moving experience.

I don't think even Anna Magnani could do that.

Tabor's "Silly Sisters" album with Maddy Prior is well worth anybody's time. Two great voices.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 May 11 - 06:49 AM

Why knock songs like Roses Of Picardy, Lighter? Bit cheap and patronising, isn't it? I have no doubt it was a "genuinely moving experience" rather than "a sentimental stinkeroo" when sung by the likes of Ernest Pike & Count John McCormack, as well as by June 80 years later, and played in a jazz arrangement by the great Sidney Bechet; quite apart from serving a vital purpose by being a favourite of the men on the way to the Front in 1917 [see Wikipedia].

~Michael~

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 21 May 11 - 09:48 AM

Sorry if our tastes in the printed word differ, but anyone who calls me "cheap and patronizing" (particularly in the snide form of a leading question) can only be hankerin' for yet another Mudcat flame war. But perhaps it was only my characterization of the text of "Roses of Picardy" that you were slamming and not me personally.

Which would be a mighty close call for you.

Yet the truth remains that certain singers have the talent (or genius) to turn lyrical hokum into an emotional experience. June Tabor is one.

By way of contrast, no amount of genius is likely to turn today's hits into emotional experiences, unless you confine "emotion" to lust, rage, and boredom.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 21 May 11 - 09:54 AM

Of course the adjectives were directed at the opinion, not at the person. As Boris Becker said: "Nobody died. there wasn't a war."

~M~

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 21 May 11 - 12:24 PM

Oh, and everybody was doing so well!

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 May 11 - 12:48 PM

knockout blow by the mgm, lighter is out for a count of 6, but comes staggeroing back punch drunk and hits mgm below the belt, mgm sings in a high voice like a castrato.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 21 May 11 - 12:56 PM

Did anybody see JT with the Oysters a few weeks ago in London at Great Folk?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Don Stevens
Date: 22 May 11 - 10:09 AM

All I can say is that I have 6 of her Albums - and 'Love 'em all'.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 23 May 11 - 07:36 PM

One of the most affecting pieces I've heard JT sing is "Lili Marlene".I saw a video of it.Maybe JT will record it someday.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 26 May 11 - 12:50 PM

June Tabor and Kathryn Tickell will be involved in a musical tribute to composer Percy Grainger on August 2,2011 at the Proms?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Georgina Boyes
Date: 26 May 11 - 01:15 PM

From the new album, I think 'Finisterre' is particularly beautiful - a wonderful singing job from Ms Tabor and a great piece of writing by Mr Telfer.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 26 May 11 - 01:49 PM

I agree about 'Finisterre".I am also struck my the album's final track "Across The Wide Ocean".

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 27 May 11 - 01:35 AM

What is your most cherished /rarest JT recording?For me, it's the" BBC Sessions-On Air" cd .

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 27 May 11 - 02:14 AM

Memorial Day is next Monday in the US.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 13 Jun 11 - 01:34 PM

Does anyone know know if June Tabor ever released Bill Caddick's song "John O 'Dreams" on cd?

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Reinhard
Date: 22 Jun 11 - 09:07 AM

According to a mail from Topic Records, June Tabor & The Oysterband, "Ragged Kingdom" (Topic TSCD585) will be released on September 19.
There will be a preview on Mike Harding's show on BBC Radio 2 tonight.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: MuddleC
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 07:06 AM

I first heard her sing at the Fareham Folk Club in around 1977/78 and enjoyed her singing with Maddy, Silly sisters is still an old favorite, her voice, almost a counterbalance against Maddy's... she does 'melancholy' till the blood oozes out of the very cobblestones.. and humour too!
--aye...reel folk songs!!

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Colin Randall
Date: 23 Jun 11 - 12:03 PM

I also love her Finisterre on the new album. And I have utterly converted my two-and-a-half year old granddaughter to (Il Etait) Un Petit Navire, which she sings along to very impressively in the car and to herself after spending two weeks with us in France (though she's thrown a little, having heard it from her gran since birth, by June's variations, including C'etait in place of the more familiar Il Etait and a sort of 'Ah Oui' instead of Ohé Ohé)

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Colin Randall
Date: 26 Jun 11 - 08:04 AM

My granddaughter, mentioned in my previous message, will be even more thrown when she is old enough to realise that Tabor, in her version of Petit Navire (collected in Guernsey) has the poor cabin boy eaten by his starving crewmates.

Usually, at any rate in all the versions I have seen, he is saved either by the British Navy or by the sudden appearance of enough fish to keep everyone happy. It is, after all, meant to be a children's song.

I'd be interested if Monique or others among Mudcat's regular French contributors knows how common it is for the song to proceed to cannibalism. My wife is French but swears she had never come across the unhappy ending before hearing June's version.

And here, in case anyone is interested, is a review I have just posted at Salut! Live-
http://www.salutlive.com/2011/06/june-tabor.html

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Guest - Betsy
Date: 26 Jun 11 - 07:19 PM

Don't know what the previous message was all about, but my own contribution is that June is a wonderful singer and interpreter of song and also a lovely person.
My recollections are built upon , and go as far back, to, the time she shared a flat with the enormously talented Clive Wolff.
The collaboration between Oysterband and Martin Simpson will almost certainly be brilliant.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 27 Jun 11 - 03:57 AM

I agree.At 53 years,and having logged a lot of time in the concert hall,June Tabor has always been the one to raise my neck hairs.Bring on "Ragged Kingdom" and her re-recording of "Strange Affair" with Mr. Simpson.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 27 Jun 11 - 04:31 AM

June will sing "Strange Affair" on the upcoming Martin Simpson cd.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Colin Randall
Date: 27 Jun 11 - 04:35 AM

That first Tabor/Oysterband album was a revelation and I cannot wait for the second, which I think is due out in Sept or Oct.

In fact, when I think back, it was the project that first turned me into an admirer of the band. I was already massively fond of Tabor but had never quite seen the appeal of the Oysters. The album completely changed my view and I have enjoyed almost everything they have done since, on record and live.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Monique
Date: 28 Jun 11 - 05:39 PM

To answer Colin's question (26 Jun 11 - 08:04 AM):
Le petit navire: I'd never heard of any version in which the young boy was eaten before I heard June's version. Though... in Diapason Turquoise #1, Les Presses de l'Ile de France, 2001 they say, "'Il était un petit navire (La courte paille)' Paroles et musiques traditionnelles (chanson de gaillard d'avant du XIXe siècle) Il s'agit du dernier avatar, daté du milieu du XIXe siècle, d'une chanson de gaillard d'avant du XVIe siècle qui a essaimé dans toute l'Europe. Dans la version d'origine, le caractère dramatique était nettement plus affirmé." = "'Il était un petit navire' (La courte paille) Traditional lyrics and music (forecastle song from the 19th century). It's the last avatar, from the mid 1800's, of a 16th century forecastle song that spread all over Europe. In the original version, the dramatic nature was much more marked."
But I couldn't come across such a version. In some they discuss the sauce in some they don't, but the young boy isn't eaten.
In at least one Spanish version they do eat the poor young guy with a white sauce and xeres for his being the plumpest but God sends a storm as a punishment and the boat and the crew sink.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Colin Randall
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 02:55 AM

Thanks, Monique. I'll be interested in any reaction from June Tabor. As I may have said, her version was collected in Guernsey. Maybe Channel Islanders are more inclined to resort to cannibalism.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 29 Jun 11 - 03:15 AM

A wonderful singer. I like the traditional stuff best and teh contemporary and electric and Americana least. Oh, and mostly I prefer without pianos but Hughie Graeme is wonderful and on that even the piano sounds right.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 02 Jul 11 - 05:38 PM

Many years ago,I saw June Tabor sing with the OysterBand in Seattle.JT sang a song called "The Hills Of Shiloh".She sang this song A capella.I see that it will be included on the "Ragged Kingdom" cd from the OysterBand.I can't wait.This song was a show stopper.

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Guy Wolff
Date: 02 Jul 11 - 06:10 PM

June is on my short list of musicians who have changed my life and what I work for on stage or recording . All the best to all here , Guy

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: Kevin Sheils
Date: 03 Jul 11 - 04:46 AM

My recollections are built upon , and go as far back, to, the time she shared a flat with the enormously talented Clive Wolff. posted Betsy.

Ah yes above the Launderette between Stamford Hill and Seven Sisters. I must know you then Betsy!

Subject: RE: June Tabor Discussion
From: GUEST,Azoic
Date: 03 Jul 11 - 12:17 PM

Years ago,The BBC released a cd of live material called "On Air-BBC Sessions".This cd is long OOP.Does anyone know is the good people at the BBC would ever approve to a re-issue?