OYSTERBAND
''GRANITE YEARS (BEST OF 1986 TO '97), DISC TWO''
NOVEMBER 28 2000
120:03
DISC ONE (60:48)
1 When I'm Up I Can't Get Down 03:28
2 The Road To Santiago 03:26
3 Native Son 04:36
4 By Northern Light 03:45
5 We Could Leave Right Now 05:32
6 Rambling Irishman (Traditional) 05:01
7 Be My Luck 02:42
8 The Shouting End Of Life 03:23
9 We'll Be There 03:18
10 Mississippi Summer (Si Kahn) 03:15
11 The Deserter 05:07
12 Love Vigilantes (New Order) 04:03
13 We Shall Come Home (Ian Telfer) 04:15
14 Hal-An-Tow (Traditional) 04:22
15 Molly Bond (Traditional) 04:29
Tracks By Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, Except As Indicated
DISC TWO (59:15)
1 Granite Years (Ian Telfer) 04:15
2 Everywhere I Go 03:45
3 One Green Hill 03:11
4 Another Quiet Night In England (1994) (Ian Telfer) 03:19
5 Put Out The Lights 03:32
6 Voices 04:42
7 Here's To You (Traditional) 03:12
8 Blood Wedding 04:01
9 Milford Haven 03:40
10 Jam Tomorrow 04:07
11 The Sailor's Bonnet (Traditional) 02:19
12 20th Of April (I. Martin) 03:35
13 All That Way For This (Ian Telfer) 04:18
14 The Oxford Girl (Ian Telfer) 04:03
15 Coal Not Dole; Bells Of Rhymney (Kay Sutcliffe) 07:10
Tracks By Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, Except As Indicated
By AMG
Sara Allen/Whistle (Instrument)
Chopper/Bass, Cello, Vocals
Christine Collister/Vocals
John Jones/Accordion, Melodeon, Piano, Vocals
Ian Kearey/Bass Guitar
Russell Lax/Drums
Lee/Drums, Vocals
Alan Prosser/Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Violin, Vocals
June Tabor/Vocals
Ian Telfer/Arranger, Concertina, Violin
Kathryn Tickell/Small Pipes
REVIEW/AMG
by Dave Sleger
An impressive collection, Granite Years: Best of 1986-1997 contains over two hours of the finest Oysterband has to offer. Frequently, such comprehensive releases are the cause for debate among the most devoted fans. But that is not the scenario surrounding this release. From Step Outside's "Hal-an-Tow" to Wide Blue Yonder's "The Oxford Girl" to Holy Bandits' "Blood Wedding" to Deep Dark Ocean's "Native Son," this release hits all of the key tracks by this legendary British folk-rock band. If there is any drawback, it is that no track from their 1991 release, From Little Rock to Leipzig, was included and a whopping seven tracks from their previous best-of release, Trawler, grace the track list of this two-CD set. It should be clarified that Trawler was a collection of re-recorded favorites that originally appeared on previous albums. That's a minor detail that won't matter to the uninitiated and is easily overlooked by the hardcore fan simply due to the preponderance of superb material found within these 30 tracks. Ideally, an historic, detailed outline chronicling this band should have been included with the liner notes, but since Oysterband's music demands attention, perhaps a literary supplementation would've only detracted from the listening experience.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Chris Nickson
Step Outside
Oysterband (or the Oyster Band, as it used to be called) are one of the few outfits still burning with the fire of punk, but who manage to combine it with the ideals and knowledge of English folk music -- a balancing act they've made into a fine art over the years. And they have deep roots in the U.K. folk scene, emerging from both the Whitstable Oyster Co. Ceilidh Band, which formed in 1975, and Fiddler's Dram, a group put together in 1973 by Dave Arbus, whose fiddle work has graced releases by East of Eden and the Who. Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, and Chris Taylor were also in Fiddler's Dram, whose moment of fame arrived in 1979 with the British hit single "Day Trip to Bangor" -- released after they'd split up. They reconvened for a last album when Ian Kearey joined them. He also became part of the band's alter ego, the roots-oriented Oyster Ceilidh Band, as they'd become by then. With Fiddler's Dram no longer extant, the members put their energies into the newly renamed Oyster Band in 1981, playing gigs around England and self-releasing albums on their own Pukka label. It wasn't until 1986 that their first "commercial" release, Step Outside (produced by Clive Gregson), with its rocking treatment of the maypole song "Hal-An-Tow" and what's now become an Oyster classic, "Another Quiet Night in England." It established them as a force on a fairly moribund English roots scene and they capitalized on it as they continued to release albums, mixing folk tunes and original material with a curious taste in covers, ranging from an incendiary version of New Order's "Love Vigilantes" (which put it into the folkier context it deserved) to Bruck Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." More than anything, however, the band grew in stature as writers, railing against the politics of Margaret Thatcher and then her successor, and they built up their reputation during the '90s, helped by a relatively stable lineup. Perhaps their pinnacle came in 1990, when they collaborated with folk singer June Tabor on Freedom and Rain, very much a rock album covering songs by Billy Bragg, Richard Thompson, and others. From there, though, they've become a critically acclaimed force in English roots music, even if they've never managed to break through to a wide audience. 1995's The Shouting End of Life saw them at their most political, while the long-awaited Here I Stand in 1999 reasserted their supremacy in their particular field, as songwriters, instrumentalists, and singers. The band returned in 2002 after the longest recording layoff of its career with Rise Above, which included eight originals and two English traditional numbers, and featured the work of Irish piper James O'Grady throughout. it was yet another sign that old punks never die -- they keep refusing to compromise. Meet You There arrived in 2007, followed by The Oxford Girl & Other Stories, the latter of which marked the group’s 30th anniversary. In 2011, the band reunited with June Tabor for the riveting Ragged Kingdom.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
''GRANITE YEARS (BEST OF 1986 TO '97), DISC TWO''
NOVEMBER 28 2000
120:03
DISC ONE (60:48)
1 When I'm Up I Can't Get Down 03:28
2 The Road To Santiago 03:26
3 Native Son 04:36
4 By Northern Light 03:45
5 We Could Leave Right Now 05:32
6 Rambling Irishman (Traditional) 05:01
7 Be My Luck 02:42
8 The Shouting End Of Life 03:23
9 We'll Be There 03:18
10 Mississippi Summer (Si Kahn) 03:15
11 The Deserter 05:07
12 Love Vigilantes (New Order) 04:03
13 We Shall Come Home (Ian Telfer) 04:15
14 Hal-An-Tow (Traditional) 04:22
15 Molly Bond (Traditional) 04:29
Tracks By Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, Except As Indicated
DISC TWO (59:15)
1 Granite Years (Ian Telfer) 04:15
2 Everywhere I Go 03:45
3 One Green Hill 03:11
4 Another Quiet Night In England (1994) (Ian Telfer) 03:19
5 Put Out The Lights 03:32
6 Voices 04:42
7 Here's To You (Traditional) 03:12
8 Blood Wedding 04:01
9 Milford Haven 03:40
10 Jam Tomorrow 04:07
11 The Sailor's Bonnet (Traditional) 02:19
12 20th Of April (I. Martin) 03:35
13 All That Way For This (Ian Telfer) 04:18
14 The Oxford Girl (Ian Telfer) 04:03
15 Coal Not Dole; Bells Of Rhymney (Kay Sutcliffe) 07:10
Tracks By Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, Except As Indicated
By AMG
Sara Allen/Whistle (Instrument)
Chopper/Bass, Cello, Vocals
Christine Collister/Vocals
John Jones/Accordion, Melodeon, Piano, Vocals
Ian Kearey/Bass Guitar
Russell Lax/Drums
Lee/Drums, Vocals
Alan Prosser/Banjo, Guitar, Mandolin, Violin, Vocals
June Tabor/Vocals
Ian Telfer/Arranger, Concertina, Violin
Kathryn Tickell/Small Pipes
REVIEW/AMG
by Dave Sleger
An impressive collection, Granite Years: Best of 1986-1997 contains over two hours of the finest Oysterband has to offer. Frequently, such comprehensive releases are the cause for debate among the most devoted fans. But that is not the scenario surrounding this release. From Step Outside's "Hal-an-Tow" to Wide Blue Yonder's "The Oxford Girl" to Holy Bandits' "Blood Wedding" to Deep Dark Ocean's "Native Son," this release hits all of the key tracks by this legendary British folk-rock band. If there is any drawback, it is that no track from their 1991 release, From Little Rock to Leipzig, was included and a whopping seven tracks from their previous best-of release, Trawler, grace the track list of this two-CD set. It should be clarified that Trawler was a collection of re-recorded favorites that originally appeared on previous albums. That's a minor detail that won't matter to the uninitiated and is easily overlooked by the hardcore fan simply due to the preponderance of superb material found within these 30 tracks. Ideally, an historic, detailed outline chronicling this band should have been included with the liner notes, but since Oysterband's music demands attention, perhaps a literary supplementation would've only detracted from the listening experience.
BIOGRAPHY/AMG
by Chris Nickson
Step Outside
Oysterband (or the Oyster Band, as it used to be called) are one of the few outfits still burning with the fire of punk, but who manage to combine it with the ideals and knowledge of English folk music -- a balancing act they've made into a fine art over the years. And they have deep roots in the U.K. folk scene, emerging from both the Whitstable Oyster Co. Ceilidh Band, which formed in 1975, and Fiddler's Dram, a group put together in 1973 by Dave Arbus, whose fiddle work has graced releases by East of Eden and the Who. Alan Prosser, Ian Telfer, and Chris Taylor were also in Fiddler's Dram, whose moment of fame arrived in 1979 with the British hit single "Day Trip to Bangor" -- released after they'd split up. They reconvened for a last album when Ian Kearey joined them. He also became part of the band's alter ego, the roots-oriented Oyster Ceilidh Band, as they'd become by then. With Fiddler's Dram no longer extant, the members put their energies into the newly renamed Oyster Band in 1981, playing gigs around England and self-releasing albums on their own Pukka label. It wasn't until 1986 that their first "commercial" release, Step Outside (produced by Clive Gregson), with its rocking treatment of the maypole song "Hal-An-Tow" and what's now become an Oyster classic, "Another Quiet Night in England." It established them as a force on a fairly moribund English roots scene and they capitalized on it as they continued to release albums, mixing folk tunes and original material with a curious taste in covers, ranging from an incendiary version of New Order's "Love Vigilantes" (which put it into the folkier context it deserved) to Bruck Cockburn's "Lovers in a Dangerous Time." More than anything, however, the band grew in stature as writers, railing against the politics of Margaret Thatcher and then her successor, and they built up their reputation during the '90s, helped by a relatively stable lineup. Perhaps their pinnacle came in 1990, when they collaborated with folk singer June Tabor on Freedom and Rain, very much a rock album covering songs by Billy Bragg, Richard Thompson, and others. From there, though, they've become a critically acclaimed force in English roots music, even if they've never managed to break through to a wide audience. 1995's The Shouting End of Life saw them at their most political, while the long-awaited Here I Stand in 1999 reasserted their supremacy in their particular field, as songwriters, instrumentalists, and singers. The band returned in 2002 after the longest recording layoff of its career with Rise Above, which included eight originals and two English traditional numbers, and featured the work of Irish piper James O'Grady throughout. it was yet another sign that old punks never die -- they keep refusing to compromise. Meet You There arrived in 2007, followed by The Oxford Girl & Other Stories, the latter of which marked the group’s 30th anniversary. In 2011, the band reunited with June Tabor for the riveting Ragged Kingdom.
WEBSITE
TO THE TOP
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