Air Mail Music: Sea Shanties

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (March 6, 2001)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Playasound
• ASIN: B000059TA4
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #666,469 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Sailor's Hornpipe

2. Rollin' Home

3. Haul Boys Haul

4. Blood Red Roses

5. Leaving of Liverpool

6. Roll the Wool Pile Down

7. Pump Shanty

8. Dogger Bank

9. Hard on the Beach Oar

10. Liverpool Judies

11. A Rovin'

12. Eliza Lee

13. Fire Marengo

14. Shallow Brown

15. Old Billy Riley

16. Blow the Man Down

17. Shenandoah

18. The Wild Goose

19. What Shall We Do With the Drunken Sailor?

20. Goodbye, Fare Thee Well

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Mostly Recycled - and no French, May 8, 2002

By 

mattgb1 "mattgb1" (New York City) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Air Mail Music: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

Some of the songs are a bit too smoothed around the edges for my taste. I prefer the authentic stuff.

But my biggest problem with this album is that it simply combines songs from other recordings I already have, so all I get is to hear them in a different order, plus a small handful of songs that don't show up as ubiquitously as some of the more popular stuff.

And one last point I can't ignore. I bought this album because its title suggested that I might be getting some of the great French shanties, or at least some of the jaunty twists on the English songs that the French developed. Forget it. The only French thing in this album is its title and some blurb about the sea on the back of the album. It doesn't even have an insert with information about the songs, much less the lyrics.

You're better off just buying a Johnny Collins album if you like the rough, simplistic, low-budget stuff, and a Windjammers album if you like the commercialized, mainstream variety. Or, with so many great choices out there, just buy something else.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars 3.5, really, December 3, 2002

By 

DJ Joe Sixpack (...in Middle America) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Air Mail Music: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

Two bands, with contrasting styles, both of which are a little too polished to get the right vibe for true sea shanty authenticity. The Irish Rovers-y Windjammers have too many instruments at play, including banjo, guitar and penny whistle, and are far too "folk" overall; the tracks from Johnny Collins, however, are more strictly vocal, and while a bit smooth, are still solidly in the style. As far as I can tell, this French-curated collection reissues material from two out-of-print albums on a pair of obscure (and presumably defunct) labels. Not the world's best shanty album, but it still has great folkloric material. Again, the Johnny Collins songs are worth checking out -- he also has an album out on the Arc Music label that comes highly recommended.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 'Nother roaring delight from working men, December 31, 2002

By 

Anne B. Rider (Iowa City, IA 52240) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Air Mail Music: Sea Shanties (Audio CD)

Like the Johnny Collins collection it overlaps with, this is a great collection of sea chanteys sung in an appropriate rough roar and rowdy beat by men who work for a living. Great in their own right, and for singing along with on long drives to keep yourself awake.

Not for those who only like perfect choral voices, but a great delight for those who like work songs with a strong rhythm and an occasional delight in old-fashioned naughtiness.