Customer Reviews

Always

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

June Tabor is my favorite folk singer, and I own all of her individual CDs. I got an e-mail from Amazon.uk about this release and immediately went to the site and ordered it. It's a little cheaper if you order from the UK site, and mine arrived 5 days after I placed the order!

If you don't own any of June's CDs, or just have a couple, this set is a great introduction. It covers her entire career, from the Silly Sisters album with Maddy Prior right up to tracks recorded in 2004. If you're like me and already own her entire catalog, this set is still a must-have. It has many live & unreleased tracks and songs taken from various collections (many that I already have, but a bunch I'd never even heard of before). It's a great way to get all of the stray tracks together.

The booklet has a timeline of sorts, which includes exerpts from many interviews June has done over the years. There are also comments from June on every track in the collection.

The set contains 4 discs in individual jewel cases, all in a long box with the booklet.

Having almost every one of June Tabor's albums on vinyl, CD or both, I hesitated ordering this boxed set, because the song list included very few of my all-time favorites. What tipped the balance in favor of buying this was the generous inclusion of many previously unreleased studio and live tracks, and several selections from currently out of print recordings. These turned out to be well worth the hefty price, so my recommendation is intended for die hard June Tabor fans like myself. Overall, however, this collection is somber and so, so serious, with very few uptempo tunes to break the monotony, and I doubt that this set will win her many new fans. I realize that these kinds of songs are Tabor's forte, and every one of them has much to offer in both lyrical content and melodic beauty. I just wish there were a few more rhythmic tracks to give this project more variety. Some of the best tracks from Tabor's record with the oyster band, FREEDOM AND RAIN, were not chosen (my favorites of the left-out numbers are "Dark Eyed Sailor" and "Night Comes In"), and there are several duets with Maddy Prior from the two Silly Sisters albums that would have helped to bring some light and air to these proceedings. Thankfully, there are some tracks from the above releases, plus a few Tabor/Prior collaborations that are heard here for the first time. ALWAYS is a MUST if you are a major fan.

June Tabor,is in my mind,one of the great interpretors of song.Some will say that she places too much focus on dark and sombre subject matter.I say that life is serious and who better to recite these words than this woman,a former Oxford librarian,who can imbue a lyric with the gravitas that the topic requires of it.Not only does Tabor choose relevant material,but her timing,emphasis,arrangements are impeccable.To use a term from Brian Eno,Tabor displays "a keen sense of the appropriate".You'll find no overproduction here.This four cd set is what I've been waiting for for years.It chronologically spans JT's career,all the way from her earliest days as a student at Oxford,to her latest chamber folk projects with Mark Emerson and Huw Warren.There is a good deal of otherwise unreleased material here.This music is timeless,and it will endure the test of time with grace.My life is better for having discovered this singer.

June Tabor has been a favourite artist of mine for over thirty years and while I prefer her folkier material over the later more varied songs, she never lets you down. This box set features a great many rarities and alternates, a well produced book with much information new to me at least. It has been researched by David Suff which should be enough of a recommendation to most. This is a great collection, on a par with the Shirley Collins box set and deserves to be in any collection of good music.

One complaint... Why this box full of treasures does NOT bring 'Sudden Waves'? - For me it's a mystery - since it is my favourite June's song! But yes it appears on Angel Tiger!
Her voice is so deep that can move you to tears and give the strenght that we need everyday - That's why June's a Lady.
Check out the box from Shirley Collins Within Sound!
And - of course - all the other CDs by June Tabor!