The Definitive Collection

Watersons | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 13, 2003)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Highpoint UK
• ASIN: B0000D8IMX
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,123 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. God Bless The Master

2. Dido Bendigo

3. The Welcome Sailor

4. Emmanuel

5. Idumea

6. The Still And Silent Ocean

7. Fathom The Bowl

8. Fare Thee Well Cold Winter

9. The Holmfirth Anthem

10. Stormy Winds

11. Rosebuds In June

12. Bellman

13. Sleep On Beloved

14. Swansea Town

15. The Beggar Man

16. Amazing Grace

17. The Old Churchyard

18. Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy

19. Malpas Wassail

Editorial Reviews

Drawn from The Watersons' celebrated recordings for Topic over the past 40 years, this is the first single CD overview of their amazing career and includes tracks as a group, as soloists and in collaboration with others including Waterson: Carthy and Blue Murder. Interest in the group has been renewed with the release of the highly acclaimed 4-CD/1-DVD box set A Mighty River Of Song. Although their joyous and powerful vocal harmony is firmly and unapologetically of the folk tradition, their influence has spread far and wide across the world of modern acoustic music. This budget price collection is the perfect introduction to the many facets of this important musical force.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Britain's premier family of folk music, May 23, 2005

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Definitive Collection (Audio CD)

Mike Waterson and his two sisters, Norma and Elaine (known as Lal), originally formed the group together with a cousin, John Harrison. The group disbanded in 1966 but re-formed in 1972 with Bernie Vickers replacing John. After recording one album, Martin Carthy replaced Bernie. Martin remained a member of Steeleye Span and soon married Norma, their marriage producing Eliza Carthy, who eventually became a major star of the British folk scene.

The members of the group worked on various albums together, separately and with other folk singers. Although this does not contain any of Martin's music with Steeleye Span (easily obtained elsewhere), it includes some recordings by Waterson-Carthy (Martin, Norma and Eliza) and Blue Murder (Mike, Martin, Norma, Eliza and three non-family members) among other collaborative efforts. Another member of the Waterson family, Maria, joins in on some tracks.

The music here is traditional folk music as it should sound and, with one exception, the performances are outstanding. The exception, Amazing grace, could have been outstanding. It is another collaborative effort, this time with Peter Bellamy. He recites each line before the group sings it. This would be fine on a live recording where the audience is expected to sing along, but this is a studio recording and the constant recital is an irritation. Only on the last chorus does the recitation cease but by then the irritation has taken its toll.

With one exception, all the songs here are traditional. Apart from Amazing grace, the most famous song here is Emmanuel. The other songs include the Holmfirth anthem (no, it's not the theme to Last of the summer wine, though that TV series is what Holmfirth is famous for now), The welcome sailor, Fare thee well cold winter, Rosebuds in June, Swansea town, The old churchyard and many other excellent songs.

This collection provides a fine introduction to the music of the Watersons. I could take a star off for Amazing grace, but there are eighteen other tracks here, all of them outstanding and the price is modest so I won't.

0 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars O well, July 13, 2011

By 

Del I. Janik "Chicago born & bred" (Long Island) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Definitive Collection (Audio CD)

Wish I had been able to listen to excerpts before ordering. I enjoy traditional folk music and English music in general (Vaughan Williams, Holst,etc.) but first learned about The Watersons in an obituary of Mike W. in the NY Times. This disc was a disappointment in its lack of variety... only one lively track... not really representative of English folk (morris dance music, for example), although perhaps representative of The Watersons. I recommend anything by Roberts and Barrand instead.