Early Days

Watersons | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 9, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Topic Records
• ASIN: B000005912
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #72,464 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stunning unaccompanied singing., May 31, 2003

By 

"bethnal3" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Early Days (Audio CD)

This album is vintage Watersons, and a sterling example of the English a capella vocal tradition, not overpolished but with a vigour and a freshness that wakes you up. Just listen, for example, to "King Arthur's Servants", with a young Norma Waterson singing a clear girlish lead, and the rest of the family coming in with a bracing heartiness on the chorus. I first heard this particular track in a live Clancy brothers version, which was somewhat ruined by some preceding Anglophobic remarks (please, if you're going to cover English material, at least have the courtesy not to insult the creators of it at the same time!) and I had no idea what an exciting song it could be. But that is the case with so many of the songs on this album --even if you've already heard "The Broom of Cowdenknowes", you will be amazed by the almost symphonic sound produced by the family (incredible that there were only four of them). It also contains a rarity, a calling-on song, the prelude to a miracle play, introducing and describing each character ("Ye Noble Spectators"). And they do a wonderful job with Ewan MacColl's "Thirty-Foot Trailer", and the delightfully boisterous "All For Me Grog." We also cannot forget Norma's exquisite rendition of "The North Country Maid" (otherwise known as "The Oak and the Ash". Don't write this album off because it's early Watersons. It is a gem for all that, and if you want to hear pure harmonies and authentic English folk singing you can't do much better than this.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An all time classic folk music album, September 19, 2010

By 

Jon Corelis - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Early Days (Audio CD)

Thank heavens this classic album by The Watersons is still in print in a decent quality CD. This is historically a key album in the 1960s British folk revival, and, historical considerations aside, is one of the finest, most joyous, and most listenable set of folk recordings ever made. Persons with a serious interest in the 1960s folk revival will certainly want this CD, as in fact will anyone who likes wonderful songs and wonderful singing.