Shanties & Songs of the Sea [Import]

Johnny Collins | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 28, 1999)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Label: Arc Music
• ASIN: B00001OHA5
• Also Available in: Audio CD
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #221,769 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Blow the Man Down (Flying Fish Sailor)

2. Haul Boys Haul [Sea Song]

3. Blood Red Roses [Halyard Shanty]

4. South Australia [Pump Shanty]

5. Leave Her Johnny [Pum Shanty]

6. Randy Dandy-O

7. Fire Marengo [Hauling Shanty]

8. Shallow Brown [Halyard Shanty]

9. Eliza Lee (The Bulgine Run)

10. Goodbye, Fare Thee Well [Hauling Shanty]

11. Maui [Sea Song]

12. Old Billy Riley [Halyard Shanty]

13. Bold Reilly-O [Halyard Shanty]

14. Down the Bay to Juliana [Hauling Shanty]

15. The Wild Goose [Halyard Shanty]

16. Hard on the Beach Oar [Riverboat Song]

17. Roll the Wood Pile Down [Capstan Shanty]

18. Dogger Bank [Sea Song]

19. Sailor's Prayer [Sea Song]

20. Farewell Shanty [Sea Song]

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars One of the Best, January 15, 2003

By 

Allen Ruch (Brooklyn, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shanties & Songs of the Sea (Audio CD)

I have well over a dozen CDs of sea shanties, and this is my hands-down favorite. Containing numerous shanties and songs of all types, they are delivered with a rough gusto and an edgy harmony that could scrape the barnacles off a copper bottom. Two principal singers lead the songs, one in an irresistible, robust voice that snaps right into your nerves and muscles, the other in a lyrical Celtic tenor evoking the wistful, more gentle side of things. The selection is just unbeatable, and each shanty is sung with attention to detail, nuance, and flavor -- you can hear each song touched with the appropriate amount of urgency, melancholy, bitterness, cheer, weariness, mockery, pride, and so on. While no recordings of sea shanties may be truly considered "authentic," Johnny Collins and the lads seem displaced from another time, tumbled up from the forecastle and into the studio with the salt still in their beards.

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Awesome Songs, March 11, 2004

By 

Pecos Bill (Gaithersburg, MD United States) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Shanties & Songs of the Sea (Audio CD)

Music: 5 stars.
Packaging: Not so much.

I was disappointed when the CD insert didn't have the lyrics to the songs. The lyrics and an explanation of some of the sailing terms would have been ideal (raise your hand if you know what "jubeju" means). Even looking them up online is tricky since there seems to be a lot of variations on these songs.

But the songs are great. I especially like the fact that there is no musical accompaniment, it really gives it a feel of sailors singing as it would have been. I've bought some other CD's similar to this and they all use instruments that makes them sound less like sailing songs and more like folk music.

This type of thing is totally out of character for the types of stuff I normally like, but it's hard NOT to like Blow the Man Down as sung here. I confess to singing some of these songs myself when nobody is looking and I'm doing the dishes or something else noisy. :)

So it's a shame about the missed opportunity to turn this into something special by giving us a good CD insert, but the CD itself is fantastic.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars best of the lot, October 8, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Shanties & Songs of the Sea (Audio CD)

I've been compiling a database of recorded sea shanties, and listening to hundreds of songs. This is easily my favorite collection. An amazing set of songs, some rarely heard, and all beautifully performed. The best versions of many shanties are scattered about (eg Dead Horse by the Albion Band), and collections tend towards the commercial, or the croakingly 'authentic'. But there are no field recordings of these uncensored worksongs, so nothing is really authentic. This CD is a fine compromise.