Customer Reviews

Transports

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The late Peter Bellamy was one of the pillers of British folk music. His distinctive voice had the ability to invoke visions of coal blackened miners, tar dabbed seamen, the drone of pipes, and the anguish of men at war. In Transports he has enlisted other great voices to tell a story of petty crime, prison, love, and redemption. Every song stands alone, yet the sum is an aural opera.

In the 1780s, with the Americas closed as a dumping ground for the criminal class and other assorted ne'er-do-wells, England decided to ship its convicts off to the rocky shores of Australia. Among the hundreds of prisoners on the penal transports of the "First Fleet" were Henry Cabell and Susannah Holmes, a young couple who met in jail, but had to make it all the way to Botany Bay before they were allowed to be wed. This dense song-cycle chronicles their journey -- convicted of petty theft, detained for several years in an English jail before being deported to Australia, and finally wed under colonial law, later to become one of the founding families of the new nation. The cast is a veritable "who's who" of the British folk scene: Peter Bellamy wrote the libretto, and enlisted a phalanx of the most talented British trad singers to help out, including June Tabor, Nic Jones, Martin Carthy and The Watersons, each taking on a role within the operetta. Dolly Collins' orchestral arrangements are mildly impenetrable or overly flowery at times, and overall the album lacks variation, but the material itself is very powerful and the story is quite compelling. Recommended!

Bought this because I've always loved and sung "Roll Down" (often called "The Transports' Shanty") and wanted to hear the definitive version. I wondered if there was anything else from the show that would be worth having.
The answer is a firm yes--I've already picked two more songs that I definitely want to learn and perform plus several more that ring in my head (a sure sign that the song wants to be sung by me).
It's a treasure alone to hear these legends of the seventies folk scene (The Watersons, Cyril Tawney, Martin Carthy, June Tabor, etc)and added to that are the haunting instrumental accompaniments, unusually "orchestral" for folk material.
The booklet notes are scant, unfortunately--I would have enjoyed more information about the show and the songs and lyrics would have really been appreciated; due to the heavy English accents, it's often difficult to understand the exact words. However, lyrics for the songs are available online in most cases, it appears.
If you love traditional British folk music, you will likely enjoy this.

Written by Peter Bellamy and arranged for an archaic-sounding set of instruments by Dolly Collins, the ballad opera focuses on two convicts who meet in Norwich Gaol - Henry Cabell (burglary, sentenced to 14 years transportation) and Susannah Holmes (14 years transportation for theft), who has borne him a son. Kind interventions by humane people (yes, there were a few in those days) saw them sent to Botany Bay together as a family - on the 1st Fleet in 1788. Henry is believed to have carried Governor Phillip ashore, thereby being the first new settler to set foot in the colony. There's an on-going "narrative" sung by Peter Bellamy to fiddle accompaniment by Dave Swarbrick and the songs all have a genuine folk-song air about them. The cast is a roll-call of all the best English folk singers - Martin Carthy, June Tabor, AL Lloyd, Mike and Norma Waterson (as Henry and Susannah). Vic Legg as the coachman in "The Plymouth Mail" is a standout.
[I actually know a descendant of Henry and Susannah!]