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The Best of A.L. Lloyd

A.L. Lloyd: The Best of A.L. Lloyd (Prestige/International INT 13066)

The Best of A.L. Lloyd
A.L. Lloyd

Prestige/International INT 13066 (LP, USA, 196x)
Transatlantic XTRA 5023 (LP, UK, 1966)

 A.L. Lloyd: The Best of A.L. Lloyd (Transatlantic XTRA 5023)

Today, an album with this title would be a compilation with tracks from the singer's previous albums. This one, however, actually has all new recordings, with some of the songs on no other of Lloyd's albums.

Recorded by Saga Studios, London
Produced by Kenneth S. Goldstein

Musicians

A.L. Lloyd, vocals;
Alf Edwards, concertina [1, 3, 5, 8, 10, 12, 14]

Tracks

Side 1Side 2
  1. The Farm Servant (Roud 792)
  2. When a Man's in Love (Roud 990; Laws O20; Henry H211)
  3. Tigery Orum (Roud 183; Laws Q2; G/D 2:318; Henry H174; TYG 6)
  4. Fanny Blair (Roud 1393)
  5. Walker Shore and Byker Hill (Roud 3488)
  6. The Mower (Roud 833)
  7. The Lover's Ghost (Roud 179; Child 248)
  1. With Me Pit Boots On (Roud 516; G/D 4:787)
  2. My Generous Lover (Roud 1996)
  3. The Molecatcher (Roud 1052)
  4. The Stone-Cutter Boy (Roud 971)
  5. Cold and Raw (Roud 3007)
  6. The Widow of Westmorland's Daughter (Roud 228; G/D 7:1439)
  7. Banks of the Bann (Roud 889; Laws O2; Henry H86)

Review

This review is from Gramophone, May 1967:

A.L. Lloyd has been described as “the father confessor of the British Folk Revival”. If you listen to the songs and read the sleeve-note on The Best of A. L. Lloyd (Transatlantic XTRA 5023) you will understand why young folk singers who want to know the facts about a song—not only the words and music, but the history behind it—are likelier to turn to A. L. Lloyd than anybody else. The 14 songs he sings are all traditional and English (well, some of the tunes are Irish) and include The Farm Servant, Tigery Orum, Fanny Blair (an unusual song about a perjured nymphet which might have come straight out of The News of the World), The Molecatcher, and a version of Walker Shore and Byker Hill in the unusual “additive 9/8” time which sometimes turns up in the dancing tunes of the North East. With Alf Edwards on the concertina on some tracks but not all, this is probably the best buy of the month.