A Cut Above

A Cut Above is a folk album by June Tabor and Martin Simpson released in 1980 on Topic Records, catalogue number 12TS410. The album was re-released on CD in UK on Topic Records in 1989 and was released on Green Linnet in the US in 1992.[3]

A Cut Above
Studio album by
June Tabor
Released1980
LabelTopic: 12TS410 (UK)
Green Linnet: GLCD 3072 (US)
June Tabor chronology
Ashes and Diamonds
(1977)		 A Cut Above
(1980)		 Abyssinians
(1983)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1][2]

The album was produced by Paul Brown and engineered by John Acock at Millstream Studios, Cheltenham and includes a number of traditional songs, as well songs by Roger Watson, Richard Thompson, Peter Bond and Bill Caddick.[4]

Reception

Awarding the album 4.5 stars, AllMusic reviewer Rick Anderson said:

This album was originally released on the Topic label in 1980, when June Tabor was just coming into her own as a solo artist. She had made two albums with Maddy Prior (of Steeleye Span) in the '70s, both of which were fairly lighthearted collections of English folk songs. On A Cut Above, she is teamed up with uber-guitarist Martin Simpson and begins to show the darker colors that would typify her subsequent work. "Admiral Benbow" (a gorgeous sea song with a lovely choral tag at the end) and the cheerfully despairing "Flash Company" are light enough, but her hair-raising a cappella performance of "Number Two Top Seam," a song about a coal mine explosion, shows her at her best -- stark, chilling, and beautiful. She also manages to cut Linda Thompson with her rendition of "Strange Affair," possibly the saddest and most beautiful of all the sad and beautiful songs written by Linda's ex-husband Richard. Martin Simpson, who is the very soul of taste throughout this album, mars "Strange Affair" with an ill-advised slide guitar solo, but it's the only mistake anyone makes on this album.[2]

In 2008 the BBC's Mike Harding said:

Lord above I'd forgotten how brilliant that album was.
When you get two wonderful musicians together the end result is not always the sum of the parts.
In this case they obviously pushed each other on to greater things because the end result is magnificent; just listen to "Heather Down the Moor", "Davy Lowston", "Flash Company" - they are magnificent; and you'll never hear a better version of Bill Caddick's "Unicorns".[5]

Track listing
  1. "Admiral Benbow" (Roud 3141) (2.41)
  2. "Davy Lowston" (4.50)
  3. "Flash Company" (Roud 954) (2.42)
  4. "Number Two Top Seam" (3.11)
  5. "Strange Affair" (5.50)
  6. "Heather Down the Moor" (Roud 375; G/D 5:962; Henry H177) (2.48)
  7. "Joe Peel" (3.38)
  8. "Le Roi Renaud" (6.35)
  9. "Riding Down to Portsmouth" (Roud 1534) (1.07)
  10. "Unicorns" (5.09)

Personnel

plus:

  • The Prunettes on "Admiral Benbow": Louisa Livingstone, Dik Cadbury, Martin Simpson, Ric Sanders, Dave Bristow, Paul Brown
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References
  1. Allmusic review
  2. "A Cut Above - June Tabor - Songs, Reviews, Credits - AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  3. "June Tabor with Martin Simpson: A Cut Above". mainlynorfolk.info. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  4. "Topic Records ยป TSCD410 JUNE TABOR with MARTIN SIMPSON ~ A CUT ABOVE". www.topicrecords.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
  5. Harding, Mike. "BBC - Folk: June Tabor & Martin Simpson - A Cut Above". Retrieved 10 October 2018.
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