Description
The new self-titled Collector CD is now available! 14 tracks – 11 songs (traditional and contemporary) and 10 bush dance tunes all featured in Collector’s dynamic “full-band” arrangements. The band is very excited about this one!
“Collector wins all my plaudits for playing and re-creating the grand old music of the Australian Bush.” – Andy Irvine
This is not traditional music under glass – it’s bush music with the hair still on!
Roger Hargraves Fiddle, Bouzoukis, Banjo, Guitar
Chloe Roweth Vocals, Mandolin, Fiddle, Whistle
Jason Roweth Vocals, Guitar, Bass
Jason Neville Bass, Guitar
Jim McWhinnie Bodhran
Bill Browne Kit Drums
Track List 1. The Banks of the Condamine 2. Like Limerick 3. The Maryborough Miner 4. Norman Brown 5. My Name is Ben Hall / The Dear Irish Boy 6. The Kyle Schottische Set 7. A Man Was Killed in the Mine Today 8. The Ballad of 1891 9. A Mazurka Set 10. Four Little Johnny Cakes / Corkwood Jig / Fullers’ Barn Jig 11. The Female Rambling Sailor 12. Those Bold Bushrangers 13. Sally’s Reels 14. 14.Farewell to Greta / George Bailey’s First Reel
CD REVIEW – by Warren Fahey
I am always interested in hearing how other musicians interpret the Australian tradition and contemporary songs written in that folk idiom. Let me say from the outset of this review that I do not believe there is a right or wrong way to approach the performance of folk song. Decades of listening to bush bands and solo artists singing (mostly predictably about shearers, bushrangers and drovers) has taught me to keep an open mind. However, I still fi nd myself looking for that little bit extra in three critical areas: song selection, individuality of sound and, most importantly, a salute to the tradition. Collector, in this case the group’s name and the title of the album, has a good track record and this new offering, their second album, sits well with my three main criteria. The selection is certainly fresh with eleven very interesting, culturally-relevant tracks totally 65 minutes of music. Individuality – yes, Collector have their own sound and it sits very comfortably with the material that ranges from their interpretation of several old dance tunes, old and some not so old ballads (that’s if, like me, the 1950s only seem like yesterday). And, as far as saluting the tradition that carried this material into the current century – Collector has done it proud. After recording my recent ten CD set ‘Australia: Its Folk Songs & Bush Verse’ I thought I’d covered most of the Australian bush repertoire but here comes Collector and proves me wrong – of the ten traditional songs here I had only included three (‘Female Rambling Sailor’, ‘Banks of the Condamine’ and ‘Norman Brown’) on my collection. The seven remaining songs are worthy of mention. Year’s ago, West Australia’s Bob Rummery enthused to me about the poetry of Tom ‘Crosscut’ Wilson (1865-1925) and I put them in my fi le for ‘future reference’; it was a real surprise to hear his ‘A Man Was Killed In The Mine Today’ – I’ll have to dig out my copy of Tom’s ‘The Boulder Block’ to see what other gems lie waiting to be rediscovered. There’s three bushranging ballads on offer, ‘Those Bold Bushrangers’, ‘Farewell to Greta’ and ‘My Name is Ben Hall’ – what can I say – these songs are old and rare but absolutely given life by the group’s sensitive rendition. It’s so heartening to hear two bushranging songs that have never been recorded before and I will be nicking the eccentric ‘Those Bold Bushrangers’ for my repertoire! Helen Palmer and Doreen Bridges’s 1950’s anthem, ‘Ballad of 1891’, has been recorded several times before but for my money this is a version that should carry it for several more years. Then there’s the bush dance tunes. I think my group The Larrikins, especially in its early manifestations, played an important role in treating the old dance tunes with respect, particularly in so far as tempo was concerned and Collector appear to now carry that mantle. The mazurkas, schottisches, reels and jigs are not only well-tempered but extremely emotive conjuring up the stately ambience of yesterday’s dance fl oors which, despite the frantic interpretation of most bush bands, was usually relatively sedate. In truth I have never seen myself as a ‘real’ singer. If anything, I am a social historian who sings and mostly interprets bush songs. I know I am privileged in being able to interpret these traditional songs and extremely happy to discover other people sharing the same journey – oh that there were a hell of a lot more! That said, Chloe and Jason are accomplished singers and musicians, sensitive to the tradition and Halleluiah, they have gathered four similarly sympathetic musicians in Roger Hargraves (vocals, fi ddle, bouzouki, banjo), Jason Neville (bass), Jim McWhinnie (bodhran) and Bill Browne (kit drums). You might have just read that list of instruments and thought – “What the hell! Kit Drum! Bouzouki! and bass! Yikes!” – let me say, “Get over it!” This works and if we are to see these old songs and stories and tunes travel with us into the 21st century this is exactly what we need. I was particularly delighted to hear two songs with two parts sung as storytelling – ‘Banks of the Condamine’ and ‘Farewell to Greta’ work well as the two voices, in this case Chloe and Jason, relate the stories in song. I have a couple of niggly issues with the CD booklet – I think they could have come up with a smarter title than ‘self titled’ and, from an information perspective, I always want a CD label serial number for reference purposes. I also found it confusing as to who is actually singing since no one is specifi ed in the accompanying generally attractive and informative booklet. But, as I said, these are petty criticisms of an album that I found extremely satisfying. If you care about our disappearing Australian cultural expressions, especially our musical traditions, buy this album.
Collector CD review by Rob Willis.
Getting a new ‘Collector’ CD is much like receiving a gift at Christmas when you are a kid. There is the anticipation, but also the trepidation, that it might not be as good as the last ‘gift’ – which was enjoyed immensely. Well, the much anticipated selftitled ‘Collector’ recording arrived in my letter box yesterday and was hurriedly placed in the player… By choice I do not write many CD reviews. In my mind there is still the comment from my beloved Grandmother about being truthful and not making token statements about things that really do not appeal. No worries here! This CD goes further than being appealing I can assure you. What ‘Collector’ do – and do it well – is to take examples of Australia’s traditional songs and tunes and interpret them in a way that is exciting, interesting and appealing. This appeal is both to those of us who have a knowledge of the genre and those who are seeking new musical experiences and there is certainly nothing wrong with this. A lament is often heard from individuals and organisations, including non-musical ones, that “the young people are not taking ‘this’ up”. Well, if they fi nd whatever ‘this’ is, dull, boring or monotonous of course they won’t – would YOU have when you were a kid? Collector has the ability and skill to present their music and song in such a way that it DOES appeal and IS interesting. This, hopefully, will also create the incentive to investigate the ‘roots’ of the music which are archived and soon to be online from The National Library of Australia. It is good to hear a variety of voices on this recording, particularly a few tracks featuring multi instrumentalist, Roger Hargraves. Roger combines well with Chloe Roweth on the fi rst track ‘ Banks of the Condamine’ and also does a great job on what is one of my favourite tracks ‘Four Little Johhny Cakes’. The arrangement of the latter is attributed to infl uences from ‘Six O’Clock Rock’ and it is a beauty. Another track that really grabs me is Chloe’s rendition of ‘The Female Rambling Sailor’. This is a diffi cult song to sing and Chloe has beautifully and successfully extended herself to do it. All of the members of Collector have talent in their own right and I am probably doing an injustice to single any one of them out. Indeed they have all successfully extended themselves on this recording. The band recorded, mixed and mastered this CD themselves – a real ‘home grown’ product. However, at all stages of the recording process, the professionalism of the group is obvious particularly Jason and Chloe’s skills in audio production. The technical production is as good as anything I have ever heard – and I’m a fussy bloke. The other aspect that grabbed me about the CD was the presentation of the cover, you could almost frame it and hang it on the wall – the artwork is complemented by the extensive and informative book of cover notes – well done. Whatever your musical taste there will be a track on the new Collector CD to please – have a listen, you won’t be disappointed. Collector – Collector Review by Ian Dearden Collector are husband and wife duo Chloe & Jason Roweth, with regular collaborator Jim McWhinnie (bodhran) expanded into a full size band with the addition of a rhythm section (Jason Neville, bass and Bill Browne, kit drums) and Roger Hargraves (fiddle, bouzouki, banjo). Roger Hargraves also contributes lead and backing vocals. Roger’s fiddle playing, in particular, provides another melody instrument to the line-up and fleshes out the always excellent song and tune playing capacities of the Roweths. Conveniently, they all took over the drummer’s house, an ex-church, (what else are drummers for, Bill) to record the album. This album, as with the most recent Roweth duo album, A Voice That Was Still, features songs and tunes from and in the tradition, many of them collected (as the band and album title imply). Of course, there are exceptions – Like Limerick was “collected” from the writer, David Beniuk after hearing him perform at a folk festival in 1997 (it’s a fine song, David), and The Banks of the Condamine was “collected” from James Fagan & Nancy Kerr singing it on the Song Links CD (although the liner notes of this CD trace the provenance back to the Qld Pocket Song Book). Speaking of liner notes, this CD is replete with superb and appropriately informative liner notes, beautifully illustrated (courtesy of the drummer – well done, Bill!), and are all part of a handsomely presented CD package. Well, enough of the preliminaries – what does the album sound like, you may ask. Well there can be no hesitation – it sounds great. The expanded band format works a treat, the acoustic frontline is never overwhelmed but instead delightfully supported by the bass/drums/bohdran rhythm section. The broader palette of vocal and instrumental options contributes to the breadth and variety of the arrangements in a thoughtful and enjoyable way, and importantly the pace of what is a very long album (65 minutes) never falters. The inclusion of some lesser-known Ben Hall ballads, a terrific version of The Ballad of 1891, an obscure but moving Dorothy Hewett tribute to a martyred union miner (Norman Brown) as well as a range of fine tunes from the repertoire of the Kyle family, round out a superb album, in which all of the pieces of the puzzle fit with well-oiled precision. Well done to all the members of Collector – you have the done the Australian folk tradition proud with this album! You can find out more at www.rowethmusic.com.au. ‘Collector’ by Rob Willis. Getting a new ‘Collector’ CD is much like receiving a gift at Christmas when you are a kid. There is the anticipation, but also the trepidation, that it might not be as good as the last ‘gift’ – which was enjoyed immensely. Well, the much anticipated self-titled ‘Collector’ recording arrived in my letter box yesterday and was hurriedly placed in the player………………… By choice I do not write many CD reviews. In my mind there is still the comment from my beloved Grandmother about being truthful and not making token statements about things that really do not appeal. No worries here! This CD goes further than being appealing I can assure you. What ‘Collector’ do – and do it well – is to take examples of Australia’s traditional songs and tunes and interpret them in a way that is exciting, interesting and appealing. This appeal is both to those of us who have a knowledge of the genre and those who are seeking new musical experiences and there is certainly nothing wrong with this. A lament is often heard from individuals and organisations, including non-musical ones, that “the young people are not taking ‘this’ up”. Well, if they find whatever ‘this’ is, dull, boring or monotonous of course they won’t – would YOU have when you were a kid? Collector has the ability and skill to present their music and song in such a way that it DOES appeal and IS interesting. This, hopefully, will also create the incentive to investigate the ‘roots’ of the music which are archived and soon to be online from The National Library of Australia. It is good to hear a variety of voices on this recording, particularly a few tracks featuring multi instrumentalist, Roger Hargraves. Roger combines well with Chloe Roweth on the first track ‘ Banks of the Condamine’ and also does a great job on what is one of my favourite tracks ‘Four Little Johhny Cakes’. The arrangement of the latter is attributed to influences from ‘Six O’Clock Rock’ and it is a beauty. Another track that really grabs me is Chloe’s rendition of ‘The Female Rambling Sailor’. This is a difficult song to sing and Chloe has beautifully and successfully extended herself to do it. All of the members of Collector have talent in their own right and I am probably doing an injustice to single any one of them out. Indeed they have all successfully extended themselves on this recording. The band recorded, mixed and mastered this CD themselves – a real ‘home grown’ product. However, at all stages of the recording process, the professionalism of the group is obvious particularly Jason and Chloe’s skills in audio production. The technical production is as good as anything I have ever heard – and I’m a fussy bloke. The other aspect that grabbed me about the CD was the presentation of the cover, you could almost frame it and hang it on the wall – the artwork is complemented by the extensive and informative book of cover notes – well done. Whatever your musical taste there will be a track on the new Collector CD to please – have a listen, you won’t be disappointed.
