“The New Briton Gazette Volume 2” by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - album review

features in: Album Chart of 1963Album Chart of the Decade: 1960s

TJR says

Another album of mainly topical lyrics, written in the last 2 or 3 years by both of the artists, often set to traditional folk tunes. “The Banks They Are Rosey” makes for a great opener, and is inspired by the Berlin crisis of '61, which resulted in the wall that would divide the East and West of the city until 1989. A prominent American politician branded "Johnny" is used mockingly for his attempt to resolve the crisis by distributing thousands of ball pens to the citizens of West Berlin! “The Ballad Of Jimmy Wilson” closes side 1 in dramatic fashion, with a scathing attack on the lawmakers of Alabama who sentenced a black Negro janitor to death for the theft of $1.75. Ewan and Peggy's song offers sarcastic praise to the same lawmakers who graciously reduced the man's sentence to life imprisonment: “and so, throughout the ages, we have seen how progress marches ever on its way, no rack, no wheel, no Spanish boot for Alabama's prisoners today”. Side two also has a strong opener in “The Big Hewer”, a song which was first written and performed for their Radio documentary production of the same name in 1961, and essentially celebrates the British coal miner who knows all about hard graft in tough conditions, up to his chin in stinking water, where even the rats are born bow-legged: “cut my teeth on a 5 foot timber, held up the roof with my little finger”. The cry for social justice is obvious throughout, sincerity and no little humour marking “The New Briton Gazette Volume 2” as a surefire winner.

The Jukebox Rebel
17–Aug–2018

Tracklist
A1 [05:16] 7.8.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Banks They Are Rosey (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
A2 [02:49] 6.5.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - Rosalie (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Caribbean
A3 [03:36] 6.2.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - March With Us Today (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
A4 [02:14] 5.9.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - Lullaby For The Times (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
A5 [03:34] 6.2.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - No Agents Need Apply (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
A6 [03:47] 6.0.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Printer’s Trade (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
A7 [03:28] 8.6.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Ballad Of Jimmy Wilson (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B1 [03:38] 8.1.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Big Hewer (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B2 [03:27] 7.4.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Shoals Of Herring (Ewan MacColl) Folk
B3 [03:25] 7.7.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The Young Birds (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B4 [01:43] 6.4.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - Needle And Thread (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B5 [02:35] 5.7.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - Hey Ho! Cook And Rowe! (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B6 [02:39] 6.6.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Ewan MacColl) Folk
B7 [03:46] 6.4.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - Come Live With Me (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk
B8 [02:32] 6.8.png Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger - When I Was Young (Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger) Folk

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