Anthologies   •   Topic Records • The Real Sound of Folk Music

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Song Credits

• Both Sides The Tweed — Dick Gaughan
  • From the album Handful Of Earth (Topic 12TS419, 1981)
  • Recorded by Robin Moron at Temple Studios near Edinburgh
  • Produced by Dick Gaughan
  • Dick Gaughan: Vocals, Telecaster Guitar
  • Phil Cunningham: Whistle, Keyboards
  • Stewart Isbister: Electric Bass

• Canadee-i-o — Nic Jones
  • From the album Penguin Eggs (Topic 12TS411, 1980)
  • Produced by Tony Engle at Livingston Studios
  • Engineer: Nic Kinsey
  • Nic Jones: Vocals, Guitar

• Angi — Davy Graham
  • From The E.P. (3/4 AD TOP70, 1962)
  • Recorded by Bill Leader at his home, "North Villas", London, in April 1961
  • Davy Graham: Acoustic Guitar

• Pace-Egging Song — The Watersons
  • From the LP Frost & Fire (Topic 12T136, 1965)
  • Recorded by Bill Leader in Camden Town 1965
  • Produced by Tony Engle
  • Mike Waterson, Norma Waterson, Lal Waterson & John Harrison: Vocals

• Ships Of Shame — Steve Ashley
  • From the CD album Time & Tide (TSCD569, 2007)
  • Recorded in Cheltenham
  • Produced by Steve Ashley
  • Steve Ashley: Vocals & Guitar

• The Sweet Primeroses — Shirley Collins
  • From the album The Sweet Primeroses (12T170, 1967)
  • All tracks recorded by Bill Leader
  • Produced by John Marshall
  • Shirley Collins: Vocals
  • Dolly Collins: Flute-organ

• Never Any Good — Martin Simpson
  • From the album Prodigal Son (Topic TSCD567, 2007)
  • Recorded at Pure Studios, South Yorkshire
  • Produced by Martin Simpson
  • Martin Simpson: Vocals & Guitars
  • Kate Rusby: Vocals

• Wasps In The Woodpile — Andrew Cronshaw
  • From the album Till The Beast's Returning (12TS447, 1988)
  • Produced & engineered by Andrew Cronshaw at Ideal Sound Recorders, London
  • Andrew Cronshaw: Zither, Chinese Flute, Clavichord, Whistle, Shawm, Steelpans, Cimbalom, English Concertina
  • Martin Simpson: Electric Guitar, Lap Steel
  • Ian Blake: Bass Guitar, Piano, Clarinet
  • Dave Clewlow: Trumpets, Ftügelhorn
  • Rosie Cross: Hammered Dulcimer, Tambourine
  • Lev Liberman: Sax
  • Laurie Harper: Violin, Mandolin
  • Mark Emerson: Violin

• Hedger and Ditcher — Silly Sisters
  • From the album No More To The Dance (Topic 12TS450 & TSCD450, 1988)
  • Produced & engineered by Andrew Cronshaw at Ideal Sound, London
  • Maddy Prior: Vocals
  • June Tabor: Vocals
  • Dan Ar Bras: Guitar
  • Huw Warren: Keyboards
  • Jim Sutherland: Percussion
  • Andrew Cronshaw: Concertina
  • Paul James: Soprano Saxophone, Half-Long Bagpipes
  • Nigel Eaton: Hurdy-Gurdy

• Scan's Polkas — Oak
  • From the album Welcome To Our Fair (12TS212, 1971)
  • Tony Engle: Anglo-Concertina
  • Danny Stradling: Tambourine
  • Rod Stradling: Melodeon
  • Peta Webb: Fiddle

• Blackwater Side — Anne Briggs
  • From The Album Anne Briggs (12T207, 1971)
  • Recorded by Sean Davies in 1971
  • Produced by A. L. Lloyd
  • Anne Briggs: Vocals, Guitar

• Scarborough Fair — Martin Carthy
  • From the album Martin Carthy (Fontana/Topic 12TS340, 1965)
  • Martin Carthy: Guitar, Vocals
  • Dave Swarbrick: Fiddle

• Worcester City — Eliza Carthy
  • From the album Anglicana (Topic TSCD539, 2002)
  • Produced by Eliza Carthy & Ben Ivitsky
  • Recorded at Bamboo Hut, Edinburgh, Adrian Bradley at Twickenham Sound Studios, Twickenham
  • Mixed by Ben Ivitsky, Kester Lyddon & Adrian Bradley at Twickenham Sound Studios
  • Eliza Carthy: Fiddle, Vocals
  • Barnaby Stradling: Double Bass
  • John Spiers: Melodeon
  • Jon Boden: Fiddle
  • Donald MacDougal: Guitar
  • Donald Hay: Drums & Percussion

• Man In The Moon — The Full English
  • From the album The Full English (Topic TSCD823, 2013)
  • Recorded at Real World Studios & Underbank
  • Produced by Andy Bell & The Full English
  • Seth Lakeman: Vocals, Fiddle, Viola & Bouzouki
  • Martin Simpson: Vocals & Guitar
  • Fay Hield: Vocals
  • Nancy Kerr: Vocals, Fiddle & Viola
  • Ben Nicholls: Vocals, Double Bass & Concertina
  • Rob Harbron: Vocals, Concertina & Fiddle
  • Sam Sweeney: Vocals, Fiddle, Cello, Nickelharpa & Percussion

• Talking Dustbowl Blues — Ramblin' Jack Elliott
  • From Woodie Guthrie's Blues (8TS & TSCD477, 1957)
  • Recorded in London by Bill Leader
  • Ramblin' Jack Elliott: Voice & Guitar

• Love Will Tear Us Apart — June Tabor & Oysterband
  • From the album Ragged Kingdom (TSCD585, 2011)
  • Recorded February-April 2011 at Rockfield Studios, Monmouthshire & Metway Studios, Brighton
  • Produced by Al Scott
  • June Tabor: Vocal
  • John Jones: Vocal, Melodeon
  • Ray Cooper: Cello, Mandolin, Bass Guitar, Harmonium & Vocal
  • Dil Davis: Drums
  • Alan Prosser: Guitars, Kantele, Fiddle & Vocal
  • Ian Telfer: Fiddle
  • Al Scott: Bass Guitar & Mandola

• Dirty Old Town — Ewan MacColl
  • From Topic Records Club 78 rpm Dirty Old Town/The Sheffield Apprentice (TRC56, 1952)

• The Ideal Schottische — The Cheviot Ranters
  • From the The Cheviot Ranters (Topic 12TS222, 1973)
  • Recorded at Livingston Studios, London
  • Produced by Tony Engle
  • Jack Thompson: Fiddle
  • Bryce Anderson: Piano-Accordion
  • George Mitchell: Piano
  • Phil Sutherland: Bass
  • Jock Wilson: Drums

• Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk — Cilla Fisher
  • From the Cilia & Artie (Topic 12TS405, 1979)
  • Recorded at Temple Studio, Midlothian
  • Produced by Robin Morton
  • Cilia Fisher: Vocal

• Unity (Raise Your Banners High) — John Tams
  • From Unity (Topic TSCD508, 2002)
  • Recorded live onto 2 inch 24 track Analogue tape at Badge in Doncaster by Keith Angel, Oliver Knight & Andy Seward
  • Produced by John Tams
  • John Tams: Vocals, Electric Guitar
  • Graeme Taylor: Electric Guitar
  • Barry Coope: Keyboards, Vocal
  • Andy Seward: Electric Bass
  • Alan Dunn: Accordion, Whistle, Piano
  • Keith Angel: Drums

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Sleeve Notes

The Topic Records Introduction Series

This double vinyl package contains 20 tracks drawn from the catalogue of Britain's premier folk record label and features a series of outstanding performances by outstanding performers. The story of Topic is synonymous with the growth of folk as a musical and social movement in Britain over the last three quarter century and these recordings demonstrate the bridge between modern music and a traditional art form..

Before the advent of radio and long-playing records, let alone downloads and streaming, the not-so-ordinary working man or woman relied upon the oral tradition for his or her home entertainment. Songs and tunes were passed down over generations and honed by function and social interaction to produce a body of work of exceptional strength and beauty..

From the 1940s onwards, and with increasing pace, young and not-so-young people in the British Isles turned to this material as a means of musical expression and connection with their roots, as well as for the pleasure of crafting an art form that made direct contact with the listener — without manipulation by commercial pressures and obeisance to respectable society's view of what should be seen as "good music"..

On these vinyl records you will find some of the most remarkable singers, songs and tunes — either drawn directly from the tradition or inspired by it. The music is totally contemporary yet with its feet firmly rooted in Britain's own unique culture..

Not all the music is strictly British, as the Folk Revival embraced other folk cultures, so Ramblin' Jack Elliott's version of Woody Guthrie's Talking Dustbowl Blues is here — demonstrating how folk music can deal with social issues of the day as well as harking back to earlier times. This attitude is also reflected in John Tams' Unity, Steve Ashley's Ships of Shame, Dick Gaughan's Both Sides The Tweed and even Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town..

There are reworkings of great traditional story songs — Anne Briggs' Blackwater Side, Nic Jones' Canadee-i-o and majestic performances by Martin Simpson — Never Any Good, Shirley Collins, Davy Graham, Martin Carthy, Eliza Carthy and The Watersons and The Full English's Man In The Moon..

June Tabor and Oysterband take a quite different approach and make the Joy Division song Love Will Tear Us Apart something completely their own..

Andrew Cronshaw, The Cheviot Ranters, Cilia Fisher, Silly Sisters and Oak — the list goes on — a fulfilling and haunting introduction to the great legacy of the folk tradition and Topic Records..