Bramble Briars & Beams Of The

A handsomely packaged double CD for the price of one collection of traditional ballads sung by one of the leading exponents of the genre. A L Lloyd, along with Ewan MacColl,was one of the architects of the UK Folk Revival in the 1950s. He was a writer, broadcaster, folk song collector, folklorist, artistic director of Topic Records and mentor to many aspiring folk musicians including Martin Carthy, The Watersons, Frankie Armstrong, Roy Harris and many others. He was also a noted performer in his own right. In the early 1950s he set about recording English versions of the great Folk Ballads to be found in Francis J Child's five volume monumental work 'English & Scottish Popular Ballads'. The result was a multi-LP set, but which was never released in the UK. The complete set of recordings is on the double CD collection. It is handsomely packaged with an extended booklet written by Dr Vic Gammon, former Director of the Folk Music Degree course at Newcastle University, which gives a fascinating insight to the ballads and Lloyd's singing of them. Despite its seemingly scholarly approach Lloyd's obvious enjoyment and the relish with which he sings these songs make it a highly listenable set.