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The Big Session Vol 1
Westpark Music 87105
"An attempt to bring to a larger stage the spirit of an after-hours music session ..." Orchestrated by Oysterband, the Big Session does exactly what it says on the CD sleeve. After successfully staging the concept as a touring outfit with a range of performers, the Oysters hired London's Bush Hall for three days in May 2004, installed a live audience, parked a mobile recording van outside and here's the result: 65 collaborative minutes from several of the last tour's younger artists (Eliza Carthy, Ben Ivitsky, Jim Moray, James O'Grady), some longstanding Oyster chums (June Tabor, Show Of Hands) and a wildcard in the form of alt-country duo The Handsome Family.
You'll need to do some detective work to deduce exactly who's doing what on each track, but everyone has a great time playing on each others' chosen material (trad, contemporary, dark, light) with arrangements devised in the day evolving during performance. The Oyster/SOH/Tabor axis works well throughout (John Barleycorn, Factory Girl, the Joy Division ballad Love Will Tear Us Apart) while Eliza Carthy takes lead vocal on three numbers including her own Fuse (highlight alert - she's a great songwriter, that girl) and a jaunty Ten Thousand Miles.
Mid-album we go suddenly transatlantic with a rousing Sacred Harp song and the startling input of Brett and Rennie Sparks, aka The Handsome Family. After the earlier waltz-time Sparks-penned Whitehaven, their apocalyptic When That Helicopter Comes and manic House Carpenter come as a bit of a shock, but once you've acclimatised to the Johnny Cash-meets-Bowser and Grandma Clampett vocal styles, it's all quite jolly. Elsewhere, an Oyster-boosted Country Life from SOH, a slyly coy, lopingly electric Cuckoo's Nest from Jim Moray ("and underneath her jumper is a thermal vest") and a sultry Lowlands (Tabor) with eldritch uilleann pipe accompaniment (O'Grady).
Despite the avowed unpolished, hang-the-production spontaneity of the session setup, skill and experience will out and the end result is as good as any live album you're likely to hear. Look forward to volume 2.
Mel McClellan - August 2004
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 Bought this Album on Monday & i't been on the car stereo ever since. The whole album is excellent but what else would you expect with the calibre of performers involved. The only unknown quantity being the Handsome family. John Barleycorn sets the tone for the CD nicely. Other standout tracks: Country life, Cuckoos nest, Love will tear us apart. On the whole well worth the money & I'm looking forward to seeing the Big Session live in Pontypridd in December
Dave Chamberlain, Caerphilly
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Folk & Acoustic
