Waterson:Carthy - Fishes & Fine Yellow Sand - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

If there is such a thing as British folk music royalty, then Eliza Carthy is undoubtedly the Princess Royal. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson, and stgarted making her own mark on the scene at the age of thirteen Carthy formed the Waterdaughters with her mother, aunt (Lal Waterson) and cousin Marry Waterson. She has subsequently worked with Nancy Kerr, with her parents as Waterson-Carthy, and as part of the InchsupergroupInch Blue Murder, in addition to her own solo work. She has twice been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for UK album of the year in 1998 for Red Rice, and again in 2003 for Anglicana. Carthy was a guest on the album Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Eliza and Billy also recorded together on the song InchMy Father's MansionsInch which appeared on the Pete Seeger tribute album called Where Have All The Flowers Gone (1998). And in 2014, she was awarded the honour of an MBE for services to folk music in the Queen's Birthday Honours. This very precious collection of her demos provides an exclusive peek behind the scenes at the creative process of this most extraoedinary and important artist and composer.

Eliza Carthy, MBE (born 23 August 1975)[1] is an English folk musician known for both singing and playing the fiddle. She is the daughter of English folk musicians singer/guitarist Martin Carthy and singer Norma Waterson. At thirteen, Carthy formed the Waterdaughters with her mother, aunt (Lal Waterson) and cousin Marry Waterson. She has subsequently worked with Nancy Kerr, with her parents as Waterson-Carthy, and as part of the InchsupergroupInch Blue Murder, in addition to her own solo work. She has twice been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for UK album of the year in 1998 for Red Rice, and again in 2003 for Anglicana. Carthy was a guest on the album Mermaid Avenue by Billy Bragg and Wilco. Eliza and Billy also recorded together on the song InchMy Father's MansionsInch which appeared on the Pete Seeger tribute album called Where Have All The Flowers Gone (1998). Here we have a unique chance of seeing this remarkable performer doing what she does best; performing live.

On her second solo album the Grande Dame of British folk is presenting us with a surprising, inspired selection of songs. Most of the songs on this album come in pairs, and each has a story attached. Stories referring to Norma's childhood memories or commenting contemporary events, most of them connected to famous personalities in the world of music; people as different and remarkable as Nick Drake, Judy Garland and Freddie Mercury. The mood is quiet yet lit by Norma's powerful and passionately smooth voice, revealing new dimensions to well-known songs. Featuring Richard Thompson, Danny Thompson, Martin Carthy and Eliza Carthy. The lady herself writes With two exceptions the songs are in pairs, and each has a story attached. Those stories range from childhood memories evoked by Fred Astaire of twice a week visits to the cinema with what seems like my entire family set alongside the fantasies indulged by an ordinary man to mask the drudgery of his daily life, to the regret of Al Bowlly's in Heaven for his premature death in an air raid contrasting to the pain of returning from war to the disappointment of peace. They include the feelings of disappointment for the unfulfilled promise of Nick Drake - that most careless (with himself) and most English of writers whose influences came from far and wide but who always makes my Martin think of Ivor Novello. They range from the extraordinary story which is attached to the writing of the song Josef Locke - the naughtiest and most optimistic of Irishmen - a song which comes out of an encounter between the man himself (was it or wasn't it?) and Fairport Convention in a pub in Covent Garden late on night to the white knuckle fury of my sister Lal's Reply to Joe Haines (originally called An Open Letter to Joe Haines) which is just that. A reply to the iniquitous article written by that man on the subject of Freddie Mercury's disc