Sounding Now Reviews

Review

The Claque blends together four voices of depth and maturity, all with serious folk credentials. Dave Lowry and Sean O'Shea conjure up memories of '70s acts Isca Fayre and Hollinmor, while Tom Addison is fondly remembered from the Songwainers (whose iconic Argo album must surely be a candidate for reissue), in whose recently re?formed line?up we also find Barry Lister (whose fine Ghosts And Greasepaint album gave me much pleasure).

Here, with refreshingly no?frills performances and excellently judged recording, The Claque give us 15 traditional (orthereabouts) songs in warm and considered a cappella harmony: nothing over?cosy or tediously safe but plenty to fascinate the eager or more adventurous ear. The group's repertoire is well chosen: off the beaten track it may be, but it's a connoisseur's selection with some really fine songs from a variety of sources. Two?including the grand, epic Tom Of Bedlam?come from the singing of the Songwainers' Dave Stephenson; the poignant Farewell, Farewell comes from Padstow in the time of the Great War; Drink, Puppy, Drink is a vigorous galloping?song; whereas My Faithful Johnnie, gleaned from the singing of Jeannie Robertson, is possibly the most well?known item on the disc.

If harmony singing is your bag then you'll find much to admire and enjoy in these performances, for there's much that's exciting going on, in the lower parts in particular. For those less used to this manner of delivery, however, closer listening is required in order to get the most out of the arrangements but that's no less than they deserve, to be fair. The full ensemble can occasionally seem mildly underpowered or undersung, but that's a minor issue considering the superb quality of the actual singing on both an individual and combined basis.

David Kidman
fRoots (Wednesday, October 01, 2008)



Review

The Claque comprise of Dave Lowry, Barry Lister (both sang with Isca Fair over 30 years ago!), Tom Addison (ex Songwainer member 30 years ago!) and Sean O'Shea (who sang with Barry in Hollinmor 30 years ago!) As you can see from my remarks in parenthesis they're all 'mature' seasoned performers! Their maturity and experience comes through too in this excellent recording by Doug Bailey at Wild Goose.
All the songs are a cappella and arranged with some splendid four part harmonies. Although they only finally got together as a group a couple of years ago their voices blend very well both in terms of timing and harmony.

The list of songs contains versions of some well known ones including The Devil's Questions, to a tune written by Sean, Drink, Puppy Drink, Tom of Bedlam and The Miller and His Three Sons.
Less well known are Devoran Smugglers, a Devonian song as the title implies, Once a Farmer learned from Dave Robbins and The Goose and the Common which the late Martin Bloomer put together from original verse. The song I found most interesting however was Salt Horse (yes it's a sea song, of course!) which tells of the practice of selling horse meat to sailors.

If you like unaccompanied four part harmony singing of interesting songs then I strongly recommend this CD; if you are a little reluctant then I would still suggest you push the boat out and get it as you will be hard pushed to find a better sound.

'And where did the name of the group come from?', I hear you ask. Well, Claque (prononunced 'Klak') is 'an institution for securing the success of a public performance by bestowing upon it preconcerted applause' ... no I didn't look it up, it's in the sleeve notes!

So that explains the tumultuous applause at the end of this recording! Available from Wild Goose or through Proper Music Distribution.

Derek Gifford
Folk Northwest (Wednesday, July 16, 2008)



Review

These are enlivening times for ‘our’ music. With fresh performers emerging, fully formed, seemingly before they can vote or legally buy alcohol, it’s equally pleasing that persons of a certain age can also make their presence felt. Sometimes old-fashioned virtues are no bad thing.
Tom Addison, Barry Lister, Dave Lowry and Sean O’Shea (Claque: ‘securing the success of a public performance by bestowing upon it preconcerted applause’ – Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary) have known one another since the early days of the 1960s revival as members of various groups – Tom, a Songwainer of noted fame, Dave and Barry with Isca Fayre (whose Candle Records vinyl Then Around Me Young And Old is still treasured by this reviewer), and Sean with Barry in Hollinmoor.
Only in 2006 did the light bulb moment of ‘we should maybe sing together’ shine. This is a satisfying album of totally a cappella English traditional (for the most part) song, of the old school without bells and whistles, in a nononsense fashion. As such it is to be cherished.
Whether extolling life’s course (‘Joyful May’) illegal importing (‘Devoran Smugglers’) or the contravention of Trades Descriptions (‘Salt Horse’) the tight, dignified four-part harmonies and committed delivery display a thorough and sturdy grounding that only comes from ‘singing in’ source material over many years. Always tuneful, always precise, by turns reflective and rousing and with voices as deep, rich, and warming as port and brandy –this is why we liked folk song in the first place. No revelations then, but all one would expect from singers with such pedigrees, and solid quality as standard. An absence of clever-cloggery might leave fans of the-nextbig-thing cold but will delight those who value substance and style.
A special pleasure.

Clive Pownceby
EDS (Monday, September 01, 2008)




Review

Isca Fayre, Hollinmor, The Songwainers - all the members of The Claque, which, officially, only came into being as a group in 2006,belonged to one or more of these lusty groups that reach back over the past forty something years. Barry Lister, Dave Lowry, Sean O’Shea and Tom Addison continue the tradition of powerful unaccompanied, close harmony singing-occasionally not so close, for they’re not afraid to throw in the odd deliberate discord or unconventional concadence, to great effect.

Their material is drawn from the British Isles and almost all is traditional. Though I’ve associated songs like DRINK PUPPY DRINK and the scary TOM OF BEDLAM with the group members for a long time, several of the offerings, I had not heard until relatively recently when they were trying them out at their club at The Globe in Exeter. There’re also a few well-known songs from their repertoire that I might have expected on this album. Never mind, for I defy anyone to be disappointed by the songs they have selected, or not to appreciate the quality of their vocal arrangements.

In MY FAITHFUL JOHNNIE and the Padstow song, FAREWELL, FAREWELL, their close harmony is perhaps at its best, gentle in nature, as befits the character of the songs. In stark contrast, THE TRUMPETER and THE GOOSE AND THE COMMON are powerful in subject and delivery. One wouldn’t expect this quartet to omit a suitable nonsense song and I WENT DOWN TO LONDON, from the singing of the late Karl Peachey fits the bill admirably.

A brilliant CD-well worth waiting for!

Whats Afoot (Monday, September 01, 2008)

The Claque - “Sounding Now”
Tom Addison, Barry Lister, Dave Lowry, Sean O’Shea, The Songwainers, Isca Fayre, Hollinmor - if you know anything about great singers of the south and west of England you will know at least one of these names. Dave and Barry were half of Isca Fayre in the 1960s; Tom and Barry have both been in the Songwainers; Sean and Barry sang together in Hollinmor in the 1970s. Sean sang harmony vocals on the critically acclaimed CD by Jackie Oates recently. They’ve all been singing for very many years in various guises - solos, duets, trios - and now, at last, as a quartet. And what a splendid quartet they are sounding now!
And what a splendid collection of songs they have put together. Starting with a rousing version of The Devil’s Questions where a boy has to answer nine silly questions to save his soul. (In this version, he gets away with only eight but the Devil doesn’t notice!) There are songs about smuggling in the best Devoran tradition; joyful songs about the return of spring or drinking; love songs and a wry comment about the stealing of the common lands based on the well-known rhyme, “The law locks up the man or woman who steals the goose from off the common but turns the bigger robber loose who steals the common from the goose”. There are interesting variants of fairly widely-known pieces such as My Faithful Johnnie; Tom of Bedlam and The Miller’s Three Sons. There’s a few others that I’ve never heard before, including The Mountains Adieu; The Trumpeter and Salt Horse (a sailor’s protest about being fed on horse-meat).
I’m no expert in recording techniques but I must comment on the way the four voices can all be identified clearly and separately all the way through. Every note and nuance of each singer can be heard (which might be very useful if you want to learn how to sing harmoniesT) It doesn’t really surprise me, however, as the voices are all so wonderfully rich and individual and they were recorded by an engineer who knows his stuff - Doug Bailey at WildGoose Studios.
I’ve only one minor criticism of this CD and that is the inclusion of a track of “claque” applause at the end. Claque refers to the planting of cheer-leaders in an audience to trigger applause at the end of a performance. It implies that such applause is not really deserved - which is definitely not the case here. If they recorded a live performance I’m sure it would end with a much louder amd longer track of genuine applause.
Chris “Yorkie” Bartram
WGS354CD WildGoose Records, May Cottage, Fullerton Road, Wherwell, Hampshire SP11 7JS www.wildgoose.co.uk