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Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson
Migrating Bird: The Songs of Lal Waterson
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A good tribute album often can be a benefit if the subject of the tribute is relatively obscure, serving as a chance to place a figure or style squarely in a new context. While
itself is like many other efforts -- a mix of the quite enjoyable and the well-meant but not always successful -- as a chance to showcase British folksinger
, who came to prominence in the 1960s as part of her family group,
, and then performed and released irregularly on her own and with others until her passing in the late '90s, it's a gentle treasure. It's also a good sampler of whatever the psych-folk scene can be called these days, ranging as it does from a near contemporary veteran of
's (
, who concludes the disc with an interpretation of the title track) to Young Turks such as
, whose
is a lovely, delicate interpretation with just voice and piano able not only to demonstrate the song's beauty but his own fine gifts. Other efforts of interest come from
, whose older, twang-tinged voice comes off to intriguing effect on
's most well-known effort,
and the inimitable
, with his own striking singing and the gentle touch of accordion resulting in one of the album's warmest, most inviting contributions on
matches him with a similar instrumental approach on
her own resonant voice another strong standout. At its worst the disc is fair but never horrible; if songs like
's
and
'
leave little impact, they still sound pleasant and aren't a disservice to
's memory. ~ Ned Raggett