Product Description

Kate Rusby delighted the folk scene with HOURGLASS, her first solo album, in 1997. An earlier record with Kathryn Roberts had been voted Best New Album of 1995 in the prestigious Folk Roots annual poll. Both singers had then joined the talented Lakeman brothers in a promising new group Equation, but Rusby ducked out before the band signed with multinationalWarners. Ironically, Equation's major label debut disappeared without trace, while Rusby won plaudits for her own-labelalbum.
Much of the material is wholly or partially traditional, including the opening "Sir Eglamore" and a fine "Annan Waters". Rusby's own "A Rose in April" is very much in the tradition. Variety comes in the form of a pretty instrumental prelude ("Stananivy"), a country waltz from the repertoire of fiddler and producer John McCusker ("Radio Sweethearts"), and an adaptation of the anonymous poem "I am Stretched on Your Grave", previously tackled by Sinead O'Connor. Amongst the musicians accompanying Rusby are guitarist Ian Carr and accordion player Andy Cutting.

Track Listing

1. Sir Eglamore
2. As I Roved Out
3. Jolly Plough Boys
4. Annan Waters
5. {a}
6. Stananivy {a}
7. Jack & Jill {a}
8. Rose In April
9. Radio Sweethearts
10. I Am Stretched On Your Grave
11. Old Man Time
12. Drowned Lovers
13. Bold Riley

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #20971 in Music
• Released on: 1997-03-01
• Number of discs: 1

Amazon.co.uk Review
Folk music seems simple, and many pretenders pull into town with little more than a presentable voice and a handful of beginner guitar chords. Much more infrequently, performers come along with basically the same constituent parts but through the sheer force of their artistry and integrity are able to use these simple elements to communicate whole lifetimes of experience. Such a performer is youthful Kate Rusby, who sings with the focus and depth one usually associates with the graceful compensations of age. Her crystal-clear voice (reminiscent in turns of Linda Thompson and Sandy Denny) rings out from the first cut. Rusby's assured delivery is dappled with small, unmasked idiosyncrasies that add emotional immediacy. Meanwhile, the all-acoustic presentation is inventive but never slick or overwhelming. Hourglass announces an important new light in the traditional British folk scene. --Anthony Bonet

Customer Reviews

One of the best!
This had to be one of the all time best Kate Rusby albums. It has fantastic songs and a lot of them are either fast and memorable, or slower but at the same time catchy. All the tracks on this CD are actually very well done, but the best ones have to be:

Sir Eglamore - it's a song about a dragon. Who couldn't love that? It had a really good sort of repeating line as well, that keeps the tune going and adds to the overall flavour of the track.

Radio Sweethearts - A sweet old tune about an old couple waltzing to a radio. You would think that it would be slow and set to a waltz it self, but it goes at a medium pace and has a veyr nice little melody to it!

I Am Stretched On Your Grave - Based on an old poem, this is by far the best song on the album. It's sung incredibly well, and has a deathly drum beat set to it from the second verse. There's no messing around, it's straight to the point and it leaves you singing all day. Fantastic!

There are meany otehr high quality tracks on this album, and it really is one that you should have no doubt about adding to your collection!

Hourglass
This was my first exposure to the fantastic talents of Kate Rusby and although I have expanded my collection of her albums to include later material, this, her first album, will always have a special place in my CD collection.

As others have commented her, Kate's voice is her finest tool and she uses it with accomplished skill. Neither perfect in pitch or tone and heavily northerly accented you would expect such a combination not to work, but it is this very "honesty" about her voice which works so very well, whether singing in mournful lower tones or stretching to the limits of the higher ranges it carries the listener on an emotional roller coaster ride.

The songs themselves are a wonderful mix of traditional folk, whether that is joyful tunes about working life (Jolly Ploughboys) or fireside tales (Sir Eglamore) or darker mournful ballads about lost love (Annan Waters) or even forbidden love (Rose in April). But there's also place for tales of more modern love (Radio Sweethearts) or a contemporary view of the passage of time (Old Man Time)

The musical accompaniment is wonderfully understated, after all it's Kate's voice that is the star, but when the soaring fiddle work powers in, (Annan Waters for example) it is simply sublime.

Album favourites for me include the dark humour of Old Man Time, the clap-along saga of Drowned Lovers and the honest workmen's anthem of Jolly Ploughmen.

If you haven't discovered Kate yet, or have only hear her more recent output make this your next "must have" CD purchase!

Beautiful songwriting, haunting voice
I first encountered Kate Rusby in an interview in a guitar magazine, and, as she is shortly to visit Morecambe, thought I would purchase a CD before purchasing a concert ticket. Reviews on this Amazon site made choosing difficult, but in the end I opted for this one.

As other reviewers have commented, Kate Rusby's voice is delightful, with a lovely natural sound. Especially winsome is her refusal to mask her Yorkshire accent, and as a fellow notherner I like to hear "mother" pronounced as "mutha", "love" as "luv" and so on! And the voicing is lovely too; listen to the magical voicing of the word "rode" in the lines "..she rode through fields of barley, and she rode through fields of corn.." on "Rose in April."

In the interview I read, Kate Rusby said she considers herself a singer rather than a songwriter. I agree with another reviewer who thinks "Hourglass" is the best song on the album. Besides THAT haunting voice, there is some lovely imagery of "Old Man Time" whose hourglass for Kate seems to have less sand than most people's, causing Kate to wonder if God didn't give him all her sand, or whether hers has been shared with someone else, or washed away, and to wonder if she brought some in a sack, perhaps he'd give some back. Marvellous!

The CD is a mixture of originals, traditional, and traditional lyrics adapted or put to original tunes. The arrangements are very tastefully done, too, with all of the (variety of) instruments adding to the sound without encroaching on it. In the interview I read, Kate expressed a preference for sad songs - plenty of those here! I haven't exposed myself to "traditional" folk music for quite a while, this could now change. I can't wait for the concert, and intend purchasing her other CDs.