The Albion Christmas Band
 
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Snow on Snow

 

Snow on Snow
The Albion Christmas Band

Talking Elephant TECD135 (CD, UK, 10 November 2008)

Recorded at Rooksmere Studios, Overstone, Northamtonshire;
Recorded and produced by Mark Hutchinson;
Design by Malcolm Holmes

the ensemble

Kellie While, vocals, acoustic guitar, keyboards;
Simon Care, vocals, melodeon, concertina, percussion, drum;
Ashley Hutchings, vocals, bass guitar;
Simon Nicol, vocals, acoustic guitar

With guests:
Guy Fletcher, violin, mandolin, drums, percussion;
David Tobin, cornamuse, recorder;
Mark Hutchinson, keyboards, percussion

This is the third album from the Albion Christmas Band featuring Simon Nicol(Fairport Convention)Ashley Hutchings(Fairport/Steeleye/Albion Band etc)Kellie While and Simon Care.Being a mix of traditional and new compositions the album will appeal across the board to all fans of Fairport Convention/folk music alike.

In The Bleak Midwinter

In the bleak midwinter,frosty wind made moan,
earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
in the bleak midwinter, long ago.

Our God, heaven cannot hold him nor earth sustain;
heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign:
in the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed
the Lord God incarnate, Jesus Christ.

Angels and archangels may have gathered there
cherubim and seraphim thronged the air;
but his mother only, in her maiden bliss,
worshiped the beloved with a kiss.

What can I give him, poor as I am?
If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb;
if I were a wise man,I would do my part;
yet what I can I give him give my heart.
 
[Words: Christina Rossetti, 1872.  Music: Cranham. Gus­tav T. Holst, 1906]

 
tracks
 

1. Seven Joys Of Mary

2. The Month Of January

3. Winter

4. I Love This Time Of Year The Best

5. Much Wenlock

6. Border Morris Medley

7. Comfort And Joy

8. The Thames Frozen Over

9. Humours Upon The Ice

10. Adderbury Wassail

11. Sleet

12. Frozen Man

13. Cherry Tree Carol

14. In The Bleak Mid-Winter

15. The Shepherd's Carol

16. It Came Upon A Midnight Clear

17. Hark The Herald Angels Sing

18. Well, So That Is That

19. The January Man

 All tracks trad. arr. The Albion Christmas Band, except
Track 3 a description of Wales Border Morris;
Track 5 Clive Gregson;
Track 6 excerpt from Orlando by Virginia Woolf;
Track 7 anon., Ashley Hutchings, Simon Care, Simon Nicol;
Track 9 poem by Norman MacCaig;
Track 10 James Taylor;
Track 12 poem by Gerard Manley Hopkins;
Track 13 C. Rosetti / Gustav Holst arr. The Albion Christmas Band;
Track 14 poem by Norman Nicholson;
Track 15 anon. arr. Simon Care;
Track 16 Charles Wesley arr. The Albion Christmas Band;
Track 17 Ashley Hutchings, Kelly While, Simon Nicol;
Track 18 excerpt from a poem by W.H. Auden;
Track 19 Dave Goulder

 

Buy this CD  here