Bob & Ron Copper
Album: Traditional Songs From Rottingdean
Label: Fledg'ling
Tracks: 16
Website: http://www.thebeesknees.com

This disc is a straight reissue of an LP which first appeared on the EFDSS' own label in 1963. It presents key (and essential) recordings of two of the members of Rottingdean's long-established singing family, recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1955 and 1963, and It comes in what sounds like sparkling newly remastered form and complete with Bob's original - fascinating - booklet essay and recordist Peter Kennedy's own - rather briefer - liner note.

The disc's contents embrace a good number of the most well-loved songs in the Coppers' repertoire, including Innocent Hare (Sportsmen Arouse), Spencer The Rover, Good Ale, Cupid's Garden, Babes In The Wood and Hard Times Of Old England; some, like Two Brethren, were making their first appearance on commercial recordings at the time. Notable features of these duo performances by patriarch Bob and cousin Ron are the acute bond between them as singers and the glorious richness of tone of the two voices which blend in the most assured kind of harmony, both time-honoured and natural, while especially satisfying here are the wonderful resonance and timbre of Ron's bass. If you don't have any Copper family recordings on your shelves, you couldn't do much better than start here.

However, if you already have the 2001 two-disc set Come Write Me Down on Topic, you need to be aware that the 16 tracks of this album all appear on that set too, so you may not consider that you need to invest in this latest incarnation, impeccably and attractively packaged (as is customary by Fledg'ling) though it is.

David Kidman