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Come Write Me Down

The Copper Family
1 disc

1. Spencer the Rover
2. Good Ale
3. Thousands or More
4. Babes in the Wood
5. Banks of the Sweet Primroses, The
6. Sweep! Chimney-Sweep!
7. Two Young Brethren
8. Brisk and Bonny Lad, The
9. Month of May, The
10. Honest Labourer, The
11. Birds in the Spring, The
12. My Father Had an Acre of Land
13. Shepherd of the Downs
14. Threshing Song, The
15. Seasons Round, The
16. Sportsmen, Arouse!
17. Hard Times of Old England
18. Lark in the Morning, The
19. Warlike Seamen
20. When Spring Comes In
21. Brisk Young Ploughboy, The
22. Cupid's Garden
23. Dame Durden
24. Claudy Banks, The
25. General Wolfe
26. Adieu, Sweet Lovely Nancy
27. Talking
28. Come Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above
Code: QZZQ
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Additional Info

Manufacturer Part Number (MPN): 534
Credits

Producer
Engineer Brian George; Peter Kennedy; Seamus Ennis
The Copper Family: Bob Copper, Ron Copper, Jim Copper, John Copper (vocals).
Recorded in the 1950s and early 1960s. Includes liner notes by Vic Gammon, Reg Hall, Steve Roud.
This CD comes in a deluxe box with with biographical and historical sleeve notes, song texts, and period photos.
All tracks have been digitally remastered.
Liner Note Authors: Reg Hall ; Vic Gammon.
Recording information: The Central Club, Peacehaven, Sussex, England (03/01/1951-??/??/1963).
The Copper Family are the ne plus ultra of English traditional singing; that much is beyond question. But this delves back, beyond the family as they are today, for archival recordings of Bob Copper with cousin Ron, and also their fathers, from whom the tradition, dating back a few hundred years, was passed on. Sixteen of the tracks come from a very limited-edition LP for the English Folk Dance and Song Society, and the rest from BBC performances, meaning that these recordings from the '50s and '60s never really had a commercial airing before. It's not just the influence of the Coppers that's important, although to hear them then any other singers since (like the Young Tradition or the Watersons) is to immediately understand their importance. It's more about the continuation of a tradition, and that's fully examined in the superb writing with this album, two extensive explorations, both of the family, and of the tradition. Much of the material is familiar -- but it's familiar simply because of the Coppers. The real fascination comes with these particular combinations of voices. This is an example of an artifact that's as important today as it was then, one that illuminates the past from the vantage point of the present. ~ Chris Nickson
Critic Reviews

Dirty Linen (8/03, pp.49-50) - "...The Coppers communicate something that's quintessentially English yet appeals to the common humanity of us all..."