2021 Charity Shop Purchases 40 - Oysterband - Granite Years (Best of ... 1986 to '97)
After unsuccessful charity shot forays in Ballantrae, Stranraer and Wigtown I was getting a bit twitchy by the time we visited Newton Stewart.
The Community Shop had a large collection of CDs and I was determined not to leave empty handed. That proved harder than I first thought. I eventually plumped for Granite Years a 2000 Best of Oyersterband compilation on Cooking Vinyl.
A band that I was only aware of from a track on each of the three Cooking Vinyl Samplers that I have from 1993 and 1994.
A quite earnest folk rock band from Canterbury who had a political outlook. The music is pleasant enough but nothing particularly stands out. They seem to me to be a somewhat nicer and gentler version of the Pogues or the Levellers who you could take home to meet your mum.
Not entirely convinced that this one is a keeper. Not necessarily because it is bad but rather because it is one that I can't really see me playing all that often.I haven't managed to get through all 30 tracks yet.
Oysterband - Another Quiet Night in England (1994)
Oysterband - Coal Not Dole/Bells of Rhymney
Well, you learn something every day, I had always thought they were from Whitstable. Perhaps I was misled by the titular oysters.
ReplyDeleteAfter Bob Dylan, Oysterband are very possibly the musical act I've seen in concert most, 30-odd times from the late 1980s up to around 2002. They were a phenomenal live band during that period and also released a stream of great albums. After a long gap I caught up with them again in late 2018 and once more in mid-2019, but, for whatever reason, the moment had passed, for me at least and I didn't really enjoy the shows in the same way. I won't seek them out in concert again, but these tunes take me back to the halcyon days.
ReplyDeleteOne of those acts who would be better live than on record I suspect
DeleteFlicked past Oysterband in the CD racks thousands of times down the years and they've never troubled the scorers as they say but I was quite taken by the Another Quiet Night In England track and downloaded it (dues will be paid to charity of course). The title itself is a great one to include in future themed compilations. I wonder whether this coming Sunday evening will fit the bill!
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