Alphabet Beats #146: U is for....The Unthanks

U is for....

Now for something completely different. We finish up The Letter U with a most fascinating group.

I can't even remember where I first heard The Unthanks (it must have been around the time that 'Here's The Tender Coming' was released in 2009) but there was something about the voices that made me sit upand take notice. I would be the first to put my hand up and say I know so little about Folk Music of any sort but I'm glad to have discovered these ladies.

The Unthanks (until 2009, Rachel Unthank and the Winterset) are an English folk group known for their eclectic approach in combining traditional English folk, particularly Northumbrian folk music, with other musical genres. Their albums have received four and five-starred reviews in the British national press.

Due to the fact that there are so few full albums on You Tube I will try to find as many tracks as is possible for each album.

(a number of these links are for live versions due to their not being an Studio version available)

 

Cruel Sister (2005)

On a Monday Morning.

January Man.

Rap Her To Bank.

The Bairns (2007) 

Here's The Tender Coming (2009)

Last (2011)

The Songs of Robert Wyatt and Antony and the Johnsons (2011)

Tracklisting

 Antony and the Johnsons
    Bird Guhl (3:57)
    Man is the Baby (5:43)
    You Are My Sister (5:56)
    For Today I Am a Boy (4:06)
    Paddy's Gone (4:13)
    Spiralling (4:41)
Robert Wyatt
    Stay Tuned (Anja Garbarek) from Comicopera (4:43)
    Dondestan (Robert Wyatt) from Dondestan (Revisited) (3:18)
    Lullaby for Hamza (Robert Wyatt/Alfreda Benge) from Cuckooland (3:44)
    Lisp Service (Hugh Hopper/Robert Wyatt) from Dondestan (Revisited) (3:11)
    Free Will and Testament (Wyatt/Kramer) from Shleep (5:03)
    Out of the Blue (Wyatt/Elfriede Ellidge) from Comicopera (4:11)
    Cuckoo Madame (Wyatt/Benge) from Cuckooland (5:13)
    Sea Song (Wyatt) from Rock Bottom (6:59)
    Forest (excerpt) from Cuckooland (2:51)

The Unthanks with Brighouse and Rastrick Brass Band (2012)

King of Rome.

Trimdon Grange Explosion.

Songs From The Shipyards (2012)

All in a Day.

Shipbuilding.

Mount The Air (2015)

Mount The Air (Album Version).

Flutter.

Magpie.

Waiting.