Concert Review

Report from Steve Duggan (photos Colin Edwards)

Just back from a wonderful evening with 'Folkstars, the Rivals'...er, sorry, St Agnes Fountain - a hometown gig for Maldonian & fellow listee, David Hughes.

The Fountain produced a slick, richly textured sound with Julie's keyboards, Chris W's percussion and the Groovemeister's guitar giving the impression that a full electric band was on stage. Add to this Chris Leslie, reinvented by the Fairport makeover department as a young executive, shorn & pinstriped, but switching easily between fiddle & mandolin (even playing a North American Indian instrumental on a woodwind of some sort-hauntingly beautiful)

We wre transported from England to Brittany to Germany to the land of the Sioux & back again under the influence of Joni Mitchell, Dave Brubeck, Frank Sinatra (DH in croon mode!) and 'trad. arr. St.AF' with readings from the works of Dylan Thomas, a rather fruity Delia Smith & an Indian prayer for Christmas Day along the way.

Tickets are hot and time is short.
Beg, borrow or steal to see them & 'have yourselves a very merry Christmas....'
It warmed the cockles on a raw night in Essex when the only people on the streets of Maldon were folk-rockers celebrating 'Christmas with a curve.'

CD Reviews

St Agnes Fountain (The Folk Corporation TFCCD2005)

I don't know what it is about Christmas but it always brings out the best in me. I particularly liked singing in church and most of the songs I learnt are included in this blinding album.

A couple of years ago I managed to get a copy of Chris Leslie and David Hughes acoustic Christmas CD. Now extended by adding my favourite duo of the moment Chris While and Julie Matthews vocals to this album and the whole exercise has succeeded beyond my wildest expectations.

'I Saw Three Ships' opens the CD with more than a passing similarity to a Loreena McKennitt arrangement alternating verses between Chris & Julie and Chris & David. Accompanied by Gerry Conway's percussion injecting real passion this recording is nothing short of breathtaking.

As a journalist I would like to rave on about how good each track is individually but lets face it, Christmas has arrived early so do yourselves a favour and buy the album you won't be disappointed.

Pete Fyfe

St Agnes Fountain - Acoustic Carols for Christmas (The Folk Corporation TFCCD 2005)

ST AGNES FOUNTAIN is the labour of love of four of modern acoustic music's brightest (Christmas) lights - singer/songwriter David Hughes, Fairport Convention's Chris Leslie and respected female duo Chris While and Julie Matthews.

The St Agnes Fountain oak grew from the acorn of a limited edition Christmas EP released a couple of years ago by Hughes and Leslie. Well received for its infectious and imaginative reworkings of traditional carols and tunes, the two protagonists decided it would be great craic to expand the project and rope in a few pals - and St Agnes Fountain was born.

This 11-track album lives up to - and surpasses - its predecessor with some great arrangements providing the springboard for a series of dazzling displays of singing and playing.
The songs and tunes will be familiar to most and few would fail to be impressed by the way this festive feast has been laid out on this particular table. "I Saw Three Ships" gets things off to a start, which promises much to come.
Hughes' distinctive guitar ushers in a peppering of banjo notes from Leslie before fellow Fairporter Gerry Conway swoops in with a booming percussive repetition that, from then on, propels the song along mightily. The four-part vocal harmonies are quite delicious and the whole thing's lent a middle-eastern flavour thanks to Leslie's violin and dulcitar.

It's a stunning opener and, just as you're catching your breath, you're hit with the most soulful reading of "Deck the Halls". As Hughes takes the lead vocal with his unmistakable half-sung/half-spoken delivery, While and Matthews go mega-Motown with the sweetest of backing vocals.

Track three gives us yet another contrast as Chris While's beautiful unaccompanied vocal leads us into Matthews' keyboards and Leslie's mandolin for a magnificent, and dead-straight, reading of "In the Bleak Midwinter/Jesu Joy of Manis Desiring". While's daughter Kellie contributes a verse, showing, once again, that she's certainly inherited the family pipes.

So, three tracks in and already you're thinking: "Phil Spector's Christmas Album? Puh!" "Masters in This Hall" has a medieval feel to it with the harmonies bringing to mind monks at Evensong in ancient minsters. "God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" is a showpiece for some very nifty mandolin from Leslie, given rhythmic support by Hughes and Conway and sounds as if it and "The Holly and The Ivy" were recorded one immediately after the other when the musicians had enjoyed it so much that one of them said: "Hey, let's try another like that." Or something.

Leslie's vocals and Matthews' piano take centre stage for "Sweet Bells" and Leslie's violin and banjo give "Good King Wenceslas" a most unexpected, almost Wild West saloon ambience. Where are those high-kicking dancing girls?

Also given the SAF treatment are "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas", "Troika (Sleigh Ride) and "Auld Lang Syne", each of which goes to making this a record that, while rewarding repeated and careful scrutiny, would also provide the perfect soundtrack to a traditional roast turkey Christmas Day lunch.

Over the next few weeks, we'll be bombarded with ads imploring us to buy this or that and a selection of "essential" Christmas CDs. Take no notice of those - this is the best Christmas album. Ever!

Fred Hall

ST AGNES FOUNTAIN - Acoustic Carols For Christmas The Folk Corporation TFCCD2005
(From BBC Folk web site)

Chris While and Julie Matthews have a knack of working intriguing collaborative projects into their regular schedule, notably with Daphne's Flight a few years back.
St Agnes Fountain is another such, reprising their Fairport Convention links and featuring multi-instrumentalist Chris Leslie and acoustic guitarist, songwriter, author and composer David Hughes.

The name encompasses the band, the Christmas album and tour and has its roots in Hughes and Leslie's earlier acclaimed Acoustic Christmas EP.
The track list recalls every carol service you attended as a child but you've never heard them like this before: hugely original arrangements range from cowboy swing (Good King Wenceslas) and stirring European-tinged folk/rock (I Saw Three Ships, Troika) to ethereal medieval chant (Masters In This Hall) and heart-melting balladry (In The Bleak Midwinter with Kellie While's equally gorgeous voice joining that of her mother). Deck The Halls with David Hughes' spoken vocal and the girls' Bob Marley sunshine chorus is just wonderful.

Expert playing abounds - Leslie's various strings, While's and Hughes' guitars, Matthews' keyboards and Gerry Conway's percussion are all as good as you'd expect while Dave Pegg and co-producer Mark Tucker throw in some nifty bass and extra keyboard - and there's loads of big harmonies, infectious rhythm and real finesse.

Old Lang Syne (what else?) sees out the album with Julie's trademark piano style and powerful vocal leading into swelling choruses and a coda of nippy, jazzy guitar/mandolin and scat singing.
Quirky, cheeky, delightful.

The tour is selling out so best go out and buy the CD sharpish for your Christmas stocking.
Mel McClellan - December 2001