Songs of Misfortune

Songs of Misfortune

Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
In a beguiling bit of cross-promotion, this motley madrigal quartet of ringers performs a largely a cappella selection of songs mentioned in Misfortune, the debut novel by Wesley Stace (better known in musical circles as John Wesley Harding). Supporting Harding's reedy tenor in the Love Hall Tryst are the bass voice of Brian Lohmann and the soaring duo of Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor, who adapt their interpretive styles to suit the musical source. Most of the material is traditional British folk balladry as adapted by Harding, though a lovely reading of Leonard Cohen's "Joan of Arc" is a highlight. The results fall somewhere between unplugged, unaccompanied Fairport Convention and the Elizabethan era's Mamas and the Papas. Confirming that the modern era has no monopoly on murder songs, the bloodlust and body count on Songs of Misfortune rival that on any gangsta rap CD. --Don McLeese

Product Description
Why are British expatriate singer-songwriter John Wesley Harding, U.S. country/jazz/folk solo artists Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor and actor-vocalist Brian Lohmann singing traditional British folk songs in a converted bank?

In 1987, Wesley Stace, soon known as John Wesley Harding (a.k.a "Wes"), thought up the opening lines for a song about a foundling baby boy raised as a girl. Six years later the song was completed as "Miss Fortune" and frequently performed by Harding before and after its release on his 1998 CD, "Awake." But, says Harding, "When you sing a song for years onstage…you think about the song. The one thing I thought about that song is that I never ended it. What about that character?"

Wes answered his own question by writing a huge 19th Century historical novel, "Misfortune," published under his original name in 2005 to acclaim in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, and other publications.

The book is studded with traditional British folk songs adapted by Harding, and some camouflaged original compositions. These songs "demanded to be sung in a very specific way," says Wes, so he convened The Love Hall Tryst, a mostly a cappella quartet comprising himself, friend and occasional collaborator Hogan, her favorite singing partner, O'Connor, and bass singer Lohmann. They used the Troy, NY, Savings Bank, a cavernous recording hall with incredible natural reverb.

Like its source, "Songs of Misfortune" isn't exactly a romp in the Victorian meadows. Wes says, "None of (the old songs) have happy endings." Greed, envy, treachery, and murder are on full display here. But redeeming these tales are the ringing voices of the Tryst - cascades of mesmerizing harmonies surround the melody lines shared by all four singers. Even the grimmest scenarios are enlivened by the beauty of the vocals and the authenticity of presentation. Two songs appear in both unaccompanied and blazing, Fairport-ish electric versions, the latter provided by The Minstrel in the Galleries, Harding's occasional "mediaeval rock" band of Seattle musicians.

Whether or not you've read Harding's novel, "Songs of Misfortune" stands on its own as a daring, rewarding adventure in musical scholarship, sublime arrangements and the eternal strength of the human voice.

Songs of Misfortune

Songs of Misfortune,The Love Hall Tryst,John Wesley Harding,Kelly Hogan,Nora O'Connor,Brian Lohmann,Appleseed Records,British Folk,Folk,Folk & Traditional,John Wesley Harding is joined by fellow solo artists Kelly Hogan and Nora O'Connor and others on songs in the British folk tradition from his new novel, "Misfortune.",Neo-Traditional Folk,Pop,Singer/Songwriter

Average customer rating: Interesting Small Gem in Wes's Treasure Chest A Miracle faux-lk Stellar Brit folk

Songs of Misfortune The Love Hall Tryst , John Wesley Harding , Kelly Hogan , Nora O'Connor , and Brian Lohmann Manufacturer: Appleseed Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD British Folk | Traditional British & Celtic Folk | Folk | Styles | Music General | Folk | Styles | Music Traditional Folk | Folk | Styles | Music Singer-Songwriters | Pop | Styles | Music Similar Items: Misfortune It Happened One Night & It Never Happened at All Fox Confessor Brings the Flood Trad Arr Jones Front Parlour Ballads ASIN: B0009VBTJQ Release Date: 2005-07-26

Tracks:

1. Do Not Fear the Dark
2. Joan of Arc (The Ballad of La Pucelle)
3. Lord Bateman
4. Female Rambling Sailor
5. Lord Lovel
6. The Sanguinary Butcher
7. Shallow Brown
8. Lambkin
9. The Lady Dressed in Green
10. The Abandoned Baby
11. Jack in the Green
12. Do Not Fear the Dark (electric)
13. Lord Bateman (electric)

Amazon.com

Album Description

In 1987, Wesley Stace, soon known as John Wesley Harding (a.k.a "Wes"), thought up the opening lines for a song about a foundling baby boy raised as a girl. Six years later the song was completed as "Miss Fortune" and frequently performed by Harding before and after its release on his 1998 CD, "Awake." But, says Harding, "When you sing a song for years onstage…you think about the song. The one thing I thought about that song is that I never ended it. What about that character?"

Wes answered his own question by writing a huge 19th Century historical novel, "Misfortune," published under his original name in 2005 to acclaim in USA Today, Entertainment Weekly, and other publications.

The book is studded with traditional British folk songs adapted by Harding, and some camouflaged original compositions. These songs "demanded to be sung in a very specific way," says Wes, so he convened The Love Hall Tryst, a mostly a cappella quartet comprising himself, friend and occasional collaborator Hogan, her favorite singing partner, O'Connor, and bass singer Lohmann. They used the Troy, NY, Savings Bank, a cavernous recording hall with incredible natural reverb.

Like its source, "Songs of Misfortune" isn't exactly a romp in the Victorian meadows. Wes says, "None of (the old songs) have happy endings." Greed, envy, treachery, and murder are on full display here. But redeeming these tales are the ringing voices of the Tryst - cascades of mesmerizing harmonies surround the melody lines shared by all four singers. Even the grimmest scenarios are enlivened by the beauty of the vocals and the authenticity of presentation. Two songs appear in both unaccompanied and blazing, Fairport-ish electric versions, the latter provided by The Minstrel in the Galleries, Harding's occasional "mediaeval rock" band of Seattle musicians.

Whether or not you've read Harding's novel, "Songs of Misfortune" stands on its own as a daring, rewarding adventure in musical scholarship, sublime arrangements and the eternal strength of the human voice.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting.......2007-02-18

Small Gem in Wes's Treasure Chest.......2006-03-02

A Miracle.......2005-11-15

faux-lk.......2005-10-18

Stellar Brit folk.......2005-08-08

Average customer rating:

Penny Merriments: Street Songs of 17th Century England Manufacturer: Naxos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music Compilations | Classical | Styles | Music 4-for-3 Classical | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music 4-for-3 All Music | 4-for-3 Music | Stores | Music Similar Items: Bawdy Ballads of Old England: The City Waites Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy: Lewd Songs and Low Ballads from the 18th Century My Thing Is My Own: Bawdy Songs of Thomas D'Urfey The King's Noyse, dir. David Douglass: Royal Delight: 17th Century Ballads & Dances The English Tradition: 400 Years of Music & Song ASIN: B0009JMEKQ Release Date: 2005-06-21

Tracks:

1. The Courtiers Health, Or The Merry Boys Of The Times
2. The Country Lass
3. The Crost People, Or A Good Misfortune
4. The Courtryman's Joy
5. Seldom Cleanly
6. A Merry Jest Of John Thompson And Jakaman His Wife
7. The Seven Merry Wives Of London, Or The Gossips Complaint
8. Old England Grown New
9. Good Advice To Batchelors, How To Court And Obtain A Young Lass
10. Neptune's Raging Fury
11. The North Country Lovers
12. The Lunatick Lover
13. The Downfall Of Dancing
14. The Saint Turn'd Sinner
15. And Old Song On The Spanish Armada
16. The Female Captain, Or The Counterfit Bridegroom
17. London Mourning In Ashes
18. The Famous Ratcatcher

Average customer rating:

Mussorgsky Songs, Volume Two Manufacturer: Conifer ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Mussorgsky | Mussorgsky, Modest | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Leiferkus, Sergei | ( L ) | Featured Performers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music ASIN: B0000024DZ Release Date: 1996-02-27

Average customer rating:

Russian Romantic Songs Manufacturer: Harmonia Mundi Fr. ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Glinka | Glinka, Mikhail | ( G ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music All Works by Tchaikovsky | Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilyich | ( T ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Chamber Music | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music Classical | Imports | Stores | Music Similar Items: Russian Album ASIN: B0007ST3MQ Release Date: 2005-05-10

Tracks:

1. Do Not Chide Me, Mother
2. Amid The Din Of The Ball
3. Will I Forget?
4. O Never Speak Of It, My Love
5. A Sad Mood (Guitar Solo)
6. To Hold You Close
7. Do Not Ask Of Me
8. A Dainty Mouth
9. The Two Farewells
10. Nocturne (Guitar Solo)
11. Serenade
12. When My Eyes Fall On You
13. Reminder
14. Waltz (Guitar Solo)
15. None But You
16. Likeness
17. Adieu!
18. In Vain We Love
19. A Gust Of Wind (Guitar Solo)

Average customer rating:

Mussorgsky: Complete Songs Manufacturer: Chandos ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Mussorgsky | Mussorgsky, Modest | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000000AW3 Release Date: 1995-02-28

Average customer rating: A real piece of history from 1958 - mono but not dated

Moussorgsky: Complete Songs Manufacturer: Angel Records ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD All Works by Mussorgsky | Mussorgsky, Modest | ( M ) | Featured Composers, A-Z | Classical | Styles | Music General Modern | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General Contemporary | Modern, 20th, & 21st Century | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Chamber Music | Forms & Genres | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music Vocal & Song | Romantic (c.1820-1910) | Historical Periods | Classical | Styles | Music General | Classical | Styles | Music General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music ASIN: B000002S0Q Release Date: 1989-08-16

Tracks:

1. Tell Me, Star, Where Art Thou?
2. The Joyous Hour
3. Tell my why, O Maid
4. The Leaves Were Sadly Rustling - Gerald Moore
5. I am Rich in Palaces
6. For You, the Words of Love
7. King Saul - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
8. Song of the Old Man
9. We Parted Proudly
10. The Wind are Howling - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
11. Night
12. Calistratus
13. Balearic Song
14. A Prayer
15. The Cast-off Woman
16. Sleep, Son of Peasants
17. Mignonne

Tracks:

1. Desire
2. Gopak - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
3. Savishna
4. The Seminarist
5. Hebrew Song
6. The Magpie
7. Seeking Mushrooms
8. Piruchka (The Feast)
9. The Street-Urchin
10. The He-Goat
11. By the River Don
12. The Classic
13. The Orphan
14. A Children's Song
15. With Nursey
16. In the Corner
17. The Beetle
18. With the Doll
19. Evening Prayer
20. The Hobby-Horse
21. The Cat 'Sailor'
22. Eriomushka's Cradle Song
23. The Puppet-show
24. Evening Song
25. The Forsaken One

Tracks:

1. Within Four Walls
2. Thine Eyes in the Crowd Ne'er Perceived Me
3. The Useless Day is Over
4. Ennui
5. Elegy
6. On the River
7. Trepak - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
8. Cradle Song - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
9. Serenade - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
10. The Warrior-Captain - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine
11. Cruel Death
12. The Misunderstood One
13. Misfortune
14. The Spirit of Heaven
15. What Fellow is Fitted for Weaving or Spinning?
16. Trouble
17. A Vision
18. Master Haughty
19. The Wanderer
20. On the Dnieper
21. Song of Mephistopheles - Orch National de la Radiodiffusion Francaise/Georges Tzipine

Customer Reviews:

A real piece of history from 1958 - mono but not dated.......1998-12-14

Average customer rating:

Banish Misfortune Eiri Na Greine , and Donna Burke Manufacturer: Dagmusic ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Folk | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Folk | Styles | Music ASIN: B000CADMXK Release Date: 2005-06-07

Tracks:

1. Rambling Pitchfork
2. Red Is the Rose
3. Eleanor Plunkett
4. Carrickfergus
5. Banish Misfortune
6. Thios Cois Na Tra
7. Dimming of the Day
8. Morning Star
9. Danny Boy
10. Heather on the Moor
11. Have I Told You Lately
12. Peggy Lettermore

Music Review:

1. Steady on
2. Strawberry Lover
3. Sweet Child [Original recording remastered] [Import]
4. Tell Tales! Legends and Nonsense/Land of Giants
5. Ten Year Night
6. The American
7. The Best of Pagan Song
8. The First Songs
9. The Lark in the Morning: The Early Years [Extra tracks] [Import]
10. The Roches

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