Never Yet You Heathen Dog

Given access to his entire back catalogue, I might have been able to come up with a slightly better selection of tracks for Martin Carthy The Definitive Collection. But this one is pretty good to be going on with. One of the problems, if problem it is, is that Carthy has revisited many of the songs most associated with him several times over the years and made different versions. These versions might be solo, as a duo with Dave Swarbrick, as joint leader of the ensemble Brass Monkey or with Waterson : Carthy ( no mention is made of the time in the original Steeleye Span )And it is a matter of subjective preference as to which version of the song might be the best and whether one prefers the more mature Carthy voice to that of the younger firebrand. I don't have too many issues with the selections, though would have preferred a couple more songs / versions from the Swarbrick era. But it is good to have such perennials as Sovay, Prince Heathen, The Maid and the Palmer, The Bows of London and Jolly Tinker all in one place. It complements very well the other Carthy and Waterson: Carthy disks that I have. I have already mentioned in earlier posts concerning these the pivotal place that he holds in the English folk revival / post revival / nu revival !