Ralph McTell
Album: The Unknown Soldier EP
Label: Leola
Tracks: 4
Website: http://www.ralphmctell.co.uk

This modest little collection, which was released around Armistice Day, presents a set of four songs thematically connected, as can be imagined, by the Great War, and housed in a brilliantly designed, lavish and sturdy digipackage that contains not only the full lyrics to all four of the songs but also Ralph's powerful reminiscence of his grandfather (who had served in that war); the surface artwork of the actual disc itself takes the form of an accurate replica of what became known as The Death Plaque, Widow's Penny or Dead Man's Penny.

So much thought and care has been given to the presentation, that the actual musical content ought by rights also to be beyond criticism, but in all honesty I can't say I find all the material works for me. The opening track is a revisit of England, 1914 (from Ralph's1968 Spiral Staircase LP), here retitled The Lamplighter but probably not in the end adding much to the impact of the original version even though it receives a suitably committed performance. Then comes the whimsical and mildly jaunty little masterpiece Maginôt Waltz, which had previously been one of the highlights of Ralph's charting 1974 LP Easy and fits here like a glove. Next comes Canopus, a fine new song prompted by a paradox, paying an uneasy, ambiguous tribute to a Cornish narrow-gauge railway engine that hauled china clay to Pentewan as part of the war effort. The disc's finale, and title song, rather compromises the profoundly moving nature of its message by being significantly over-arranged, involving a needlessly prominent use of sound effects and some portentous spoken interpolations, both of which elements tip the balance into undue sentimentality I'm afraid; I truly believe the song would have benefitted much more from an altogether simpler setting. I wouldn't ever think of questioning Ralph for the courage of his convictions, and his intentions in releasing this EP are certainly honourable, but the overall look and intensely attractive design aspect of the final product are such a hard act to follow that they can't hope to be entirely matched by the musical content in this instance.

David Kidman