Originally recorded in the winter of 95/96, this disc was a big budget recording for Warner Bros., everything was set for release and a single had even been issued in advance of the albums release, but at the last minute the album was pulled by the record company and hasn’t seen the light of day until now……
This is a slightly different line-up to today’s band, the main members on this recording Kathryn Roberts, Cara Dillon, and Sean, Sam & Seth Lakeman. The most obvious difference to later recordings is the addition of Cara’s vocals – the second female vocal works really well, whether singing together or separately it adds an extra dimension and provides variety over the course of the 12 songs.
The choice of material is similar though, a mixture of self written, well chosen covers and a couple of trad arrs, although they cover a wide range of styles they manage to keep a cohesive feel to the disc.
Overall it has a polished feel – indicative of the time and money spent on the recording, but rather than this been detrimental to the sound it works real well. The two songs with a more commercial edge sound fantastic (‘He Loves Me’ and ‘Strange Love’), and the slower, more acoustic tracks (‘Let Him Cry’ and ‘Return to Me’) are subtle and gentle but with real instrumental depth.
This is an excellent album, and rather than just being a curio or for completists only, it stands up as a fine collection well worth invesigating.

£13.49