All Under the Sun

All Under the Sun Steve Tilston & Maggie Boyle

1996 ~ Flying Fish FF663

Tracklist:
01	Let Your Banjo Ring	4:21
02	The Maid with the Bonny Brown Hair	4:56
03	Here's to Tom Paine	4:42
04	Fair Annie	6:52
05	Man Gone Down (Fred's Song)	3:30
06	Linden Lea	4:11
07	The Cage	2:52
08	The Navvy	3:25
09	Dark Days of War	3:54
10	Willie the Ploughboy	4:04
11	The Threepenny Bit	2:20
12	A Fool Such As I	3:00

Tracks 1, 3, 5, 9 Steve Tilston;
Tracks 2, 4, 10 trad.;
Track 6 words William Barnes, music Ralph Vaughan Williams;
Track 7 James Hill;
Track 8 words Patrick MacGill, music Maggie Boyle;
Track 11 Maggie Boyle;
Track 12 William Trader

Musicians

Steve Tilston, vocals [1, 3 ,5, 9, 12], acoustic guitar [1-5, 7-10, 12], guitar [6, 11];
Maggie Boyle, vocals [1-2, 4-6, 8-10, 12], harmony vocals [3], bodhrán [1, 4-5], flute [2, 4, 6-7, 9-11];
Maartin Allcock, 12-string guitar [1], double bass [1, 4-5, 7], bouzar [3-5, 7], piano [4, 6], bass vocal [5];
Tony Hinnigan, charango [1], cello [3, 6, 8-9];
Mike Hockenhull, 5-string banjo [1, 4];
Richard Curran, violin [2-3, 9];
Dave Mattacks, drum [2-3, 12], percussion [2, 5];
Dave Pegg, acoustic bass guitar [2-3, 12]

Recorded at Woodworm Studios, Barford St. Michael, Oxon, England;
Engineered by Mark Tucker;
Produced by Steve Tilston and Maggie Boyle;
Photography by Bryan Ledgard;
Design by mooremoscowitz;
Notes by Mel Howley

Album Review
This is a wonderful collection of articulate Steve Tilston and Maggie Boyle songs and traditional pieces. All Under the Sun is deftly performed on acoustic instruments to accentuate Tilston's skilled fingerpicking, Boyle's rich and expressive Irish voice, and their collective thoughtful songwriting. It also boasts the services of Fairport Convention bassist Dave Pegg, multi-instrumentalist Maartin Allcock, and percussionist Dave Mattacks along with Tony Hinnigan, whose cello and charango adds welcome layering to the sometimes sparsely arranged music. Boyle also demonstrates her command of the Irish flute on several selections, but her duet with Tilston (guitar) on "The Threepenny Bit" is particularly noteworthy. Tilston's "Here's to Tom Paine," which was later covered by Fairport on Who Knows Where the Time Goes?, makes its debut here. In a surprising twist they conclude the album with the oft-covered country-pop number "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I."

More reviews:
Review at acousticmusic.com

Steve Tilston & Maggie Boyle

(FF 663)
Rounder Records Corp.
One Camp Street
Cambridge, MA 02140

A review written for Folk and Acoustic Music Exchange
By Shawn Linderman

Back in the late 70's, aficionados of English folk-rock fell into two camps: Fairport Convention-eers or Steeleye Span-ners. I favored the latter, for their stronger adherence to traditional roots and the lush vocals of Maddy Prior, but vastly enjoyed Fairport as well for their instrumental and songwriting strengths. Steve Tilston and Maggie Boyle combine the best of both supergroups.

Steve and Maggie have been playing together since shortly after the heyday of Fairport and Steeleye. A decade later they are finally getting the recognition and exposure they deserve. Their 1992 release, OF MOOR AND MESA, was a fine work which featured one of the truly great traditional-based tunes of the last ten years, Steve's "Slip Jigs and Reels." When Steve writes a song, he forges it in the fire of beauty, hammers it on the anvil of strength, and cools it in the water of timelessness. I use no exaggeration here--Tilston is that good.

As for Maggie, she's an outstanding flautist and her vocals are superb--very much on the order of Maddy Prior and June Tabor. Most of you have probably already been entranced by her voice--she sang on the title soundtrack, "The Quiet Land of Erin," of the film PATRIOT GAMES.

With their latest CD, ALL UNDER THE SUN, Steve and Maggie are joined by several members of Fairport Convention (Dave Pegg, Dave Mattacks and Maartin Allcock). Also contributing are Tony Hinnegan on charango and Richard Curran on violin. The opening track, "Let Your Banjo Ring," is another Tilston-penned classic, and Mike Hockenhull's banjo lifts it even higher.

ALL UNDER THE SUN includes four traditional tunes, a couple by Maggie and two covers. One of these, "A Fool Such As I," is rather incongruous with the rest of the CD, but pleasant nonetheless (must be the Fairporters' influence, they were always sticking oddball tunes [i.e., not traditional folk-rock] on their albums). It is lamentable that there are only four Tilston compositions here, but three of them are among his finest works: "Man Gone Down," "Dark Days of War," and the aforementioned "Let Your Banjo Ring." Maggie's "The Threepenny Bit" is an instrumental that showcases her considerable skill on the flute. If you're a fan of traditional British folk-rock, Tilston and Boyle have produced what I believe to be one of the best works in that genre in over a decade. It deserves a showcase display in your music library.