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Hazard, Hardship, and Damned Little Pay is only now availabe in CD format. Here are two reviews of when it was released as a cassette in 1988.
Leonard, Regnier, Sydney , Music Diary Nov 1988
This cassette provides a fascinating insight into the world of nineteenth century commercial sailing. Viewed from the comfort of our living rooms this era must seem a romantic one, yet, as the title suggests, there were hard realities confronting the men, and these “most remarkable work-songs in the English language” (cassettes leaflet) were born out of gruelling work in very adverse conditions.
The Roaring Forties (Robin Connaughton, Brian Grayson, Tom Hanson, Len Neary, Tony Cochrane, Bob and Margaret Walters) are to be commended on their effort to bring these songs to our attention in their raw, unaccompanied original form, together with much genuine atmosphere of those bygone days. Their singing is consistently clean, which, with all the fourth and fifth intervals, is not as easy as it sounds. The words, for the most part, are clearly understandable. It pays to listen to the words, for they are full of remarkable lines of rough, poetic beauty.
The cassette's musical presentation is so appealing that one becomes interested in the subject.
Cierwen Jones, Cornstalk, August 1988
I have always felt it odd that so much joviality is associated with shanty singing, especially when they are, after all, work songs, formulated to add rhythm and co-ordination to manual labour. But then, my association with them is being two sheets into the wind and feeling frustrated because my fellow alcoholics are slurring the lyrics.
The Roaring Forties shanty group, previously known as the “Ensemble of Fat Bearded Shanty Singers' (EFBSS) comprises a varying collection of singers. For the purpose of this recording, the members are Robin Connaughton, Brian Grayson, Tom Hanson, Len Neary, Tony Cochrane, and Margaret Walters, most of whom I have heard as individuals, and as such are fine performers. With this collection of people, I can't help wondering whether the name refers to the trade winds or their ages.
The 24 shanties on this tape are sung unaccompanied. While unaccompanied singing is by no means a new phenomenon, it is only relatively recently that it has been successfully combined with the technology of the recording studio. This is not without good reason. Our ears are accustomed to a broad range of sound emanating from our stereo speakers, so that voice alone may sound lost and thin.
Where a number of voices of varying tone and timbre are combined in close harmony, as in this case, the sound is remarkably full, and added instrumentation would probably confuse rather than enhance the sound. Refer to Ladysmith Black Mambazo to see what I mean. The similarity with LBM doesn't stop with singing a capella. There is a structural similarity in that the songs comprise call-and-response with a heavy emphasis on rhythm. In the case of LBM this comes from the natural rhythms of the Zulu language; in the case of the shanties, it comes from the pace required by the tasks which the songs accompany.
I can recommend this tape to all those who would otherwise be left mute when a shanty session develops at the bar, Armed with a copy of Hazard, Hardship, and Damned Little Pay, you'll have enough ammunition to contribute something more than , “two pints, please.”
Shore Leave – The Roaring Forties Canberra Times 18/7/97
This is a group of five Sydney-based singers who started out, as their name suggests. singing sea shanties. Shanties are work songs used on sailing ships to assist in raising the anchors and sails, usually sung unaccompanied, in a call-and-response style.
While still including sea shanties on this recording, the group has expanded its repertoire to other songs that fit their close five-part harmony style, including several hymns and songs from a wide variety of writers.
There are songs from Rudyard Kipling, James Keelaghan, and a variety of lesser known Britons and Americans. All are strong, powerful songs, chosen carefully to suit the style of singing, full-throated and strong.
All six singers get a chance to take the lead on various songs, with the others adding finely worked-out harmonies. It's a recording full of energy, and they sing with verve and gusto.
It is perhaps not a record to suit all tastes, but there is plenty of enjoyment for fans of unaccompanied singing. One can only wonder why they had to tell us that no animals were harmed in the making of the record. A private joke, one imagines.