McTell charms Chch

Press, 16 August 1976, Page 4

McTell charms Chch

A folk concert usually makes a pleasant sort of an evening and we all go home quietly satisfied. But English folkie Ralph McTell raised rare excitement in the Theatre Royal last night: he charmed Christchurch so much that it demanded two encores, and then went home very happy. Alone on the stage, he was magnificent There is not a lot to say about his singing and playing (both competent): it is all in his songs and the communicating of them. In stories made out of everyday lives, songs about children, the elderly or animals, he laid his heart bare. His chats between songs were part of the key. He confided feelings openly so that his songs could be far better appreciated than on record, and had a naturally humorous style with them that few would have anticipated. He punctuated his own songs with several ragtime guitar numbers by old boys like Blind Boy Fuller and the Rev. Gary Davis, and these went down a storm. Of Ralph’s own. "Barges.’’ from the “Not Till Tomorrow’’ album, was the most captivating and seemed to fade out like a dream, or was it just me? Songs from that album were featured often. McTell had opened with “When 1 Was a Cowboy” (a bit of ragtime in between) and “First Song,” which was painfully sensitive. For “Old Brown Dog” and •Nail Me” he switched briefly to piano, then on “Weather the Storm" he got his spellbound audience singing .. . just a little. "Nettling Wine,” “Grande Affaire” (from his . new album.

■ “Streets”) and “Big Tree" i were among those that fol- : lowed. i “Zimmerman Blues,” which I has quite a strong accompanii ment on record, was handled i well with guitar and mouth i harp and then “Streets of i London” was greeted with s keen applause and a muffled

singing that wafted up in the’ darkness. He wasn’t allowed to leave after that. He was stamped and clapped back for “Sweet Mystery,” a most endearing tale of adolescence, and once again for a rag for us to go home with. —Jude Fahey