USA ARTICLES
Circus, 1971

Colorado Springs
Gazette Telegraph
- NEW


All Music Guide Review

Billboard Review You Well Meaning

Billboard Review
Not 'Til Tomorrow

Billboard Review Streets

Kansas City Art infoZine

The Boston Herald, 1996

Philadelphia City Paper, 1996

CDNow Review Sand in Your Shoes

Music Wire Review
From Clare to Here

 

RALPH, ALBERT & SYDNEY
USA ARTICLES

USA ARTICLES
Ralph McTell – England’s Most Talented Folk Singer?
By Rick Moss
Circus Magazine (USA) 1971

Ralph McTell is a reluctant hero.  He stands on the verge of international recognition, having made three successful English albums and having sold out the Festival Hall in London twice within six months.  Many consider him to be England’s most talented folk artist.  Everywhere he has played he has met with enthusiastic audiences, but lavish praise embarrasses him.  He feels that when his audience applauds they applaud their personal union with the feeling of the song, for which he is just the messenger. 

“I don’t wish to tell people what to do or how to live.  I’m only just learning myself,” Ralph admits.  He never reads his good reviews, undoubtedly he’ll never read this, but he collects his bad ones.  He wants to know what people don’t connect with.  Ralph says that if he were to receive only bad reviews he would probably stop singing publicly, but with reviews like the one in a British paper that called him a “dazzling new talent” he’ll be singing out for a long time. 

“People need heroes I guess,” he reflects, “but when they make heroes they lose sight of people.”  Ralph does not want his audience to lose sight of the fact that he is just a person.  He comes on stage, whether it is the David Frost Show or a folk club, in jeans and a simple shirt.  “I tried dressing up once,” he explains, “and felt so uncomfortable I had a hard time performing.” 

Ralph started in England as a “busker”, a street musician who lives on the coins people toss him.  He sang his way across Europe many times, getting as far as Istanbul, but sickness always forced him to return to England.  He was worn down by sleeping in doorways or on the floor, and by having bad food, not enough of it, and no money. 

Finally, after leaving a factory job in England and heading off again to sing in the streets of Paris, things started to go well for him.  He was able to make enough money to live by singing for the lines outside of movies, but there were drawbacks.  The police started a drive to clean up Paris.  Ralph spent a few nights in jail: but he was more fortunate than some who saw their guitars smashed against walls or dropped into the Seine. 

Eventually, Ralph was heard by Antoine, a French commercial version of a folk singer.  Antoine couldn’t play the guitar, yet needed one for his image.  Ralph was given the job of dressing in a tuxedo and playing guitar out of the light while Antoine faked it.  When Ralph returned to England he began to play in clubs.  Someone sent a tape of his performance to a publisher, and before long Ralph was able to cut his first album. 

Now Ralph performs alone accompanying himself with his guitar and occasionally switching to the piano for a number.  He feels that performing by himself eliminates the clatter, clutter, and hype from a performance, and lets him express something real.  He’ll sit cradling his guitar, and if he’s nervous, he’ll close his eyes.  If not he’ll stare fixedly out into the audience, but only see them after a song is completed.  He needs to be within himself when he sings.  He is hypersensitive to his audience: he feels every movement, and if he senses a lack of interest on their part he’ll become uncomfortable and cut down his introductions to his songs. 

His album (You Well Meaning Brought Me Here, Paramount) is very different from his one-man stage performance.  The simple songs are laid over a complicated foundation of harmonium, moog, strings and brass, but the elaborate instrumentation actually enhances the music and helps recapture the excitement of his live show. 

Ralph tries to write songs about subjects that are not well covered.  He doesn’t want to sing about his love problems.  Instead he writes about the precarious relationship between an artist and his audience, the intense loneliness of rag-covered street beggars, an “Old Brown Dog” that should be put out of its misery, or an incident from Hesse’s Siddhartha.

His voice flows sweetly and strongly, but Ralph is not completely satisfied with it.  “When I sang really loudly as a busker I always hoped my voice would come to sound rough like Rod Stewart’s but it usually just quit and came back sounding the same the next day.”  Ralph’s voice has a pleasant reassuring quality to it, almost as if he were singing for people he has always known, and that really is how he feels about the people who come to hear him.  At the Festival Hall he looked up to see a full house and was moved by it, saying, “I never knew I had so many friends.”  Well it would seem that Ralph McTell ought to have a lot more friends very shortly.

And I never meant to come this far
And I never thought I’d lose my way
For now I know who they are
But I still get hurt by the things they say

“You Well Meaning Brought Me Here”

And our well meaning will hopefully bring him back to the States again someday.  
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USA ARTICLES
McTell’s success measured by hard work
Colorado Springs Gazette Telegraph
Friday 4 January 1980
By Elena Jarvis, GT Staff Writer

As has been the case many times during the past 12 years, Ralph McTell, pop-folk musician and man of the people, was at a roadside diner when he called.

Talking from a telephone booth “somewhere” in the East, it was hardly a scenario from a rock’n’roll daydream of fame and fortune.

But McTell, best known for his 1975 British Hit, “Streets of London”, isn’t just whistling in the wind when he speaks of shopping bag ladies and being down and out.  After all, McTell paid some heavy dues playing on street corners in his native England and across the European continent.

“You know, I grew up in the working class,” he once told critic Maryanne Vollers.  “I’m not working class now.  I’m never hard up for a drink or cigarettes – I’m successful really.  But you never forget where you came from.  You never forget what it was like.”

At 34, the musician is on his second U.S. tour along with folkies John Renbourn and Stefan Grossman.  Recently, the trio brought down the house at the Rainbow Music Theatre in Denver.

McTell, who has been associated with Renbourn for 15 years and Grossman for 12 years, will be included in their collaborative LP soon to be released on the Kicking Mule label.

While Renbourn, a former member of Pentangle, is known for his Baroque, medieval-like tunes and Grossman made his name through mentor Rev. Gary Davis and the blues, McTell sticks to folk and ragtime melodies.

“I’m folk blues and that’s about it.  They’re into the beyond stuff,” McTell said of his musical partners.  “I started off playing rags and blues and began writing my own songs later.  Last night was the first gig of this tour and it worked really well.”

In the two hour show the musicians cover everything from Mingus to Mississippi John Hurt.  Which isn’t to say the music is incompatible.

“I think the songs sit very well together,” McTell said.  “This country caters to so many tastes that it’s been really good for us.”

Though “certainly not Peter, Paul and Mary” McTell does consider the trio a folk group in both concept and performance.  The common link between the three is a six-string acoustic guitar and a love of traditional, as well as contemporary, tunes.

McTell, who fronted for Dave Bromberg last February, has yet to capture American commercial appeal.  Still, during a Bromberg appearance at Carnegie Hall, the musician brought down the house with his relatively simple music.

Accessible as his songs are, McTell isn’t quite sure how to break into the U.S. music market.

“I wish I knew, then I’d do it,” he said.  “I guess timing.  I first played here in 1971 and I think it has to do with what is in fashion and what people want.  All I want is to achieve an area where I can come and work because I like playing here.”

Not that McTell has escaped the attention of admiring critics.  Last year, in fact, he was “bowled over” by an article in the Rolling Stone.  Let’s hope McTell is destined for even greater things.

“That was a nice thing.  They (Rolling Stone) reviewed one of my records back in 1970.  It was a critical review, but it was good criticism.  Not like the British press who does a hatchet job,” he said.

A veteran of 10 albums, four of them American releases, the guitarist now records on Kicking Mule.  After years of bouncing from label to label, McTell says he prefers to work with Grossman’s independent company.

“This country’s so rich in talent,” said McTell, “I don’t mind being unknown.”

The musician has said that music for him is both political and sentimental.  Songs, such as “Nanna’s Song” written for his Norwegian wife, would seem to verify the latter, but what about the political strife in the United Kingdom?

“It saddens me, after so many years and all the bloody battles, that people want to go their own way.  I’m not talking about Ireland, but Scotland and Wales.  That’s just the way things are right now,” he said.  “I think people know what’s right and wrong, but I don’t want to tell them.”

As a husband and father, through the street corner gigs and the hardest of times, McTell somehow has managed to raise his family with music.  Something, he said, “that’s a rare and wonderful thing.”

Following his American tour, after a day off, McTell will head back to London for some British dates and some theatre shows in Dublin and Belfast.

Even with such a hectic schedule and despite the grind of the road, McTell feels grateful, and above all, lucky for his success.

“I have very few complaints,” he said with a laugh. 
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USA ARTICLES
From Clare to Here: The Songs of Ralph McTell
Ralph McTell 

All Music Guide Review

Folk fans owe a debt of gratitude to Minnesota independent label Red House for putting a thorough Ralph McTell compilation into print in the U.S. This collection, copyright 1991, contains 16 tracks at a running time of nearly 71 minutes. One song is new and three others are re-recordings, but none of that matters very much. New listeners are liable to be reminded of McTell's contemporary Al Stewart, who has a similarly becalmed British delivery and musical arrangements keyed to his delicate fingerpicking. (Various members of Fairport Convention, past and present, frequently accompany McTell, with lead guitarists Jerry Donahue's and Richard Thompson's playing sometimes suggesting Mark Knopfler, although since McTell preceded Dire Straits by a decade, maybe it should be the other way around.) Other soundalikes would include James Taylor and Chris DeBurgh, though McTell has none of the pop sensibility of the former or the melodramatic tone of the latter. Rather, he delivers his songs in an unhurried manner that corresponds to the wistfulness and regret of his lyrics, which are reflections on working-class life, full of aspirations and disappointments. His story songs have a fable-like quality, not so much in the sense of being grandiose as in the sense of being distanced -- the emotion has been distilled by time so that they always seem to be works of memory. Even "Streets of London" (presented here in its third, "hit" recording), which has a point to make, does so in such a prosaic way that there's no sting. It may be that the reason it has been McTell's only hit is that he's essentially a formalist, less interested in the opportunities folk music presents for expressiveness than in the ties it maintains to tradition. 

William Ruhlmann
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USA ARTICLES
Ralph McTell
You Well-Meaning Brought Me Here
Paramount PAS 6015
Billboard Magazine : 10/9/71

The direct communication of McTell's voice and writing and the brilliant work of producer Gus Dudgeon make this one of the most overpowering albums to come out of England this year. Listen to "Genesis," "First and Last Man," "Lay Your Money Down," the classic "Streets of London," or any of the other cuts.
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USA ARTICLES
Ralph McTell
Not Till Tomorrow
Reprise MS 2121
Billboard Magazine: 2/3/73

With this, his first LP for Reprise, McTell may well be shedding his cloak of obscurity. An impressive lone figure on the London scene, his wandering one-man band image has won him many followers. The whole album is presented in an atmosphere of becalming mellowness, yet his largely autobiographical lyrics exude an odd level of tenseness. Make special note to "Sylvia," "Gypsy" and "Zimmerman Blues."
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USA ARTICLES
Ralph McTell
Streets
20th Century T-486
Billboard Magazine : 8/2/75

McTell has been a major force on the British folk scene for some years now, and with the lead cut of this LP, a commercial yet sensitive look at some of the forgotten souls of a large city, he broke pop in England. Set is filled with acoustic ballads quietly backed by strings and low key choruses, as well as several peppy Latin flavored cuts. Fine, distinctive singing and musicianship throughout, and one of the few balladeers with a commercial chance. Best cuts: "Streets Of London," "Heron Song," "Pity The Boy."
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USA ARTICLES
Ralph McTell
Sand in Your Shoes
The Kansas City Art InfoZine

On this side of the Atlantic, we don't get to hear nearly enough of Ralph McTell. In England and across the world he has remained as popular as ever and just celebrated thirty years in the business with major tours and events. In the US, his releases have been hard to find, and fans collect them like gold. Fortunately, Red House Records has been lucky enough to make a few of McTell's most recent discs available here. The first, the collection, From Clare to Here, introduced a new audience to his classic songs and helped his fans catch up on new material. It reminded all of us how great a songwriter he is.

Sand in Your Shoes brings us up-todate on the McTell catalogue. Previously released in Britain, the album shows that in the decades since he wrote his most famous song, "Streets of London," his songs and voice have only grown richer. McTell's accomplishments as a musician are astounding. Before he had any major hits, he had enough fans to sell out the Royal Albert Hall in London—the first British solo act to do so in over a decade. Shortly thereafter, he had a chart-topping hit with "Streets of London," a compelling song about homelessness and despair that has remained remarkably cogent for three decades. With over two hundred versions, "Streets of London" has become one of the most recorded songs in the English language, and it's a part of the repertoire of artists as diverse as Bruce Springsteen, Sinead O'Cornor, Aretha Franklin, Harry Belafonte, Glen Campbell, and the punk band Anti-Nowhere League. At one point, four different versions of the song were on the charts in Germany. McTell's song "From Clare to Here" (recorded by Nanci Griffith for her Grammy- winning album, other Voices other Rooms) has become such a standard that many people mistakenly believe it is a traditional Irish tune.

The songs on Sand in Your Shoes stand up to McTell's best work. His engaging stories and character studies are always deeply moving, and there is a rare and unguarded humanity to his work. He writes of families, communities, and individuals caught at moments of truth. With songs like "Jesus Wept" and "The Case of Otto Schwartzkopf," you'll want to listen to the lyrics over and over to get at the heart of the story, and "Peppers and Tomatoes," inspired by conflicts in Yugoslavia, is one of the greatest songs ever written about communities ripped apart. The poetry of McTell's guitar playing is equal to that of his songwriting. He's got an indelible, individual style—playing melody, counter-melody, bass lines, tiffs and fill-ins all at the same time. It's a style the London Daily Express called "an orchestra in six strings." To top it off, McTell has a rich, expressive voice—a distinctive baritone that, once heard, is never forgotten. Sand in Your Shoes is yet another provocative collection from one of Britain's greatest songwriters.
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USA ARTICLES
Once 'Defeated' McTell To Give Hub Another Try
From The Boston Herald
Sunday, September 15, 1996
By Daniel Gewertz

For more than 20 years, Ralph McTell has been a near legend in Britain and a virtual secret in the United States.
In America, he's known as the guy who wrote " Streets of London, " a 1970s top-10 hit in several countries that was recorded by 200 artists. It never made the U.S. charts.
The plight of a famous troubadour trying to break into the American market as an unknown was not easy for McTell. Eventually, a 1980 U.S. tour left him "feeling defeated."
Now, after a satisfying American minitour last year and with a new compilation LP, "From Clare to Here: The Songs of Ralph McTell," released on Red House Records, the melodious McTell is finally ready to try America once more. His gig at Johnny D's Wednesday is his first Boston-area show in 16 years.
"I was very shy when I first came here, feeling humble and not putting myself across very well," said McTell, 51, in a telephone interview last week from London. "I was totally in awe of American music. It was my first love: All my guitar heroes were American, and mostly black, mostly dead and mostly blind."
Born Ralph May, the singer's stage name pays tribute to an old bluesman: Blind Willie McTell. Yet, unlike his many British cohorts, McTell's musical identity was not engulfed by the blues. He just used the creativity of great blues to find his own path.
"If it weren't for Big Bill Broonzy or Arthur (Blind) Blake, I would never have played guitar or written a song. But I don't try to sound like them," he explained.
"The South London delta is not the same as the Mississippi delta. One can acknowledge the genius of the blues without trying to sound black. The power, poise, poetry and dignity of blues: I can't copy that! I try to touch people in my own different way."
McTell is traversing almost alone in one respect: He is one of the few middle-aged songwriters who tell how it feels to be 50. While many troubadours hold fast to songs of loving and leaving, hard traveling and easy wanderlust, McTell refuses to be the eternal adolescent in song.
"I've tried to address some parts of my life that need to be resolved. As a songwriter whose life is half over, it was incumbent of me to write about kids leaving home or about the tragedy of Yugoslavia from a family man's point of view."
McTell hasn't composed as many love songs as his peers, but being married for 30 years made for a creative test.
"It's terribly hard to write about mature, long-lasting love. It's much different and more intimate than the short-term love of most songs. I've risen to the challenge a few times."
McTell casts an oddly rare image as the troubadour as responsible adult. "I'm irritated by songs that expound the philosophy of me, me, me. I prefer us songs. I sometimes write my innermost thoughts. But I'd rather have someone say: 'I felt that! That's what I wanted to say."'
On this tour, America is inspiring confidence.
"When I sing, I'm saying: 'How much time have you got? Because I've got 30 years of music I can play to bring you into my world. I'm no longer hoping to be the next Gordon Lightfoot. I'm a man with a past and hopefully some of my future will be in America."'
Ralph McTell at Johnny D's, Somerville, Wed.at 8:30 p.m., $10. Call
(617)-776-2004; at Cape
Codder Hotel, Hyannis, Thurs. Call (508)-771-3000.
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USA ARTICLES
Philadelphia
City Paper
September 26–October 3, 1996

critic pick|Roots
Ralph McTell

Although Ralph McTell is English, it's American music and culture that has shaped his art.

As an English schoolboy, he was transfixed by Woody Guthrie's songs. "I used to write to Woody when he was doing very poorly in the hospital," says McTell. "I treasured the odd little note I'd get back from Marjorie [Guthrie] she wrote to give me encouragement."

From Guthrie, he went on to discover the recordings of blues players like Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller and Blind Willie McTell, whose last name Ralph borrows for the stage up to this day.

In 1972, a visit to Philadelphia changed his life.
"I was very much the new boy," he remembers. A weeklong engagement at the Main Point featured McTell opening for Randy Newman. He took a seat in the back of the house for every set, soaking up Newman's approach to songwriting. After a week of watching Newman, he'd earned a long-term friendship and an advanced diploma in songwriting.

That was years before his song "Streets of London" became so internationally known that over 400 artists have taken a turn recording it.

"When it comes to songwriting, I try not to write about me all of the time. I prefer 'us' songs to 'me' songs. I'm looking for a resonance in other people to what I'm offering," he explains. Subtlety is the key.

"'Mr Connors' is a song about a man who lived upstairs. But it's really about wanting a dad, 'cause I didn't have one," says McTell. Rather than write a song that says "I want a dad," McTell looked for another way in. "I've learned not to depend on an immediate reaction to a song — hopefully it sinks in after repetition," he explains.

The song that is most likely to join "Streets of London" in McTell's most-loved list is one about war-torn Bosnia, "Peppers and Tomatoes." One of the things McTell terms a puzzlement: how can neighbors live together for years, then suddenly become divided?

"In our case it's Northern Ireland — a place I love and work a lot," says McTell. "It's mystery to me how someone can burn out a neighbor."

Ralph McTell with Broadside Electric, Fri., Sept. 27, 8 & 10:30p.m., Tin Angel, 20 S. Second St., 928-0978.
Mary Armstrong

© Copyright 1995–2002 Philadelphia City Paper. All rights reserved. Privacy policy
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USA ARTICLES
Sand in Your Shoes
Ralph McTell
CD Now Review
Copyright © 1994-1999 CDNOW

Though the oldest of the post-punk crowd know McTell only from the ANTI-NOWHERE LEAGUE's enduring cover of his 1974 U.K. #2 hit and perennial favorite "Streets of London," while Adult Alternative types know McTell's "From Clare to Here" from NANCI GRIFFITH's more reverent cover, the veteran remains a favorite of any who followed the fertile late 60's/early 70's Brit-folk, acoustic axis. But does the 53-year-old, still living McTell still have it? 1995's import Sand in Your Shoes, just released here now, says "Yeah." The production veers too much in the direction of soft rock and easy-listening- you can all but hear some dickhead D.J. telling you you're listening to "Light 105"-- but for those who can brave the gloss, McTell's still-syrup-thick voice, his firm, resolute presence, his grasp of stylistic variety-- encompassing the 60's pop of "Tous Les Animaux Sont Tristes," the jaunty, honky-tonk bop of "Care in the Community," the fiddle bluegrass of "I Don't Think About You," and traditional Irish folk of "Peppers and Tomatoes"-- and his command try to bust through. Moreover, this longtime fan of Steinbeck and Dylan remains a fine lyricist, preserving the most difficult-to-retain aspect of his venerable folk tradition. Tired of narcissistic whining, and rehash of no-talents who think three chords and attitude is all music is? Old fashioned, accomplished, involving, elegiac, lush folk melancholy is an antidote. An old master refuses to embarrass himself, and Sand In Your Shoes thus has its merits.  
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USA ARTICLES
From Clare to Here: The Songs of Ralph McTell
Author: Stephen Ide
Publication: Music Wire
Date: July 1996

Ralph McTell is perhaps best known for his classic song of homelessness, "Streets of London," which has been covered by more than 200 artists and is a coffeehouse standard. But the venerable English songwriter and acoustic guitarist, who's been performing for some 30 years, has amassed an impressive collection of songs, each as soul-baring and touching as the next, from the political to the personal. This 71-minute compilation, released just in Great Britain in 1992, includes performances with Phil Collins , members of Jethro Tull , Fairport Convention , Richard Thompson and Fotheringay . This version adds three new recordings and one previously unreleased track.

McTell is a master at revealing the human condition, and he does so without becoming maudlin or morose. "Song For Martin," written about a musician friend's addiction to heroin, is passionate McTell, as his growling, warm baritone expresses emotion and attachment to his friend. The oft-requested "Michael in the Garden" describes an institutionalized man, probably autistic, who is misunderstood by the outside world, yet lives in his own world of splendor. The rolling cadence in this new recording, which recalls the airiness of early Moody Blues , brings to mind a person deep in constant thought. Included is the hit version of "Streets of London," written in 1967-68, still as vibrant as ever, with McTell adding harmonica.

Other songs deal with two sides of the Irish emigration to America. The title track, written in 1963, explores the familiar themes of the Irishman longing for home. "The Setting," a traditional-sounding number with Tom Keane playing uilleann pipes, takes the view of loved ones left behind.

McTell's honesty extends to themes about other aspects of life as well. The relaxing ballad "Summer Girls," in this previously unreleased version, describes how men try on characteristics to impress women. "Barges" and "Tequila Sunset" are songs about summer holidays and singles bars, respectively, while "Mr. Connaughton" cradles the fond memories of a man who spent time with McTell, whose real father deserted home when he was two. The rollicking "Hands of Joseph," newly recorded for this album, shows off McTell's guitar playing, which was inspired by the playing of Bahamanian Joseph Spence .

McTell has released dozens of albums, and this collection cannot hope to sum up his stellar career. But it is a fine sampling, and the songs will send many a young songwriter back to the drawing board to try again.
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