Tradition (1959)

Another sea shanty record- make that the sea shanty record. Sung with the edge and gusto of real whiskey-soaked sea dogs- which Lloyd, at least, was, working on an Antarctic whaling ship in the 1930’s. Both Lloyd and MacColl acquired their folk song habits in the midst of the Great Depression, and their dissemination of songs of the working people, whether originating from ships or factories, is closely linked to their political beliefs. Both were actively involved with the communist party on a long-term basis.

These days MacColl’s legacy may be most present in the many, many covers of “Dirty Old Town,” which he wrote about his northern England hometown of Salford. The Pogues do kinda own that song with their amazing version so all who assume it's about Dublin are to be forgiven. I've been to Dublin. It is, indeed, dirty. Of course the Pogues were from London. Anyway.

These sea shanties are exciting and bawdy and generally awesome, especially Old Billy Riley which is so fierce and dark in this version that I can imagine Nick Cave singing it. Makes want to take to the sea- or, at least, drink whiskey! The center label seems so simple and well-crafted. The Tradition font is like just about to cross over to the Celtic dark side but instead keeps it together in the beautifully balanced gold/ ruby/ off-white composition. Solid.

ESP-Disk (1973)

The above is not the actual center label art of the record I'm talking about.

Let me explain.

For a while I was picking up sea shanty LPs whenever I came across them. Cover art and overall visual themes of those records are, almost uniformly, obviously nautical, but I originally plucked this LP from the bins of (the recently defunct) Bart’s in Boulder, CO on the basis of cover art which I figured signified psychedelia of some sort. Instead I was happy to have stumbled across more shanty recordings, and on ESP to boot. These versions are rendered by the British folksinger more commonly credited as Louis Killen.

Anyway, the back cover depicts, at 100% size, a pink vinyl LP labeled "Lou Killen- Sea Chanteys" with the above center label art. Why? Cause it does. That art has absolutely nothing to do with the center label art on the actual (non-pink vinyl) LP inside, which is:


Because nothing says "sea shanties" like a giant hand about to grasp an egg floating in the blackness of space.