Although originally released in November 1981, time has been good to Handful Of Earth. The passage of the years has done little to erode its magisterial strength and potency as a milestone within traditional music - one that quickly established Dick Gaughan as one of the most passionate and fiercely political British folk singers. Greatly inspired by the political turmoil in Scotland following the Conservative Party victory at the 1979 general election, the album was also Gaughan’s first after spending several years largely avoiding playing music while regaining his health following a mental breakdown in 1979. Gaughan’s fifth solo studio LP and his third for Topic, with Mick Campbell’s apposite cover portrait of our man in black against the backdrop of an industrial/agricultural landscape, was clearly a classic from the start.
Instantly recognised as a masterwork straightaway (a Melody Maker magazine album of the year), over the course of the decade, panegyrics and plaudits proliferated- Folk Roots’ (now fRoots) readers and critics voting it the ‘Album Of The Decade’ in 1989. In terms of influence, Handful Of Earth is up there with the select pantheon of The Watersons’ Frost and Fire, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick’s Prince Heathen, Nic Jones’ Penguin Eggs and June Tabor and Martin Simpson’s A Cut Above. Amongst its legions of fans, Billy Bragg and comedian/ writer Stewart Lee cite it as one of their favourite albums ever.
Deluxe remastered CD re-issue of the classic Topic album includes unseen photographs from the original Topic LP photo session plus new sleeve notes by Record Collector journalist Ken Hunt. Melody Maker magazine’s ‘LP Of The Year, 1981’ and Roots ‘Album Of The Decade 1989’.
Instantly recognised as a masterwork straightaway (a Melody Maker magazine album of the year), over the course of the decade, panegyrics and plaudits proliferated- Folk Roots’ (now fRoots) readers and critics voting it the ‘Album Of The Decade’ in 1989. In terms of influence, Handful Of Earth is up there with the select pantheon of The Watersons’ Frost and Fire, Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick’s Prince Heathen, Nic Jones’ Penguin Eggs and June Tabor and Martin Simpson’s A Cut Above. Amongst its legions of fans, Billy Bragg and comedian/ writer Stewart Lee cite it as one of their favourite albums ever.
Deluxe remastered CD re-issue of the classic Topic album includes unseen photographs from the original Topic LP photo session plus new sleeve notes by Record Collector journalist Ken Hunt. Melody Maker magazine’s ‘LP Of The Year, 1981’ and Roots ‘Album Of The Decade 1989’.
