From Tees to Tyne (MWM CDSP51)

From Tyne to Tweed (MWM CDSP52)

THESE two CDs are tasters for a forthcoming 20-CD boxed set of 300-plus songs fom the musical heritage of the North-East.

The Northumbria Anthology is building a collection of recordings of songs from the area between the Tees and the Tweed, with titles in the boxed set to include A Day at Redcar, Durham Big Meetin' Day and Alang the Roman Waal. Five hundred sets are to go to libraries in the region.

The forerunners show the scope of the finished project and also underline the area's strong songwriting tradition, few of the songs being from that great canon of English folk "trad, anon" and others coming from today's singer-songwriters such as Vin Garbutt and Johnny Handle.

The very blurred line between folk and music hall on Tyneside is well to the fore.

The talent rooted in the region is broadly-based, from internationally-known voices to those which ring a bell with folk club regulars, and well-represented. What other CDs could offer Brian Ferry, Lindisfarne, Thomas Allen and Ron Angel on one, with Owen Brannigan, Sting and Jimmy Nail, Kevin Whately and Alan Price on the other, to name only a few.

The "drawing room" arrangement of folk songs is almost an English tradition in itself and tracks from Brannigan, Allen and Sheila Armstrong show its better side - but there really was no excuse for putting the excellent Northern Sinfonia Chorus with Tim Healy for The Neighbours Doon Belaa. That's a chorus to be sung in unison, and with enthusiasm and Jim Mageean.

Some tracks have been recorded specially for this collection, others are taken from earlier recordings and - a minor quibble - volume can vary somewhat between tracks. And surely the region's musical heritage is more than songs. One thinks of piper Billy Pigg and Will Atkinson's "mouthie". A bonus, however, is the booklets carrying the complete words.

These CDs, available separately, will retail at about £12 each and are also in cassette form. Look no further for a Christmas present to make any southern exile head for Kings Cross. Gill Wootton