Label: Freeborn John Theatre Company Format: CD+DVD (PAL)
Originally released in 1996, Freeborn John was Rev Hammer‘s folk rock opera about the life of English radical “Freeborn” John Lilburne, who fought in the Civil War and dedicated his life to liberty and freedom. A natural subject for Hammer, who’s carved out a niche of his own by being a folk musician not afraid to cross the boundaries into rockabilly or, less controversially perhaps, punk. A founder member (with Joolz Denby and New Model Army’s Justin Sullivan) of Red Sky Coven, he’s always been an engaging live performer and his debut album Industrial Sound And Magic is regarded in many quarters (including my house) as a classic.
Freeborn John gathered together such luminaries as Maddy Prior, Rory McLeod, The Levellers (of course) and Justin Sullivan and Dave Blomberg, but it was always assumed too difficult logistically to ever perform live. Until a couple of years ago, when the whole damn thing was staged at the Levellers’ Beautiful Days festival, with all the performers present as well as the cocking English Civil War Society! Well, if a job’s worth doing, etc…
So now we get the live performance, and it’s really quite something. The main advantage of being able to watch this on DVD is, of course, the snippets of information we get between songs, telling us the story as we go and providing a little more context for those of us who aren’t quite as au fait with English history as we possibly should be (especially if, like me, you studied the fucking stuff). It’s not only a great story, which undoubtedly lends itself to this kind of treatment, it’s also a complex narrative structure Hammer uses, with a wide array of voices singing us through Lilburne’s life, kind of like one of those novels told in newspaper clippings, letters and interviews. It works well here, giving the whole thing a pretty epic sweep; the only real drawback to this approach is that one’s sometimes left feeling more time could have been spent on each of the characters, but that’s testament to Hammer’s storytelling skills more than anything else – each song demands empathy, and sometimes it’s hard to move on.
The music on show’s pretty damn eclectic, too- one minute we have Hammer himself (as Lilburne) leading a rousing call to arms, the next a more traditionally murder-ballad style duet between Lilburne’s wife and a lascivious Cavalier (played by Maddy Prior and the Levellers’ Mark Chadwick). Then Rory McLeod comes on (as Vox Populi!), acting as both cheerleader and narrator to the strains of some downright dirty reggae with additional filthy sax parping. For me, the highlight is “Rumour And Rapture”, on which Justin Sullivan adopts the voice of soldier Nehemiah Warton in a stomping illustration of all these historic events from the point of view of the men on the ground (parallels with modern events are, of course, very easy to draw and, one would think, or indeed expect, totally intentional) which sounds suspiciously like his own band; possibly because his voice is so distinctive, and also possibly because it’s Dave Blomberg playing the guitar. This track on its own is worth the price of admission if you’re a Sullivan fan, and that it fits in so snugly is proof, if (as Chris Morris would say) proof be need be, of the high quality of all the material on this album.
The only track that really suffers without the visuals (other than those featuring battle re-enactments) is “Lilburne’s Death Song”, which goes on for several minutes after the song has actually finished. Watching the DVD, however, this makes far more sense, as it’s the curtain call, and there’s a fairly substantial cast to be thanked. And boy, do they get thanked. Other than sheer enjoyment of the music and spectacle on show, the main feeling I got from watching the thing was one of envy – it must have been absolutely fucking wicked to have seen this live (well, OK, I was also intensely relieved that it was by Rev, rather than MC, Hammer, but that’s just me). Who knows? If enough of you buy this, the Rev may be persuaded to take his revolutionary show on the road. And that would indeed be radical.
-Deuteronemu 90210, voice of the people-
