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Hammer and Tongues Recordings
Hammer and Tongues were a women's unaccompanied vocal group based in Fremantle 1991-1992.
Voices Abreast
Voices Abreast, cassette recording, 1991
Kerry Fletcher, Lynn Hazelton, Maria Wilson, with Kate Kelly (tracks 2, 6)
tracks
1. More than a pay check (Ysaye M. Barnwell)
2. Madre Campesina (Spanish trad.)
3. Ajde red (Macedonian trad.)
4. Mama and Papa gonna join a union (Lynn Hazelton, arr. Christine Evans)
5. Travelling shoes
6. I wish (Lynn Hazelton, arr. Phillip Griffin)
7. Hay una mujer (Holly Near)
8. Deaths go on (lyrics Peter Kearney, music Kerry Fletcher)
9. Bamthata (Zulu freedom song)
10. Don't let your heart out (Debbie Longworth)
Kitchen Records Co-operative production
Trio proves merits of human voice
Jennifer Temm, The West Australian, date unknown
Hammer and Tongues, Voices Abreast
INSTRUMENTS can.be made to sound beautiful but there is no instrument that can match the human voice for its range of emotion and expression.
Good a capella is immediately captivating — when voices harmonise so perfectly they produce a single sound and no individual voice can be distinguished.
Hammer and Tongues, a Freo-based trio comprising Kerry Fletcher. Maria Wilson and Lynn Hazeiton, reach that peak often in Voices Abreast.
The three singers have developed a compelling range of material during their three years together and draw on music from Spain, South Africa. Macedonia, the US, South America and Australia as well as adding a few of their own compositions to this 10-track cassette.
The medium is ideal for words of rebellion. Songs such as Hay Una Mujer, about the missing women in Chile, and their own contemporary lament Deaths Go On, about black deaths in custody, carry just as much power as the more traditional arrangements such as the Zulu freedom song Bamthata.
The harmonies can't be faulted and the timing is excellent, notably on the technically difficult Don't Let Your Heart. The only instruments are occasional drums and triangle but the voices create their own melodies. counter-melodics, rhvthms and syncopation with great skill.This is a powerful, well performed collection that deserves to be heard bvya wide audience.
Steve Barnes' review of Voices Abreast
Voices Abreast is the latest in a recent string of independently produced and funded cassette albums by WA acoustic performers. This album is a sparkling collection of original and traditional vocal music by Fremantle-based a cappella trio Hammer and Tongues.
The band has been together in various forms for about three and a half years, Kerry Fletcher and Lynn Hazelton being involved from the beginning. Kerry and Lynn were joined by blues singer Maria Wilson two years ago to make up the current line-up. Between them, their backgrounds range through soul, blues, gospel, South American and Eastern European folk and rock’n’roll. They've been involved in a number of theatrical productions, including Alice at the Spare Parts Puppet Theatre.
They have been making quite a splash lately, both locally and nationally, in the opinion of many people (including me) stealing the show at Adelaide from the much-lauded Blindman's Holiday. Much of their appeal comes from the excitement and choreography of their stage performance, and the inevitable question with their debut recording was, would the energy come across without the visual element? Obviously, listening to the cassette is a much different experience from seeing the band live, but I'm happy to report that the music stands up beautifully by itself.
The ten songs on the album include traditional songs front Chile, Macedonia and South Africa, originals by Lynn Hazelton and Kerry Fletcher, some contemporary covers, and the gospel classic 'Travelling Shoes', borrowed from Maria Muldaur and given a rousing treatment. All the songs were recorded at Planet Studios under the expert guidance of James Hewgill. The great advantage of studio work - the opportunity to overdub extra parts - is used sparingly and effectively, and the production has an impressive sense of space.
The vocal performance is very nearly flawless thoughout, and the arrangements sparkle with imagination. The opening number, 'More than a Paycheck' (from Sweet Honey in the Rock) is the standout track, with a complex five-part arrangement that builds to a fascinating counterpoint. Much less complex but no less satisfying is the traditional Macedonian song “Ajde Red", driven by Kerry's tasteful work on the Tapan (the big Macedonian druin). Lynn Hazelton’s 'Mama and Papa gonna join a Union' is another fine track with a punchy arrangement, a very good song in the best Pete Seeger tradition. 'Bamthata', a freedom song from South Africa on the well worn Nelson Mandela theme, has a melody that won’t leave you alone, and comes a close second to 'Pay-check' as my favourite on the album. Holly Near’s 'Hay una mujer' is beautifully sung here, but this is one of those great but over-exposed songs which needs to be left alone for a while so that people can start to hear it again. This is the one song on the album which really needs H&T's theatrical stage presence to make it happen - the live version, complete with candles to symbolize the junta's victims, really brings the message across. On the other hand, a song which I feel comes over better recorded than live is Lynn's original 'I Wish', a wistful song of female aspirations with a lovely subtle arrangement.
It's a pity that they skimped a bit on the labelling on the cassettes - music this good deserves packaging to match. I hope they can fix this on subsequent production runs.
In conclusion, I can strongly recommend this cassette to lovers of good singing and good songs. It’s a pleasure to be able to recommend a local recording not out of any sense of parochialism but entirely on its musical merits. This is a lovely album which speaks for itself. Copies are available from Mills Record Bar, Dada’s, 78s and Monkey Music for $15.
Hammer and Tongues will be appearing later on in the year in one of our Fly By Night concerts, and will also be doing a workshop at the Skills Exchange. Don't miss them!
ARTSWEST review July/August 1991
HAMMER and Tongues have been together for a few years, but the present line-up of Lynn Hazelton, Kerry Fletcher and Maria Wilson has been in force since about the time of the memorable Women In Song concert last year.
They form part of a rising trend in female a cappella music which seems to have been underway since the seventies, but has flourished in the last two or three years. The Roches and Sweet Honey In The Rock are almost household names and Australia’s Blindman’s Holiday have been cutting a swathe overseas.
It is no accident that this trend has paralleled the strides that women have made for equality in the last couple of decades. Such bands have often been characterised as a platform for feminism and to some extent that is true and why not?
But Hammer and Tongues, like most, are entertainers as well as purveyors of social messages, moved as much by the music as by setting the world to rights. Also evident in their repertoire is a love of the music of the disparate cultures of the world which lends refreshing variety to their performances.
And the concert stage is where Hammer and Tongues stand out from many similar outfits. The degree of commitment to selling their songs is unique. The spotty trousers, tailcoats and braces, the choreography and tire warm, infectious sense of fun and theatre all demand, and get, instant communication with the audience, defying indifference.
All of this has taken a lot of work and rehearsal but it doesn’t show ... if you see what I mean. Melting hearts as they went, they swept into Adelaide at the National Folk Festival over Easter and came away with accolades and a swag of invitations to play over east, including the prestigious Port Fairy Festival.
With all this it mustn’t be assumed that the music comes second. They are all fine singers and Maria Wilson has access to those gutsy tones that can really lift a song. Their arrangements are complex and sometimes dazzling but always serving the music, rather than showy for the sake of it.
This said, for such a visual group, a recording is somewhat of a test, but one which they have passed with a few gold stars. Recorded in January at Planet Studios and self-produced, it sounds great with clear separation and balance of tire voices.
Helping out with vocals on a couple of tracks is former member Kate Kelly. The material ranges from traditional songs of Spain, Macedonia and South Africa to gospel and contemporary songwriting, including two originals from Lynn and Peter Kearney’s Deaths Go On with music from Kerry.
Plenty of variety in the approach too, with Roches-style cool vocals coupled with lyrical punch in More Than A Pay Check, about industrial disease, impassioned harmonising on tire Spanish Madre Campesina and the harder style, Eastern European, almost-dissonances of the Macedonian Ajde Red.
Hazelton’s Mama And Papa Gonna Join A Union and I Wish show delightfully different songwriting skills and lyrical sophistication. The latter, concerning role expectations versus freedom, is one of the highlights of the recording with a multi-layered arrangement by Phillip Griffin.
Holly Near’s Hay Una Mujer is a compelling song about the victims of Pinochet’s Chile and Bamthata is a moving Zulu freedom song. The recording concludes with Debbie Longworth's Don't Let Your Heart — the sort of quirky arrangement they do so well and which conjures up images of their live performance. The same goes for Travelling Shoes—a joyful gospel stomp.
I have this wonderful recording. Three gold stars!
Garry Gillard | New: 2 May, 2021 | Now: 13 May, 2024
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally hosted at freotopia.org/music/hnt/voicesabreast.html, and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.