"Remembrance Day" and "Coal Not Dole" - tracks on:
Undefeated: A Benefit for Miners (Fuse Records M100)
Funny Old World (No Masters NMCD3 / NMMC3) - Coope Boyes & Simpson's first solo album
Folk Roots Critics Choice of 1993
Folk and Country Album of the Year, Review of 1994, Q
"Remembrance Day / Coal Not Dole" - Folk and Country Vocal of the Year, Review of 1994, Q
"Jerusalem Revisited" - track on No Masters ( No Masters NMCD4) (1994)
"In my book, the singer-songwriter album of the year." Dirty Linen
"Jerusalem Revisited" - track on Folk Roots First On-Cover CD (August/September 1994 issue)
"I bid you goodnight" - as Blue Murder (combined Watersons, Waterson Carthy and Coope, Boyes and Simpson) on Out on the Rolling Sea (Hokey Pokey HPR 2004.2)
We're Here Because We're Here (No Masters NMCD8) - live recording of concert in Passchendaele Church, with Flemish musicians Willem Vermandere and Norbert Detaeye
Album of the Year, Gandalf (Belgium) 1995. Critics Choice, Folk Roots 1995
Falling Slowly (No Masters NMCD9) - second solo album - Released August 1996.
"They're one hell of a group and this is the best thing they've done....they've a good claim to have rejuvenated unaccompanied English harmony." Folk Roots.
"... pertinent lyricism combines with strong melody and those harmonies - the impact is powerful." Q
"...expletive deleted brilliant" Tykes News
"The singing is inspirational - dissonance melts into irresistible harmony, despondency gives way to hope - truly songs with nowt taken out!" Living Tradition
"They have compassion, a tight lyrical turn in their songs of the underdog and the kind of harmonies that could melt even a Tory heart. The singing is so good and rich you really don't even notice that the voices are the only instruments, and the words shine through like - well, like beacons." Dirty Linen
Critics Choice - Folk Roots, Gandalf, New Folk Sounds (Netherlands) 1996.
Passchendaele Suite (No Masters NMCD10) - with Belgian octet Panta Rhei
"...it succeeds triumphantly. Brilliant, no question." Folk Roots
“Music seldom performs so savage an indictment against destruction.” New Internationalist
Album of the Year, Gandalf (Belgium) 1996
Critics Choice - Folk Roots, New Internationalist (UK), New Folk Sounds 1997.
"Jerusalem Revisited" - track on One Voice: Vocal Music from Around the World (World Music Network RGNET 1014 CD) (1997)
Hindsight (No Masters NMCD11) (1998) - Album of traditional songs
“Whether it’s the delicacy of Sprig of Thyme or the swaggering exhilaration of Six Jolly Miners, they sing beautifully and powerfully. They make something fresh of even the most familar material.... The result’s wonderful.” Nick Beale, Folk Roots.
“The outstanding album of the year so far.... a selection of fifteen traditional songs that make lovely listening. They tip their hats to the Copper Family by including their Christmas Song, but the compelling unity of their voices and the enchantment of their adventurous chords is heard to its best effect on Low Down in the Broom, The Sprig of Thyme and With My Dog and Gun. Jim’s solo hears him exuding all the spine-chilling possibilities of Reynardine. Vic Smith, The Folk Diary.
“Buy this and acknowledge the new leaders.” Roy Harris, Taplas.
“Their singing is quite wonderful throughout and the harmonies are both inspired and inspiring. Whether delivering a faithful interpretation of the Copper family’s Christmas Song or skilfully adapting for three voice, the chords of Nic Jones’ classic guitar arrangement for Ten Thousand Miles, their performances are never short of ear boggling. If Surrey Folk News allowed a maximum of five stars for a review, this album would warrant a six.” Lawrence Heath, Surrey Folk News.
“An object lesson in the art of harmony singing, both in terms of style, and in choice of and approach to traditional song.” Bill Caddick, Shreds and Patches.
“An album in which the finest singers pay homage to the greatest songs. The harmonies impart a truly spacious and emotive quality to these songs. Highlights for me were Shallow Brown, The Coppers Christmas Song and Ten Thousand Miles. Traditional singing at its most expressive and evocative from the centre of the idiom.” Chris Miles, Shire Folk.
“The interpretation and presentation of the songs make this a truly exceptional piece of work.” Jim Hancock, Folktalk
Album of the month. New Folk Sounds, The Netherlands.
Hindsight has also featured regularly in the Folk Roots Charts and BBC Radio Two’s Mike Harding Show Folk Charts.
"Falling Slowly" - track on The Rough Guide to English Roots Music (World Music Network RGNET 1018 CD) (1998)
“Reynardine” - track on Folkfestival Dranouter (EVA 7248 846248 2) (1998)
Backing vocals on Rick Kemp album (1998)
A Garland of Carols (No Masters NMCD13) Released Nov 1998 - Historical and regional carols sung unaccompanied
“Phil Spector eat your heart out! You
come away with elation ringing in your ears...” Folk Roots
“The pick of the Christmas folk albums this
year... As ever the trio’s harmony singing is a joy and the lush blend
of their voices is distinctive and unbeatable. For the first time they
invite guests on to their recording and they make some glorious sounds with
their close associates, The Fraser Sisters and Georgina Boyes, particularly on
“While Shepherds Watched” to the tune “Pentonville”. The Folk Diary
“...the protagonists plumb the depths and
scale the heights of their tremendous vocal ranges in one, two and (Glory be to
God) most often three-part magnificence. the Fraser sisters contribute to
Cambourne “Nowell” and with Georgina Boyes add their four penn’orth to a
fitting finale - the Pentonville “While Shepherds” from Sheffield. A
Garland of Carols superbly illustrates the variety and richness of English
“folk-carolling” and will satisfy the uninitiated and the veteran in equal
measure.” The Living Tradition
“Not only do we have harmony singing of the
highest order on this album, but on A Garland of Carols we are reminded of a
rich musical heritage with some stunning versions of well known and lesser known
carols. Living in and around South Yorkshire and North East Derbyshire
many Stirrings readers will be aware of this through our flourishing carol
tradition, but for many, this CB&S album will be a revelation in more ways
than one.” Stirrings
“...a disk you can still listen to after
Christmas without getting a bad conscience.” Folkworld
Coope Boyes & Simpson and Wak Maar Proper, Christmas Truce / Kerstbestand (No Masters NMCD14) Released Nov 1999
“Without any shadow of doubt the a cappella album of the Millennium. No ‘buts’ no ‘maybes’ it just is. A collection of great humour, sublime pathos, cutting social comment and touching on all human emotions, yet sung with incredible sensitivity.... a crowning glory of a CD.” Folk North-West
Where You Belong (No Masters NMCD15) Released July 1999 - A Song Cycle commissioned by and for the town of Belper in Derbyshire.
Folk Roots Chart
“I hope the people of Belper are pleased
with it: I certainly was. There’s no wallowing in ‘heritage’ and the
message is that the past is where we came from, not where we should stay.
The fact that these admirable sentiments are set to uplifting music is all the
better.” Nick Beale, Folk Roots
“The lyrics distill the universal from the
local. And Coope Boyes and Simpson’s singing is as jawdropping as ever
throughout - just listen to their harmonies on ‘Fairground Attraction’ and
‘The Levelution’. They are without peer.” Lawrence Heath, Surrey
Folk News
“I’m running out of superlatives.”
Bill Caddick, Shreds and Patches.
“New songs that sound gloriously old.”
Robert Resnik, Vermont Public Radio
What We Sing.... (No Masters / World Music Network NMCD50) Released Oct 1999
“At last a Best of Coope Boyes and Simpson. Each track is exquisite.” Tim Moon, BCB.
"twenty-four seven" No Masters (NMCD20) released June 2002
Twenty-four Seven (No Masters NMCD20) –
Released July 2002
“a terrific new album – as passionate a
toured force of unaccompanied singing as you can imagine.” Mojo
“…songs embodying strong stories and
telling messages come wrapped in harmonies that make the skin prickle and the
voice long to join in.” BBC Radio 2 Folk website
“Bright Phoebus” Blue Murder (Norma and
Mike Waterson, Martin and Eliza Carthy, Coope Boyes and Simpson) - track on
Shining Bright (Topic TSCD519)
"The Coen brothers did it for the music of the deep south, Ry Cooder ditto for Cuban music.and now Topic Records have done it for Lal and Mike Waterson, two of English folk's most original and searingly creative singers/songwriters. This is a collection that bristles and shines. A collection to bask in. A glorious gathering" Irish Times
Top Ten Best Albums of 2002 – BBC Radio 2
Top Ten Best Albums of 2002 – Mojo
"..seldom has the unadorned human voice
sounded more exhilarating. No One Stands Alone is destined to be one of the best
British folk albums released this year"
The
Times
"…singing and harmonising…top of the
range…selection of songs…spot on, but more than that, there is a startling
chemistry about them. There is a real mood of spontaneity and the idea of a
group united by..a mutual love of the songs they are performing. Stand-out
tracks include the rousing Bully in the Alley, the sentimental Land Where you
Never Grow Old, and the devotional Standing on the Promises of God. Choruses
made in heaven all. It is an album of qualities and values. Timeless."
fRoots
"The collective warmth of their intricately meshed harmonies fully bears
out the togetherness made explicit in the title track. The septet's burnished
tones bring dignity and affection to their songs, with Norma Waterson's
commanding voice proud and plangent at its heart. - …beautiful renditions of
traditional songs such as "Stars in My Crown" and "The Banks of
Sweet Primeroses" tempered by the poignant sway of something like "The
Land Where You Never Grow Old". The Independent Review
"Performed in a dazzling array of harmonies by the best singers in the
business - exhilarating - majestic and heartwarming. Essential" Mojo
“Hard and Stubbled Field” track on
Stirrings 16 Red Hot Tracks (STIRCD01) - Stirrings on cover CD (1999)
“There
are three or four fine performances of songs…. John Tams, Barry Coope, Jim Boyes and Lester Simpson give us a great
“Doing Time to Fit Your Crime.” English Dance & Song
“Jerusalem
Revisited” Track on The Acoustic Box: Four decades of the very best
acoustic folk music from the British Isles (Topic Records TSFCD4001).
Distribution: Proper Music Distribution - 020 8699 8100 / ADA 01773 850000 / MAP Records (Belgium) +32 57 446933 & by Mail Order from No Masters 44 (0) 1709 375063