Search - Glenn Yarbrough :: Chantyman

Chantyman

Linda Buckingham | Vancouver, B. C. Canada | 09/30/2000

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I fell in love with Glen Yarbrough's voice the Christmas of 1965 when I first heard his album Time to Move On. He is still my favorite vocalist and can make my heart soar along with his extraordinary voice. I am a former commercial fisherman, have lived the cruising life aboard a sailboat, and presently live aboard a classic cruiser. Imagine my delight to find a new album that combines songs of the sea with Glen's crystal clear melodic voice!"

AVAST, mateys! Step back in time with Glenn Yarbrough!

Henry R. Kujawa | "The Forbidden Zone" (Camden, NJ) | 04/11/2002

(4 out of 5 stars)

"Glenn Yarbrough's 2 obsessions in life seem to be singing, and sailing. On this album he gets to celebrate both. Following up on 1991's I COULD HAVE BEEN A SAILOR, this 1995 release delves back into what strikes me as an earlier time, when the only thing powering a ship at sea were its sails. (The character "Ned Land" from 20,000 LEAGUES UNDER THE SEA probably knew most of these tunes!)Listening to the vocal arrangements on CHANTYMAN, one might almost mistake this for a LIMELITERS album! Maybe that's why this quickly became one of my favorite Yarbrough albums (and boy, he's done a LOT of 'em!). There are slow, mellow songs here, but also more upbeat, rousing numbers than I find usual for one of his solo projects. Among my faves are "Chantyman" and "The Whaler's Tale" (in which a retiring sailor impresses the idea that he won't hunt whales anymore, because he feels they're as smart as those chasing them).If anything, this is almost "too much" of a good thing-- at around 70 minutes it's one of Glenn's longest albums, and once or twice it feels like it should be over when it just picks up again. But it's possible with this project he may have just figured, "throw in the kitchen sink". And anyway, with CDs it's easy to skip tracks-- OR, play ones you like over and over!"