Various Artists
Voice and Vision: Songs of Resistance, Democracy and Peace
(Topic Records)
5 stars

THIS double-CD compilation of songs about working lives and struggles features the likes of Martin Carthy, Norma Waterson, Roy Harris, Anne Briggs and a host of other greats.

It’s just been released by Topic Records and the General Federation of Trade Unions (GFTU) and both partners are to be congratulated for having the vision to reaffirm the power of song and the role that it has, does and will play in the fight for a better future.

The 29 tracks featured on Voice and Vision include a wide range of traditional and modern songs — all performed with passion and integrity — and among the highlights are Roy Bailey’s rendition of the Hard Times of Old England and Roy Harris’s great performance of Poverty Knocks.

And there’s the incomparable Paul Robeson, whose version of Joe Hill towers above any other, and Paddy Ryan’s uproarious The Man that Waters the Workers’ Beer.

Another stand-out is Norma Waterson’s Coal Not Dole. Thirty years after the great strike and 25 after the criminal destruction of the industry, it’s an eloquent reminder of the damage wreaked on all by a cynical and uncaring government.

Peggy Seeger turns in an amazing performance too with the beautiful and rolling If You Want a Better Life, whose purpose and commitment puts the political wind in the sails.

Overall, the CD’s a succession of remarkable tracks like these and it certainly ends on a high with War by the First of May Band.

Yet a few don’t quite work for me. General Lidd’s Triumph by MG Boulter doesn’t match the magnificent and defiant version by Roy Harris on his Topic album The Bitter and the Sweet.

Ditto the version of the International by the Topic singers — it’s a big song and really needs a choir of hundreds to do it justice — yet, even so, Robert Wyatt’s solo rendition of the song works well.

And it’s a pity that room couldn’t be found for Dick Gaughan’s version of the Workers’ Song and/or Revolution.

Perhaps this is the start of an argument for a Voice and Vision Volume 2 — a tempting prospect, but it’ll only happen if the current one sells well.

A must-buy and a huge bargain at only £10. Dig deep, brothers and sisters.

The CD can be ordered from Sean Brown at the GFTU [email protected] or David Suff at Topic, [email protected]