Freedom and Rain

This is not only one of Oysterband’s best albums, it’s also one of June Tabor’s best. Although she started out as a strictly traditional folk singer in the late 1960s, by the end of the 1980s she had expanded her range considerably, and this musical summit meeting with British folk-rockers Oysterband (at the time still billed as The Oyster Band) finds both at the peak of their powers. Their rendition of Shane MacGowan’s startlingly tender “Lullaby of London” is perhaps the album’s high point, but their cover of Richard Thompson’s “Night Comes In” is excellent as well, and there’s really not a weak track here.