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CD Review: “All That’s Changed” Vols 1 & 2
By The Living Archive Band
The current Living Archive Band are Marion Hill, Sue Malleson, Brad Bradstock, Paul Clark and Kevin Adams, and if anyone still thinks of Milton Keynes in terms of concrete cows, this fine collection of 28 songs will put them straight.
It is a musical distillation of thousands of hours put in by dozens of interviewers, transcribers, archivists, playwrights, actors, composers and singers as part of a momentous project. Begun in the 1980s, The Living Archive preserves and presents the highs and lows of people and places from Stony to Bletchley, over nearly 100 years.
To call the songs its culmination, would ignore the huge variety of other artistic, documentary and educational aspects of the project.
But to call them merely an extract of something much bigger, would seriously undersell the song-writing and performance skills of the Living Archive Band. Chosen from over 60 songs, the 28 recorded all stand up in their own right, and the nearest comparison I can think of is with the famous Radio Ballads of the 50s and 60s.
Written for several musical plays, it is impossible in a short review, to single out any songs or performers.
Just set aside a couple of hours - listen, learn and enjoy. And for the concrete cow brigade – this is far more a celebration of the area than a lamentation; more eulogy than elegy.
Mike Blair
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