Last year was the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta, and the House of Commons joined with English folk organisations to commission a set of songs to celebrate “the pursuit of democracy”. Now comes the album, featuring four impressive singer-songwriters – Sam Carter, Nancy Kerr, Maz O’Connor and Martyn Joseph – and work that would surely not please both sides of the House. There is praise for past achievements, including a rousing gospel-influenced finale by Carter in honour of the Slave Abolition Act, and a jaunty piece from Kerr that mixes stories of suffragettes and anti-slavery boycotts. But the best songs are angry protests and warnings. Joseph’s tribute to Bevan and the NHS includes the reminder “go break your arm and see what it costs in New Orleans”; O’Connor laments the demise of the trade union movement, while Carter’s Dark Days is a bleak, bluesy comment on contemporary politics.
