Each year, I get to listen to literally hundreds of folk music CDs and every now and then along comes a real gem. This is one of them!
I remember back in the ’70s getting my hands on a vinyl LP called White Mansions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Mansions , a rock opera with superb songs and music based on the American Civil War. It’s a classic album and it will live on forever, never sounding dated. In a sense Freeborn John is a parallel piece of musical master genius, but this time based on the English Civil War. If you are a folk-rock fan, (Fairport Convention or Steeleye Span, say) you will love the rock opera Freeborn John.
It’s the brainchild of Rev Hammer, who wrote all the songs. I first heard the studio recorded album back in 1996. I thought it was good then. But I am surprised it took 10 years or so to actually get it performed live on stage. To my knowledge, this is the first time it has ever been performed live. So it was at the Beautiful Days Festival held in Escot House grounds, Devon, that it came to life. This was quite an undertaking as there are more than 50 singers and musicians involved.
This is a dual album with the whole of the concert on a CD. The accompanying DVD has the concert performance, enhanced with visual effects featuring the English Civil War Society filmed in action adding ambiance. The main vocals are sung in character, headed by Rev Hammer as John Lilburne, with Maddy Prior as Elizabeth Lilburne, Harry S Fulcher as Oliver Cromwell, Phil Johnstone as the executioner/will of the people, Justin Sullivan as a Parliament soldier, Simon Friend as the cavalier, Romney Getty as Mary Overton and Rory McLeod as Vox Populi/the folk singer. Plus too many more to mention.
So, who was Freeborn John? This was a nickname given to John Lilburne, a radical 17th century politician and activist. A quick potted history of John Lilburne shows in the history of The Levellers, and I quote from Origins of the Fifth Amendment by Leonard W. Levy: ‘The Levellers were an informal alliance of agitators and pamphleteers who came together during the English Civil War (1642-1648) to demand constitutional reform and equal rights under the law. Levellers believed all men were born free and equal and possessed natural rights that resided in the individual, not the government. They believed that each man should have freedom limited only by regard for the freedom of others. They believed the law should equally protect the poor and the wealthy. The Levellers were the social libertarians of the day (or classic liberals). “Leveller” was a term of abuse, coined by their opponents to exaggerate the threat of their ideas. The main leader of the Levellers was John Lilburne (known as Freeborn John). Lilburne was a Lieutenant-Colonel in the Parliamentarian Army. Through his extensive writing and publishing of pamphlets, he was able to gain wide support for his ideas among army soldiers and the common people.
‘Lilburne was, or became, a radical in everything – in religion, in politics, in economics, in social reform, in criminal justice – and his ideas were far ahead of his time. From 1637 when he was but 23 years old until his death 20 years later, he managed to keep his government in a hectic state. In successive order he defied king, parliament, and protectorate, challenging each with libertarian principles. Standing trial for his life four times, he spent most of his adult years in prison and died in banishment. Yet he could easily have had positions of high preferment if he had thrown in his lot with Parliament of Cromwell. Instead, he sacrificed everything in order to be free to attack injustice from any source. He once accurately described himself as “an honest true-bred, freeborn Englishman that never in his life loved a tyrant or feared an oppressor.” ‘
My favourite song on the album has to be the duet between the Cavalier (Simon Friend) and Elizabeth Lilburne (Maddy Prior) as she rides from Oxford to London to plead with Cromwell for the life of her husband, imprisoned in the Tower. The whole of the album is good, and my advice is to maybe play the CD first before running the DVD. Then the whole thing comes to life.
Conclusion: If you are an English history buff, then you will enjoy it all more. If you are not, no need to worry as the package contains a nice little booklet that explains all in an interesting manner. Either way, simply enjoy the opera and the music; it’s brilliant.
(FBJ Theatre Co., 2006)
