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Voice of the People
Reviews Index


Cover - Volume 1

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Introduction

Topic Records' new 'Voice of the People' series of 20 CDs was officially launched on October 28th 1998.  We hope that it will be seen as having a significance equal to that of the huge Rounder/Lomax series, despite its smaller size and more limited range, in that it does the job it sets out to do more effectively and to a greater depth.  Only time will tell - the Rounder series has more than two more years of scheduled releases to come, and its compilers and editors may choose to learn from Topic's example.

Whatever the outcome of that, the Topic set has been a mammoth undertaking, and achievement, for so small a company, and we believe that its individual volumes ought to be considered as constituent parts of a coherent whole, despite their having been prepared to function as freestanding items.  Accordingly, the reviews appear grouped as a unit - accessible from this Index page.

(And those who are wondering why so little of Topic's Irish material is featured in this series are reminded that only a couple of years ago, Ace/Globestyle Records produced an exemplary series of 9 themed CDs, compiled by Ron Kavana, which did something of the same job for Ireland as Voice of the People.  Searching through all 750 tracks of both series is not something I'm about to get into but, from a quick look, I think that there is very little overlap between the two publications.)


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