Nouveau Retro Media 2025
American veteran of rhyme and reason and his stellar friends tap into archaic vein to tune into timeless truths.
Banned In Sparta
Setting classic poetry to popular music has been known to happen – some of such attempts, in particular those using Edgar Allan Poe’s verses, even become hits – but basing songs on the works of classical poets, as opposed to interpreting them in contemporary manner, is a much rarer exercise. Still, that’s what Robin Batteu went for on his first proper studio album as a solo artist, one freshly graduated from Harvard he returned to after a half-century break and a few decades spent co-penning songs for the likes of Judy Collins, Patti Austin and Bette Midler. The foray into academia saw Robin enchanted with rhapsodes of different renown, from Anacreon and Sappho to Corinna and Stesichorus, so Batteu decided to channel this fascination of his into an array of tuneful pieces aimed at a wider audience, and invited several kindred spirits to help him give voice to ancient stanzas.
Some of these voices measure eternity on their own terms. That’s why the elder statesmen perspective had to be evoked, and the erstwhile Greenwich Village scenesters Eric Andersen and Tom Paxton lend a folk-revival gravitas to the platter. The former’s delivering the record’s tremulous, touchingly chamber finale, “Cross (Of Gold)” which is rooted in Catullus, the only Roman here, so it’s not all Greeks to the listener, and the latter the boisterous, Appalachia-tinctured ditty “Thracian Filly” which bridges Old and New Worlds, and ages too. And that’s why Batteau, who chose “How Can You Love Me” – deceptively dry, but getting gradually drenched in vibrant, violin-driven soundscape – for himself to intone, applied a familial angle to half of the performances. Robin assigned the jovially belligerent, if warmly mellifluous, “Archilochus Re-Deemed” – a number addressing the titular issue – to James Naughton, and passed on the warm ballad “The Most Beautiful Thing In The World” and ethereal opener “Stolen In Love” to the actor’s actor children, Keira and Greg respectively, and gave the groovy, soul-tinged “Telesilla’s On The Wall” and the hoedown-exhilarating “Sappho Sweetly Smiling” to fellow singer-songwriters, the Taylor siblings, Kate and Livingston.
And then there are the infectiously homey “In Her Loving Arms” where Carolyn Hester’s vocals dance around Batteu’s strings and bow, the breathy, breezy “Terra Cotta Heart” infused with affection by his namesake Lane, and the piano-laden “Man Of Gold (Theater Of Memory)” which the young Matt Nakoa’s honeyed pipes render just as catchy and tender. Robin’s comeback to his studies and move to the fore of the stage was totally worth it.
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