Gentle Men is an album released in 1997 by English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 folk

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 singers Roy Bailey

Roy Bailey (folk singer)

Roy Bailey MBE , is a British socialist folk singer. Roy began his singing career in a skiffle group in 1958.Colin Irwin from the music magazine Mojo said Bailey represents "the very soul of folk's working class ideals.....

 and Robb Johnson

Robb Johnson

Robb Jenner Johnson is a British musician and songwriter, who has been called "one of the last genuinely political songwriters", and is known for his mix of political satire and wit...

 in collaboration with Belgian

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

 singer Vera Coomans and Belgian jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 band Koen De Cauter and the Golden Serenaders. The album takes the form of a song cycle inspired by the experiences of Johnson's grandfathers during the First World War, and was released as part of the Vredesconcerten Passendale

Passendale

Passendale or Passchendaele is a rural Belgian village in the Zonnebeke municipality of West Flanders province...

 (Paschendale Peace Concerts) series.

Concept

Johnson based the songs on the album around the experiences of his two grandfathers at the Ypres Salient

Ypres Salient

The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...

 in 1917 and used official histories and family memories in his research. According to the album's sleevenotes, Johnson's paternal grandfather, Ernest Isaac Johnson, was an apprentice glassblower and amateur musician, who served as a bandsman in the Royal Army Medical Corps

Royal Army Medical Corps

The Royal Army Medical Corps is a specialist corps in the British Army which provides medical services to all British Army personnel and their families in war and in peace...

 from 1915 until the conclusion of the war in 1918. His maternal grandfather, Henry Robert Jenner, enlisted despite being underage and served with the Post Office Rifles

Post Office Rifles

The Post Office Rifles was a unit of the British Army, first formed in 1868 from volunteers. The unit evolved several times until 1921, after which the name was lost during one of many reorganisations.-Beginnings:...

. When his true age was discovered, he was allocated duties away from the frontline, but was eventually sent back to the trenches. Despite being affected by a mustard gas attack, he also survived the war.

Credits

According to the sleevenotes, Bailey, Johnson and Coomans all contribute lead vocals, and Johnson also plays guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

 and whistle

Whistle

A whistle or call is a simple aerophone, an instrument which produces sound from a stream of forced air. It may be mouth-operated, or powered by air pressure, steam, or other means...

. Koen De Cauter plays saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

, guitar and clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

, and the Golden Serenaders band also includes Hendrik Braeckman on guitar, Dajo De Cauter on double bass

Double bass

The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...

, Myrdhin De Cauter on clarinet, Jan De Coninck on trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

, Philip Hoessen on accordion

Accordion

The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....

 and Willy Seeuws on drums. Piet Chielens produced the album, which was recorded and mixed by Rudy Dekeyzer. All songs were written by Johnson and arranged by De Cauter and his band.

Reception

Folk music

Folk music

Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 magazine The Living Tradition described the songs as "emotive, thought provoking and carry[ing] great depth and weight." Allmusic described the songs as "moving" and stated that it was one of the best albums of Johnson's career. Mojo

Mojo (magazine)

MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

named the album Folk Album of the Month, and The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph

The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...

chose it as Folk Album of the Year.

Track listing

Disc One

#	Title	Vocalist	Length
1	Grandfathers	Johnson	2:35
2	A Gentleman Always Wants Horses	Bailey	4:35
3	Three Brothers	Bailey	3:48
4	And Then the Trumpet Sounded	Coomans	2:46
5	Deeper Than Dugouts	Coomans	3:57
6	R.S.M. Regimental Sergeant Major Regimental Sergeant Major is an appointment held by warrant officers class 1 in the British Army, the British Royal Marines and in the armies of many Commonwealth nations, including Australia and New Zealand; and by chief warrant officers in the Canadian Forces...  Schofield Is My Shepherd	Bailey	3:38
7	I Played for Kitchener Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener KG, KP, GCB, OM, GCSI, GCMG, GCIE, ADC, PC , was an Irish-born British Field Marshal and proconsul who won fame for his imperial campaigns and later played a central role in the early part of the First World War, although he died halfway...	Johnson	2:23
8	At the Mercy of the Guns	Bailey	2:52
9	A Garden	Coomans	3:08
10	Bloody Medals	Bailey	3:48
11	Soldier On	Bailey	2:40
12	Empty Chair	Coomans	2:56

Disc Two

#	Title	Vocalist	Length
1	Noni and His Golden Serenaders	Johnson	4:10
2	The Boy of My Dreams	Coomans	2:32
3	When Harry Took Me to See Ypres Ypres Ypres is a Belgian municipality located in the Flemish province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Ypres and the villages of Boezinge, Brielen, Dikkebus, Elverdinge, Hollebeke, Sint-Jan, Vlamertinge, Voormezele, Zillebeke, and Zuidschote...	Coomans	3:56
4	Sweet Dreams	Bailey	3:29
5	The Silence of the Salient Ypres Salient The Ypres Salient is the area around Ypres in Belgium which was the scene of some of the biggest battles in World War I.In military terms, a salient is a battlefield feature that projects into enemy territory. Therefore, the salient is surrounded by the enemy on three sides, making the troops...	Johnson	4:31
6	Whistle	Bailey	3:18
7	The Music from Between the Wars	Bailey	4:57
8	Nobody's Enemy	Johnson	4:17
9	The German Exchange	Johnson	3:14
10	Hindsight	Bailey	1:58
11	Dead Man's Pennies	Coomans	4:13
12	Candles in the Rain	Johnson	2:55
13	Making the Gardens Grow	Johnson	3:51

In 2000 Johnson performed the songs from the album at a Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day

Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed in Commonwealth countries since the end of World War I to remember the members of their armed forces who have died in the line of duty. This day, or alternative dates, are also recognized as special days for war remembrances in many non-Commonwealth...

 concert in Worcester

Worcester

The City of Worcester, commonly known as Worcester, , is a city and county town of Worcestershire in the West Midlands of England. Worcester is situated some southwest of Birmingham and north of Gloucester, and has an approximate population of 94,000 people. The River Severn runs through the...

 with a band which included Russell Churney

Russell Churney

Russell Churney was an English composer, pianist, arranger and musical director. He was also a member of the legendary comedy/cabaret group, Fascinating Aïda...

. He also re-recorded the song "When Harry Took Me To See Ypres", providing the lead vocals himself, on his 2005 album A Beginner's Guide.