For those unaware, Robin Batteau’s brand new album entitled Banned in Sparta is a collaborative effort of songs based on poems by Classical Greek poets, and recorded by friends Tom Paxton, Eric Anderson, Carolyn Hester, Livingston and Kate Taylor, Matt Nakoa, Robin Lane, and 2-time Tony winning actor James Naughton and his gifted children Keira and Greg.

Indeed, Robin was inspired by an Ancient Greek History class he took when he returned to Harvard during the Pandemic to finish a degree that he had started in the 1960’s. Robin subsequently earned the World Record of taking a 50-year break (between 1970-2021) to return to Harvard and finish his degree in 2022.

Banned in Sparta focuses almost entirely on poets from Ancient Greece between 700 and 400 BC. The title finds its name from Archilochus, the Bob Dylan of the 7th Century BC, a warrior-poet so irreverent he was himself banned in Sparta.

1. Stolen in Love (Gorgias)
2. In Her Loving Arms (Corinna)
3. Archilochus Re-Deemed (Archilochus)
4. Telesilla’s On the Wall (Telesilla)
5. Sappho Sweetly Smiling (Alcaeus)
6. Terra Cotta Heart (Sappho)
7. Thracian Filly (Anacreon)
8. Man of Gold (Theater of Memory) (Simonides)
9. How Can You Love Me (Stesichorus)
10. The Most Beautiful Thing In The World (Praxilla)
11. Cross (of Gold) (Catullus)

On a new recording that pays homage to some of the most renowned Greek Lyric poets, and of whom when performing live were the stars of their day, we are first brought forth the rhythmically engaging Stolen in Love (Gorgias) and the melodious In Her Loving Arms (Corinna) and then we get the James Naughton solidly sung Archilochus Re-Deemed (Archilochus), the Celtic-country hued gently jaunt Telesilla’s On the Wall (Telesilla) and the all-embracing Sappho Sweetly Smiling (Alcaeus).

Up next is the low slung, beautifully cadenced yet Terra Cotta Heart (Sappho) and the musically buoyant Thracian Filly (Anacreon), and they are in turn backed by the mid-tempo piano piece Man of Gold (Theater of Memory) (Simonides), the agreeably mellifluous How Can You Love Me (Stesichorus), the set rounding out on the gentle country tones of The Most Beautiful Thing In The World (Praxilla), coming to a close on the easy going love song Cross (of Gold) (Catullus).

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