“What a cute record,” my 18-year-old son exclaimed when Music from a Small Island was running in the CD player of my home office. I think I would rather use the word “charming,” but otherwise we agree.
Simon Mayor and Hilary James appear and various guises. They can label themselves a duo, or as in this case someone’s solo album, with the other half contributing. Whatever name they use their trademark is there, acoustic music played with the light touch only those who really master their instruments can use. Here Mayor plays mandolins of various sizes, violin and guitar, and James different basses, and they both sing.
I guess they have taken the title from Bill Bryson’s wonderful book, “Notes from a Small Island,” and they have divided the CD up into three sections, “Three English Songs,” “The Warfdale Suite” and “Scottish Collection,” the first and the last made up of traditional songs and tunes, and the middle suite composed by Mayor. He has also composed the starting and finishing tracks, “Midnight in Manchester” and “The Middlesmoor Waltz.”
Many of the traditional tracks are well known, but Mayor and James make them their own. The treatment of “Such a Parcel of Rogues” for instance lets Mayor display his ability on a number of instruments, and “Rosebud in June” first gets an instrumental arrangement, followed by James’s clear soprano voice.
Sometimes I get the feeling that Mayor has hinted at classical composers when arranging the pieces. Here you have many of the classical marks, like tunes being swapped between instruments, delightful harmonies and small interludes. Had Mayor been born in a different age I feel his arrangements would have been written for a string quartet or why not a full symphony orchestra. My verdict is that Mayor and James once again have come up with a lovely record, in a style that is exclusively their own. Cute or charming, take your pick.
I have written a couple of earlier reviews of Children’s Favourites, and a dual review of Lullabies with Mandolins, and Laughing With the Moon. They were also mentioned in this review of Cropredy 2005.
(Acoustics, 2006)
