Chuck Lipsig penned this review.
Twenty-seven years, thirteen original albums, and two compilations: That’s the running total for The Tannahill Weavers with their new CD, Alchemy. With the present line-up of Roy Gullane (Vocals, guitar), John Martin (Vocals, fiddle), Duncan Nicholson (pipes and whistles), Phil Smillie (Vocals, flute, whistles), and Les Wilson (Vocals, bouzouki, guitar, keyboards), the group collectively notes it’s the first time they’ve kept the same line-up for 3 straight albums. Maybe that’s the problem. Alchemy is a good enough CD, but it lacks something of the spontaneous-seeming spirit that the group usually has.
The first two tracks of Alchemy are among the strongest. They blaze through “The Fair Maid of Oban Set,” a set of 5 traditional reels with their customary verve. “Fair Maid of Oban” is the middle reel, but I guess it was better that than calling the track “The Thailer a Bha me Sherridh is Feader a Thuair me Set,” after the second tune in the set. The second track is something special. This a cappella version of “It Was All For Our Rightful King,” (possibly by Robert Burns) has the group singing in so close harmony that they sound like an organ with a human voice. It is an incredible rendition.
Two different looks at love provide several more nice tracks. The beautiful “For Aye” with lyrics by Gullane and a tune borrowed from the Asturian band, Balandran, stands up well to the tradition of Scottish love songs. “Malley Leigh” is a spirited account of an oft-courted beauty. “The Breton Connection” is a fine pair of tunes with some haunting piping by Nicholson at the start of the set.
For all that, though, the spiritedness I associate with The Tannahill Weavers that’s not as strong in this CD as in most of their work. “Ower the Moor Amang the Heather” is the biggest disappointment in that line. It’s a decent rendition, but the rakish lyrics require a lustier performance. In this version, the last line of the verses and chorus are anticlimactic, rather than sweeping into the next stanza. “The Wagtail Set,” a set of five tunes on the final track is also missing something. The performance is technically excellent, but feels too carefully performed.
This is not to say that Alchemy is a bad CD — it’s quite good and I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend it. “It Was All For Our Rightful King” and “For Aye” certainly stand with the group’s best. It’s just not one of the Tannahill Weavers best overall efforts, but the Tannahill Weaver’s lesser efforts are still worth listening to.
(Green Linnet, 2000)
