The lie wasn’t meant to be believed. It was just social grease, intended to keep wheels turning. — Aliette de Bodard’s Fireheart Tiger
Come in… Let me pour you a pint of Dark Hollow Ale, one of our Autumn offerings here in the Green Man Pub – I think you’ll like it. A brewer from Big Foot Country in the States who visited us collaborated with Bjorn, our Brewer, on it. He said that it reminds him of wood smoke, brightly coloured falling leaves and of the promise of an Autumn to be.
Yes, I’m playing music by the Grateful Dead and the various associated bands and solo performers as I like most of what they did and the Neverending Session’s off elsewhere this afternoon.
Iain, your usual host here, is doing a hands-on music lesson for the Several Annies, his Library Apprentices, of learning the grimmer side of Scottish ballads such as ‘The Cruel Sister’ as performed here by the Aberdeen based Old Blind Dogs over thirty years ago.
Cat leads off with Ann Scanlon’s The Pogues: The Lost Decade which he says she ‘has captured the Pogues from their very first days in early ’82 ’til a decade later when they released their only commercially successful album If I Should Fall From Grace With God, an album that really did sound like it was produced instead of being simply tossed togather. Ann’s clearly at ease with the band. And it’s clear she had the full cooperation of the band, their friends, and assorted never do well hanger-ons. This is a fuckin’ brillant work of ethnograpghy that catches the evolution of a band as no other book I’ve read has done.’
Next up is Clinton Heylin’s No More Sad Refrains: The Life and Times of Sandy Denny in which I had forgotten that our reviewer Chris does reference that zombie biography: ‘In some ways it’s apposite that a book written about an artist as emotionally charged and mercurial as Sandy Denny should itself have had a difficult and rocky genesis. Some people, myself included, were expecting a biography of Sandy written by Pam Winters to be issued by Helter Skelter last year. It’s not my place as a reviewer to pass judgment on the disagreements which caused that project to flounder, and led to Clinton Heylin writing this book. Nevertheless, I include these comments to clarify the situation for those readers who do not know the background, why a biography did not appear last year, and why the author of this book, Clinton Heylin, is perhaps not the same author that they may have expected. It also helps explain the rather unusual comments in Clinton Heylin’s acknowledgments. Maybe one day that full story will unfold, but I shall keep my thoughts and comments on the book in hand. ‘
Last Night’s Fub: In and Out of Time with Irish Music pleased Chuck who tells us what’s about: ‘Ciaran Carson is an Irish poet and musician, who has, in Last Night’s Fun, put together a series of writings, each inspired by a traditional tune. In most cases, these are short essays. For others, he has written poetry or put together sets of quotations. Occasionally the subjects in consecutive chapters are directly related, but that is most likely happenstance.’
Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span are the of my fav British folk rock(ish) bands, so it’s apt that Lars has a review of Brian Hinton and Geoff Wall’s biography of Ashley Hutchings: The Guv’nor & the Rise of Folk Rock as he helped birth both of those groups: ‘To some of us the subject of this book is, if not God, at least the musical equivalent to the pope. Name a group you like and have followed over the years, and there is a fair chance that Mr. Hutchings was there to start it, or at least influence the starting of it. He is in one way or another responsible for a very large number of the records in my collection, and yes, we are certainly talking three figures, here.’
Scott Allen Nollen’s Jethro Tull: A History of the Band, 1968-2001 gets a superb look see by Kate: ‘Scott Allen Nollen has proven his devotion as a Tull fan in the countless miles travelled and the hours passed collecting details and interviewing band members and other associates. He has included nostalgic pictures of the band, some of which were borrowed from Ian Anderson, the often frenzied flautist who, despite some controversy, became the Fagin-like front man for the band. After ten long years of research, here is a comprehensive and entertaining story of the much misunderstood Jethro Tull. The authenticity is underlined by the thoughtful and honest foreword written by Ian Anderson himself.’
Lis says ‘Colin Harper and Trevor Hodgett’s Irish Folk, Trad And Blues: A Secret History is a sprawling, overcrowded, rush-hour subway car of a book that piles on more eccentric musicians, frenetic booze-ups and unscrupulous music industry types than my brain could keep track of. It is a collection of essays and previously published reviews and interviews that covers roughly thirty years of Irish, English and American music-making (from 1962 to 1998). The book explores the history of the English and Irish Folk Music Revivals of the 1960s, Van Morrison and Them, the Blues boom in Northern Ireland, Irish Rock, Irish Folk Music in the 1970s, The Irish Trad Revival, and the Folk Music Revival of the 1990s.’
Fairport Unconventional was one of those astounding box sets Free Reed did. And I’m just looking at this tasty treat: ‘As amazing as the music lovingly collected in this box set is, the one hundred and seventy page book is in its own way even better. Shaped to fit the box set as you can see by the photo of the box set, it’s a full history of the band as written by Schofeld who’s very obviously a diehard fan as he amusingly with an introduction entitled ‘Fairport Convention: A recipe for success’ which includes this choice tidbit: ’11 lead guitarists, 11 lead vocalists, 6 fiddle players, 7 drummers, 5 keyboard players, 2 bass players’ which makes the band not all that different than any band that’s lasted thirty-five years such as the Breton fest noz bands.’
I also looked at Mark Cunningham’s Horslips: Tall Tales, The Official Biography: ‘Horslips were, and in many ways still are, the Irish equivalent of Steeleye Span and, to a lesser extent, Fairport Convention, as they blend English and Irish traditional material and a rock and roll sensibility into what was the first Irish folk rock group.’ Did they get what they deserved? Oh yes.’
Richard ends our English folk rock biographies by looking at Patrick Humphries’ Richard Thompson: The Biography: ‘Biographies of musicians are always dangerous propositions. Too many are tell-alls that insist on concentrating on lurid details and scandal, to the point where the reader forgets that the book is about a musician. Others go the other way, and are so slavishly and obviously creations of the PR machine that they’re essentially worthless as sources of fact. Books of both these sorts tend to cluster around hugely successful acts, and to clutter bookshelves right around holiday time.’ And let’s just say this this is decidedly not the biography this artist deserves.’
Lenora takes a nuanced look at a film not often thought of as nuanced, Pleasantville, starring Toby McGuire and Reese Witherspoon. ‘The theme of the piece is change – not progress, which suggests all change is for the better, all innovation immediately positive. Indeed, along with sex, art, and literature, there is prejudice and rioting. Rather, it puts forth a simple concept: the world changes, for good and ill, and people change with it – or against it. It most definitely takes the side of those people who work to embrace change, or at the least to accept it and face it unafraid.’
Some books on breakfast and brunch are up next, plus one on bacon…
Gus has our bacon book, which is Jennifer L.S. Pearsal’s Big Book of Bacon: ‘Yes bacon. We use a lot of bacon at this Scottish Estate. Bacon in cheddar and bacon rolls, bacon and tomatoes in eggs, bacon in beef stew for a little extra flavour. Even one enterprising Kitchen staffer even created ice cream with smoky bacon and chocolate as its flavour. It actually tasted rather good. Well you get the idea. So when I discovered this book in a pile of galleys sent to us, I decided to give it a review.’
Reynard says succinctly of Heather Arndt Anderson’s Breakfast: A History that ‘So if you’re really interested in all things breakfast down the centuries, Breakfast: A History is ideal for you and why this is so I’ll detail here.’
Next he looks at Joshua Samuel Brown’s The World’s Best Brunches: Where to Find Them and How to Make Them: ‘Sometime ago I review The World’s Best Street Food which is also from this publisher. It’s a superb book and this one is too. So let me detail this book and tell you why that is so. When I work the late shift at our pub, the Green Man Pub, I get done around three and not up until ten or so. That means my first meal of the day is really a late breakfast verging into a hearty lunch. So a book on brunches of an unusual nature definitely caught my eye.
And Alexandra Parsons’ A Proper Breakfast is ‘Yes, another breakfast book. I eat breakfast most every day as I work afternoon to early evening hours when possible in the Estate Pub which I manage. That means I get up around eight in the morning and eat breakfast with Ingrid, my wife. When I travel with her, we both look forward to eating breakfast in whatever locale we’re in. So I read breakfast books when I run across them. And this is a lovely, quiet gem of a book that covers a lot of ground in under a hundred pages.’
Stacy has a tasty one for us: Carrie Levin’s The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook: ‘ Considering it’s the most important meal of the day, restaurant owner Carrie Levin teaches us what breakfast should be in her new book, The Good Enough to Eat Breakfast Cookbook. After over 20 years at New York’s famous restaurant Good Enough to Eat, Levin generously opens her kitchen and shares her personal tricks of the trade with the home cook.’
We like comics here, so if there’s one we don’t like we’ll tell you, as Richard does with Divine Right: The Adventures of Max Faraday, a title from Wildstorm. The problem, he says, is “…in addition to its tired origins, Divine Right is also heir to some of Wildstorm’s worst excesses. Hypersexualized character concepts? Check. Creepy brother-sister incest implications? Check. Gratuitous head explosions, skimpy costumes, and obfuscatory growly macho dialogue? Check, check and check. And of course, mandatory crossover throwdown between every superteam available. Wearily, finally, check.
Big Earl was about as excited as he gets about the South Asian music on Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s Sampradaya. ‘Since this program is divided into three tracks, each over 20 minutes long, it’s really difficult to choose highlights. The closing track “Teen Taal” contains some breathtaking playing, with fascinating pauses, call-and-response work, and some insanely fast playing by Sharma. His touch is exquisite, with hard hammering mixed with delicate strums, and some utterly fantastic work with harmonics – notes played from node points on the string, resulting in high-pitched, bell-like tones.’
Chuck gives a good description of a disc he reviewed: ‘Imagine, if you will, a singer, backed by guitar, bass and other instruments, performing something between blues, quiet jazz, and folk. Maybe it’s a smoky bar or a coffee house – any place where music is played for a small crowd. Now, imagine that place is in Scotland, just outside Glasgow. I don’t really know if Andy Shanks and Jim Russell’s Diamonds in the Night is performed in that type of setting (except it was recorded near Glasgow), but it feels like that type of music – close, intimate, and personal.’
Faith found the music on Good Intentions, an album by New York-based Irish group Shilelah Law, to be competent and enjoyable. ‘Decent – yes, that would be my verdict on this album. It doesn’t exactly have a unifying theme, but it does a competent job on a variety of songs, both traditional and original. It’s fun, enjoyable light listening.’
Faith also reviewed three CDs by the Newfoundland band The Sharecroppers: Natural, This New Founde Lande, and Home, Boys! She found a lot of stylistic variety on all of them, as she notes in her review of Natural: ‘Does this variety of styles show the Sharecroppers’ versatility, or that they were struggling to find a voice? Probably a little of both. Their later albums are somewhat more homogenous, but I also detect a hint of refusing to be locked into a category. You decide.’
Gary penned a short tribute to Jimmy Buffett, who died Sept. 1. ‘I’m not a real Parrot Head, as the Buffett fanatics call themselves. I stopped following him in the mid-80s, when he started getting played on country music television and became a cultural phenomenon. But for a few years there in the late ’70s and early ’80s I listened to Jimmy Buffett as much as I did to The Beatles and Linda Ronstadt and a few other favorites.’
Gary gives a glowing review to the new recording from The Handsome Family. ‘I’ve reviewed my share of pandemic-inspired albums, but Hollow does as well as any of them at capturing the sense of dislocation, surrealism, and existential dread that we’ve all stared in the face for the past three-plus years. Partly because this is where the songwriting and domestic duo of Brett and Rennie Sparks have lived since forever: A world where nature can go from cuddly to threatening in the blink of an eye, where the world and the cosmos loom like Poe’s Pendulum in our psyches, and where every house (and airport, and motel, and convenience store) is haunted.’
Gary got a lot out of pianist Carsten Dahl’s The Solo Songs of Keith Jarrett. ‘Danish pianist Carsten Dahl joins with his trio of bassist Nils Bo Davidsen and drummer Stefan Pasborg, plus virtuoso trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg and saxophonist Fredrik Lundin and members of Ensemble Midtvest to explore some of Jarrett’s most iconic songs, many of which he was known to toss off as encores.’
Gary also enjoyed the oddly titled recording Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing?, by Mike Jones, Penn Jillette and Jeff Hamilton. ‘What it is, is a collection of stone cold classic jazz, the kind you’ll hear in a supper club or a small dark basement space. Three guys having a great time working out on these standards and the occasional original that’s very much in the standard vein. Such a program! It opens with the Gershwins’ “S’Wonderful,” works through “Watch What Happens,” “On Green Dolphin Street,” “Perdido” and more before winding up with Jones’s original “Blues For Burns.” ‘
Gary was surprised by a recording from the late pianist Mulgrew Miller, who joins his short list of pianists he’ll tolerate in a solo setting. ‘This is entirely on the strength of this new release, Solo In Barcelona. from Miller, who died much too young in 2013. I was a bit reluctant to dive into this one, but a few words from Ron Carter about how much he loved and missed his friend Mulgrew Miller, on the recent documentary Finding the Right Notes, persuaded me to give it a try. I’m glad.’
Gary reviewed a new live release by a leading jazz quartet. ‘Mark Turner is a highly respected saxophonist with countless credits to his name as a leader and player in others’ ensembles. This is his first live release as a leader, and he chose to do it in the most storied jazz venue on the planet, the Village Vanguard. It’s a great place for Turner and his mates to be heard in peak form.’
John was ambivalent about the music on the Shine Cherries’ self-titled recording. ‘Shine Cherries are a trio from Albuquerque, New Mexico and are kindred spirits with the more well-known Handsome Family. Both groups play Americana filtered through a rock music sensibility. But whereas The Handsome Family take existential despair head-on and make a post-modern lemonade, Shine Cherries are more self-effacing as they tend to approach the melancholic more cautiously.’
Our correspondent Down Under, Michael Hunter, interviewed Adrienne Piggott and Nick Carter of the pagan folk rock band Spiral Dance. In his introduction regarding the rarity of such music, Michael said, ‘It’s true that Spiral Dance stand out, and it’s true the reason is the originality of their music. But sadly, it is as rare here as anywhere else. Myth and legend in music are never likely to make a lasting impression on the mainstream of society but, of course, that’s not the point. It still speaks to a great number of people on a deep, almost intangible level and the music this band produces does it better than most.’
Kim reviewed a couple of Sharon Shannon’s early solo records, which she liked quite a lot. ‘Both Out the Gap and Spellbound include numbers with fiddle replacing accordion, avoiding repetition in arrangement. Both CDs are enjoyable, although if I had to choose I would probably opt for Spellbound, because it contains about half of the same tunes, and I like the new tunes on it better than the remaining tunes from Out the Gap.
No’am found that Mike Asquino’s She Believes In Me wasn’t quite what he expected from a singer songwriter, but that doesn’t mean he liked it much. ‘Whilst the disc does have a warm and immediate style, there is very little variation in the dynamics. I’ve been listening to it with continuous play, and find it difficult to tell when the disc starts again. Two exceptions are the comparatively dramatic “Phone Calls And Memories,” and the stone country rock of “Old Friends And Fine Wine”. Another song that escapes the formula is “American Cowboy,” which is much more country than pop, and as such immediately causes my hackles to raise. But I’m sure that Asquino’s middle aged American audience will lap it up.’
Pat found a few shortcomings in Shebeen’s The Pebbled Shore. ‘Track four is an attempt at “The Foxchase,” perhaps the most demanding piece in the uilleann piping repertoire, where the player reproduces the sounds of the hunt from joyful gathering of the hounds to the fox’s unfortunate death; but here the end product sounds something more like a chipmunk on acid let loose in a cage of canaries.’
Our What Not this outing is a Folkmanis Mouse with Cheese puppet that got overlooked when it came so Reynard gives it a review now: ‘I’ve no idea when it came in for review, nor do I know how it ended up in the room off the Estate Kitchen that houses the centuries-old collection of cookbooks, restaurant menus and other culinary related material, but I just noticed a very adorable white mouse puppet holding a wedge of cheese in its paws there. Somebody had placed it in a white teacup on the middle of the large table so I really couldn’t overlook it. ’
So let’s finish out this week with ‘The Two Sisters’ by Clannad, taken from a concert in Köln, Germany over forty years ago. This is one of the lesser known variants of the Child Ballad more commonly known as ‘The Cruel Sister’, so yes a variant on the song above. Pay attention to the lyrics at the end as they tell the gruesome end that the murderous sister deservedly comes to. It’s an ending worthy of the original Grimm Tales, and is noted in other folk ballads as well.
What’s New for the 20th of August: Some favorite mysteries; jazz, country, RT, and a musical grab bag; a hoedown, a big dragon, Hellboy, and of course ice cream!
Summer’s fully upon us here on this Scottish estate. We generally get a summer much more pleasant than is commonplace in Scotland as we share a Border with what Yeats called the Celtic Twilight and the Fey really, really like warm summers. (And alas, cold winters as well, there being Summer and Winter Courts.) So I’m sitting under one of the Great Oaks planted a hundred and fifty-odd years ago by Lady Alexandra Margaret Quinn, Estate Head Gardener here for a very long time, who’s buried beneath them.
I’ve got a murder of crows overhead looking to see if they can steal anything from me as I’m eating lunch outside, but there’s naught that catches their interest, mercifully. Oh, eventually I’ll treat them to something from my repast but not right now.
I’ve got my iPad in hand, a most tasty Lady in The Wood IPA named in honour of that Estate Head Gardener to drink, and I just got a note texted to me that Chasing Fireflies are doing a contradance this evening with Gus, our Estate Gardener calling, so I need to get this done soon. Go ahead and get yourself one of those ales and I’ll have this Edition for you soon… Now where was I?
Cat has a look at two novellas in an interesting series: ‘As I write this review just before Election Day, there have been but two novellas released in the fascinating Sub-Inspector Ferron series “In the House of Aryaman, a Lonely Signal Burns” and “A Blessing of Unicorns”. I’m not sure how I came upon the first novella but it was a superb story, both in terms of the setting and in the characters that Bear has created here, including a parrot-cat called Chairman Miaow.’
He also had high hopes for Philip DePoy’s The Devil’s Hearth as he has ‘a special fondness for mystery series set in the Appalachian Mountains, even though there aren’t a lot of good ones and a lot of not so great ones. Sharyn McCrumb’s Balladsseries had some memorable outings, particularly among the later novels, and one which was outstanding, Ghost Riders.’ Read his review to see if DePoy lived up to his expectations.
Craig has a look at three mystery novels by the venerable Ray Bradbury, as collected in an omnibus. See for yourself why Craig says, ‘Where Everything Ends is a trio of fine detective novels (together with the short story that provided the starting point) from Bradbury in his inimitable style. He plays with the conventions, but since he so obviously loves the genre, this is easily forgiven — embraced, even — because the end results are, simply put, fine additions to the canon. This series is also dear to fans because it is likely the closest thing to an autobiography we will receive from this man who has brought so much joy to so many people for so many years.’
Leona gives an incisive review of Black Is the Colour of My True-love’s Heart, an Ellis Peters novel: ‘Originally published in 1967, ‘this is a book of music, of silence, of words; it has love, hate, and all their analogues. Myths and facts combine to wrap the storyline in a heavy cloak of authenticity. This is a story of high passion and cool deliberation; it dances through the morals and minds of another age and gives the reader a wide window into the world of folk music and ballad-singers.’
Lis thoroughly enjoyed a reissued classic mystery novel, Anthony Boucher’s Rocket to the Morgue, featuring LAPD Detective Lt. Terence Marshall. It has an SF tie-in, too: ‘… Marshall is investigating a locked-room attempted murder, questioning a selection of potential suspects from the Mañana Literary Society, the informal social circle of the science fiction writers living in and around Los Angeles at the time. For dedicated science fiction fans, this adds some extra fun, because these writers are mostly thinly disguised major sf writers of the period. However, if you’re only here for the mystery, you won’t notice, and it won’t distract from the story.’
Joel has a review of China Miéville’s intertwined cities as told in his Hugo winning The City & The City novel: ‘With acknowledgments to writers as diverse as Chandler, Kafka, and Kubin (to say nothing of Orwell), I don’t need to tell you this won’t be your typical detective story. But given this is Miéville, would you have really expected a typical anything?’
Next we have A.A. Milne’s The Red House Mystery, a classic English manor house novel that gets a look by Lory: ‘The story is not really a “whodunit” — the “who” is pretty clear from the outset — the question is “how” and, even more, “why” he did it, and Milne keeps us guessing until the end. The plausibility of the solution is not one that would hold up to heavy scrutiny, but the pleasure lies not in the verisimilitude of the puzzle but in the ingenuity of its construction and unravelling, and the witty repartee among the characters.’
A Britain that never was catches the interest of Lory: ‘Jo Walton has a knack for genre fiction with a twist. In the World Fantasy Award-winning Tooth and Claw, she gave us a Victorian family saga — complete with siblings squabbling over an inheritance, the woes of the unwed daughters of the house, and the very important question of What Hat to Wear — with a cast of dragons, literally red in tooth and claw. Now in Farthing, her material is the mid-century British country house murder mystery. The story is told in alternate chapters through the eyes of Lucy Kahn, a reluctant visitor to the family estate of Farthing, and over the shoulder of Inspector Carmichael, who has been sent from Scotland Yard to investigate the death of one of the other guests.’
Robert looks at Steven Brust and Megan Lindholm’s The Gypsy, which has been in his ‘peripheral vision for some time, and was brought front and center by Boiled in Lead’s CD Songs from The Gypsy. I’ve sort of put off Brust’s collaborations, of which this is one, although I can see that I’ve got to catch up on them.’ He goes on to say that he found this Hungarian folklore-tinged novel to be terrific, a comment I wholeheartedly agree with!
Richard looks at a chapbook that covers a favored treat here at the Kinrowan Estate: ‘Ask anyone waving around a Drumstick cone or Klondike Bar where ice cream comes from, and you’re lucky if you get a smart-aleck response like “the freezer.” Ice cream may be near-universally loved (there’s an ice cream truck going down my block as we speak, and it’s not being shy about it), but it has an oddly shrouded history. Admittedly, most consumers of ice cream wouldn’t care if the first ice cream cone sprang, fully formed, from the forehead of Zeus, but for those who are actually curious about where their double-dip hot fudge sundaes originated – and who don’t want to read a tome the size of a cinderblock – there’s Ivan Day’s slender Ice Cream.’
Eric discovered that Richard Shulman didn’t quite deliver on the promise implicit in his two albums Keeper of the Holy Grail and Camelot Reawakened. ‘It’s a lot to ask from an album – summoning up the sense of a divine presence in 45 minutes or so of conscientious listening. Camelot Reawakened and Keeper of the Holy Grail don’t quite achieve this goal, but the albums still have some merit strictly in the earthly appeal of the music. The high points are worth seeking out on each album, but don’t expect a transformational or truly inspirational experience. Maybe those results are just more than one can expect from a couple of CDs.
Gary joyfully reviews a new album from a familiar name: ‘Teddy Thompson is one of the best living interpreters of classic country songs (not counting Willie Nelson, who’s in a class all his own), and he only further cements his status on his latest album My Love of Country. On this album he rolls out a bunch of classics, a couple of deep cuts, and one well-placed surprise, and he does it all with tears in your beer authenticity that reveal his own love of the music.’
Gary enjoyed a new large ensemble jazz recording, Chuck Owen and the WDR Big Band’s Renderings. ‘I don’t know about you, but there are times when I just crave some swinging music with creative solos and lovely melodies over big horn charts. Renderings perfectly fits the bill.’
Gary also spent some time with Norwegian guitarist Morten Georg Gismervik’s Dunes at Night, an album that uses a variety of styles to tell a musical tale of sorts: ‘The music on Dunes at Night comes in two different styles, one portraying the outgoing and adventurous Kimri, the other the more introverted Winter. Kimri’s tracks for the most part involve propulsive grooves that often explode forth from quieter introductory sections, while Winter’s music highlights Gismervik’s sensitive guitar work along with delicate piano lines.’
Judith offered qualified praise to Silvery Moon, which she noted is by Aoife Clancy, who she notes ‘is the daughter of Bobby of the Clancy Brothers, and has been lead vocalist with Cherish The Ladies. Silvery Moon is her third solo album and is an amalgam of Celtic and American folk. If her name were not so Irish and were it not for the reputation of Cherish the Ladies, it would be easier to present this as a folk album with a few Celtic tracks, instead of a Celtic album with leanings toward American folk. But trust my words, Silvery Moon is a folk album.
Lars had kind words for Never Despair, an album by Cincinnati’s premier Celtic band, Silver Arm. ‘But in spite of doing a great job with the many Celtic tunes, it is when they move away from that territory that they really shine. They do a fine Swedish set of polskas (not to be confused with polkas) learnt from the now defunct Filarfolket. The first tune of the set is Ale Møller’s “Solpolska,” an intricate and beautiful tune performed on the oboe. They then move into “Magdalenapolska,” a faster, danceable tune with some lovely rhythm work. It is one of the best and most exciting tunes on the album.’
Michael interviewed Richard Thompson on the occasion of his solo acoustic trip to WOMADelaide in 2001, when it had been 35 years since he left Fairport Convention and struck out on his own. Said RT: I feel very fortunate to have people listening still, and a few young’uns. Thirty-five years is a terrifying prospect, but I shall enjoy the reunion in 2002. Fairport has survived by being good, and it gets a lot of local support.’
‘The first thing I thought about this album was “Hell, there’s nothing to dislike about it,” Peter said with typical straightforwardness, of Shirae’s Tiger’s Island. ‘Shirae are Shireen Russel and Reidin O’Flynn, two young ladies who are belting singers, to say the least. Their music is strong Irish folk rock, tinged with a bit of country & western. When they duet in harmony they have that magical sound that usually only sisters can produce. So I wasn’t surprised to learn later from their website that they are actually mother and daughter – that’s why they sound so good together.’
Rebecca felt like she was an an open mic night at the local coffeehouse when she lisened to Laura Siersema’s When I Left Loss. ‘Siersema writes some of her songs totally or partially in the third person, distancing herself from the characters so that the album does not take on the attitude of a confessional work. She seems to be trying to imagine life as other people live it. Perhaps the mood or some of the experiences are hers, and maybe she knows people like the characters she creates, but the album has a refreshing air of not being totally self-centered.’
Scott found the music on the Shetland band Shoormal’s Migrant pleasant enough, but not much more. ‘While Migrant does not suffer from any obvious weakness, the album does not really distinguish itself as something special, either. The music is quite pleasant, but one could argue that it is too pleasant and not really challenging. Having said that, any fan of straightforward female harmonies will find this worth a listen, and Trevor Smith is a first-rate guitarist as well. People looking for something light and melodic, in a mainstream, non-traditional sort of way, could do much worse than Shoormal.’
Stephen definitely liked the rootsy, bluesy rock on Ramsay Midwood’s Shoot Out at the OK Chinese Restaurant: ‘This album was originally released a few years ago by the artist himself, who’s been busy carving out an awesome live reputation, particularly on the European circuit. Fortunately, Vanguard Records have stepped in to prevent Midwood toiling as a “prophet without honour” in his own land, and have granted this CD the distribution it deserves.’
So I’ve got some summery music for you that I think fits pretty much any season. It’s Michele Walther and Irina Behrendt playing Aaron Copland’s ‘Hoe Down’from Rodeo. I sourced it off a Smithsonian Institution music archive which has no details where or when it was recorded (which surprised me given how good they usually are at such things), but it may have been around 2011.