A Green Man Review

Time is never called in my recurring dream of pubs. — Ciaran Carson in Last Night’s Fun: In and Out of Time with Irish Music

I’m Iain, the Librarian here at the Kinrowan Estate. I‘m settling in for a quiet day of reading and answering correspondence after finishing the forthcoming edition (my fellow librarians and book lovers still like letters despite email which we all use of course), as Ingrid, our Steward, took my apprentices, the Several Annies as they’ve been called for centuries out of tradition, for the day for them to learn what an Estate Steward does.

So first breakfast. Unlike Reynard, I always drink tea as I never developed a taste for coffee no matter how good it was. So it was lapsong soochong, a loose leaf first blush smoked black tea from Ceylon. With a splash of cream of course. And a rare surprise too — apple fritters served with thick cut twice smoked bacon, using apple wood only, and yet more apples in the form of cinnamon and nutmeg infused apple sauce. There was even mulled cider for those wanting even more apples in their breakfast fare! Thus fortified, I turned to writing the What’s New for this week …

We’re doing nothing but works by Roger Zelazny this time so we’re leading with a review by April of his longest work: ‘Roger Zelazny’s Amber series spans three decades, ten volumes, several short stories, a RPG, graphic novels and even a recent revival attempt (John Betancourt’s Dawn of Amber series). Packed into those original books and stories is a wealth of characters, settings, items and plots — far too much minutiae for any but the most die-hard fan to remember. And that’s where Krulik’s The Complete Amber Sourcebook comes in. The Sourcebook is not for someone who has not read the entire series, as spoilers are literally everywhere. Krulik assumes an audience already familiar with the core set of books.’

She also has look at an unusual novel from a SF writer doing his only thriller: ‘Dead Man’s Brother is a delight to read — Roger Zelazny’s language and characters seem right at home in this genre — and regrettably over all too fast at less than 300 pages. If only more such jewels were left to unearth…’

LCat leads off a review in this way: ‘If you started listening to audiobooks over the past ten or so years, considered yourself to be extremely lucky as you’re living in a true Golden Age where narration, production, and ease of useless is extremely good. But long ago, none of that was something you could take as a given as it most decidedly wasn’t.’ Now read his review of Roger Zelazny’s Isle of Dead to see if this older audiobook transcended these limitations.

And he says ‘Roadmarks features a protagonist somebody is trying to kill as he moves along a time-travelling road. As one does. ‘Zelazny really didn’t do plots all that well, but he was gifted at developed unique characters and settings. So, like so many of his novels, this one’s true strengths lies in the unique nature of the setting, combined with the character development…’

The Ides of Octember: A Pictorial Biblography of Roger Zelazny is, I will note, ‘a bibliography which was prepared as part of The Collected Stories of Roger Zelazny, a six volume undertaking, of which you’ll find the first volume, Threshold, reviewed here.’ Read his review on this bibliography which only diehard Zelazny fans or libraries with a strong  sf emphasis should consider buying, so quite naturally we have a copy.

Let’s not give away what happening in the story Lis reviews which is A Night in the Lonesome October: ‘Snuff is our narrator, here, and he’s a smart, interesting, likable dog. He’s the friend and partner of a man called Jack, and they are preparing for a major event. Jack has a very sharp knife, which he and Snuff use in gathering the necessary ingredients for the ancient and deadly ritual that will be performed on Halloween.’

Robert has a rather unusual book by him — well, unusual for Zelazny, at least — Damnation Alley: ‘One of the key elements of Zelazny’s work was his complete disregard for the boundaries between science fiction, fantasy, and mainstream literature. Consider that, within a science fiction framework he frequently introduced mythological characters, not as mythic archetypes but as actual characters, and pushed the boundaries of what was acceptable stylistically within the genre into more widely accepted literary conventions. And, having said that, I’m faced with Damnation Alley, a novel from early in his career (1969) that seems, on its surface, to undercut my points.’

While poking around in the back reaches of the Library, he also ran across an old favorite, Roger Zelazny’s collection The Doors of His Face, the Lamps of His Mouth and Other Stories: ‘Although he published his first story in the early 1950s, Roger Zelazny didn’t really impact the science fiction scene until 1963. That’s when I remember reading “A Rose for Eccelsiastes” in The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction (with their best cover ever illustrating Zelazny’s story). He followed it up the next year with the title story of this collection, which won him his first Nebula award. Zelazny and his contemporaries went on to become the American branch of science fiction’s New Wave, and pushed the envelope until it was altered beyond recognition.’

Reynard had the story of Irish coffee: “ Let me tell the tale of Irish coffee while I fix you one. It is said the very first Irish coffee was invented by Joseph Sheridan, a barkeep at an airbase located in Foynes, a small town in the West of Ireland.”

Gary, the music editor, here. In new music, I reviewed a new release Birds & Beasts by one of my favorite groups. ‘As much as it has depicted desert landscapes, the music of SUSS has essentially been inward looking. Reflective of the effects of those landscapes on the artist’s eye and ear. With their fifth full length release, the ambient country masters turn outward to revel, in their subtle, introspective way, on the creatures that populate the world around them.’

Another new one is from one of my favorite singers, Jake Xerxes Fussell’s When I’m Called. ‘Common elements of the human condition — the passage of time, mortality, and especially themes of travel and wandering — run through the nine songs on this LP, all delivered in Fussell’s melted-butter baritone.’

I also enjoyed new music from Cuban band leader and cuatro virtuoso Kiki Valera, an album called Vacilón Santiaguero. ‘This is the summer album I didn’t know I was pining for. It takes me back about 20 years to when the world and I were very into Son Cubano, but rather than an exercise in nostalgia, Vacilón Santiaguero feels and sounds vibrant and fresh.’

It being just after Independence Day in Ameria, I delved into the Archives intending to compile some reviews on the themes of liberty and freedom, but ended up with a big batch of Irish (and a little Welsh) music! Go figure.

Christopher Woods wrote up Dragons Milk and Coal, the second studio album put out by the Welsh band Bluehorses. ‘Anyone who likes loud, lively, fun, slightly punk-flavoured pub style folk-rock will simply love any of the Bluehorses albums. They are all very good. This one however is the best yet, and to my mind, it’s up there with the likes of Oysterband and The Men They Couldn’t Hang for both its musicianship, and its blend of traditional and new.’

Chris White reviewed Paul Brady’s Nobody Knows: The Best of Paul Brady. ‘This retrospective collection pulls together tracks from over half a dozen albums, released through the Seventies, Eighties and Nineties, and it demonstrates quite a wide assortment of material and musical styles. Ranging from traditional songs to slightly bluesy ballads, these songs sometimes tend towards a Van Morrison sound and at other times tend towards an almost mainstream, commercial sound.’

Jack Merry lovingly wrote up a career overview of The Pogues’ discography. ‘Once upon a time there was a band called The Pogues whose original name was Pogue Mahone, Irish Gaelic for “kiss my arse” before a BBC suit realized what it meant and said that they needed to change their name if the Beeb was to air their material. Pogue Mahone was indeed a good description of this band: their wild and drunken mix of trad material with the energetic kiss-off attitude of punk created a musical style that London and the greater world of rock ‘n’ roll had never seen.’

Jack also had some opinions about The Pogues’ live release Streams of Whiskey, over which there was some controversy over whether it should’ve been released. ‘This was obviously a truly fantastic concert and everyone is having the time of their lives. No one gives a shite if the vocals are good, or if the instruments on key. All the cuts here together make for an impressive display of what the lads sounded like live. Only ‘The Fairytale of New York’ should’ve been here but isn’t.’

Jack also did an omnibus review of Black 47’s first six albums and an EP, in which he noted that ‘…Black 47 is the quintessential Irish-American rock ‘n’ reel band as it merges traditional material with the political and cultural consciousness of the newer Irish immigrants. All the usual themes are here — political angst, love, racism, violence, and redemption.’

Judith reviewed a new release of an old concert, Paul Brady’s The Liberty Tapes. ‘Both the sound and the lineup send a cheerful shiver of deja vu up the spine of a veteran listener or player. Brady sings as he does on the old Green Linnet LPs that have by now been played over and over, and it’s that same crisp winning sound that won us over way back when.’

Mike was enthusiastic about the latest from Black 47. ‘On Fire is a live recording of grand musical and engineering quality. Much of the energy came from the band’s playing to their own audience on their home court of New York City. We kick off with “Big Fella,” a tribute to Michael Collins, that has a rockin’ sax break. Second up is their own take on “When the Saints Go Marching In,” which proves that yes indeed, you can mix Dixieland, Irish riffs, the spoken word, and rock — if you but have the right trombone player.’

Peter, in his inimitable fashion, gave a positive review to Paul Brady’s The Paul Brady Songbook — the CD version, that is. ‘You might say this is really the album from the film of the book! In August 2002 RTE television, Ireland’s national TV station, filmed a six programme series featuring Paul’s music, called The Paul Brady Songbook. This was shown only in Ireland, from October through December of that year. This album is a selection of those recordings. I understand there is also a three-hour DVD available of the entire series of programs. Just to confuse you it is also called The Paul Brady Songbook.’

Our What Not is Kim‘s writeup of Keoghs Irish Pub, her favorite pub in her hometown of Toronto. She says the owners have made ‘community building seem effortless, and have built the relatively new (circa 1997) pub into a hub for celebrating Irish culture in North America. The bar and its patrons are friendly, and some of the session night regulars appear to be stalwarts of the local Irish music scene. This is no age ghetto either — regulars range from pensioners to young, and often easy on the eyes, patrons in their 20s. The decor is tasteful and simple, not too dark, and the fireplace and kitchen add a bit of warmth, while the snug creates a spot for quiet conversation.’

So the Infinite Jukebox, our somewhat fey media server, has a song written and performed by Johnny Cash’s daughter, Rosanne,  that shows that she’s every bit as great covering her own material as she is covering his material as she did here. This week it’s ‘Runaway Train’ which comes from the same Bimbos concert in San Francisco that January evening. It details the end of a relationship that may or may not have been about her own such ending but it’s certainly heartfelt.

She’s looking for the music. She can hear it but she can’t find it. There are candles everywhere. Some parts of the room are low-ceilinged and high-cushioned, just right for kissing and gossip and splitting a bottle. Some parts are ballroom-size. The floor slopes down, away from the stone ceiling. Dawn trips a little, blames the drink. The bass gongs through her blood, a fiddle skirls, the faraway downbeat (alone of a tinny fusillade) cracks two glasses touching, a false blow, ting! Not in this room. Nor the next.  — Jennifer Stevenson’s ‘Solstice’

So, Midsummer has just come and gone, but summer’s not an event that disappears once the presents are opened. No, now we’re in the golden eternity, that endless perfect afternoon that arcs from June to September, a rainbow in every shade of heat. The air smells of forges and plums, cool water becomes a lover, and the best room in any house is the bower under a tree. The oaks are favoured for the best shade, one of the apricot or peach trees for snacks, or the rose arbors for the sheer overpowering delight of the perfume. With, of course, a book or three.

It’s that way here on the Kinrowan Estate, of course. Most of the staff are either out under the trees all day, or down in the cellar making sure the ale doesn’t evaporate in the heat. Reynard says that’s both a public service and a public trust, and tries to restrict it to his own staff; but when the heat hits triple digits, a lot of us turn dwarf and head for that little iron-bound door to the down-below beside the bar. Imagine our mixed mob of thirsty mortals, nature spirits and semi-demi-hemi immortals, all trying to sidle unobtrusively down the cellar steps!

In defense, Reynard has posted the score sheets for the Summer Reading Club on the cellar door. MacKenzie and Lilith are the judges, of course. They keep a special cart in the hall outside, filled with select and unusual volumes: that’s the trick, see, you have to read and review whatever the two of them have put out there. MacKenzie, I think, is trying to educate the lot of us — Lilith, being fey, has a warped sense of humor and slips in the real oddities. At least, I think it was her who stocked the Domesday Book in the original Old English.

Next to drink, the regulars in the Pub like books best, so there’s hardly a one who won’t pause before he tries to dive down the stairs to check his standing in the ranks. There are dozens of little leather wallets hanging on that door, and every one in the Club has personalized theirs some way: poker work, horse brasses, Avery labels, glowing eldritch script. When someone finishes a book, they add a review to their wallet. Scores are kept for quantity, of course, but also for quality — a thoughtful analysis of Gus’s little monograph on iris corms got twice the points garnered for someone’s slapdash review of all 140 volumes of the North American Manticore Stud Registry.

And of course, a lot of the non-drinkers — well, people who drink less, anyway — are usually popping in to check their scores as well, so there’s a sort of automatic defensive cordon in front of the door. And not only are all the readers checking the master lists to see who has read what and how long it took them, most of them are trying to peek in someone else’s wallet to check out their latest effort as well. It’s all anyone can hope for to get an ale they actually ordered!

Of course, we all manage. You can’t keep us away from books or ale, not if those delights were guarded by the Summer Queen’s guards themselves! So sit you down and have one of each, and celebrate the summer with us. If you can’t make up your mind, Reynard will be happy to try the new season’s brew out on you; and you could do worse than check out the tasty volumes on display in this edition.

Hail the Summer Queen!

Cat reviewed an Arthurian collection edited by Mike Ashley. ‘The Merlin Chronicles includes superb tales of magic and adventure, most specially written for this volume, ranging from short stories to complete novellas — including a Robert Holdstock piece, “Infantasm,” which I can’t find anywhere else. Their common theme is the dark side of the Arthurian world, the realms in which Merlin and the magic of the old beliefs clash with what Arthur thought he was creating.’

He wasn’t persuaded by the thesis of Kath Filmer-Davies’s Fantasy Fiction and Welsh Myth: Tales of Belonging. ‘What she does not prove to my satisfaction is that “Welsh stories, used with skill by accomplished story-tellers, break down cultural barriers, establish humanity as one family, remove our deepest fears and fill us with assurance and hope.” It’s a pity that that was the thesis of Fantasy Fiction and Welsh Myth: Tales of Belonging, as it has some cracking good stuff in it that is not related to the thesis.’

I (Iain) reviewed the audiobook edition of Alan Garner’s The Owl Service when it came out a decade back: ‘Listening to The Owl Service as told by Wayne Forester, who handles both the narration and voicing of each character amazingly well, one is impressed by his ability to handle both Welsh accents and the Welsh language, given the difficultly of that tongue, which make Gaelic look easy as peas to pronounce by comparison.’

Jo Morrison reviewed Jeffrey Gantz’s The Mabinogion, and Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones’ The Mabinogion, and had some advice on which to choose. ‘This proves difficult indeed, for although they both relate the same stories, their differences are profound and pronounced. The Everyman edition is more poetic, with flowery language and more ancient ways of speaking. The text is comparable to reading the King James version of the Bible, both in tone and in word choice. The Penguin edition is more modern, reading like contemporary stories. It is easier to follow for the modern ear, but loses some of the mystique lent by the older translation.’

Kim gave a rave review to Alan Garner’s opus. ‘The Owl Service is one of those books I found transformative as a young person. It also set me on the path to the original tales of the Mabinogi, and provided new insights on their worldview. I admire Garner’s courage in moving beyond the good and evil morality tales that simplify issues for children.’

Kim gives a gracious review to Donna R. White’s coverage of the Malbinogion, A Century of Welsh Myth in Children’s Literature. ‘White delivers a very competent discussion of both Garner and Alexander, particularly the influence of poet Robert Graves’s White Goddess on both authors, and includes enough interview material to satisfy adult fans looking for a reason to revisit these works.’

Next up, Kim turned in her own massive omnibus review of The Malbinogion in literature, including many of the works of Lloyd Alexander and Evangeline Walton. ‘The Mabinogion has inspired many other writers, such as Alan Garner and Susan Cooper (see her The Dark is Rising series), in creating compelling fiction for young adults. The material provides an early glimpse of the themes that inspired the Arthurian romances, and shows an early European worldview that shares a lot more with the Nordic myths than with the Mediterranean.’

She also gives high marks to the audio versions of three books by Lloyd Alexander, The Book of Three, The Black Cauldron, and The Castle of Llyr audiobooks, as read by James Langton. ‘I heartily recommend these audiobooks as an antidote to discontent on long car rides, and as a lure for Alexander’s writing. Like the printed books, these offer both insight and delight, drawing on classic mythology, coloured with the best of American sensibilities. These heroes struggle with themselves as much as with any external foes, and when they triumph, there is a place for them in a world where people are tolerant and sensible.’

Lisa had some quibbles with John Matthews’ The Song of Taliesin: Tales from King Arthur’s Bard. ‘In many cases Matthews has substantially fleshed out, altered or “improved” his sources where they might, in the frequently poor translations he relies on, have appeared obscure or corrupt. In some cases, in a desire to fit very different traditions into a coherent philosophical system, Matthews depends too much on more modern assumptions from Wicca (typified by frequent generic references to “the goddess”) and New Age esoteric mysticism — more than I, for one, am comfortable with in a Celtic context…’

She had more than quibblers with Matthews’ Taliesin: The Last Celtic Shaman, which she criticized thus: ‘…in its mingling of outdated with current, of academic scholarship with New Age wishful thinking, the free-ranging combining of texts from different sources, and an excess of unsupported assertions, the book is not at all reliable in a scholarly sense.’

One of our diverse authors reviewed Audrey L. Becker and Kristin Noone’s Welsh Mythology and Folklore in Popular Culture. ‘The editors make some large claims for the influence of Welsh mythology and legends on modern popular culture in their introduction, “Re-Imagining Wales,” which does make one important point: the Wales of the Mabinogi, the central body of Welsh myth, is not the “real” Wales.’

Rebecca gives three thumbs up to Mary Stewart’s The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and The Last Enchantment. ‘In short, these novels are everything the Arthurian legend should be. They are full of noble characters and great deeds, and deep emotion without sentimentality. They are dignified and graceful, and they leave the reader in no doubt as to why the legendary Arthur is still remembered today.’

Jennifer offers chilaquiles for breakfast on a hot summer morning. No, really. When your ears are sweating a little, you don’t notice the heat outside so much. Your clothes smell delicious all day. Takes ten minutes. Any lucky soul who shares your breakfast with you will roll over with their paws in the air and love you for a solid week afterward.

Take a number of well-known musicians, toss in fans and a camera crew, put all on a train traversing Canada. That was the intent of the Festival Express. Sound intriguing? David thought so: ‘It opens with a faded map of north Ontario, Kapuskasing dead centre. Then the camera pulls back and from the middle of the screen comes a train — an old Canadian National engine — and tracks, lots of tracks. This is a movie about that train and the people who rode on it, and the places it stopped, and what happened one week in 1970 when this train went from Toronto to Calgary … with a cargo of rock’n’rollers and all their paraphernalia. What a summer.’

In new music, Gary gives a glowing review to Linda Thompson’s Proxy Music. ‘What do you do when you have a heart (and a notebook) full of songs but can’t sing them yourself? Well, if  you’re Linda Thompson and you have connections to (and are beloved by) several generations of musicians on both sides of the Atlantic, you sign up a bunch of them to play and sing them. By proxy, as it were.’

He also reviewed some new jazz. ‘Melodic, rhythmic, replete with lush harmonies and head-turning improvisation, Tarbaby’s You Think This America is just about everything I want in a jazz record.’

And from his personal archives with just a touch of a tie-in to Wales, Gary looks back at a favorite classic album, Deep Purple’s Book of Taliesyn, which he says ‘was definitely of its time, and this was not the version of Deep Purple that went on to mega-stardom with a string of hits that started with “Smoke On The Water.” But there are a lot of ideas here that were fresh at the time, some remarkable arrangements, a rhythm section capable of working a deep groove, and two extraordinary soloists in Lord and Blackmore.’

From our Welsh Music Archives, Huw was disappointed by Telyneg’s Nadolig Yng Nghymru (Christmas In Wales). ‘Overall, I have to say that, for me, the CD’s constant mixture of spoken word and music doesn’t work. It’s occasionally entertaining on the first listen. On repeated listens, though, it is irritating. To be positive, Bowen’s harp music is wonderful. I would have been happy to listen to an entire CD of it. The songs are a bit of a mixed bag, with the selection of modern and traditional songs in two languages lacking any real sense of coherence.’

Jo says that ‘those interested in the Welsh tradition should check out Llio Rhydderch, who studied and toured with the fabled Nansi Richards. For the uninitiated, an explanation is in order. The Welsh have a drastically different style of playing, largely due to the nature of the music itself. Their music is ornamented through theme and variation, a more classical style, rather than through the sort of ornamentation heard in Scottish and Irish music.’

Kim says ‘Carreg Lafar’s second album, Hyn … “combines great vocals and tasteful arrangements of Welsh traditional music, along with some nice originals, in a mix that seems slightly medieval and mysterious, while at the same time anchored with contemporary folk sensibilities.’

She also had very nice things to say about Pigyn Clust’s Perllan (Orchard). ‘This is an exquisite album. It’s difficult to decide whether the instrumentals or the vocals are more compelling — rest assured that both are lovely, and the combination is at once exciting and restrained. This disc will appeal both to fans of Celtic and early music, who will probably find it difficult to remove from the CD player.’

Kim also reviewed a brace of Welsh music recordings, from Crasdant, Gwerinos, Ogam, and two various artists’ collections, Welsh Choirs Sing Folk, and the Rough Guide to the Music of Wales. ‘Not surprisingly, these albums boast some fine vocal performances, and some interesting similarities with related Celtic and European traditions. There is both the call-and-response singing and the interesting harmonies that one would expect in a land of choirs. There are also some very fine female vocal performances, all with a distinctive style that is quite different that of neighboring Ireland, Scotland and England.’

‘I have always had a weak spot for Welsh music,” Lars admits. ‘It may not be as instantly catching as Irish or Scottish music, but once you start to dig into it, is equally rewarding. For those new to the music on this path, Ffynnon’s Celtic Music from Wales is as good a place as any to start. They are a little less traditional in their approach than groups like Calennig or Ar Log, but are a fine way to start developing a taste for what could be considered as the little sister of Celtic music. Full Welsh lyrics with English translations add to the experience.’

Lars reviewed Calennig’s homage to the music of trad singer Phil Tanner. ‘But A Gower Garland is much more than just a re-recording of songs collected from Tanner. It is a tribute to the culture of a small part of south Wales. Tems and Carron-Smith have done their research very well. They have dug deep into the local traditions, picking songs to show different faces of the life of Old Gower. And each song is accompanied by a detailed description of where the song comes from and what it was used for.’

He also reviewed two various artists’ compilations, The Music of Wales, The Folk Collection, and The Music of Wales, The Classic Collection. ‘Together these albums present a nation’s musical heritage. They provide a fine starting point for anyone wishing to get musically acquainted with Wales. They also serve well as a souvenir from the country, which according to its people would be larger than England if you flattened out all the mountains and hills.’

Peter had high praise for the live album Once Upon A Winter’s Night by Yardarm Offa. ‘The quality of the recording is excellent; indeed if not for the audience singing the choruses, it would be hard to distinguish it from a studio recording. But the band singing live and responding to the reaction and mood of the audience as they are enjoying the songs and joining in, is a joy to behold. It lifts the band, and you get that extra sparkle in the performance that is impossible to recreate in a cold studio recording. This is true folk music, as it should be, and what you hear in a real folk club.’

Peter enjoyed Trefor & Vicki Williams’s Timeless Land. ‘The duo seem to have found their own niche in the spectrum of folk performers, with Vicki taking the lead on vocals. All the songs are performed softly and honestly with an effective simplicity that makes for good listening. Probably what you might expect to hear in a U.K. folk club.’

Tim was pleased with a couple of Welsh discs, Llio Rhydderch’s Melangell, and Boys From The Hill’s Boys From The Hill. ‘Welsh music isn’t something that’s easily found, at least not where I live. I have found that it’s usually worth the effort when I do manage to track some down. I was thrilled to hear these two discs. One documents an old, but still extant tradition. The other is more contemporary in sound, but the influence of that tradition is heard throughout.’

Vonnie Carts-Powell reviewed a batch of Welsh CDs that contained some overlap, starting with a compilation she liked very much. ‘The various artists’ compilation from Sain was an invaluable aid to gaining some clue about the state of Welsh folk music. Goreuon Canu Gwerin Newydd (The Best of New Welsh Folk Music) is a sampler of 18 tracks by 15 Welsh groups, including the hilarious reggae interpretation of Welsh sea chanty “Flat Huw Puw” by Gwerinos.’

We’re still processing the loss of Canadian troubadour Gordon Lightfoot just over a year ago in May 2023. To celebrate the Solstice, here’s a live recording of his ‘Summertime Dream’ from a 1979 live broadcast on PBS’s Soundstage program.

We all tell stories and Jennifer Stevenson tells a great one in ‘Solstice’ which Grey reviews for us here: ‘The reader somehow senses that everything Dawn sees, each action she takes, even her name, has a deeper significance. She’s not just playing for a great party, she’s playing to keep a shrinking, fading man alive on the longest night. And if it’s an over-the-top, splendid bash that keeps the sun alive for another year, well, human beings believed that for a very long time. Maybe this story will help us remember some of what we’ve forgotten.’

You can hear the author splendidly reading  ‘Solstice’ here. You can read the story thisaway.

Things are bound to get a whole lot worse before they can get any better. Let’s have a drink. — Robert Heinlein’s “Logic of Empire”

I’m Jill, one of many, many House Jacks and Jills here down the centuries. Some doubt that we really exist, and insist that we are but a story spun by tellers of tales very late at night in hopes of garnering one more pint, a few more coins and hopefully a warm bed. I’ve no doubt that I exist, but that proves nought, as I might be just part of that tale someone else is telling…

What is true, what is not, largely depends on what you wish to believe in. And what I’ve been thinking about lately is how easy it is for that which is not real to be taken for that which is. And how things refuse sometimes — or ofttimes — to fit into neat little categories. Like we Jacks and Jills, they defy easy definition. All I know for sure is that all of us are an aspect of the same narrative.

So books are stories of course, but so music in its own be it instrumental or spoken. An Irish reel such as “Toss the Feather” and “Banish Misfortune” The latter has  a long history  when the first version was written down from 1850 when Edward Cronin played it and it  was ltranscribed and then  published in a famous compendium of Irish tunes.

All of our food carries with a history with going back centuries, if millennia. The Babka is a sweet bread often made with chocolate. Its original name was baba which means “grandmother.” But as time went on bakers made smaller loaves, so they started calling it babka, meaning “little grandmother.” This dessert originated in Easter Europe in the 19th century within Jewish communities.

The first illustrated story?  Egyptologists have discovered the oldest copy of what is being called the world’s first illustrated book, a 4,000-year-old edition of the “Book of Two Ways,” an ancient Egyptian guide to the afterlife considered to be a forerunner to the “Book of the Dead.” Cool, eh?

I could go on and talk about puppets, tarot cards, children’s toys and other things we’ve reviewed over the decades, but I think I’ve made the point I wanted to which is everything has a story if you know where to look for it, so do so and you’ll be please for doing so.

Not surprisingly, we’ve reviewed a lot of biographies and autobiographies about both performers and bands. So let’s pull a few of  those reviews from the Archives…

Remember ‘Hotel California’ which The Eagles did? (This performance of it is from their concert at the LA Forum back in 1980.)  Well, David looks at what’s likely the definitive book on them and that circle of Southern California musicians: ‘Subtitled the true life adventures of Crosby, Stills, Nash, Young, Mitchell, Taylor, Browne, Ronstadt, Geffen, the Eagles, and their many friends, Barney Hoskyns’ Hotel California is exactly that: a chronicle of the heady days of the singer-songwriter era, when songs became diary entries, and radio listeners learned more about the artists’ sex lives, drug use, and political interests than we had ever known before. Hoskyns captures them all, in all their egomaniacal glory!’

David says Julian Dawson’s and on piano… Nicky Hopkins: The Extraordinary Life of Rock’s Greatest Session Man is a great treat for readers: ‘Dawson has captured the man, the time, and the milieu very well. The life of a sixties (seventies, eighties, nineties) rock’n’roller is documented perfectly. The book reads easily, and the story is so engaging that time flies by.’

David also looks at Mark Brend’s biography of a late and very much missed rock ‘n’ roller: ‘Mark Brend has written the first biography of Lowell George, described in the sub-title as guitarist, songwriter and founder of Little Feat, but known by his fans (and that includes many of the musicians who worked with him) as “a real musician.” Yeah, he was the Rock and Roll Doctor but the self medication got to him and he passed away far too early, but he left behind a legacy of songs and music that live long afterward.’

Clay Eals’ Steve Goodman: Facing The Music, says Gary, is about someone whose lyrics you’ve likely heard: ‘Everybody knows one Steve Goodman song. The Chicago-born and -bred folksinger wrote “City of New Orleans,” the iconic ’70s song popularized by Arlo Guthrie. If that were the only thing he’d ever done, it would be enough, because it’s a great song, expressing universal truths in a tale set in a particular time and place. Its chorus of “Good morning, America, how are you? / Don’t you know me, I’m your native son,” perfectly captured the blend of confusion and optimism that reigned over the late 1960s and early 1970s in America, as a generation came of age that loved their country but felt alienated from some of its actions and beliefs.’

Howard Pollack’s Aaron Copland: The Life and Work of an Uncommon Man gets an insightful look by Gary: ‘Aaron Copland is the central figure in serious American music, and Howard Pollack has produced a biography worthy of the man. His treatment of Copland in more than 500 pages is reverential but never blindly worshipful, candid without being lurid, scholarly but rarely tedious.’

Jim Longhi’s Woody, Cisco & Me, says Rebecca, ‘is an entertaining account of three men’s adventures as mess-men in the U.S. Merchant Marine during World War II. The Woody in the title is Woody Guthrie, the famous folksinger and labor organizer. Cisco is Cisco Houston, Woody’s organizing partner, who also sang and acted in Hollywood. The story is told by Jim Longhi, an Italian-American friend of theirs who went on to become a lawyer.’

And now for something completely different: Robert takes a look at a biography of a Canadia-American composer who had a big influence on modern music, Carol J. Oja’s Colin McPhee: Composer in Two Worlds, which as a biography is somewhat problematic: ‘Oja has done a remarkable job of filling in the outlines of McPhee’s life from interviews and his papers, but I’m not sure I can really consider this a “biography” in any real sense – it is much more about the music than about the man, and valuable for that. McPhee was, after all, a problematical character: forward-looking, to be sure, but ultimately, more influential as a source than as an example.’

For the story according to the man himself, Robert turns to McPhee’s own memoir, A House in Bali: ‘Colin McPhee, a Canadian-American composer who had much more influence on American music than the body of his music might indicate . . . , left behind two books that were as influential, if not more so, than his compositions: Music in Bali . . . and A House in Bali, a charming and perspicacious memoir of his years in Bali in the 1930s.’

Robert had the happy opportunity to sample another offering from Taza Chocolate, this time their Coconut Almond bar: ‘[T]his is one I can recommend for those times when you just have to have a little bit of chocolate — more than two bites verges on overwhelming, even for a confirmed chocoholic like me.’

Mattie brings us a film that memorializes the music of Irish singer Sean McCarthy late of Listowel, County Kerry. ‘Since his death in 1990 McCarthy has been honored there with the Sean McCarthy Memorial Weekend, which has been going from strength to strength since it started in 1991, and includes a trek through Killocrim bog, which he so loved. The “Weekend” has secured the immortality of his work within his community, but now it has been copper fastened for a wider audience by The Songs of Sean McCarthy, a video of 15 of his 160 songs sung by his friend and fellow Kerry-person Peggy Sweeney. The video covers a wide range of emotions, feelings and levels of consciousness, just as his songs did.

Sometimes the companion work to an awesome series is every bit as good as that series, as Cat tells us here: ‘The Art of The Mouse Guard is nearly three hundred and seventy pages of awesomeness and it’s packed with artworks such as sketches, pen and ink illustrations, and painted art. Let’s not overlook the photos of miniature sets of interiors and buildings that were used as references. Yes miniature sets of interiors and buildings were built by David Peterson to help him visualise the unique reality that his mice exist in.’

From the archives, Asher reviewed Aliens Alive, a live offering from Norwegian hardanger fiddler Annbjørg Lien. ‘This is a CD for fans: live cuts from the 2001 Norwegian tour; all of her other albums are represented, and there’s even some new material. Though Lien’s hardanger is the centerpiece, the band’s sonic integrity is due in part to including Väsen guitarist Roger Tallroth, as well as Norwegian guitar virtuoso Rolf Kristensen, keyboardist Bjørn Ole Rasch (of Bukkene Bruse), Hans Fredrik Jacobsen providing flutes, bagpipes, clarinet and oud, and Rune Arnesen and Per Hillestad driving percussion.’

David approved of a retrospective collection of the songs of Danny O’Keefe. ‘You probably remember Danny O’Keefe, if you know the name at all, as the performer of the all-time classic tune “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues.” I think I have heard this song done by more pub singers than any other. And it still sounds good. This collection is subtitled “Good Time Charlie’s Got the Blues.” One guesses that it’s there so prospective buyers will think, “Oh! I know that one!” But Danny O’Keefe has a lot more great songs, and Raven has selected a choice bunch for this collection.’

David was very much in favor of the Gordon Lightfoot Songbook box set. ‘A proper retrospective would deal with each of Lightfoot’s albums in turn, but the good people at Warner Archives/Rhino have created such a marvelous compilation in the four-disc Songbook that anyone interested in his career can simply dip into his life-work through this anthology. Released in 1999, Songbook is a model box-set.’

He also reviewed Beautiful, a compilation and homage by various Canadian musicians. ‘A group of (mainly) Canadian artists began work on a tribute album which would honour his lifework as a writer and singer of songs, and as a model for a couple of generations of musicians from the Great White North. Beautiful is the resulting labour of love, and it’s a winner from start to finish.’

Gary also got on the Lightfoot bandwagon, reviewing one of his all-time favorites, Don Quixote, which he’s owned since it was released in 1972. ‘I probably listened to it nearly exclusively for several weeks, and to this day as we near its 50th anniversary I can still sing along with every song and even sing most of them without the record going. It’s one of the classic albums of the era that I play most often even today.’

Michelle wrote up a lovely omnibus review of some early albums by Beth Nielsen Chapman including her debut self-titled album, You Hold the Key, Sand and Water, and Deeper Still. ‘Though sweet and controlled, Chapman’s voice isn’t particularly striking. Nor are her melodies easy to sing along with. It’s her words, emphasized by restrained, stately arrangements, which make her so extraordinary. They’re not sophisticated, witty rhymes, but intensely personal, heartfelt observations about love and loss.’

We’re not sure who wrote this Folkmanis review as our What Not this time, as that information does seem to have gone walkabout: ‘Folkmanis has gained an excellent reputation in recent decades for its overwhelming array of puppets. The plushies range from eerily lifelike to utterly fantastical. Right now I’m holding the Sea Serpent Stage Puppet in my hand. Well, okay, I’m wearing it on my hand. . . is that so wrong?’

If there’s any voice that match the cool, strong feel of Grace Slick, it’d be in my not so humble opinion that of June Tabor, whom I’ve heard live and that we’ve reviewed many a time, including this review of An Echo Of Hooves. Now imagine that she performed Slick’s ‘White Rabbit’ with quite possibly the finest English folk rock band ever in the form of the Oysterband which has been reviewed here many, many times, including Ragged Kingdom which is their second second album with Taborr, the first being Freedom and Rain some thirty years ago.

Well you don’t need to imagine it happening as it did and you can hear ‘White Rabbit’ as performed by her and the Oysterband at City Varieties in Leeds on a November night some years back.