A Green Man Review

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. — Margaret Atwood

Yes the doors into the Green Man Pub from the stone patio outside Kinrowan Hall have been open since mid morning as it’s both warm and sunny out, a refreshing change from the stormy weather we’ve been having. And the inhabitants here have been all lending their help to the annual task of cleaning out the Winter debris from the flower beds that surround this building.

We’re also doing the annual repotting of all the house plants that are resident here — hundreds of pots holding everything from bromeliads that need bigger pots to the ivy that hangs thickly from the shelves on either side of the windows here in the Pub. If you look through that ivy to your left, you’ll see a number of greenman representations ensconced there.

What’s that music I’m playing? That’s Skara Brae’s ‘Casadh Cam na Feadarnaigne’ recorded off the soundboard at Dunlewey Lakeside Centre, just after New Years fourteen years ago. It’s a superb concert that never got released officially but that recording is fairly widespread these days. Now let’s see what we’ve got for you…

Most of us know Brian Froud of Dark Crystal and Labyrinth fame, but Mia introduces us to his wife, an artist in her own right: ‘Wendy Froud’s The Art of Wendy Froud is an 80 page art book, a collection of examples of her amazing faerie and mythic sculptures and her musings on the nature of her work. More than that, it’s an adventure for the reader, as every page brings new and amazing images to awaken the imagination.’

 Another artist get an appreciated  look by Jack in his review of  Michael Babcock’s Susan Seddon Boulet — A Retrospective: ‘Pomegranate has done the art world and its often not terribly bright chroniclers a service by showing what a truly great retrospective is. From the quality of the printing job, which is superb, to the text by Babcock which is both well-written and intelligent, this is one of the best books of its kind that I’ve ever read. It will certainly have a treasured spot in our collection of art books!’

Given the preponderance of books featuring images this week, it’s only fitting that we see Robert’s reaction to Joseph Campbell’s The Flight of the Wild Gander, which is, after all, ultimately about images: ‘The Flight of the Wild Gander is a series of essays produced betwen 1944 and 1968 in which Campbell was, he says, “circling, and from many quarters striving to interpret, the mystery of mythology.” The “mystery,” as comes clear as one reads, is that of the origins, dissemination, and meaning of the archetypes of human myth.’

And guess what: we just happen to have on hand a review of The Secret Sketchbooks of Brian Froud. How’s that for a nice balancing act? Robert says: ‘I suppose there might be someone, somewhere, who has never heard of Brian Froud. He was already gaining a reputation as an illustrator of books for children when his distinctive vision was brought to a wider audience through his designs for the films The Dark Crystal in 1978 and Labyrinth in 1986, both directed by Jim Henson. His first collaboration with Alan Lee, Faeries, published in 1978, set the course for his future work, which has garnered him a number of awards, including a Hugo in 1995. The rest, as they say, is history.’

Michael has a double bill for your viewing pleasure: ‘Some of the greatest fantasy movies in recent memory have come from the incomparable, unbeatable, and sadly never to be repeated collaborations of Jim Henson and Brian Froud. Take the magical madness of Henson’s muppets and the bizarre mythic imagery of Froud’s faeries, throw in some special effects and superb actors, and you get two of the best-loved fantasy movies of the 1980s, Labyrinth and The Dark Crystal.’

Denise takes a look at culture. Well, cultured food that is. As in probiotics, fermentation and the like. Michelle Schoffro Cook’s The Cultured Cook is more than a recipe book, it’s a look at how these foods interact with our bodies. But don’t think this book is too scientific for you: ‘What I like best about this book? It’s not scary. I like to keep my scares in my fiction reading, thank you. Each recipe is easy to understand, with less than ten ingredients per item – most with five or less – and the instructions are simple.’

Cat (the Cat also known as ‘The Chief’) has a look at Warren Ellis’ Global Frequency, a comic series that starts to seem frighteningly real: ‘Global Frequency is a organisation devoted to combating those incidents that are too extreme, too weird, or just too dangerous for the usual first responders to handle. Funded by the mysterious Amanda Zero, it consists of exactly one thousand and one agents, all of whom are specialists in something, say, for example, bioweapons or taking out snipers.’

Lars is pleasantly surprised by this recording: ‘Why was I taken by surprise by Himmerland’s The Spider in the Fiddle? Firstly, Denmark is full of good music, and Danish groups are constantly producing lovely music. Secondly, I have twice before discovered new favourite groups with Ditte Fromseier in. First there was Flax in Bloom, a group that never recorded but in concert turned out smooth Irish music, then Habbadam, a trio playing traditional music from Fromseier’s native Danish island of Bornholm. Habbadam’s albums still get played in my stereo.’

Gary reviews the new release from folk duo Anna & Elizabeth, The Invisible Comes to Us. He says ‘on their third full-length, Elizabeth LaPrelle and Anna Roberts-Gevalt have moved to the forefront of avant-garde folk music.’

Robert brings us back to Nordic music, this time with a Norwegian cast, in Gabriel Fliflet and Ole Hamre’s Eine kleine Kraftmusik: ‘My first reaction to Fliflet and Hamre’s Eine kleine Kraftmusick was to break into laughter from sheer surprise and delight. One forgets, sometimes, how raucously fun-loving Norwegians can be. That is only one point in favor of this collection — one gets a strong sense that the performers take their music very seriously, themselves, not so much so. (And how often does that happen?)’

And another Nordic tradition (it’s actually a Baltic tradition, but we’re sticking with Nordic for now): two collections of choral music, Oslo Kammerkor’s Kyst, Kust, Coast and Voces Nordicae’s Nordic Voices: ‘Together, these two discs offer a good glimpse of the range of choral music in the Nordic countries, from traditional folk songs to thoroughly contemporary choral works. I found them particularly hard to review, simply because I was too absorbed in listening to write anything down.’

Our What Not is on the matter of Complaint Choirs. So you might well be asking ‘What is a complaint choir?’ No, it’s not the musicians in the Neverending Session expressing their annoyance at having to wait too long for a fresh pint of Winter Ale, so go thisaway for the charming tale of them. Yes, charming.

And for our Coda this week — well, Spring is here, so why not go with the obvious choice, especially if you have a high-energy version, complete with bird calls? Presenting Red Priest performing Vivaldi’s ‘Spring’ from The Four Seasons. (Yes, of course we’ve reviewed it.)

I overheard Cat and Robert debating in our Pub over who was the best stylist when writing fantasy currently. Cat choose Brokedown Palace as reviewed by Robert to bolster his contention that Steven Brust was the best, but Robert added a number of other others including Ellen Kushner. You can read Cat’s review of The Swords of Riverside audiobook for a look at how great she is.

Glen Cook was another writer cited by Robert, and an early work of his, A Matter of Time, was well regarded by him: Cook, as he says here, ‘at that stage of his career was an mesmerizing writer.’  Cat agreed with Peter Beagle, the final writer on Robert’s list, whose Tamsin is reviewed here.

Wen Spencer’s Japanese based fantasy, Eight Million Gods, was well received by Cat:  ‘It’s very important that you know that we receive for review far too many titles a month here at Green Man Review to expect they’ll get reviewed, and that an increasing number of number of those titles are digital copies which mean they end up on nthe Infinite Library, my iPad, where they reside until I look at them. And my rule, which is very firm, is that a novel must interest me enough by the end of the first chapter or I won’t read it.’ Read  his review to see why this novel made the cut.

Kestrell has a choice bit of horror for you: ‘As a horror fan in the twenty-first century isn’t easy, especially if you prefer the literary vein of horror over the more violent and gory variety. For those horror fans searching for the sort of atmospheric stories reminiscent of M. R. James and Algernon Blackwood, I would point you to F. G. Cottam’s The Magdalena Curse.’

A Book of Tongues by Gemma Files got this note from Richard: ‘Generally speaking, the supernatural western rests roughly at the heart of Joe Lansdale’s run on Jonah Hex. You can shift it a little toward Briscoe County here, a little toward the Deadlands RPG there, but really, the metaphor’s pretty solidly set. Until, of course, something comes along like Gemma Files’ A Book of Tongues, which takes the traditional supernatural western, sizes it up, and then calmly shoots it in the back of the head.’

Kim liked the manner in which magic was illustrated in a certain beloved  novel ‘This is a magical book, and the finest of Alan Garner’s young adult novels. Now, a lot of people associate magic with ethereal forces, great quests and spells and all that, and indeed spells can be found in several of Garner’s other books. The Owl Service reveals a different kind of magic, the kind that arises from the interaction of people with patterns, of desires that unwittingly mesh with the larger forces around us, harsh magic that people employ without knowing it.

A novel by Tanya Huff found favour with Robert: ‘The Enchantment Emporium  is the first volume in what I find myself hoping will become an extended series.’ His review details why this was so. Oh, and yes, a series was indeed what would happen!

Robert takes a look at ParaNorman, an animated feature with a lot of charm and some controversy: ‘All in all, if you can tap into the seven year old that is hiding in you somewhere, it’s a very satisfying film. It occurs to me that the denouement could have been more than a little treacly, but it avoids the saccharine neatly, giving us a comforting finish — although not without a little barbed humor.’

We like chocolate a lot here, as you can tell from our reviews of many things chocolate, and we’re always pleased to see a new way of appreciating it, but even I was surprised by the amazingly good dessert Mrs. Ware and her Kitchen staff served up this past eventide meal: dark chocolate bread pudding with cardamon flavored ice cream! Sounds weird but actually tasted great!

Now  I suggest we  had down to the Kitchen as there’s Toll House cookies right out of the oven being offered up with eggnog per the recipe of Jennifer, one of our Winter Queens offered up once upon a Winter evening.

Amy Stewart’s book might be a novel from its title but as Gary notes ‘No, it’s not a murder mystery or a light romantic comedy. The Drunken Botanist is a botanical exploration of “The plants that create the world’s great drinks,” as its subtitle says.’

Not all chocolate we get is to the favor of our reviewers. And that’s what happened when Robert received three  bars from the Irish branch of Cadbury: ‘I’ve perhaps gotten spoiled by the opportunity to sample a range of high-quality chocolates, including a range of milk and dark chocolates in which chocolate comes first. It should serve as a word to the wise that the first two ingredients listed for each of these candies are milk and sugar…’

Robert gives us some thoughts on a manga that isn’t, really: ‘It’s a little strange for someone who’s become addicted to Japanese comics, which generally use character designs that partake of no particular ethnicity (aside from the occasional parody of Utamaro), to read a comic in which the characters are identifiably Japanese. In the case of Crossing Midnight, there’s good reason for that: the story takes place in Nagasaki and Tokyo, and the main characters are a brother and sister who’ve gotten entangled with some rather difficult kami (spirits, we’d call them).’

Donna looks at a well-known Scottish artist: ‘Now in his early sixties, Scottish folk musician Brian McNeill has been performing traditional and writing traditionally-inspired music since the late 1960s, when he co-founded the Battlefield Band.  Two of these three CDs are representative of some of his more recent work.  The third, The Road Never Questions, is a compilation of his work from earlier recordings.’

The now defunct Tinker’s Own released two albums as a band that Grey thinks has great pieces but which she says that: ‘If I have any criticism of these two albums, it is that they make me wish I could hear The Tinker’s Own live. “Some criticism!” you may be thinking. Well, hear me out. While sad airs and contemplative tunes can easily be listened to alone, humorous and rousing songs seem to require good company to have their full effect. They call for the ability to catch a friend’s eye across the table and grin; or to raise your mug in a cheer; or to banter with the band members; or to stand, linking elbows with your fellows and roaring out the chorus. Without this sort of companionship, they fall curiously flat.’

Lars looks at Old North State,  a release by a much loved Americana group: ‘Red Clay City Ramblers have been going for more than 40 years, but somehow they have slipped under my radar in spite of releasing lots of records, touring internationally and taking part in many theatre productions. The title of this CD is in celebration of their home state North Carolina, and on the web page it is described as a “North Caroliniana” record.’

He also looked at Scotland is Free: ‘It feels a little strange reviewing a CD titled ”Scotland is Free” a few months after the Scottish people voted ”no” in the referendum about breaking free from Great Britain. But in defence of Mr Morrison I must admit the CD was recorded and released well before the referendum.’

Gary looks at Shift and Shadow from a group with an eclectic sound: ‘XIXA, a new group out of Tucson, Arizona, plays music known as chicha. Chicha started as a working-class form of cumbia, using cumbia’s rhythm but largely played in Andean-style pentatonic scales and incorporating electric “rock” instruments and a host of other influences, much the way Tropicalia blended many Brazilian and international styles in the 1960s.’

Into The Silence, Israeli-born jazz trumpeter Avishai Cohen’s first ECM outing as a leader, is a ‘meditative album inspired by the death of his father in late 2014,’ Gary notes. ‘This recording was one of those that slowly grew on me as I listened to it on repeat.’

Gary rounds out our music reviews with a look at a re-release of tasty bluegrass music in the form of Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys’ The Complete Jessup Recordings Plus! Featuring Ricky Skaggs & Keith Whitley: ‘What a treat this collection is. Real Gone Music has re-released on two CDs three obscure LPs from the early 1970s when Keith Whitley and Ricky Skaggs first joined Ralph Stanley & the Clinch Mountain Boys. The titles originally were released on the small Michigan-based label Jessup and (the “Plus!” of the title) the Dayton, Ohio-based Jalyn.’

Hmmmm… What would be fitting to end with musically speaking? Let’s listen to the Taraf De Haïdouks’s Hora Moldovenesca from the 2014 Førde Traditional and World Music Festival 25th Anniversary Sampler. It’s most likely the Central European equivalent of the ‘trad. arranged’ appellation in Celtic music as the name’s simply translated as ‘Moldovian dance’.

Of Lovers, Gamblers and Parachute Skirts, their latest album, is reviewed by Donna here; you’ll find our review by her of Band of Gypsies 2, an album whitch they did recently with  Kočani Orkestar thisaway .

In the bleak midwinter Frosty wind made moan, Earth stood hard as iron, Water like a stone; Snow had fallen, snow on snow, Snow on snow, In the bleak midwinter, Long ago. — Christina Rossetti

Ahhh there you are. Have some tea, it’s quite excellent as it always is here at Kinrowan Hall.

That lovely piece being played right now is the Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s ‘Numbers 1 – 4’ from their performance at the Glastonbury Festival on the 26th of June, 1994. Good music along with a cup of freshly brewed tea, lapsang souchong to be precise, as it’s my favourite right now, with a splash of cream but no sugar, is the proper way for me to get started in the morning.

Lest I forget, I want to tell you about a skulk, a group of foxes, I saw yesterday down by the copse where Gus, our much more than just Estate Head Gardener, feeds the Estate foxes. I see that Blaze, the one that lost his eye in a fight and has a vivid white scar on his side where an owl clawed him, is consuming a rabbit Gus left. Must be at least his tenth Winter, a good run for a fox even with the care that Gus gives them.

Now why don’t you get a cup of that tea while I go back to finishing this Edition? I’m sure you’ll find much of interest in it.

Cat 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.

Though Denise and Blodeuwedd continue to rage The War Of Best Seat (see our What Not below for the details on this), Denise still managed to take a look at the newest book from Ann Brashares, The Whole Thing Together.  Brashares may be known as the author of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, but there is plenty to love about this new book as well.  While Denise couldn’t walk away without a minor quibble (she is a quibbler after all), “it socked me right in the heart and I couldn’t put it down. I’m betting you won’t be able to either.”

The manor house and the woods that surround that A.A. Milne lived in as that inspired the tales of Pooh and friends is for sale for a staggering number of pounds, but for considerably less you can read  The Red House Mystery, a classic English manor house novel by him that gets a look-see 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.’

Robert brings us two books by Edgar Pangborn, one of science-fiction’s little-known greats. First, a look at Davy, which Robert sums up simply: ‘It’s a brilliant book, racy, pungent, tremendously affecting, and totally captivating, a masterpiece by one of science fiction’s most original and singular voices.’`

Next, somewhat less rollicking but equally substantial, is A Mirror For Observers: ‘Edgar Pangborn was one of a small handful of science-fiction writers of the 1950s and early 60s who tackled the big questions at a time when the genre was still largely pulp. Like so many of his colleagues, he was a satirist — the genre seems to lend itself particularly well to social commentary — who approached his subject, the human condition, from many angles.’

Robert takes a look at a graphic novel that purports to be history, Vlad the Impaler: The Man Who Was Dracula: ‘The graphic novel Vlad the Impaler, by Sid Jacobson with art by Ernie Colón, is an attempt to relate the story of Vlad’s amazingly short career as ruler of Wallachia — he only occupied the throne at intervals between 1456 and 1462.’

Cat has for us a film perfectly suited for Winter viewing: ‘I don’t do movie theatres for various reasons including audiences that chatter too much and the smell of that weird stuff that’s not really butter. And it is that I’m watching an animated film released several Christmas seasons past called Rise of The Guardians which features a Russian Father Christmas, an Australia Easter Bunny (complete with boomerang), The Sandman, and a really cut in a fey female Tooth Fairy. All Guardians of the hopes, wishes and dreams of children everywhere.’

One of the questions we’ve asked frequently to staff and visitors alike is what they like for breakfast. Here’s Patrick O’Donnell answer in which he says varies his breakfast very little ’round the year: ‘Same as my summertime one: a few thick slices of bacon, a few nice sausage links, one or two eggs sunny-side up with the yellow runny but the white firm, some baked beans, some stewed tomatoes, some mushrooms, perhaps some hashbrowns, and a few thick slices of buttered toast. Finish it all off with some black coffee strong enough to make your toes curl and perhaps, if there’s room, something sweet. And of course, there’s always second breakfast, so leave room for that. . . .’

Gary admits that he’s ‘a little embarrassed to say that Michael Chapman’s new album 50 is my first exposure to this nonpariel British guitarist, singer and songwriter. After all, he gets name-checked alongside such greats as Richard Thompson, Bert Jansch and Davy Graham, and the title of this album commemorates his 50 years as a touring musician whose work has crossed, or rather eschewed, genres.’ Now read his review for all the details on this artist and his album.

Up for a tasty bit of roots music? If so, this recording should suit you just fine: ‘If you like American roots music, you’ll love Rayna Gellert’s Workin’s Too Hard. Listen to this album, and watch for her at a festival near you.’

We promised you music by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra — which we’ve provided, not only above but as our coda for today — but we also thought you might like a bit more information. First, Robert has a look at what we’ll take as the definitive history of the group — since it’s the only history of the group: ‘The Penguin Café Orchestra: A History is just that (although arguably it is as much a history of Simon Jeffes, but Jeffes and the Orchestra are so inextricably intertwined that I’m not prepared to argue the matter).’

He follows up with the orchestra’s Concert Program: ‘I really, really hate it when my arsenal of comparisons, parallels, antecedents and influences doesn’t work. It is one of my chief means, as a reviewer, of giving my audience a handle, an entrée, so to speak, into something that may be new and more or less foreign to their experience. . . . Imagine my discomfiture when faced with Penguin Cafe Orchestra’s Concert Program.’

And, while it may seem quite a departure, Robert has another installment — or two — in the series Gamelan of Central Java, these titled “Pangkur I” and “Pangkur II”: ‘“Pangkur” denotes a kind of music in the Javanese classical canon that can take many forms — sung poetry, court dances, and many other idioms — and can be performed in either slendro or pelog scales. It is perhaps the most versatile and unpredictable form to come out of the Javanese classical tradition.’

Let’s have a look at a favourite reading space for our What Not this time as Denise has a small charmer of a spot as she alluded to her book review note above: ‘My favorite spot to read is a tiny rounded nook that’s just off the passage between the kitchen and the library. I sit on a large, overstuffed cushion on the floor, where I battle for supremacy with Blodeuwedd, who has decided that since I found her, I’m responsible for her . . . and her comfort.

We usually find a happy compromise. Blod usually sits in the middle of the cushion, and all the mathematical formulas in the world couldn’t find the dead center of that cushion with more accuracy. After she gets comfy, I pack myself tightly underneath the little stained-glass window and lean myself back on the cool stone wall, which is a nice counterpoint to the heat of the kitchen.

Cracking the window a bit gives a nice breeze and plenty of light for daytime reading. Being near the kitchen has its pluses and minuses; the kitchen staff often peek in and ask me to taste new recipes if they know I’m about. I keep hoping they’ll ask for my opinion of the wild mushroom and barley stew again, but the haggis omelet flambe was something even Blod was glad to see the back of.’

Let’s finish off with another piece from their performance on that day at Glastonbury. ‘Organum’ like the ‘Numbers 1 – 4’ can be found on Concert Program, their 1995 album, which is reviewed above.