81 f
Complete with another set of Stampfel’s inimitable sleeve notes (he’s always been worth reading, right back as far as his old, treasured Holy Modal Blither column in 1960s Boston Broadsides), this is unhesitatingly rec- ommended to fans of the great man and all lovers of uninhibited folkadelia from the great out-there. Apart from, that is, Purves’s “bonus” track which is one of those which must have seemed like a good idea at the time but will have you reaching for the zap- per on any subsequent play.
www.acidsoxx.com Ian Anderson
ALAN STIVELL Emerald Keltia III 233178
This is something of an unbalanced album; there are a couple of rock-workout-filler tracks and sadly they are placed near the start of the album. Having got that statement out of the way, there is a great deal to be enthu- siastic about here. It is a huge improvement from the New Age meanderings that marked much of his ‘middle period’ albums.
Alan demonstrates his grasp of pan- Celtic culture in his choice of material here and we hear him singing in the range of Celtic languages as well as French and English, often swapping languages in the middle of tracks. It is as if he has a rediscov- ered enthusiasm and confidence in singing, particularly noticeable in the call-and- response on Tamm Ha Tamm and his rework- ing and broadening of both The Skye Boat Song (Lusk) and All Through The Night (An Hirañ Noz) actually manages to bring some- thing new to these old warhorses.
The best tracks are all in the second part of the album and best of all is a lengthy Eileen Aroon (Eibhlin)with the arresting quality of his singing and a nicely layered and varied accompaniment bringing out the extraordi- nary beauty of the song. Then there is a pleas- ing contrast as he goes into a much simpler but just as pleasing singing to harp in Aquarelle. The ending of the album is also brave; he gives three entirely different set- tings to the classic Scots pipe tune MacCri- mon, firstly fairly simple interplay between electronic percussion and pipes which gives way to a huge lush choir singing in Breton before a keyboard links this to a solo bagpipe playing the tune as a lament before Alan sings over it. It is powerful affecting stuff adding up to his best recorded offering for decades.
www.store.hmusa.com www.alan-stivell.com
Vic Smith
SIGRID MOLDESTAD Sandkorn Heilo HCD 7248
For several years I’ve been seeing Sigrid Mold- estad performing in Norway in various con- texts, including the duo Spindel with fellow- fiddler Liv Merete Kroken and in the hardanger-fiddle trio Gamaltnymalt, but her first UK gig, at London’s King’s Place in November 2010, showed her in a whole new light as a very fine, warm, subtle singer and writer of beautifully melodic material leading her classy and clearly very supportive band with appealing charm and poise.
Sandkorn, already an award-winner in Norway and with potential to cross the lan- guage barrier to wider-world appeal given understanding export support, showcases much of that same material. The songs and occasional instrumentals are largely her own, plus some traditional, and there are Norwe- gian translations of three Burns songs that stand alongside Scotland’s finest, not as translated copies but embracedly Norwegian.
The arrangements are constantly inter- esting and luscious from a top team that more or less boils down to her usual live sex- tet, including Anders Hall joining her on fid- dles and viola, Sigbjørn Apeland on piano and harmonium, Stein Urheim on exquisitely- judged slide guitar and saz, guitarist Jørgen Sandvik and bassist Anders Bitustøyl.
www.sigridmoldestad.com Andrew Cronshaw
JIM CAUSLEY Dumnonia WildGoose WGS 377CD
After his recording and touring adventures with Under One Sky, Mawkin and David Rotheray, Jim Causley returns home musically and figuratively to celebrate the music of Devon (the Dumnones were a Celtic tribe who lived in the south west between the Iron Age and Saxon times).
It’s a project that’s clearly close to his heart and, singing in a more relaxed and var- ied manner than on any of his previous work, it shows. His remarkable delivery of the tragic Royal Comrade over his sinister accordeon drone – reminiscent of the devastating sim- plicity wielded by Tony Rose on a big ballad – is evidence alone of a new strength and matu- rity only hinted at on his previous solo albums.
He’s gone out of his way to avoid the usual populist material associated with Devon and he’s done a thorough job of it too, com- ing up with some little-known beauties. The great West Country song collector Rev Sabine Baring Gould is well represented from the engaging opening track When I Was Young to the knockabout story The Tythe Pig but, as with Royal Comrade, there are also unfamiliar localised versions of well-known songs. There’s a beautifully restrained, slightly eerie Georgie; a waltzy frolicsome She Moved Through The Fair which segues into Germany Clockmaker; a surprisingly thoughtful Game Of Cards which gives a completely different emphasis on what is usually a bawdy gallop; and a gently infectious version of the carol Wailey Wailer, singalong chorus and all.
More plus points include a couple of songs by one of the region’s greatest song- writers Cyril Tawney – Tamar Valley Requiem and In The Sidings – both highly charged reflections of loss (on the decline of the tin mining industry and the despised Dr Beech- ing’s infamous axing of railway branch lines respectively) handled by Causley with com- mendable sensitivity. There’s also a lovely Martin Graebe song, Honiton Lace, an upbeat unaccompanied The Old Threshing Mill and a couple of bouncy bankers with the drinking song Old Uncle Whiteway and the mildly con- tentious hunting ditty Exmoor Anthem.
What really lifts it, though, is the heavy involvement of the Dartmoor Pixie Band, whose close associations with the tune and dance traditions of Devon not only lend the album authenticity, they strike exactly the right chord of rugged charm and understated energy which brings the best out of both Causley and the material. The boy done good.
www.jimcausley.co.uk Colin Irwin PAUL & LIZ DAVENPORT
Spring Tide Rising Hallamshire Traditions HATRACD. 04
In 2008 these fine South-Yorkshire-based singers released their second album inter- spersing carefully researched songs and bal- lads from the tradition with a handful of songs composed in the tradition by contem- porary writers including Paul himself. Its sequel, Spring Tide Rising, sticks to roughly the same formula, balancing solo perfor-
Jim Causley
mances with unison duets, a cappella with accompanied (either on melodeon or guitar), and like its predecessor, it consists of a series of ‘as live’ single-take performances which bring all the passion of the moment (if inevitably that brings some roughness and the occasional lapse in pitch or fluctuation in key).
The contents, however, more closely reflect Paul and Liz’s origins close to the sea, and it’s undoubtedly Paul’s own compositions that are among its highlights. The first of these, the album’s title track, powerfully and memorably relates one of the human stories centred on a strange trysting tree on a raised beach near Covehithe in Suffolk, while the second (Davy Cross) examines the iconic sig- nificance of the specially-knitted fisherman’s gansey, wrapped round the story of a Flam- borough man drowned at sea and set to an appropriately sword-dance-like tune niftily picked out on guitar as accompaniment.
The remaining contemporary songs pro- vide a telling contrast: Pilgrimage, by Cru- cible’s Jess Arrowsmith to a Flemish melody that sounds Andalucian, raises interesting questions about the nature of conflict, whereas John Warner’s rousing Bring Out The Banners stirringly evokes resonances for the local (South Yorkshire) pit communities.
As always with Paul and Liz, the choice of traditional songs is enterprising with little- heard versions of familiar material: sourced from Arthur Laycock of Wentworth Wood- house, there’s Grange Moor (a rare version of The Sheepstealer) and The Thresherman, while Liz’s version of If I Were A Blackbird comes from the singing of May Bradley.
Liz’s traveller roots show not just in her singing style generally but also in her choice of solo songs (eg The Rich Farmer From Sheffield, clearly inspired by Wiggy Smith’s rendition). Her singing has real depth and power, although it can at times exhibit a slightly intimidating quality. Paul’s voice, though arguably easier to listen to, shows no lack of presence. The episodic nature of Paul’s imagi- native new setting of Glasgerion demonstrates his skill in storytelling through singing and his realisation of the Child ballad Bonnie Annie (All On A Falling Tide) is a gently captivating highlight. Spring Tide Rising is a persuasive and thoroughly engaging third instalment in the Davenports’ Treasury Of Song.
www.hallamtrads.co.uk David Kidman
Photo: Judith Burrows
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