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rhythm guitar and staccato vocals, and the tin- kle of ngoni, flighty flute and funky percussion break on Waleya all contribute strongly to an album that may not contain as many memo- rable tunes as Mamani’s previous two albums (the jazzy brass of 2002’s Electro Bamako is now entirely absent) but which is certainly more varied and may well prove to be as enduring as those albums.
A word too for the No Format! house style of CD packaging – stylish, sharply pre- sented, they are a tactile bulwark against the onrushing download tidal wave.
www.noformat.net
Fellow Malian Vieux Farka Touré reaches his third album brimful of the confidence gained from the positive mainstream recep- tion of his previous album, Fondo. Thus it’s no surprise that The Secret is arguably even more ensconced in the guitar-led blues-rock groove, with Vieux’s assured (often double-tracked) voice intoning moodily over extended, elabo- rate electric guitar figures. Often trading straight down the line licks with a host of guests from the US, at times it veers on the noodlesome side of virtuosity, although there’s usually something interesting to retain engagement, such as Ivan Neville’s funky organ on the over-elaborate Lakkal or the rhythmic acoustic guitar textures on Borei (which otherwise seems to borrow heavily from Thin Lizzy, of all people). Not that there’s a problem with rock crossover, indeed career- wise this is probably the way to go for a young guitarist with an interest in American rock music. However, this leaves the fan of more rooted sounds casting around for the precious moments where West African influ- ences hold sway. And sway Sankare Diadje does, Touré’s vivid guitar in organic unison with ngoni lute. Amana Quai finds the singer in more reflective mood on guitar, his voice displaying a rare declamatory strength that satisfyingly harks back to the griot predeces- sors of his native country.
www.vieuxfarkatoure.com Con Murphy
MARTIN SIMPSON Purpose + Grace Topic TSCD584
Simpson can seeming- ly do no wrong at the moment, his Indian summer turning into an extended heat-
wave on yet another brave and sometimes daring album. I mean, anyone who invites singers of the calibre of Dick Gaughan, June Tabor and Fay Hield to take lead vocals on
Martin Simpson
specific tracks risks being sung off their own album. But here, clearly, is a man not only ecstatically comfortable in his own clothes at the moment, he still has the ravenous hunger of someone a third of his age to break new territory and take risks.
The Gaughan collaborations are especial- ly fascinating – an understated duet on one of the most poignant and cutting songs from an earlier depression, Yip Harburg’s Brother Can You Spare A Dime, complete with some wail- ing Will Pound harmonica – followed immedi- ately by a gorgeous guitar arrangement swimming in atmospherics courtesy of BJ Cole’s pedal steel, while Gaughan sings the pants off Ewan MacColl’s Spanish Civil War tour de force, Jamie Foyers. The Tabor track, too, is intriguing – a revisit to Richard Thomp- son’s Strange Affair, a song they previously recorded together over 30 years ago here re- interpreted with just as much tension and sim- mering drama as you’d imagine. With Fay Hield turning in an eerie Bad Girl’s Lament (which includes Jon Boden playing fiddle), it’s full of colour, texture and surprises.
This is a very different concept to his last
album True Stories, which was in turn very dif- ferent to its much-garlanded predecessor Prodigal Son, though it carries strong elements of both. Just one new Simpson song this time, Banjo Bill, a warming tribute to Kentucky’s Banjo Bill Cornett, an opinionated musician who led folklorists a merry dance in the 1900s. There are more flying banjos – and glorious Andy Cutting accordeon – on the Cajun- flavoured instrumental Don’t Put Your Banjo In The Shed Mr Waterson, a buzzy tribute to Mike Waterson (to whom the album is dedi- cated) and the banjo Simpson acquired from him. A swinging old-timey version of Lakes Of Pontchartrain – with BJ Cole’s pedal steel, Boden’s fiddle, Cutting’s box and Will Pound’s harmonica at full tilt – emphasises the Ameri- can feel further underlined by a blistering Lit- tle Liza Jane, with Richard Thompson playing electric guitar, a role he also assumes to match- winning effect on a quietly intense take on Bruce Springsteen’s contemplative tale of Viet- nam vets, Brothers Under The Bridge.
I’m not entirely sure yet another version
of Barbry Allen brings much to the party, but there’s a gloriously dark In The Pines and despite the stellar cast list and the adventur- ous choices of material, my favourite track on the whole album is one of only two showcas- ing Simpson entirely solo, his gently gripping telling of the ballad Bold General Wolfe. An album of infinite range and moods that yet again must rank up there among his very best.
www.martinsimpson.com Colin Irwin
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