69 f
ed, the plaintive and fanged. Éri’s adaptation of Outlaw Song (Betyárnóta) remains one of the loveliest trad arr tunes I know from any tradition, while The Unwelcome Guest (Eddig Vendég) describing a guest (the unnamed guest being the Soviet occupier) necking the bór and generally outstaying their welcome is sheer brilliance. Contender for the most pyrotechnical anthology thus far of the decade. Long may Muzsikás reign.
www.demonmusicgroup.co.uk Ken Hunt
KATE MacLEOD & KAT EGGLESTON Lost And FoundWaterbug WBG100
LIZZY HOYT Home Own label LHCD 1002
Second album from Kate MacLeod and Kat Eggleston, two American songwriters who also perform in their own right, and it’s one of those all-too-rare serendipitous albums that appear from nowhere to brighten the day of a hard-bitten cynical reviewer. Both are clearly well grounded in American and British traditional music, sing nicely, and write some interesting songs.
The album was recorded pretty much just sitting playing music together in a comfy room, and they perform songs of their own and others plus a few – mainly traditional – tunes, accompanying themselves on guitar, fiddle and mouth organ. Everything is uncom- plicated, utterly unforced and completely charming in the best way. There’s a naïve freshness about their singing that’s almost reminiscent of early McGarrigles, as they tack- le songs of love and friendship, parents’ dust- bowl recollections (Rain And Africa) along with Burns’ Rantin’ Rovin’ Robin, a delightful version of Abba’s Chiquitita, and a lovely song Sanctuary cleverly interwoven with Andy Cut- ting’s tune History Man. Lovely stuff.
Canadian Lizzy Hoyt is firstly a fiddler, but sings and writes her own songs, and Home is her second album too. With a bunch of first-class acoustic musicians including Jeremiah McDade (flute) and Keri-Lynn Zwicker (harp) she effortlessly combines east- ern/maritime/Celtic traditional music with western/country influences to great effect. Her own songs (such as Vimy Ridge and Pic- ture On My Heart) cover a wide range of moods and are well-served by the surround- ing tune sets, and – while on the subject of covers from left-field – she makes a decent fist of Dolly Parton’s Jolene. There’s a beauti- ful version of Jay Ungar’s Ashokan Farewell to close, too. Definitely worth seeking out.
www.katemacleod.com www.kateggleston.com www.lizzyhoyt.com
Bob Walton DR STRANGELY STRANGE
Heavy Petting & Other Proclivities Hux Records HUX127
Many folks’ experience of this wilfully way- ward Dublin-based outfit began (and ended) with a track on the 1969 Island sampler Nice Enough To Eat; a suitably enigmatic taster for the LP Kip Of The Serenes which unashamedly mixed folk-pastoral with stream-of-conscious- ness eccentric whimsy to produce one of the most charming and inspired artefacts of the era. Follow-on late-1969 sessions (only later surfacing on Hux’s 2007 Halcyon Days issue) gave a cautious hint of a transition towards an edgier, more folk-rock sound, though the addition of rhythm section only occurred in earnest with the band’s September 1970
release Heavy Petting, which (significantly) appeared not on Island but on Phonogram’s prog subsidiary Vertigo, complete with com- plex-foldout Roger Dean-designed sleeve.
The musical transition was both signalled and spurred on by the band’s decision to bring on board the singularly impressive gui- tar skills of Skid Row’s 19-year-old Gary Moore, at that time a part-time resident at the communal house The Orphanage (along with Strangelys’ Tim Booth and Ivan Pawle), as well as a signature backbeat from Dave Mattacks (at that point virtually the Witch- season house drummer). Around half of Heavy Petting’s tracks embrace these ele- ments to some degree, with an acknowl- edged album highlight in Gary’s magnificent spiralling guitar solo on the eight-minute- plus Sign On My Mind (rather typifying the 1970 zeitgeist of contemporaneous electric- folk developments – and btw I’m sure I’m not the only one to observe a sloth-like demeanour in this track!).
Between the disc’s rockier moments are interleaved archetypally idiosyncratic acoustic- based adventures that might have graced a Kip Volume 2 had there been one; Ashling sports some eerie phonofiddle from Tim Goulding, while others feature Ivan’s trademark creaky harmonium. The playful, devil-may-care feel extends to wonderful oddball moments – a cheeky snatch of Tennessee Waltz here, a burst of pseudo-Romantic pianism there, and an angelic choral Gloria In Excelsis – all of which remind us that the Strangelies were no folk- rock-bandwagon-jumping wannabes but three free-spirited bohemian musicians still develop- ing their craft.
Heavy Petting’s at times slightly uneasy mix seems to hang together better now than it did then, and although the merits of some of the bonus material on this long-awaited reissue might seem a trifle debatable the remastering of the original 11 tracks is excel- lent and the accompanying 36-page booklet, containing exhaustive notes, full lyrics and rare archive photos, conforms to the usual high Hux standards.
www.huxrecords.com or via Proper. David Kidman Dr Strangely Strange
THE WOODBINE & IVY BAND
The Woodbine & Ivy Band Folk Police Recordings FPR004
I like the punk ethic of Folk Police. Their releases are a bit like listening to a John Peel show of old. You know that there are going to be some gems in there, but can pretty much guarantee you won’t like it all.
The bedrock of this record is Manch-
ester’s fine musical collective The Woodbine & Ivy Band who play with a loose and eclectic folk-rock spirit, all jangly guitars and dark, melancholic wide-open spaces. A different guest vocalist takes the lead on each of the ten traditional songs with dramatically differ- ent outcomes.
Some more well-known singing names may hook you in – Fay Hield’s reedy vocals on the stirring pedal steel and brass-drenched version of Spencer The Rover (the single) or Jackie Oates’ twinkling harp-strewn Derry Gaol but the highlights come from satisfying- ly diverse sources.
I’m drawn particularly to the dainty vocals of Jenny McCormick (Memory Band) over louche Hammond organ and choral swell on Gently Johnny; Olivia Chaney’s strik- ingly beautiful and stark take on Poor Mur- dered Woman (heard on this issue’s fRoots 38 album) and the country-rock lead guitar and twanging, trucking spirit of Jim Causley’s smooth, velvet-clad take on Out With My Gun In The Morning.
Elsewhere, you can’t help but sit up and listen to anthemic ensemble piece (big rolling guitars, strange electronic bleepings and choral harmonies) of James Raynard’s The Roaming Journeyman or the rockabilly drive of Rapunzel & Sedayne’s Alison Gross. And even though Pinkie Maclure’s throaty whis- per on Twa Corbies or Elle Osborne’s hit-and- miss Under The Leaves are less appealing to me, I still enjoy the spirit in which they done. In all, I like the cut of its jib.
www.folkpolicerecordings.com Sarah Coxson
Photo: Johanna Hudson
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