77 f


sound reminiscent of John Tams-fronted National Theatre productions from the late ’70s (Just Like in particular). I am particularly enamoured of the yearning country rock duet Feet – Gram and Emmylou with a twist – with its beautiful muted brass and melliflu- ous lap steel. However, this is far from stale; there is a richness, warmth and originality of spirit running through its veins.


twowings.bandcamp.com Sarah Coxson FAIRPORT CONVENTION


Babbacombe Lee Live Again Matty Grooves MGCD052


By Popular Request Matty Grooves MGCD051


How does a band who revisit so much of their history with such regularity, actually do a new light through old windows job with- out it sounding just a bit of a predictable retread? Fairport must have revived pretty much 90 percent of the glory years and even the dodgy moments, all we’re missing is the Gottle O’ Geer line-up closing Friday night at Cropredy, that final Island collection in full. Likely? I think not. Just what do you do then if you don’t want to end up a tribute to yourself? Tricky.


Babbacombe Lee Live Again was an obvious candidate for release, its own 40th birthday fell last year and they’d already worn in a new version halfway through the 2011 winter tour. Undoubtedly the pinnacle came with the Cropredy performance. There was a clarity about the music which was absent from the original, the whole thing just seemed smarter and more decisive. So it is here, a recording sourced from gigs across the country and all tinkered with by one John Gale at studios in Dublin. That this is a five-man band gives them an edge to do extra, there’s no whirling Dervish instrument swapping, Ric Sanders is assured on the fid- dle whilst Chris Leslie can pick a mandolin at the same time and Simon Nicol is clear to concentrate on his guitar. From Little Did I Think through the whole first movement the music kicks and jangles whilst the seafaring section is decently chunky and Pugwash-like. Vocally Chris Leslie is such an asset his range makes Swarb’s material easy to replicate and in the meantime Simon N has become the front man that he never was when the origi- nal was released. For me the benchmark of the concept has always been Cell Song, a bleak, mournful piece of atmosphere which captures isolation perfectly. Chris Leslie’s long, sliding melancholy is brought out with fiddle and mandolin gently falling and rising on a simple melody line, a confirmation that all is lost. But then we all know how fate falls, the madcap race to hang John Lee, once full of fiddle effects, is again a dash for the tape but lighter, airier, leaving Ric Sanders liberal opportunities to extemporise, though I miss the snaking lines of electric guitar the Island album had. Great packag- ing incidentally.


So to By Popular Request, an exercise in audience democracy – give ’em what they want; with Fairport you get what you asked for. Same problem here though, this is the really populist stuff, twice as thorny. The answer lies in gentle tinkering and thought- ful additions – subtle would be an apt word. They’ve never been a band haunted by their past, rather they celebrate achievement and have stewarded theirs well through the Pegg/ Nicol axis for nigh on 30 years. No big shocks in selections, only three tracks not from vin- tage stock and you can probably guess with- out too much trouble what they are. Those takes which caught my attention most: Hex- hamshire Lass, a head-down-and-go-for-the- instrumental-break effort which works splen-


didly – the idea of Gerry Conway apparently; Genesis Hall, Simon Nicol’s stately vocal artic- ulates the story of homelessness with poignancy; Farewell, Farewell is centered on soft-focus harmonies and a nod to Celtic roots from Chris Leslie on low whistles adding an Irish texture. Rosie is the perfect song for the aforesaid Mr Leslie to wrap his voice around, done as a fireside lullaby. Again, less is more and Ric Sanders’ fiddle takes the fore well. Walk Awhile remains a great rollicking tune and the rough-house opening lifts as they punch into the opener which divvies up the verses and allows them all to show off with snatches of improvisation. The CD has a faux single image based on the old ’60s 45- rpm discs everybody’s got one of somewhere in the loft. The rest of the cover with full colour photos and booklet is sumptuous. Not a bad way to visit your yesterdays then. Job done, thumbs up lads.


www.fairportconvention.com Simon Jones


JOY DUNLOP & TWELFTH DAY Fiere Sradag Music, SRM002


GILLIE MACKENZIE Griais Gillie Mackenzie, GRESS001


Fiere is the second CD from Gaelic singer and Mod Gold Medallist Joy Dunlop. This time she is joined by Orkney fiddler Catriona Price and harpist Esther Swift for an album in which they set to music poems by Scottish women. The album contains some very vivid musical portraits. The fiddle and harp accompani- ment atmospherically conjures a terrifying medieval sea voyage in Catriona Price’s set- ting of Maid by Sheila MacLeod. The tradi- tional Faca Sibh Raghnaill Na Ailein? (which is usually performed as a joyous female work song in praise of young men) is here given a slow, edgy treatment, with stark Nordic- sounding fiddle and brooding harp hinting that all may not be well with the handsome sailor being praised in the song.


Esther Swift’s settings of Jackie Kay’s rec- ollections of childhood (Fiere and Darling) are sweetly evocative and they suit Joy Dun- lop’s pure, girlish vocal. Less convincing are the settings of poems with more worldly, adult themes: the sensuality of Meg Bate- man’s poem and the grief of romantic betray- al described in Anne Frater’s are not brought out in the song versions.


www.joydunlop.com Joy Dunlop & Twelfth Day


Gillie Mackenzie hails from a famous musical family from the Isle of Lewis. In 1990 at the age of 20, she won the Mod Gold Medal for solo singing. This, her first solo album, contains a mix of traditional Gaelic songs plus some striking original composi- tions of her own in both Gaelic and English. Traigh Ghriais is Gillie’s love-song to the island of Lewis: its warm intensity and anthemic quality is sure to see it picked up and absorbed into the repertoire of other singers. Laighinn Leat and Peacocks And Pearls are both portraits of women widowed by war, and they are composed and per- formed with a sweet pathos all the more powerful for its understatement, with Gillie’s vocal conveying intimacy and emotional fragility. As for the traditional material, the standout track is Co Bheir Thu Dhomhsa?/ Who will you give me? which is given a delightful klezmer makeover by splicing it together with the Hassidic wedding tune Broyges Tantz. Gillie’s singing is richly accom- panied by Ewan MacPherson on guitars and mandolin, Alasdair White on fiddle and whis- tle, Mhairi Hall on piano and harmonium, Ailig Hunter on bass and James Mackintosh on percussion.


www.gilliemackenzie.co.uk Paul Matheson MAZ O’CONNOR


Upon A Stranger Shore Demon Barber Sounds DBS005


Cumbria-born (currently Cambridge-based) Maz, after winning the Young Performers Competition at Fylde Folk Festival at age 13, spent time with Folkestra North and then three seasons touring with BBC Young Folk Award winners Last Orders before becoming finalist in her own right in 2009 and releasing her own promising debut EP (On Leaves Or On Sand) late last year.


With surprising alacrity, here’s a full- length follow-up, which places Maz’s thoughtful takes on half a dozen traditional songs alongside a handful of examples of her original song writing. The individuality of Maz’s craft might initially appear elusive however, for the opening track, a rendition of South Australia (yes, the shanty), is cast much in the mould of Kate Rusby (whom Maz readily admits was an early influence). But although Maz’s singing voice has a similarly pure, sweet timbre, it also shares with the likes of Rachel Unthank a knowing edge and a developing strength that should rebut any charge of merely prettified delivery.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64  |  Page 65  |  Page 66  |  Page 67  |  Page 68  |  Page 69  |  Page 70  |  Page 71  |  Page 72  |  Page 73  |  Page 74  |  Page 75  |  Page 76  |  Page 77  |  Page 78  |  Page 79  |  Page 80  |  Page 81  |  Page 82  |  Page 83  |  Page 84  |  Page 85  |  Page 86  |  Page 87  |  Page 88  |  Page 89  |  Page 90  |  Page 91  |  Page 92  |  Page 93  |  Page 94  |  Page 95  |  Page 96  |  Page 97  |  Page 98  |  Page 99  |  Page 100