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There’s an appealing consistency in this set of performances, partly emanating from Mick and Paul’s common cultural heritage during their early years on the folk scene and partly due to the men’s assured, confident delivery of their material. Only occasionally do I feel that Mick’s trademark legato style over-extends some of the bar-lines and thus the lyrical aspect of the melodic line, but that’s a minor concession when considering his keen interpretive insights.
All in all, this is a disc that will please lovers of traditional song, and will serve to reassure doubters that the art of creative reinterpretation has not disappeared from the contemporary folk scene while musicians like Mick and Paul are still around to carry forward that tradition.
www.wildgoose.co.uk David Kidman
VARIOUS ARTISTS True Blues Telarc TEL-33815-02
The various artists represented on True Blues are Shamekia Copeland, Guy Davis, Alvin Youngblood Hart, Taj Mahal, Phil Wiggins, and Corey Harris (who co-produced). Featur- ing live recordings made at a number of dif- ferent locations across the USA from New York’s Lincoln Centre to Los Angeles’ House Of The Blues, the majority of tracks are per- formed solo but some, like the opener Hoochie Coochie Man and closer Rambling On My Mind, have a mixed line-up. Taj Mahal plays with a rhythm section on his two selec- tions Done Changed My Way Of Living and Mailbox Blues (both of which find Taj on top form), whereas for everybody else it’s a purely acoustic affair. Harmonica player Phil Wiggins duets with Alvin Youngblood Hart on Rober- ta, plays a solo piece Prayers And Praises, and jams on those first and last tracks. Shamekia Copeland is in fine voice on Bring Your Fine Self Home and contributes a couple of verses to Rambling On My Mind. On both she’s accompanied by Corey Harris, Alvin Young- blood Hart and (as stated) Phil Wiggins. On their own featured tracks Guy Davis cuts loose with Ishman Bracey’s Saturday Blues and Robert Wilkins That’s No Way To Get Along, Corey Harris digs into Everybody Ought To Make A Change and CC Pill Blues while Youngblood Hart reprises Motherless Children Have A Hard Time and Gallows Pole. All this adds up to a very nice showcase for these par- ticular artists who, in a world of commerciali- ty, have remained true to the blues.
www.concordmusicgroup.com Dave Peabody
THE CARRIVICK SISTERS Over The Edge 5 060109 098617
Each time I hear these twins I struggle to believe that they are from Devon. They play and sing with a maturity that belies their years and have a musical style that owes nothing to their geographical background. Between them they play all of the bluegrass instruments incredibly well and sing har- monies often only achieved by blood rela- tions. Opening cut is a well written song, Over The Edge – That’s Where You’ve Pushed Us, with old-time banjo and plucked fiddle to highlight the perfect and sympathetic accom- paniment that successfully avoids the usual pitfalls of heavily overdubbed music. This one sounds live. A song and lead vocal from Char- lotte, I Know You, has her sister Laura’s dobro playing and harmony singing to make a good song even better. Charlotte also contributes two original instrumentals, one of which, Making Horses, is a really top-class guitar tune, melodious and well played with, again, overdubbed instrumental breaks on banjo
The Carrivick Sisters
and fiddle adding to a delicate instrumental that many bluegrass bands would do well to emulate. They obviously have nearly all the instrumental technique they need, and are very fortunate to have good taste to go with it. A delight to listen to a young pair so heavi- ly influenced by bluegrass music yet talented enough to create something original and not the usual inferior copy that follows.
www.thecarrivicksisters.co.uk John Atkins
THE TWO MAN GENTLEMEN BAND Two At A Time Bean-Tone BTR 001-CD
Like you, in the still, empty reaches of night I am often tormented by worries about where did that sharp, witty, clever ‘40s music, of the likes of Slim Gaillard and Bam Brown, Louis Jordan and Harry ‘The Hipster’ Gibson, go? Right here, on the latest Two Man Gentlemen Band release, that’s where. Andy Bean on tenor guitar and Fuller Condon (aka The Coun- cilman) on double bass recreate the virtuosic duo jazz of these hippest cats, and joyful it is.
From the opener, Pork Chops, through Cheese And Crackers, to that Brit takeaway favourite, Tikka Masala, the spirit of Slim’s obsession with food is channelled; and this is matched by Please Don’t Water It Down, Let’s Get Happy Together (a bittersweet romance- cum-drinking song by Lil Harding and Avon Long) and Two At A Time, which bring spiritu- ous liquors into the mix and bring city bars in the post-war period vividly to mind.
Hedonism? There’s the yearning for a good time at the frantic Panama City Beach, the promise of fun at a Pool Party, and the low- rent rendezvous of the Two Star Motel; hell, there’s even an echo of Harry The Hipster’s leg- endary Who Put The Benzedrine In Mrs Mur- phy’s Ovaltine? in the modern take, Prescrip- tion Drugs, where the whole family is doped to some degree and the party can begin.
Like their peers, the Gentlemen can play some: Bean is a smooth, very nimble guitarist – and if you caught their set at Celtic Connec- tions this year, a true wizard on the tenor banjo – while Condon holds him down with solid bass with the odd solo here and there. They aim to entertain, and boy, do they suc- ceed, with smiles on their faces. Your hipster credentials will increase by just standing in the same room as this CD, large ‘MONO’ labelling and all; it may only last 29 minutes,
but they’re good minutes. The only complaint is that the songs didn’t come out on 78s first, before being compiled, but hey…
www.thetwogentlemen.com Ian Kearey
ABOU DIARRA Sabou Mix n’ Metisse artycd78130280
Mature and varied album from highly-talent- ed Malian singer and ngoni player and his excellent group. None of the playing is ever flashy but at every turn you hear some happy incident – could be the flute, the balafon, the violin, could be the liquid ngoni of Diarra himself which he plays with enormous scope and freedom. Sometimes he sounds like a guitar, sometimes a bass or a harp.
Bold contributions come from Eric Bono on piano – he plays romantically, he plays jazzy, he plays like a conservatoire graduate. From further out of left field, there’s Jerome Soulas on accordeon. Quite a feat to bung in an accordeon and still have a song that sounds purely Sahelian. And a nod to one of the most alive and inventive bass players I’ve heard, one Sylvain Dando Pare – he holds things down, he prowls and strikes. What we end up with is a lesson in what may be done with Malian styles, particularly from Diarra’s native Wassoulou, when salted with jazz, blues and funk. The album is also a primer in the assembly and deployment of the repeat- ed figure (aka the killer riff) of which there are more here than is reasonable.
http://mixetmetisse.com Rick Sanders
THE GOOD LOVELIES Live At Revolution Own label GL005
What a pleasant surprise. First time I have heard these three Canadian women captured here live in concert. They mix their own songs with throw-ins like Hallelujah from Leonard Cohen and Springsteen’s little heard State Trooper, presenting their music with great humour and no little skill. Attention is grabbed with the opening Heebie Jeebies that swings like mad, soon after which you become aware of the quality and variety on offer. The first of many hilarious introduc- tions as they lead into one of their excellent originals, I Want; the tender Best I Know; the wonderful three-part harmony singing on
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