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ANTHONY ROBB The Primitives Hooky Mat Records HMR014


Rowan Tree and Farewell To The Creeks, some inventive harmonies adding a touch of variety. Although this is far from gilding a lily, Anthony Robb is well able to hold an audience for an hour on a single instrument: airs, waltzes, marches, jigs and reels are all charmingly played on The Primitives. This collection finishes strongly with three challenging pieces from the small pipes repertoire: I Saw My Love Come Passing By Me, Lasses Pisses Brandy and Mount Your Baggage - there’s almost a story developing there, ending a fascinating CD from a true master. Google Hooky Mat Records for more information.


Alex Monaghan


BREABACH Bann


Private Label BRE002CD


Anthony Robb was at the heart of the Northumbrian Piping revival in the seventies and eighties, with his various Cut & Dry projects. A champion piper, he was a great influence on younger virtuosi such as Kathryn Tickell and Andy May, and a link to the great pipers of the past. On this recording, Anthony plays strictly solo on a set of pipes in F which are unusually simple. With no keys to extend their range, these “Primitives” can play only one octave, making them even more limited than the highland pipes. They also have only simple drones, so every tune has the same major cadence ground. Despite these restrictions, Robb tackles some complex pieces here, as well as many simpler melodies, spanning the classic Northumbrian repertoire and adding a few foreigners to the mix. His playing is beautiful, smooth and controlled, with easy mastery of this demanding instrument.


Many of these melodies are familiar to me from the Cut & Dry Dolly LPs which I listened to around 1980. The Keelman Ower Land, Lads Of Alnwick, Because He Was A Bonny Lad and others were popularised by Anthony Robb and friends, but the solo versions here are a little freer and of course played on a primitive unkeyed chanter, which seems to produce a slightly richer tone. This suits both the Northumbrian classics and interlopers such as Flett From Flotta, Leaving Lismore (a favourite waltz of mine), Blowzabella and Roisin Dubh. There are a few English session standards here too, originally Northumbrian or not: Winster Galop, Michael Turner’s Waltz, and a spirited version of The Hesleyside Reel.


I said this recording was strictly solo, but there is double-tracking on Sunderland Lasses,


The Living Tradition - Page 40


Muir poem, Scotland 1941, with an anthemic chorus, which is followed by a haunting piobaireachd to good effect. The band drop down a gear or two to give us Farley Bridge, a delightful Duncan Chisholm tune where the melody interweaves between the different instruments beautifully, ending with the big pipes and bowed bass which give it a real stately feel. M’eudail, M’eudail, a Gaelic praise song, is delicately sung by Megan Henderson, with beautiful accompaniment based around a simple but extremely effective guitar and bass – a perfect complement to the faster tunes and a lovely end to the album.


This recording is one of the best I have heard in a long, long time, and it will be a while before anything replaces it in my car stereo! Don’t miss it.


Fiona Heywood JOHN DOYLE


Shadow And Light Compass Records COMPASS4562


Generally recognised as the distinctive virtuoso southpaw guitarist with Solas and celebrated empathetic accompanist to Liz Carroll, Karan Casey and others, this second solo release by Irishman John Doyle confirms further the quality, too, of his writing, composing and singing.


Breabach’s previous two releases have seen them catapulted amongst the great bands, not only in Scotland, but across the world. This, their third album, cements that reputation even further – it seems they can do no wrong!


There have been some changes in line-up since their last CD, but these do nothing to diminish the great Breabach sound which is so distinctive and compelling. With twin pipes, fiddle, whistles, flute, bouzouki, several vocalists, and a bass / guitar combo to die for, this album is everything you would expect from a band in their prime such as this.


There is a mix of trad and composed material here, and a nice balance of tunes and songs. All are arranged in typical Breabach style – with a traditional yet modern feel, and plenty of twists and turns to keep the listener’s ear at full attention. Highlights are numerous. Scotland’s Winter is a song based on an Edwin


Expectedly, the nine songs and two instrumentals are rich with the tight, propulsive and precise rhythmic chordal playing combined with intricate harmonic and melodic detail that characterise his guitar style. With it, however, comes a similarly rich narrative writing style, replete with engaging detail and emotive imagery, mainly exploring troubling facets of Irish history through the themes of family and migration.


These include Irish brigade volunteers in the American Civil War, potato famine emigration to Canada, the sense of anger and betrayal associated with the Irish contribution to the First War (in the context of Home Rule aspirations), an ancestor’s perilous and abortive effort to emigrate to the US involving a U-boat torpedoing the vessel involved, and an emigrant to the gold rush escaping the acute pain of a lost love. Other songs include a charming piece for his daughter and a hauntingly surreal reverie involving the mythical changeling, the selkie.


The story is always central, clearly conveyed by his appealing tenor voice, and finely embroidered by his exemplary guitar work,


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