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the Second World War, while The VADS also reflects on the role of women during the WW2 and is another women’s anthem of sorts. But they come at it from unexpected angles: Pudding Burner is set to an intriguing calypso shuffle, while The VADS is presented in the clothes of music hall. Even more sur- prisingly, Henry My Son bounds along at a cheery pace that sounds almost celebratory, while their juxtaposition of Rory McLeod’s scattergun lyrics about homelessness with a defiant optimism on Cold Blow These Winter Winds turns it on its head. All of which catch- es you off-guard as it winds up as a surpris- ingly feel-good album.
And, if you’re wondering about the name and title… it’s a Yorkshire thing.
nomasters.co.uk Colin Irwin
VARIOUS ARTISTS Music City Blues & Rhythm Ace CDTOP 1510
From the West Coast’s San Francisco Bay Area and focusing on the ‘50s, Music City Blues & Rhythm presents 28 tracks (22 making their debut appearance) recorded by record store proprietor Ray Dobard, whose premises were situated in Berkeley. In 1953 he began issuing 78s on the Delcro label but soon switched to Music City, the name of his store. He recorded a wide range of music, issuing some 86 singles between 1953 and 1976, but not much blues.
Some of the blues sides that he did record are collected here and reflect the West Coast preference for bands featuring horns and a vocalist who could either shout and holler like Roy Brown or Wynonie Harris, or croon a ballad like Charles Brown. Most of the artists are obscure (Sidney Grande, Roland Mitchell, Johnny George) but occasionally Dobard managed to attract a major name for the label: Roy Hawkins, Jimmy Nelson, and Lit- tle Willie Littlefield are all on form here. Little Willie’s Looking Just Like You, featuring one of his signature piano breaks, is particularly fine. Like the East Coast recordings on Down- home Blues (which were mastered from discs) the Music City recordings were not of the highest quality but the sound on this CD is really fine, due to the fact that Ace had access to the original master tapes.
Although not every track is top class,
there’s a good deal of fine ‘50s swinging rhythm and blues to keep the toes tapping, and the album helps shine a light on what was happening in that locality at that time.
acerecords.com Dave Peabody VARIOUS ARTISTS
Music Is The Most Beautiful Language In The World JWM Records JWMCD001
Kool, krazy and kosher. This 18-track compi- lation celebrates the hitherto little-known popular music that emerged from the UK’s Jewish community in the mid-20th century. Subtitled ‘Yiddisher Jazz in London’s East End 1920s – 1950s’ it’s choc full of dance bands, comedy songs, ragtime, jitterbugs and novelty pish takes.
Opening with inappropriately named Jewish music hall comedian Max Bacon’s orig- inal 1935 version of Beigels (covered a while ago by The Yiddish Twist Orchestra), this is music made for the hard-up denizens of Lon- don’s Jewish ghettos. There are celebrations of Whitechapel and Petticoat Lane Market, swing band takes on Hebrew religious songs
and Eastern European Jewish folk tunes. A fair bit of schmaltz and no shortage of cheese, all nicely programmed by compilers Alan Dein and Howard Williams. Sound quali- ty is surprisingly good too and the packaging includes a fat CD booklet with copious con- textualising notes from Dein alongside repro- ductions of posters, tickets to dances and record sleeves.
Musically, not everything here is great; I doubt much was made with posterity in mind. And yet, in this context, it all kind of works. A constant flow of street-smart wild- ness and local colour. The unlikely East End musical godfathers (and a few godmothers) to Asian Dub Foundation from a few years back and the grime and drill artists of today.
jwmrecords.bandcamp.com Jamie Renton BREABACH
Frenzy Of The Meeting Breabach BRE005CD
This is the sixth album from the Glasgow- based Scottish Highland folk group, compris- ing Megan Henderson (fiddle, vocals. harmo- nium), James Lindsay (double-bass, moog, electric guitar), Calum MacCrimmon (bag- pipes, whistle, bouzouki, vocals), James Dun- can Mackenzie (bagpipes, wooden flute, whistle) and Ewan Robertson (acoustic and electric guitar, vocals, cajon).
Apart from a handful of Scottish Gaelic traditional tunes and songs, this album con- tains mostly self-composed tunes and songs by the band. The Oban Ball is a 19th-century traditional bagpipe melody, followed by the syncopated rhythmic, muscular pipe tune Thunderstorm On Thunder Bay, composed by James Duncan Mackenzie.
Western Isle Dance opens with a zesty, uplifting, whistle-led traditional tune from the Canna House Collection, and segues into a lovely lilting, poignant composition by James Lindsay, full of Aberdeenshire ele- gance, with richly textured harmonies on the strings. Winter Winds is an Americana- flavoured song by Calum MacCrimmon; both melody and vocal delivery are a wee bit remi- niscent of Kris Drever. Frenzy Of The Meeting is an original and engaging mash-up between a piece of traditional 19th-century Gaelic Ceòl Mòr and a thrilling, darkly
Breabach
swirling, Scandinavian-sounding fiddle com- position by Megan Henderson: my favourite track on the album.
Produced in collaboration with Eamon Doorley (of Danú and the Julie Fowlis Band) the production and arrangements on this album take Breabach’s sound into a lusher, more polished sonic landscape after the multicultural eclecticism of their previous album Astar.
breabach.com Paul Matheson
LUKE WINSLOW-KING Blue Mesa Bloodshot BS262/BS262LP
There was something about Winslow-King’s last album (2016’s I’m Glad Trouble Don’t Last Always) that just failed to spark for me. No such problems to report this time, I’m glad to say, as I think Blue Mesa might be his best offering to date.
In large part, the man we have to thank for this is Winslow-King’s regular guitarist Roberto Luti. Whether adding a slow, piercing solo to the gorgeously seductive Better For Knowing You, or supercharging Thought I Heard You’s much faster pace, he proves him- self the album’s standout player again and again – yet he’s always tight and disciplined too. For all Luti’s virtuosity, we’re always talk- ing about blues here rather than blues-rock, and that’s an important distinction.
Not that Winslow-King himself is any slouch. His songwriting and soft, slightly breathy vocals are both in fine fettle here. There’s also some nice guitar interplay between him and Luti on Chicken Dinner, where the addition of a small horn section edges us into James Hunter territory. Else- where it’s Mike Lynch’s churchy organ, the subtle use of female backing singers and the closing track’s mournful fiddle which add tex- ture to the disc.
For my money, it’s the album’s slower, gentler tracks that cut deepest. Better For Knowing You, After The Rain and Farewell Blues are simply beautiful songs, and it’s hard to imagine any of them being sung and played better than they are here. I’ll say it again: this may his best record yet.
lukewinslowking.com Paul Slade
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