A to Z Album and Gig Reviews
Since departing the ranks of Rachel Unthank's Winterset just last year, this fine young "fiddle singer" has been busy gathering together material for this fresh new collection that certainly well fulfils the promise of her eponymous solo debut of a mere 15 months ago. A quietly captivating set overall, it includes eleven songs (predominantly traditional in origin, but in enterprising new arrangements) and two instrumental tracks of Jackie's own composition (with a bourée-medley as a lively bonus cut).
The album's air of wistfulness and reflective melancholy is perfectly conveyed by the pure and generally quite plaintive character of Jackie's singing, which some have (reasonably enough) compared to Shirley Collins. Jackie's no copyist however, and her voice, while embodying a sensuous fragility, can also display a degree of added toughness that gives an extra dimension to her response to the texts. Billy Reilley (the only song performed unaccompanied) demonstrates this well, but elsewhere we can still hear (and appreciate) the nuances of Jackie's interpretations by virtue of the intelligent restraint and gentle sparseness of the uncluttered instrumental arrangements (masterminded by Phil Beer, on whose own label the disc appears). Jackie's own instrumental skills are well to the fore here too, with some sensitively moulded viola work in particular, and she evidently also delights in the expressive and textural possibilities of her newly-acquired octave violin.
The Violet Hour is no aural wasteland, for it benefits from quite an extensive supporting cast; yet few of the tracks utilise more than two musicians at a time (albeit with some creative multitracking), and these folks' strong individuality provides but one element in ensuring variety and interest throughout. Check out Tim Van Eyken's brooding guitar lines and duet vocal on Rob Roy, and Phil B's nifty tenor guitar on The Crockery Ware, while Jim Causley makes some key contributions, not just instrumentally and vocally but also as composer of the disc's standout track, the abundantly beautiful reverie Summer's End. And a second Jim, that controversial Mr Moray (Jackie's brother), does an attractive nu-folk production job on his own Wishfulness Waltz, on which Jackie herself sounds unnervingly like Sandy Denny in both inflection and phrasing. Whereas Jim number three, Jackie's current touring partner James Dumbelton, brings his stringed virtuosity to two consecutive songs (and even a spot of whistling on Young Donald!).
Other collaborators include melodeonist Nick Cooke, fellow-fiddlers Nick Wyke and Becky Driscoll, Belinda O'Hooley's resourceful piano playing, and Jackie's Wistman's Wood colleagues Steve Turner and Andy Clarke. Other items worth singling out include the gently fulsome consort setting for Hampton Lullaby, Sean O'Shea's vocal on Richie's Lady, and a beguiling, drone-accompanied Lark In The Morning. And all with attendant high production values, too. Yes, I predict this disc will feature in my albums-of-the-year list.
David Kidman March 2008
Finalist in the BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards in 2003, since which time this fine young fiddle player and singer has become a key member of Rachel Unthank's Winterset group as well as performing in a duo with well-regarded traditional singer Ed Rennie (a review of whose excellent CD Narrative can be found in the NetRhythms archive).
This is Jackie's first recorded solo outing (though by a curious coincidence Jackie's playing has also cropped up on another album I reviewed recently - the fine Barry Lister release Ghosts And Greasepaint from WildGoose). But this is a delectable album full of gently forthright and honest, yet also commendably sensitive, renditions of almost exclusively traditional material (the exceptions I'll come to in due course). Jackie sings very believably, a natural storyteller in song with a pure conviction and genuine understanding of the words, only occasionally betraying her relative inexperience in songs of which she hasn't yet acquired quite the measure (like, possibly, Rambleaway). She doesn't need to resort to stressing the drama of the stories, and her plain-speaking approach pays most dividends on "difficult" ballads like The Cruel Ship's Carpenter and Lord Abore And Mary Flynn. I also liked her way with The Flower Of Northumberland (so very different from the recent Unthank epic treatment, yet just as valid as an interpretation) and Lavender's Blue (whose attractive pizzicato rhythms usher in a quirky cloggy mazurka). This latter, in common with several other titles in the album's tracklist, may be all too familiar to the folk audience, yet Jackie's interpretations are thoughtful and refreshing.
Although this is undeniably Jackie's solo CD, and she must take the lion's share of the credit for its success, a further key contributory element is the sensibly uncluttered nature and quality of the instrumental accompaniments. These are generally quite sparingly applied (which is all to the good of course, in that it allows us to concentrate on Jackie's lovely singing), but the coup-de-grâce is that the chosen musicians are first-rate: Ed Rennie (cittern, guitar, melodeon, bass and harmonica), Phil Beer (guitar, tenor guitar, fiddle, percussion, keyboards), Jonathan Shoreland (flute, oboe), Martin Keates (melodeon), Matt Norman (violin), Emma Blackie (cello) and Belinda O'Hooley (piano) all provide genuinely sympathetic and present-while-unobtrusive backing that enhances rather than distracts. Well, except perhaps in the case of a spirited bit of step-dancing that Ed indulges in towards the end of The Staffordshire Maid, which doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the sound-picture. Just two of the songs are sung by Jackie unaccompanied: the bonus track The 14th November (which was recorded live at Dartmoor Folk Festival last year), and the fascinatingly morbid The Mistletoe Bough (an unattributed setting of Thomas Haynes Bayley's poem), onto which is appended an atmospheric little instrumental postlude played on veuze (a Breton bagpipe), oboe and percussion.
Finally, the non-traditional exceptions I referred to earlier are three in number. They consist of a pair of invigorating self-composed tunes, the aforementioned Mistletoe Bough, and Broken Town, an enchanting song by Helen Bell (formerly of Ola and Niblik, now with Pillowfish) which doesn't feel at all out of place with its traditional bedfellows, for its chamber-like viola-and-piano setting embodies much of the feel of a classical folksong-arrangement). A very desirable disc, whose artistically attractive and carefully-managed presentation extends to the appealing sepia-toned photography on the package-art.
David Kidman January 2007
Obi - Diceman Lopez (Cooking Vinyl)
Together for getting for four years, fronted by Damien Katkhuda the quartet made an opening splash with their debut EP The Magic Land of Radio and went on to earn glowing reviews with their appearance at 2003's Glastonbury. Now they've come up with their first album, a lovely but downbeat collection of storytelling songs about disillusion and death hidden behind cascading melodies, classical piano, carnival folk influences, Eastern European colours, Mexican trumpets, fiddles, and a voice that variously calls to mind Lloyd Cole, Al Stewart, Nick Cave, and, rather strangely on some of the slower numbers, even a vague hint of Jagger.
Incredible Jack and The Tale of Old Rodriguez suggest a Scott Walker influence among the record collection and Chewing At My Soul offers some faux Americana bluegrass with fiddles scraping away while elsewhere the keynote is folk pop, breathily fragile on the soured lullaby Sleep Well Dear Friends, echoing Cohen's lugubrious misery on The Sweetest Silver, lurching through the slow mazurka of Fairground and strolling through fallen English autumn leaves with the ghost of Nick Drake on Movers and Shakers.
With its tales of losers and bone weary melancholics culminating in the welcome resignation of A Plague On This House, where everything rusts and decays, it's not an album to send you skipping off with sunshine in your heart, but those who already seduced by the yearning misery of, say Coldplay, will find Obi good company.
Mike Davies
After a series of wonderful recordings on which Tim's been travelling back to explore his musical roots, his latest album reverts to showcasing his own compositions within a framework of completely solo performances. Tim explains the background to Chameleon in the liner note: his songs mostly start with just him and an instrument, so last summer he went ahead and loaded all those instruments into Gary Paczosa's garage, and played this batch of songs until he was finished. There's certainly a tremendous immediacy about the recording and Tim's performances, a close intimacy that really brings you right into the music-making.
This is Tim on splendid form, right at the very top of his game, doing what he's always done in live performance but rarely getting the chance to do on record: communing with the music and his listeners in what might be called authentic troubadour mode. There's a distinct Guthrie-esque feel to the album too, arising partly out of that mode of delivery and partly out of the nature of the songs themselves. These vary from the classic-mode old-time of Red Dog In The Morning, the poignant Safe In Your Arms, the thoughtful philosophy of the title track and The Only Way To Never Hurt, and the more contemporary romantic balladry of The Garden, through the political singalong This World Was Made For Everyone, the pointed fun of Phantom Phone Call and the deliriously raggy, scatty hokum of Get Out There And Dance. There's a scattering of autobiographical references too - Megna's recalls a childhood memory of a local melon seller, and Where's Love Come From even works in a verse about the fairly recent death of his mother. Around two-thirds of the songs are completely self-penned, the remainder collaborations with old friends like Chris Stapleton, David Olney and John Hadley, but there's not a single dud among them, even the lighter numbers having a distinct classiness and a substance that makes them more than just makeweights.
Tim plays eight different instruments during the course of this record - two bouzoukis, fiddle, banjo, mandolin, mandola and two guitars (his favourite is clearly the 1937 Martin 00-18 model, for it stays for three numbers mid-set!). The sound quality is as brilliant as the playing; there's an abundance of beautifully turned accompaniment as well as some typically jaw-dropping picking on items like Hoss Race and Crooked Road, but it's all so darned natural, as natural as breathing for Tim I suspect. Totally top marks all round.
www.timobrien.net
www.myspace.com/timobrienmusic
David Kidman May 2008
Tim O'Brien - Cornbread Nation/ Fiddler's Green (Sugar Hill)
On much of Cornbread Nation (which is definitely the funkier, and perhaps more soulful, of this pair of releases), Tim also brings in Kenny Vaughan for some outstanding electric guitar work. Cornbread Nation's standout tracks include a fruity six-minute gospel workout Moses, a honky finger-lickin' band rendition of the title track (which Tim wrote for a southern cooking radio show!), and a lazy swing-shuffle croon through the traditional Foggy Foggy Dew (the latter's but one of the imaginatively unusual arrangements of well-worn material that Tim prides himself on slipping craftily into the running order from time to time!). There's also a guest duet-vocal appearance by Del McCoury on Tim's own family-composed - and "decidedly PC"! - Runnin' Out Of Memory (yes sir, that guy's too hard-drive-n!), while elsewhere Tim employs a delicious Cajun-style hoedown arrangement for Let's Go Huntin'. But then, just about every cut on Cornbread Nation is guaranteed to get them feet a-tappin', in fact!
Fiddler's Green, in contrast, comprises more what Tim terms "intimate music", but with "a good dose of fiddling" nevertheless, and sterling support from much the same crew as on Cornbread Nation (adding Seamus Egan, Chris Thile and Edgar Meyer for special occasions!). Its dozen tracks certainly inhabit what we might call the folkier end of Tim's repertoire, but they also contain some real gems – like the title track, one of the very many songs of that name, which turns out to have been penned by Pete Goble (OK, so I never for a moment expected Tim to cover the John Conolly FG!). Foreign Lander's a hair-on-back-of-neck four minutes where Tim's fiddle and vocal is supported by just Edgar Meyer's resonant bowed bass; Tim's voice and fiddle then get a true solo outing on A Few More Years, and raise them ol' hairs again! The two instrumentals on the disc (Land's End/Chasin' Talon and Tim's own composition First Snow) are alive with the sound of a bunch of like-minded folks having a real good time. Tim does however get to forsake his trusty fiddle at times, handing it over to Stuart Duncan while he sings two covers, Long Black Veil and Gordon Lightfoot's Early Morning Rain.
So don't let these brilliant new albums pass you by - they're genuinely complementary, celebrating at least two of the many facets of Tim's eclectic rootsiness in best possible style with some of the finest musicians around today. I just don't have space to single out all the juicy solos and licks that delight afresh each time I play the discs. So go on, save up and buy 'em both!
David Kidman
Tim O'Brien - Traveler (Sugar Hill)
Tim's travelled round a heck of a lot lately, guesting on almost everyone's records and sessions as well as exploring his musical heritage on projects like Songs From The Mountain, The Crossing and Two Journeys which have already attained classic status. In musical terms too he's travelled a lot since his last album of original songs (1997's When No-one's Around), so his return to the Sugar Hill imprint for a brand new collection of originals is most welcome. Traveler is possibly Tim's most directly autobiographical record to date, and contains twelve songs (all of them bar one are Tim's own) that all deal with some kind of travelling, whether journeys in the purely literal sense or the spiritual and emotional trips we take through our lives. These are songs that Tim had been carrying around with him for a while (in a kind of travelling bag I suppose) that he hadn't gotten round to recording. There's plenty of scope for Tim to bring out his fascination with history and genius loci (the soul of a place) on songs like Restless Spirit Wandering and Family History, while Kelly Joe's Shoes and Forty-Nine Keep On Talkin' keep to the trusty gambit of the traveller's tale. The more personal philosophical statements of Turn The Page Again, Less And Less and On The Outside Looking In deal potently with travelling through life's patterns and plans. Then there's Travelers itself, a poignant song Tim wrote in the weeks immediately after 09/11 celebrating those sweet, fleeting moments when you realise that each new day and place (and experience) is a blessing. There are some very beautiful new songs here, and to aid Tim in bringing them to life he's surrounded himself with reliable musical soulmates such as Dirk Powell, John Doyle, Kenny Malone, Darrell Scott, Jerry Douglas and Edgar Meyer, also newer names like Casey Driessen (who turns out to be a really exciting fiddle player). Their musicianship provides the ideal backdrop yet ensures a firm focus for the songs themselves. A solid and lasting album.
www.sugarhillrecords.com
www.timobrien.net
David Kidman
Master of bluegrass Tim here gives us a completely natural follow-up to his phenomenally successful The Crossing, wherein he began to explore his Irish roots. For Two Journeys, the musical permeation of Irish influences is even more pronounced, and Tim has enlisted an impressive roster, with some of the very best traditional Irish musicians (Kevin Burke, Paul Brady, Karan Casey, Paddy Keenan, Michael McGoldrick, John Williams and Maura O'Connell, to name but some) and noted crossover cajun-country player Dirk Powell, all in addition to his regular Nashville band of Darrell Scott, Kenny Malone and Dennis Crouch. That listing alone is indicative of the quality of the music-making, but Tim proves an ideal unifying thread with his timeless and idiomatic treatment of the material he chooses to represent his shared heritage.
Highlights for me include Demon Lover (one of two to feature Karan Casey's fine vocal), the drippingly authentic cajun-flavoured title track (written by Dirk Powell and Christine Balfa in tribute to Dewey, Christine's father), the various deftly-managed tune sets, Tim's own songs The Holy Well and the deeply moving For The Fallen, and perhaps most imposing of all, The Tide Flows Into Milltown, on which Tim accompanies himself on fiddle. Tim's striking cover of Norwegian Wood proves an inspired, if unexpected closer. These tracks all spotlight contributions of individual musicians, but the overriding impression this project gives is that of an incredible teamwork, on which Tim is to be congratulated. Look out for the forthcoming Two Journeys UK tour this summer too, it'll be spectacular!
David Kidman
This is the real stuff, pure unadulterated traditional Scottish ceilidh played by an outfit utterly steeped in the music. Down To The Hall is the band's fifth record, and follows Reel Of Four with a further sparkling selection of tunes and sets for dancing. In fact, I'd stick my neck out and say this is even more immediately listenable than the band's previous offerings. In one sense The Occasionals are aptly named, since for their individual members the ceilidh band is an occasional activity (and indeed there have been some illustrious additional "occasional" members over the years!); but the musicians' empathy with their material is a permanent fixture, it's in their blood and permeates every single strict-tempo bar of their music. The lineup on this generously-stocked CD is the basic band, the nucleus if you like, consisting of accordionist Freeland Barbour (who also supplies midi-bass), fiddler Ian Hardie and banjoist/mandolinist Kevin MacLeod (also playing guitars and bouzouki this time round), with drummer Gus Millar providing the distinctive and all-important rhythmic drive. (And don't forget, too, that both Ian and Kevin have brilliant solo albums available on Greentrax...) Even ceilidh-band fans might "occasionally" balk at the thought of 73 minutes of wall-to-wall dance sets, but the programme is sensibly structured and varied, with self-penned dances punctuated with well-loved repertoire and ne'er a dull moment. And the playing is absolutely first-class, with an abundance of sparky spontaneity and not a hint of the routine that can dog performances (and records) by ceilidh bands. The band ring some subtle changes within the sound from time to time, whereby Freeland reaches for a whistle or across to a keyboard, or Ian picks up the smallpipes, but these enhancements don't ever get in the way of the vitality of the music. Not for nothing are the Occasionals so widely regarded as one of the foremost ceilidh dance exponents, and as I said last time round, traditional Scottish ceilidh bands really don't come better than this. Listening to this infectious music is enough to make a determined non-dancer feel like gettin' "doon tae the hall and taking to the floor". And by the way, presentation and documentation is exemplary, with sensible notes on the tunes used and their sources, also a useful and meaningfully compiled tracklist where sets are listed alongside the corresponding dances.
www.greentrax.com
mysite.freeserve.com/theoccasionals
David Kidman July 2007
David Kidman
Maura O'Connell - Don't I Know (Sugar Hill)
After the attractive Celtic-country sensibilities of ex-De Danaanite Maura's previous CDs and the more personally significant collection that comprised Walls And Windows, the more thoroughly contemporary sound of Don't I Know comes as a bit of a surprise, at least initially – especially since it marks a return to the producer's chair for Jerry Douglas. The opening cut, a cover of Al Anderson's Trip Around The Sun, is quite poppy with prominent organ sound cutting through the acceptably newgrass texture. The ensuing ballad There's No Good Day For Dying (could've easily been a Richard Thompson title that, but it ain't, altho' the booklet doesn't say who did write it!) makes good capital out of its passionate electric guitar and pedal steel backing (courtesy of Jonathan Trebing and Jerry Douglas). Not all of the cuts are as distinctive-sounding as these, although the actual playing is well up to the high standard you'd expect from such collaborators as Bryan Sutton, Viktor Krauss, Gabe Dixon and Shannon Forest. In addition, Edgar Meyer, Russ Barenberg and Gerry O'Beirne also make key contributions to one track apiece towards the close of the CD.
Whatever the instrumentation or arrangement, though, Maura's rich voice and fine interpretative skills are firmly in focus, and the typically eclectic choice of songs never really lets Maura down. As on her previous album, Maura draws on contemporary female songwriters Mindy Smith, Patty Griffin and Kim Richey alongside more well-known names such as Jim Lauderdale and Tim O'Brien. Maura's vocal flexibility enables her to rock out occasionally with a harder, altogether funkier edge to her delivery, as on Spinning Wheel (from within the lyrics of which comes the CD's title). In the end, this is a grower of an album, whose first impression of slight blandness dissipates readily on closer acquaintance.
David Kidman
Maura O'Connell -Walls & Windows (Sugar Hill)
Born in Ennis, County Clare, O'Connell started her musical life fronting legendary Irish folkies De Dannan. Then somewhere along the way she realised that country music was closer to her heart. Folk's loss is Americana's gain. Possessed of a full blooded twang of a voice that's more Martina McBride and Lucinda Williams than Emmylou or Reba, she may not write but she has a keen ear for a good song and an inspired producer. For her debut Sugar Hill release the latter chair's filled by Ray Kennedy (himself a Williams alumni along with having worked with Steve Earle) making this the first time in a decade she's not worked with dobro player Jerry Douglas behind the controls. That partnership spawned a clutch of fine albums to go with her Grammy nominated 1989 release Helpless Heart, but the change behind the desk has brought a new zest to the work, stretching her across the blues, sophisticated soul country and, on A Far Cry, a return to her Celtic roots with an aching dose of uillean pipes. She's gone for the A league with heart swelling covers of Clapton's I Get Lost and Van's Crazy Love, but along with John Prine's Sleepy Eyed Boy it's actually the lesser names that provide the album's most memorable moments. John and Johanna Hall's trad folk-blues Blessing with O'Connell's striking unaccompanied intro, the pure voiced folksy catch in the throat she brings to Pam Rose and Mary Ann Kennedy's plaintive Walls, Patty Giffin's moving Long Ride Home in which a widow recalls her late husband on the way back from the funeral, and, kicking the album of fin fine form, the twangy guitar rock country of Every River provided by Tom Littlefield, Angelo Petraglia and Kim Richey. Lucinda may yet find strong competition for next year's Grammy.
Mike Davies
Accomplished bouzouki player Niall is perhaps best known for his work with fusion band Deiseal, and he's a veteran of countless sessions within the spheres of both traditional and contemporary music. Here Niall presents an album consisting entirely of his own compositions in traditional mode, genuinely timeless in feel, on which his various bouzoukis, guitar, mandolin and bass are accompanied equally stylishly by Máire Breatnach (fiddle), Máirtin O'Connor (button accordion), Kevin Shields (flute, whistles) and Mario Ngoma (percussion). None of the tunes outstays its welcome, and there's an easy vitality to the playing and arrangements that's attractive without being over-insistent. There's a joyous, relaxed kind of swing to the rhythms on cuts like the Soporific set of hornpipes (belying its title somewhat!) – one of my favourite tracks here. Another highlight is Spirit Of Oriel, a delightful and stately slow air where the lilting waves of sound are truly hypnotic. Whatever the tempo, though, there's a compulsive energy that drives the music-making and keeps you interested. Occasionally the focus is quite soft-edged, and selections such as The Otter verge on atmospheric easy-listening, but this aspect proves no barrier to enjoyment in the final analysis, or to appreciating Niall's talents as a gifted player and a consistently authoritative arranger. Production values are excellent too, and a fully credible instrumental and musical balance is maintained throughout the album's 48 minutes. This is an inventive, tasty, and in the end quietly satisfying album.
David Kidman
Dónal, based over in Co. Roscommon, writes his own songs simply about people and places that he knows and loves, and performs them most chamingly. His record label is aptly named, too, for the first impression you gain is of a man who's been around the scene plying his trade perfectly effectively (and more) for some while, doing a really good job and pleasing and satisfying everyone for whom he performs – yet not making it into the high-profile arena that's peopled by folks like Christy Moore, whom (at any rate vocally) Dónal most closely resembles. It's indicative that Christy himself has described Dónal's album as 'a pure joy', prominently endorsing Dónal's artistry as a performer and songwriter, and you can hear why at once on the very first track, The Storm, an unassuming and appealing philosophical life-reflection. Dónal's is the kind of easy-going songwriting that's timeless – not least in that it deals accessibly and colloquially with universally relevant issues, and also in that this album, released three years ago, could have originated almost any time over the past 20 or so years and not seem dated in respect either of style or arrangement. The very same applies to his warm, inclusive live performances, where his innate friendliness and easy, natural approachability draw you in straightway and keep your attention. His is not a major groundbreaking, cutting-edge or innovative talent, as I'm sure he'd be the first to admit, but his virtue is to deliver the goods with solid, modestly crafted songs and competent guitar accompaniment that makes a virtue of flowing, rippling simplicity. For the CD Dónal also employs extra musicians, who provide affable and reasonably imaginative settings that neither offend nor intrude. Dónal's caressing vocal tones aside, the Christy Moore comparison is perhaps most apparent on The Bubble Song, which is characterised with a delicious childlike fairytale touch that's inescapably reminiscent of Reel In The Flickering Light. Overall, the album's songs contain a nice mixture of tempos, and the recording itself is well balanced too, showing Dónal to best advantage. One telling comment that Dónal made at the gig I attended, was that when he was originally getting the album together he was short of one song, and so the title track came about in direct response to a friend's remark "it's about time you made a CD"! - though I can vouch for the fact that nowadays Dónal has more than enough songs to fill two albums, as he had no trouble filling two club sets!
David Kidman
Gerry (banjo) O'Connor - No Place Like Home (Myriad Music)
Argh, these Irish musicians! Yet another of the "not to be confused with" brigade - for a couple of weeks back I reviewed the Journeyman release by Dundalk fiddler Gerry O'Connor, and now along comes a solo album from Four Men And A Dog's Tipperary-born banjo and fiddle supremo of that very same name.
The track listing probably won't indicate anything out of the ordinary for you - reels, jigs, hornpipes mainly - but just put the disc in the player and you'll hear something refreshingly different straightaway. Sure, it's mostly a banjo tour-de-force, as you'd expect, but superb as the playing is, it's the arrangements that lift the playing so much and guarantee a genuine "wow" response rather than the "OK we all admire this guy's technical ability, but …" that can dog so many releases from otherwise highly competent instrumentalists. In other words, the context within which the humble four-string banjo is placed - often unusual, but always invigoratingly effective. Banjo can indeed be beautiful, if I may wax lyrical!
Now, Gerry's philosophy behind making this album (his third solo effort) was very much "home is where the heart is", as he returns to his traditional roots to treat us to his reinterpretations of tunes he's known for a while and/or which represent musical milestones or personal touchstones for him. There's a distinctly Appalachian old-timey feel to the opening phrasing on Bag Of Spuds, while bluegrass, one of Gerry's acknowledged influences, looms large via the ghost of Earl Scruggs (whose music had first captivated Gerry on the old Beverly Hillbillies TV show), especially on Billy In The Lowground and intermittently elsewhere. Underpinning Gerry's virtuoso precision playing, though, is his considered intelligence in the planning and relaxed execution of the settings, which pare down the roster of accompanying musicians to small but telling measures of support and gentle effects from Brendan O'Regan (electric bouzouki, mandolin, guitar), Damien Evans (bass) and Tommy Hayes (bodhrán). There's a beauteous delicacy in the subtle, burnished chordal shadings of Brendan's instruments, and Gerry's slow lullaby Ruby's Birthday is a lustrous interlude before the final reel.
Fiddle lovers will be mildly disappointed, I suppose, in that Gerry only switches to fiddle twice - for track 9 (the storming Brendan O'Regan's Reels set, where he duets with his own banjo) and the second tune of the track 5 set (Cuckoo's First Call). But I must say, though, that No Place Like Home is fast becoming one of my favourite banjo albums, for it's so delightful a listen that its 39 minutes flies by like nobody's business and my each and every listen has prompted an immediate replay from track one on in! (Available from Copperplate Distribution.)
David Kidman
I've only just recovered from prolonged (but most pleasurable!) exposure to Gerry's previous CD, Journeyman, which set his sparkling fiddle playing in context on an enviably wide range of tunes and arrangements; and now along comes close on a whole hour's worth of a live recording showcasing Gerry's talents when teamed on stage with Breton guitarist Gilles Le Bigot. I'll confess I'd not before heard of Gilles, but I'm now very glad to have made his acquaintance! Amazingly, I learn, Gilles is entirely self-taught, and his adoption of the open-tuning method in the late 1970s had been a key factor in his development of a guitar-playing style adapted to Breton music, a style which has since gained widespread acceptance among guitarists. Actually, this isn't an easy album to review, in that there's not an awful lot that I can say about it beyond a slew of superlatives and "wow" words. I could try to wax lyrical about individual items within the concert, or else the cumulative effect of over a dozen jaw-droppingly excellent sets of varying tempos and moods. Or I could search the thesaurus in vain to try to convey the sheer joyousness of the playing on the Dónal Dubh set (track 2), with its devil-may-care showstopping transition from the highland to the closing reel, or the lyrical thrust of the slower material like the airs Mál Bhán or A Bruxa, or the unusual handling of the rhythmic elements at times like the ambitious march/highland/reel set (track 5), or the jazzy swing of the hornpipes set (track 7) or the headlong momentum that drives both players in interlocked embrace on the various sets of jigs … But even so, I still really can't accurately convey the flavour of the experience, other than to say that it's a brilliant and lasting record of two musicians at the absolute peak of their powers, conjuring up a scintillating brew of tunes with all the fluid technical virtuosity they can muster yet displaying a truly mighty empathy for each other's skilled flights of fancy and improvisation within the designated framework. An inordinately fine live album.
www.gerryoconnor.net
www.gilleslebigot.com
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
Gerry O'Connor - Journeyman (Lughnasa Music)
www.gerryoconnor.net
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
It's a long time since Coventry born O'Connor and the music charts were briefly on speaking terms, but while she may not have had a highly visible profile she's been consistently turning out solid, folk infused albums and slowly metamorphosing into the West Midlands answer to Marianne Faithful.
Now comes her latest, one that finds her exploring earthy Celtic folk territory, a style well suited to her smoky rasp of a voice. But her feet aren't just planted on Irish soil. The opening track, Acoustically Yours, is a marvellous slow marching air with Cumbrian pipes and didgeridoo that is underpinned with an Eastern atmosphere while I'll See You Again maintains the musical cross-fertilisation with conga drums pattering behind the harp (courtesy of the famed Cormac de Barra), flute and recorder with their dawn mist on the hills textures and the burning urgency of Perfect Days adds rainstick and Morrocan flute to the cultural melting pot.
She's in soulful mood with Loveable's organ and sax, a track that hints at a loamy version of Lighthouse Family while Time After Time brings Latin rhythms and the haunting End of My Days marries Gaelic bodhran with Indian colours. And, on the carpe diem learn to love yourself anthem, Fear of Flying, there's even a children's choir. Produced (and orchestrated) by Martin Rushent and featuring such stalwart names as harpist Cormac De Barra, violinist Maire Breatnach and, on the eco-mystical slow carnival tempo Hidden, a spooked duet with Moya Brennan, as you'll have guessed, it's a heady musical brew. But lyrically too it has weight, addressing such themes as one's place in the cosmos, death, loss, the commonality of mankind, passing time and, naturally, relationships. It strikes particularly lingering notes on Who Will Care?'s story of the death of a lonely addict at the end of her hope, and the refusal to succumb to despair that is If Only, a dramatic duet on with Tony Dangerfield from The Subteranneans (two of whom also provide the guitars) that sounds as if it were written as the defiant closing song in some theatre piece.
There's little chance anything here will return her to the spotlight she once fleetingly enjoyed with things like Breaking Glass and Will You, but it's a richly seasoned, organically crafted and emotionally resonant album of which she can be justly proud and which a lot more people should really make an effort to discover.
Mike Davies, Sept 2006
Nora O'Connor - Til The Dawn (Bloodshot)
Irish-American Chicago guitarist and singer with Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire for the past five years and dubbed a 'singing hired assassin' for her never-ending session work, O'Connor's finally found the time to get into a studio on her own account. It's a no frills affair steeped in Southern schooled trad country (Nightingale), honky tonk (Bottoms, no really), barnyard bluegrass (OK With Me) and countryfied soft rock (Revolver) that shows off her slightly jazz eased voice to good effect while the two self-penned numbers, a breezy organ backed and brushed percussion My Backyard and the melancholic but lilting Tonight, suggest she should sit down at the writing table more often.
Her choice of covers are tasty too though, a country harmonised reading of Fleetwood Mac's That's Alight and a spare, soulfully wounded version of Lori Carson's Down Here particular notables though her breathy, late night torchy piano, drums and violin take on Kitty Lester's Love Letters is probably more commendable in its intent than its realisation. Not an album that'll let her give up the day jobbing, but a commendable first effort boding well for her next solo time out.
Mike Davies
Nora O'Connor - Til The Dawn (Bloodshot)
First-generation Irish-American born and raised on the scrappy south side of Chicago, Nora's been a bartender and a midwife's assistant, as well as a constantly-in-demand backing chanteuse. She's recorded and toured with folks as diverse as Jeff Tweedy, Neko Case, Archer Prewitt and Otis Clay, did a spell with country-goth band the Blacks (as twin-vocalist foil to Gina Black), and a five-year stint with Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire. High time, then, that she launched out on a solo record, and here it is at last! It's a brilliant and fresh-sounding – if, at just nine tracks lasting a paltry 31 minutes in total, far far too short – concoction of everything Nora does best, a typically genre-transcending set that straddles the country-alt-punk line in that sure-fire niche that Bloodshot have carved out all their own. Opening with a delicious slice of breezy I Want You-style Dylanesque on My Backyard (the first of Nora's own compositions here), Nora turns honky-tonk angel duettin' with Kelly Hogan on Bottoms, then moves on through a Fleetwood Mac cover That's Alright that effortlessly outstrips the original, and follows through with the twangy Revolver, the swooningly lonesome pedal-steel-and-cello-drenched Tonight, the sparky rockin' bluegrass of OK With Me, a stylishly sultry lounge cover of Ketty Lester's Love Letters (wonderfully wayward violin from Andrew Bird himself on this cut), and on to the homespun backporch ambience of Nightingale and finally settling on the more reflective closer, Lori Carson's Down Here (aw shucks, I've committed the cardinal sin of the reviewer and mentioned every track by name – so hey come forgive me, Reverend Nora!…) A disparate collection maybe at first glance, but it all hangs together really well. Nora's in great voice, showing off her sweetly understated yet highly individual vocal timbre to excellent effect – she can be gritty and feisty, and although one of her strong suits is sexy but vulnerable she convinces on all levels. As well as the aforementioned Andrew Bird, Nora's inveigled into her support band for the sessions for this CD another Bowl Of Fire member, guitarist Andy Hopkins, as well as two of Robbie Fulks' sidemen (Grant Tye and Gerald Dowd), while Matt Weber (from Mount Pilot), Ryan Hembrey and Scott Ligon complete the lineup. Nora really does deserve wide recognition, so do try to get hold of this CD. Me, I wanna hear more – and darn soon!
David Kidman
A solo venture by Mark Morrisette (no relation, I assume), singer with Vancouver indie rock crew Kids These Days, while some songs stem from being on the road with the band most of this sparse folksy collection derives from his travelling through Asia and Europe in the summer of 2003, journal notes translated into songs. With hints of Neil Young and young Dylan, the result's a sort of musical Jack Kerouac, opening with X-Pat's observations on the backpacking experience, fellow travellers with the Canadian flag on their bags, strangers in strange lands but with a shared connection.
It's a journey that takes him from the claustrophobia of the jog along scratchy guitar Tokyo Nightmare through Vietnam, the Pyrannees, and New York, weighed down by the loneliness of isolation on Walking Time, before finding salvation in the local store.
He's got the right sort of brushed huskiness voice to go with the melancholic reflections woven through his lo fi dreamy pop and if the album as a whole never quite escapes a certain element of sameness, individual moments such as the lovely melodic lilts of Paper Rock Scissors and Face On My Smile make it a journey worth sharing.
www.octoberman.ca
www.myspace.com/octoberman
Mike Davies January 2007
You get exactly what it says on the tin here: and in the literal sense too, for it's an album of "traditional Irish tin whistle music from County Clare"! But punning aside, this is a CD of seasoned musicality and unassuming virtuosity from a lady who for the past 20 years has been quietly going about her business of playing the humble tin whistle (and the flute) and teaching the tin whistle. That quality of unassuming virtuosity is manifest in that Bríd's technique relies so much less on showoff dexterity than on the accurate transmission of the melodic line, only gently decorated where necessary. This is an entirely solo CD, and in lesser hands that could easily lead to aural boredom, but it says much for Bríd's musical personality that I was so caught up in her enjoyment of, and immersion in, the straightforward progression of the tunes she plays that the concept of boredom was banished many leagues away. Bríd never feels the need to hurry the tunes along unnecessarily, and this aspect of her playing style always generates some delightful turns of phrase that might otherwise get lost in the rush. Her involvement in the annual Willie Clancy Summer School (and indeed the fact that she took early advice from Willie himself) are key to her playing approach, the purity of which is refreshing in this age of overstatement and effect-making notespinning. The majority of tunes chosen for this disc are reels, with a few jigs and slip-jigs, and the majority are well-trodden tunes from traditional sources, but Bríd's detailed booklet notes (complemented by an attractive selection of photos) make up a persuasive package. Perhaps I'm a bit sad that there are only three slow airs on the disc, as Bríd phrases these so very beautifully (I especially liked The Bold Trainer O, which prefaces the set dance Mount Phoebus Hunt to together form the CD's longest track). The recording's sympathetic too, with none of that shrilly "enhanced" piercing that can so easily mar a tin whistle sound.
David Kidman
Here's something quite special! Cognoscenti of the comic song may have heard the celebrated Spoons Murder, which Con recorded a few years ago on the Hammy Hamilton CD It's No Secret (Ossian), and which is reprised here on the first ever collection of his comic songs. Twelve of these are included in this book, and they're performed by Con himself, all but two of them in unaccompanied mode, on the companion CD included with the book. A Cork man, Con "Fada" Ó Drisceoil is a noted box player and singer and a member of the Four Star Trio, but he's particularly adept at crafting original comic songs in the traditional style (inventively using traditional tunes, many associated with the West Muskerry district), with a special gift for creating bizarre situations and "fashioning a fine song out of an apparently insignificant event" by telling tales that take a surreal and witty slant on life "in flawless rhyme and in a metre without blemishes". Con's songs have been passed around the folk scene selectively in recent years, some having been recorded by artistes such as Jimmy Crowley (one of Con's principal inspirations), Seamus Creagh and Rosie Stewart, but this is the first time that a comprehensive collection of his songs has appeared either in print or on CD.
Here in this all-too-slim volume, wonderfully illustrated with some wicked, fabulously flustered drawings by Édaín O'Donnell, we encounter The Miltown Cockroach debating nice points of philosophy with his victim, an irreverent retelling of King Lear (evidently "psychically influenced" by Adam MacNaughtan!), and a vibrant (if at times slightly uneasy) marriage of Ben Hur and the traditional sporting ballad. There's also a deft "patter-jig" extolling the virtues of the Irish piper. The Pool Song bemoans the pool craze that hit Ireland's pubs in the 70s, while Bob's Song turns out to be a mock lament describing Con's dog's trip to the vet (if you thought Eric Bogle's squashed moggy in dubious taste, you'll really howl at this one!!!). Admittedly, there are one or two songs here whose full comic import I don't quite "get", but savouring the poetic craftsmanship is more than adequate compensation (rather like one's appreciation of some of the more intransigent Gilbert & Sullivan concoctions!). Of course, the jewel in the crown is the book's title song, a gruesome account of the fate that befalls an insensitive and unwanted percussionist at a session; this draws most deliciously on the tradition of the murder ballad (I've since come across a sequel, but it's not included in this book and thus I must assume it's not of Con's authorship). This exceedingly well produced book will surely cheer those long winter nights!
David Kidman November 2006
For such an accomplished musician, David Ogilvy remains surprisingly keen to give homage to his singer-songwriter heroes through his music. On 'Heaven and Earth', Dylan gets covered again with a version of 'The Immigrant Song' (never far from being topical in Britain, but sharply so again, just now). It is Nick Drake who is most frequently brought to mind, however; David Ogilvy's style is so remarkably similar at times that you might feel his whole career is a tribute to Nick Drake's own, tragically brief, career.
Beautifully produced - from the cd sleeve to the backing vocals - and elegantly played, 'Heaven and Earth' sees the Nick Drake sound eliding firmly in the direction of JJ Cale territory; with those two in mind, you'll know that this is laid-back music for late in the evening, reflective and soothing. 'Last Night', an original song, is about as raucous as it gets, and sounds like one of JJ Cale's upbeat moments- that is, raucous in a restrained, 'let's not get too excited, chaps' sort of a way. 'Midnight Train' demonstates David's continuing ability to pull a neat tune, with a hummable hook, out of the hat and 'Last Pink Chip' is, really, about as close to JJ Cale as you can get without infringing copywright.
Elsewhere, a cover of 'Can't Get Used To Losing You' is a quiet delight; Yolanda Antonio's backing vocals become a wry commentary, where she plays the 'you' of the title. It's an original take on an old favourite and quite lovely. 'I Woke Up', another Ogilvy original , seems to take 70's era Paul Simon for a songwriting model - a fine enough thing to be trying, in my book. I hope I'm not making him sound like a pastichist, though, because that wouldn't be fair. It's just that he's unafraid to let his influences show, he's such a fan of all these guys.. Anyway, a good half of these songs show no such obvious debts and are just beautifully crafted David Ogilvy songs. The only dud track, for me, is the cover of 'Whole World (In His Hands)' which really doesn't benefit from the languid pace: it's a song of joy, if it's anything. Otherwise 'Heaven and Earth' is a mellow charmer, one to enjoy in the quiet moments of the day.
www.myspace.com/davidogilvyJohn Davy February 2008
David Ogilvy - Mockingbird (Thumbpick)
Though its recording was interrupted by no less than eight throat operations, the Scottish-American singer-songwriter's sophomore album has arrived in fine fettle. His honey-smoke vocals bring sounding even more akin to Martin Stephenson than he did on his debut, with hints of Jackson C Frank, John Martyn and Martyn Joseph also peeking through, the mood remains much the same intoxicating minor key leafy Celtic folk meets Southern back-porch blues.
As before, he includes a couple of classy covers in the shape of Townes Van Zandt's White Freight Liner Blues and, complementing the song's and his own Dylan influence, Bob's own Tomorrow Is A Long Time.
But, effortlessly played and sung, it's his own material that shines brightest. Listen to the quiet sensuality of Lay It All Down (on which he sounds like God's answer to Chris Rea) or the dappled lazing haze of Singing Back on which you can almost imagine him trailing his hand in the river as he wrote it. Likewise Miller's Farm, from whence comes the album title, is a wonderful marriage of Nick Drake and John Steinbeck.
Unveiling his countrier side on Portmahomack and Half Asleep, showing Mark Knopfler how to do smoky blues with Downtown and getting on his feet for Ain't No Reason's slap lurch r&b complete with brass flourishes from Annie Whitehead and Paul Jayasingha while superbly showcasing his accomplished performance on classical acoustic guitar and pedal steel on the meditatively moody instrumental Blues For Loren, there's not a weak moment here. 'Tell me how long can a man wait for his time?', he sings. With this album, surely it is already here.
Mike Davies
David's a half American, half Scottish singer-songwriter based in London, and Like It Is, his début solo album, proves an extremely attractive piece of work, if possibly quite a slowburner. At first the stylistic range seems ambitiously wide, but David's own vocal and instrumental identity Some tracks (like the drawling country-tinged opener Hole In The Ground and Tuesday's Reel) have a gently Latino-mex lilt and momentum; there's also the delectable Curlew Song, with its sparingly luscious string arrangement much in the Nick Drake mould, and I loved Going Down for its dusty desert feel with lonesome pedal steel and brushed drumming, as well as the delicately phrased Watch Me Fly and the driving, yet understated Must Be The Heat. Then, Tell Me Why has a distinctly James-Taylor feel to its melodic line despite its insistent hook. Interpolated betwixt a few of the tracks are some classy yet gnomic instrumental cuts, the Satie-esque pair Neruda featuring David on classical guitar. David's evidently every bit as accomplished on slide, dobro and ukulele, and he's also an excellent singer whose soulful, dusky tones often recall Greg Brown, sometimes Guy Clark (whose Anyhow I Love You, the album's only cover, closes proceedings in fine style) and in the higher register occasionally (and uncannily) Steve Tilston. Like It Is is sparse-textured yet excellently recorded, and neatly and professionally packaged. Definitely a case of "familiarity breeds content" with this increasingly impressive album, as I've grown to really love it; it's a real shame, then, that at just 34 minutes it gives such short measure, especially considering the quality, quantity and diversity of musical ideas David seems to have at his ready disposal.
I have to confess that, although both Frank and I are both from Scotland we do not know each other. I'm sure that will come as a surprise to those of you who think that everyone in Scotland knows everyone else. Seriously, I've not heard of Frank O'Hagan but this 13 track, self written album is a good introduction. The eponymous title track is a gentle way to start with heartfelt lyrics and Celtic overtones - partly reminds me of Downtown Train by Tom Waits. Leave This City Behind is a blues base rocker with a good guitar base and great organ fills. The vocal slightly lets it down due to lack of power. When The Boat Comes In (for those old enough, no it's not that one) is slow, Celtic influenced folk that builds up very well after a bit of an uninspired start. Good saxophone break in this one. I know that I said that the album was completely self written but I'm sure that I've heard Judgement Hall somewhere before. Maybe I've just been listening to too much recently. Anyway, this is a good paced sing-along rocker. Free Yourself continues Frank's Celtic style. This time it's piano based and is crying out for a filmmaker to use it. It's probably the best crafted song on offer and Frank's voice suits it perfectly. Montgomery Alabama is classic R&B with a good racial message but I'm afraid that the voice isn't up to it this time.
What does suit Frank's voice is the jazzy Include Me Out. Unfortunately, this is just a filler and nothing else. Another style is introduced with big band jump blues in the form of Wasting Time. This is more like it but a bit more of the horns would have gone down well. More Or Less is Celtic style Country and another well written song although his voice does sound a little strained at times. Will O' The Wisp sounds as if it should be a Scottish country dance song but what it is, is a sultry, brooding, smouldering contemporary blues in the style of Peter Green or Gary Moore. Only complaint is that there aren't enough guitar breaks. There's more country, this time with elements of jazz and blues, on Still In Love With You. This is a bit nightclubby and not strong enough. On The Road Too Long is better and flits on the edge of country/blues/gospel and is another of the better songs on the album. He finishes with the unashamedly Celtic Rain In The Rosses. He's obviously showing us that he can tackle the traditional style songs as well as those that are contemporary. It's not my cup of tea but there is a huge market for this kind of song. I'd advise him to stick to the other genres and find a strong singer to highlight his very good songwriting skills.
David Blue, July 2006
Robin O'Herin - The Road Home (Cooked Goose)
The follow-up to her excellent debut, Red, White & Blues, this is a more gospel and roots led album. It opens with the traditional song, Wayfaring Stranger, which is given a good rendition with the spotlight on top-notch vocals and harmonies. Robin gives us three Blind Willie Johnson songs here and Keep Your Lamp Trimmed And Burning is the first of them. She turns in a mesmerising performance with a metronomic feel to her excellent guitar playing.
I Am A Pilgrim is another traditional song that Robin makes her own before she unleashes her dulcimer for The Promise and Balm In Gilead. The former is the first self-penned track and the sound of the dulcimer makes the song. The latter is a return to the traditional genre of tune that Robin plays and sings so well. The second Blind Willie Johnson song is Nobody's Fault But Mine. This is one of my favourite songs from the set and Robin shows her gritty side here. The traditional, Guide Me O Great Jehovah is, quite simply, sung beautifully, a capella.
Psalm 23 (The Lord Is My Shepherd for those heathen amongst us!) is given a folk treatment and comes off quite well, more than the second of the self-written songs, Blessed Are They. This is probably the weakest track on the album and is let down by the poor quality of the bass. Robin is back on form though with the last of the Blind Willie Johnson offerings, God Don't Never Change. This is a highlight and, vocally, it stretches her to the limit. She turns in another flawless performance on Mississippi John Hurt's Glory Glory before treating us to some of the best guitar work of the album on the final self-penned song, The Road Home.
She finishes with an instrumental version of Psalm 23 and this brings a peaceful end to an album that will leave you with many things to think about but mainly is an uplifting experience.
David Blue
Robin O'Herin - Red White & Blues (Cooked Goose)
Roughly fifty percent self-written, this album is my first introduction to the gospel-tinged blues of Robin O'Herin and is, in fact, her debut. Massachusetts based O'Herin was brought up on Robert Johnson, Bessie Smith and the like and her influences are there to be heard. The album opens with the understated Hold On, an original composition on which Robin introduces us to her slide guitar and she is ably backed by Peter Schneider on the electric piano.
The old standard Corinna Corinna is given a good treatment and is sung with great gusto. I'm beginning to feel that Robert Johnson's Walking Blues is on just about every blues album that I'm reviewing but Robin's version gives it a new slant and she delivers a funky and deceptively powerful performance. Junkfood Junkie Blues is the second of the self-written offerings and is a song for today's times, enough said. One of the best tracks on the album surfaces with Willie Moore's Old Country Rock. This has distinctive drums by Terry Hall and excellent guitar playing.
Robin's husband Brian comes in for some special mention on Brian's Song, which is very folksy and very beautiful. The traditional Abilene, with Charlie Mead on harp, showcases Robin's distinctive voice and her versatility is shown on The Driving Song (Commuter Blues), a self-written, driving boogie with a full band for a change. Ever Hopeful is another of her own songs. It's an upbeat and happy instrumental featuring some good guitar work. The last of the original songs is Fly In Amber, which features more of Robin's excellent guitar and the album finishes with the emotion-laden, heart wrenching Precious Lord. This album may be a couple of years old now but it should be brought to your attention, as should any subsequent recordings.
David Blue
Huddersfield singer-songwriter Belinda has recently been in the limelight, though less as a solo performer in her own right than as a member of Rachel Unthank's combo The Winterset, whose intriguing CD Cruel Sister I reviewed for NetRhythms only last month. Belinda actually comes from a long line of Co. Sligo musicians (her uncle's multi-instrumentalist Tony Howley, while her cousin Tommy Fleming used to sing in De Dannan before launching his recent solo career), but her own debut CD inhabits completely different musical territory, being a commanding and defiant set of thoroughly contemporary-sounding songs. The record label is aptly named too, as its initial signing Last Night's Fun had demonstrated – for the music on the label's releases will always provoke critical controversy… and good on 'em! Belinda's own offering opens with clashing piano dissonances, then in crashes a drumkit beat, overlaid with rasping brass interjections, rousing up the proverbial rabble, and you know you're in for a musical experience with which you'll not be able to argue and which will parade (and maintain) a strong sense of identity. There's a gritty, strident lead voice (that's Belinda herself), some decidedly strange harmonies on the backing vocals, a thrashy backing, and some enigmatic lyrics - all of which adds up to a curious mix of desperation and defiance. Belinda's piano playing is confident, with definite classical overtones as well as a basic jazz feel at times; it may feel like she's hammering it a bit sometimes (not necessarily always a bad thing!), but occasionally the piano sound dominates the texture a trifle heavy-handedly. Taking tracks individually, perhaps my favourite in the end is Blanket Of Night, which rather excitingly creates a languid, enveloping string cocoon (courtesy of Rachel Unthank's cello and Jayne Coyle's viola) that's also immensely soothing and invigoratingly sensuous; the track's over eight minutes long, yet doesn't feel in any way overly extended. Belinda's lyrics are sometimes a little over-repetitive, in that having said what they need to there's sometimes a nagging sense of under-development afterwards (matched in the title track especially by a comparable melodic under-development), but this feature may just be a phase in her songwriting development and after all it's probably early days yet.
www.belindaohooley.com
www.rabblerousermusic.com
David Kidman
This is Canadian singer-songwriter Suzie Ungerleider's fourth album, and it marks a further progression in her development as an artist. First, Suzie's voice feels more individual this time round, with a better defined personality. And second, for me, this new offering seems to take a step back from the more rockist production values and slight anonymity of much of her eponymous album number 3 and refreshes the things I found so appealing about Sleepy Little Sailor and Johnstown: especially in respect of the minimalist stance and sensitive narrative stylings - tho' Suzie's moved on apace from the instant-Gillian Welch comparison stage that dogged her a bit at the start.
Leaving aside for a moment the half-expected (tho' still compelling) tale of gothic murder and vigilante justice (Three Shots), the thing I most notice in Suzie's latest batch of ten songs is a new tenderness and intimacy, evidenced by the sinisterly soothing Bullies (a lullaby for a troubled child), the poignantly observational Schoolyard, the more reflective Greyhound Bus, and the touching, simple Pretty Penny (dedicated to her aunt, and featuring the banjo and gentle harmony vocal of Justin Rutledge). Similarly, the delicate honky-tonk vignette of Beauty Queen transcends any potential charge of cliché, although Miss Liberty gains extra wistful resonances from its being melodically rather reminiscent of Lorrie Morgan's Something In Red. Even the more forthright Holy Roller gains in intimacy from its bare-bones piano backing.
Elsewhere, the arrangements feel sparser than they are, due to the sheer good taste and restraint of all involved (some excellent pedal steel work from Burke Carroll and Luke Doucet, guitars from David Baxter, piano from Bob Packwood and mandolin from Joey Wright, and a refreshingly non-lumbering rhythm section on three tracks). A couple of the songs also feature a sweet and well-judged string arrangement (by cellist Kevin Fox). Finally, Suzie puts her own stylish stamp on the album's one cover, another Dylan song but this time taken from Pat Garrett, the fable Billy 4. This admirably mature set sounds great, and should win Suzie some new admirers.
David Kidman July 2007
Not of course to be confused with Canadian singer-songwriter Suzie Ungerleider's debut EP which was also titled Oh Susanna, this is her third album and the choice of repeated title may well have to do with the fact that it somewhat redefines her musical identity. Although Down By The Quarry is all Appalachian 'n' Hank Williams with its slow fiddle and honky tonk joanna, and Carrie Lee, a song inspired by her mom and dad's courting days, opens things on a rootsy note , it's also evident this is a band album with a rock spirit. Indeed Unknown Land actually calls to mind fellow Canadians The Band while Right By Your Side (a pissed off with the road song in which she refers to herself as bitch on wheels) gives it the full electric strut n swagger complete with honky tonk piano and horns. She's soulful too, the twangy country hued r&b of Mama (dedicated to a friend and her mother's prickly relationship) puts you in mind of Mel & Tim's backbeat while Cain Is Rising, a caustic 9/11 song that offers a downtrodden Black perspective on the mostly white dead, is informed by a deliberate Stevie Wonder Innervisions groove.
If this is starting to give devotees of her folk noir material pause, fear not the closing stripped down Billy is on good old dark form, the piano melody written by bassist Basil Donovan, the lyric a lament for a heroin addict ex-lover in which she offers to bury his body at sea and "leave your arms on the shore for the buzzards to eat". Likewise offers itself up as a poisoned lullaby, the defiant cry of self-expression by an eight year old sent to her bedroom for throwing her birthday cake icing at the wall.
Like her brooding cover of Dylan's I'll Keep It With Mine, it takes more convincing that her previous albums, but stick with it and you'll find yourself no less won over.
Mike Davies
"Sleepy Little Sailor", Oh Susanna's latest collection of eleven songs, is less edgy than her previous album, "Johnstown", and puts the spotlight on her hauntingly sweet and melodic vocals. Oh Susanna's voice is of those which takes your heart and give it a twist. It evokes memories of betrayal and desolation, one too many late nights and several empty bottles of wine remembered with the clarity of a grey dawn.
Overall it's an understated and atmospheric album with minimal intervention from the mainly electric guitars, piano, bass and cello, and barely a percussive brush and snare to accompany her country/folk ballads. Her lyrics, as always, are heartfelt and tell stories. Even if singer-songwriters are not really your thing, there's something about a really good voice which captivates and demands attention.
Sue Cavendish
Oh Susanna - Johnstown (Stella)
From the album's opening track, the eponymous Johnstown, this collection classy and strong, yet sensitive and sensual numbers from Canadian Oh Susanna, (AKA Susie Ungerleider) has you under its spell.
Oh Susanna is a singer-songwriter of depth and maturity who has released an album of songs of sparse clarity and superb quality. The electric guitar driven collection has the intensity of gospel music, the power of the blues and the story-telling of country/roots which is altogether quite mesmerising and hard to categorise. No 'little girl' voice here, hers is the sort of hard-hitting music which thumps you somewhere below the belt and leaves you breathless!
You won't forget her and you shouldn't miss her. Oh Susanna has a new album due out in March and will be touring UK in April.
Sue Cavendish
David Kidman
Another of those "gals with a big voice" who's unafraid of hard-twang and similarly confident on the more tender material, producing on this (her third) record a healthy and well-paced set consisting mostly of covers but giving her vocal chops every chance to stretch out and give the material the best chance, in the company of a crack band of musicians that even includes Albert Lee... (and Edward Tree, Gabe Witcher, Richard Dodd and Mark Fosson for good measure). The first track, Ain't Done Nothin', is a killer opener, really "kicking butt" with its thrust and twangy energy, and it turns out that Lisa wrote it herself - her other writing contributions here, I'm Done and Pay For My Sins, are almost as good, so let's have more where those came from, please! And Lisa's cover of John Prine's Speed Of The Sound Of Loneliness is brilliantly managed, as is her beautifully sensitive treatment of the title cut (an Ernest Troost composition) and her passionate rendition of Kenny Edwards' Misery And Happiness (Kenny does the harmony vocal on this one too). Yes, Lisa is a very fine singer indeed, with an impressive grasp and control of technique over a wide emotional spectrum. But sadly (yes, there had to be a downside!), the overall strong impact of this collection is compromised by one or two cuts which I feel are real misjudgements: the awful, soupy, torchy string-laden Give Me This Night especially, but the big-production Remember This is also a bit of a turn-off and Got The Car Running is altogether too routine-mainstream for a talent like Lisa's. If Lisa just does a bit of a rethink on her material before going into the studio again, it should pay handsome dividends for album number four.
www.lisaokane.com
www.myspace.com/lisaokane
David Kidman September 2007
Okkervil - Down The River Of Golden Dreams (Jagjaguwar)
Ahh, where would we be without Mercury Rev? Those shambolic drums, the unexpected key changes, the yearning voice. Oh, this ain't Mercury Rev is it? No, it's Okkervil River and this is a very, very good CD. Perhaps one of my favourites this year. That's because main man Will Sheff has fashioned a collection of songs that have moved me unlike anything since Deserters Songs. It's not that Sheff's lyrics are fine - they're not songs, as such, more stream-of-concsiousness poems set to music, poems that don't really make any sense, but who cares? - it's that he and the band play so well; the touches that lift a track from the ordinary to the heavenly, Opener It Ends With a Fall has goose pimple-making mellotron coming in just in the right places, for example. And while there are certainly reference points - apart from Mercury Rev - most obviously Jaqcues Brel in the melodrama; Bob Dylan in the phrasing; Nick Cave in the enunciation, what makes this album so listenable is that Okkervil River have managed to combine everything that is right about modern rock music into a form that makes you want to shout out loud; 'Yes, Scott Walker in a country band! It works!' Don't be put off by my ramblings; this is entertaining, invigorating, thought-provoking and sublimely produced and arranged.
www.jound.com/okkervil
www.secretlycanadian.com/jagjaguwar
John Stacey
Old Blind Dogs - Play Live (Green Linnet Records GLCD 1231)
The band may have travelled far and wide across the planet in search of their wages but the Old Blind Dogs repertoire is set very firmly in their native Scotland. A seriously rocking crew, the 'dogs' helmed by Jim Malcolm's soaring vocals (just check out his range on the opening track 'Battle Of Harlaw'), the stirring pipes of Rory Campbell, Jonny Hardie's fiddle, Aaron Jones bass/bouzouki and Fraser Stone's percussion sees them moving into territory pioneered by the Tannahill's and Battlefield Band - only on heat. Taking the predominantly traditional songs and knocking them into shape (50 verse ballads anyone?) by trimming them and rounding them off with a great groove has certainly proved a resounding success which is obvious from the audience response at the end of each number. The lads prove they can also be subtle when the need arises and the beautiful air 'Cuilfhionn' wafts along nicely until the frantic change of pace with 'The Rejected Suitor' snaps you back to reality. The group's rhythmical beat is totally infectious and by the time 'The Kincardine Lads' is introduced to the set you can just imagine the audience boogy-ing on down. The hypnotic Breton/Galician set would I'm sure be approved by Paul McKenna whilst the Gothic tale of 'Young Edward' wouldn't go amiss as a banner headline in the latest edition of The Sun. So, a little bit of something for everyone - cracking performances all round and if this is your first introduction to the dogs I'm sure you'll be left panting for more!
Pete Fyfe
For their third album, OCMS have upped the ante and pulled in Don Was to produce, with Jim Keltner and Benmont Tench in tow, and maybe this is why it sounds an altogether more rounded Americana album than the sometimes rough 'n' ready OCMS and Big Old World. It's also a longer album, one that gives the guys a chance to prove their songwriting chops, Ketch Secor in particular (after already proving their vocal and instrumental prowess in spades on those first two albums). All but one of Tennessee Pusher's 13 tracks are originals, in fact (the exception, Always Lift Him Up, arguably sounding the weakest cut by a short head). The songs deal exclusively with the time-honoured archetypal characters and situations - hustlers, down-and-out, poor folk, freight-hopping, drugs and drink - and are couched in the special blend of roots rock and country that OCMS have made their name peddling, one steeped deep in the mythos of the South, and the musical milieu of Basement-era Dylan, Big Pink, Burritos, Neil Young and suchlike. Raunchy, edgy, passionate (Willie Watson in particular is on splendid vocal form here), with highlights like the epic quasi-dustbowl-ballad The Greatest Hustler Of All, the rather excellent, fiddle-and-slide-driven title track and the darker imagery of Methamphetamine (guess what? - a co-write with David Rawlings!), with the decidedly Dylanesque Highway Halo and Caroline, and the pithy jailhouse rocker Alabama High-Test, not all that far behind. One or two of the tracks in the middle of the set seem a mite to run out of ideas, but by and large this is a very satisfying set that confirms OCMS' place up there in the front rank as one of the leading bands purveying modern-day true-roots Americana, and with real smart musicianship and excellent full sound production to boot.
www.crowmedicine.com
www.myspace.com/oldcrowmedicineshow
David Kidman September 2008
You'll remember the OCMS' debut album a couple of years back, that brought a rough and ready energy to the time-honoured bluegrass genre and presented a set of great songs in performances that transcended both the idiom itself and its traditional mode of expression. Big Iron World, the followup, goes a stage further in raw, lived-in grit, with a stylistically even more varied collection that dives headlong into the common musical past, dragging it kickin', screamin' and hollerin' on into the present.. The opener, Down Home Girl, is raunchy and soulful, comin' on like prime Lovin' Spoonful but with an added edge in the delivery and truly excellent recorded sound and presence to boot. Willie Watson's intense, almost painfully passionate vocals are well to the fore, as they are throughout the disc - and whoa, what a fabulous singer he proves, cutting right across the texture and totally involved in the expression of the lyric whatever the idiom. Even hoary old faves like Cocaine Habit (a variant on Have A Whiff) come up fresh with the OCMS, who're clearly havin' a right ol' ball making the record. Minglewood Blues is given a breakneck (yet just-about-controlled) bluegrass treatment, again with Ketch Secor's harmonica in the front line of attack (that's a feature of most of the cuts in fact, from the Dylanesque breaks on the more relaxed My Good Gal to the bluesy more-than-fills elsewhere). The pace don't let up for long, for with James River Blues is back to clompin' oldtime bluegrass with a real kick and some stupendous gutbucket fiddle from Ketch, then it's on to Mungo Jerry with knobs on for New Virginia Creeper then a flying romp through Woody Guthrie's Union Maid (you can't scare me, I'm stickin' to the Union!) and a deliciously authentic take on Let It Alone where you can just see the guys clustered round one of those big mikes for a syndicated radio show! Half the tracks are compositions by band members, and they fit perfectly with the covers: God's Got It is straightahead "I believe" gospel, I Hear Them All is a plaintive cousin to the classic sixties folk-protest song, Don't Ride That Horse is an eerie NRPS/Dead-like slow-drag slow-burner and Bobcat Tracks a rockabilly-bluegrass strut with Dylanesque vocal rushes. Once again, the album's production is down to David Rawlings, who gives the music a backporch immediacy that fits the urgency of the guys' delivery like a tight glove. The only problem is he's sometimes a shade too modest, for Morgan Jahnig's standup bass seems pushed a mite too far back in the mix and Gillian Welch's drumming (at least on two of the three tracks where it's used) is so darned discreet it's barely audible! But that's no great shakes when there's such a powerful blast of music-making on offer. It stands crankin' up full and solid too, and you'll find this veritable onslaught on the senses immensely stimulating; brilliantly effective medicine to beat the ills, though I wanted so much more than the meagre 36 minutes' duration of this disc. Hey guys, I can't believe you had nothin' else in the can?
David Kidman, October 2006
Old Crow Medicine Show - O.C.M.S. (Nettwerk)
Roll up, roll up, no pills, potions or elixirs needed. The only prescription required for an instant cure to whatever ails you, is a healthy dose of bluegrass, courtesy of The Old Crow Medicine Show.
There's something magical about a group of talented young men, who reach back in time and pick up, lock stock and barrel, a much-loved genre of music then place it firmly and confidently in today's unforgiving world. And what's more they make it fit right in.
But the Old Crow Medicine Show don't treat this rough and ready country music as some kind of museum exhibit, to be polished and put behind glass. This is music to be lived in and experienced, not admired from afar, it has a passion and a lust for life. Had they been mere archivists then Tell It To Me would be a dire but pleasant warning of the dangers of the effects moonshine. It's not, it's a bleaker tale about one of the scourges of modern life, that mix of old and new makes the album vital.
The Old Crow Medicine Show are unashamedly a bluegrass band, they love it, that much is obvious. What else would you expect from a band who spent a year soaking up the atmosphere in the mountains of North Carolina? That and the best finishing school for musicians, the road, has produced a lean, tight band, who know their business. There are no passengers or excess baggage on O.C.M.S.
Mind you it helps to have David Rawlings, the closest Americana/Alt. Country has to a 'star producer', keeping an eye on things. His skilled hand keeps things focussed, disciplined and moving forward and that framework allows the band to soar with a rebel yell.
Wherever you go on O.C.M.S. there is the reconciliation between the dusty trails forged by banjos and fiddles and the harshness of the sentiment behind Big Time In The Jungle, as graphic and telling an indictment of Vietnam as Country Joe And The Fish's Feel Like I'm Fixin To Die, and for 60s South East Asia, today read Arabian Gulf.
However, the plight of the working man is never far from the thoughts of The Old Crow Medicine Show, Poor Man and Take Em Away can trace their bloodline back to Woody Guthrie and a time when denim was accompanied by a horse and ploughshare instead of sunglasses and Porsche.
But the pure brilliance comes not from the evocative and mood-creating banjos, fiddles and guitars nor really from the crackle and fizz of singer Willie Watson. Whose name could have been lifted out of the pantheon of pre-war country music greats and whose voice would have justified his place among them. Instead it's the imagination and vision that made CC Rider jaw-droppingly good . It may be languid and 'easy' but never has so much been discovered by just sitting back and letting it all flow.
When Doc Watson heard them and invited them to play Merlefest, even he couldn't have imagined that it would lead to an album that fizzes with an electricity generated by an appreciation of the past and an awareness of its place in the future.Michael Mee
The Old Swan Band - Swan-Upmanship (WildGoose Studios)
If you've any interest at all in English country dance music, then this release is definitely for you! Of course, the Old Swan brand name will be taken as an indicator of strength and quality among those of us old enough to remember the impact the original Old Swan Band had back in the mid-70s, notably in 1977 when Free Reed released their first LP (cannily titled No Reels). Before that time, any dance music played for dancing in England tended to entail endless regurgitation of hackneyed Scottish or Irish tunes played badly by Englishmen (OK, that may be a bit of a generalisation, but I think you get the drift). But the Old Swan Band were instrumental (pardon the pun!) in kick-starting the "new wave" of English country dance music, in that not only did they specialise from the start in the indigenous southern English repertoire, but their mission was to play the music slower – ie. at a sensible speed to get folks dancing or stepping (founder member Rod Stradling has said that he was aiming at a kind of southern equivalent to the Cheviot Ranters). The early Old Swan sound was melodeon-and-hammerdulcimer-led, with prominent fiddles and percussion (and later trombone and keyboard to boost the texture), but the current lineup (which has remained constant over the past 20 years yet only now has ventured into the studio), has fiddles and brass firmly in the front line with no other melody instruments to steal the limelight. The further insurgence of brass into the OSB after the departure of the Stradlings in 1983 came about partly as a result of John Adams joining fresh from the New Victory Band and partly due to Jo Freya's importing of the sax into the ensemble. Cutting a long story short, the present lineup, as performing on Swan-Upmanship, comprises longest-serving members Fi Fraser, Jo Freya and Martin Brinsford alongside those next-longest-serving (fiddler Paul Burgess, keyboardist Heather Horsley, third fiddler Flos Headford) and most recent recruit (bass-sax player Neil Gledhill). If you yearn for the original Old Swan sound, then get the excellent Free Reed compilation Still Swanning, but Swan-Upmanship is a perfect representation of the continuing vitality (and consistency) of the band. It presents 15 tracks of suitably driving, rumbustious, raunchy straight-ahead dance tunes – hornpipes, polkas, jigs, marches, even a reel or two – executed with all the aplomb you'd expect from this brilliantly alive ensemble. They've long since departed from the strict "southern English" diet, for here they mix in tunes from The fiddle-heavy palette occasionally hints at an old-time or cajun feel (as on track 15), and a triangle is included in Martin's exhaustively fun battery of percussive implements, but this is brought back to earth by the jaunty brass galumphing that underpins and ornaments the lighter aspects of the blend. The engineering is first-rate, with every strand of this difficult texture delectably clear. This really is a joyous CD, and the band's fresh and yes, youthful delight in everything they play is transparent. I couldn't resist reaching straight for the repeat button when the CD ended, so infectious and boisterously "moreish" is the playing. You're definitely likely to wear through the soles of your carpet-slippers tapping your feet at this one!
David Kidman
This set presents just three tracks from Sally's debut LP Water Bearer (including the intriguing four-part Tolkien-inspired suite Songs Of The Quendi), where it's hard to escape the occasional impression that Sally's trying to emulate Kate Bush but these tracks still sound well today. As indeed do the majority of those making up this well-chosen selection, which moves on to give us no fewer than seven tracks from Sally's masterly followup album Easy, after which coverage of her various releases is more patchy, with just five from 1980's fascinating release Celebration and three from 1981's Playing In The Flame which featured an even wider range of musical collaborators.
The anthology then jumps forward (missing out the In Concert set) to album number six, 1983's Strange Day In Berlin, for the brooding, classically-inflected title track (which featured Hans Zimmer on synth). Sally's subsequent six albums, recorded for a German label from 1987 onwards (and thus outside the scope of this set), have yet to see the light of day in the UK, but this set includes "updated" alternate versions of Mirrors and A Land I Can See (originally Land Of The Sun) as bonus tracks. Even after more than a quarter of a century, I can't quite make up my own mind about Sally's music - there are times when I find some of it too saccharine, for instance - but having had the chance to experience, by virtue of this anthology, more than just the hits, I can now more easily appreciate the enormous amount of skill and talent that went into the making of her records, as well as having a more rounded perspective on Sally's uniqueness and her influential new-age/prog/classical/folk-pop styling from which, as the booklet notes openly admit, many female artistes have since borrowed. Only Renaissance's Annie Haslam was producing music anything like this at the time: Annie's voice may have soared more purely and stratospherically, but Sally certainly boasted a comparable range and an impressive command of technique, even if at times her octave leaps and warbles did become a bit of a mannerism and her sweet-toned harmonies often recalled those of Abba.
It may be an extravagant claim that without Sally's 80s albums for Bronze we wouldn't have the current folk-trance chill-out genre - but there's more than a grain of truth in that assertion and listening to this anthology enables us to discover a measure of the genre's origins while affording us the opportunity to reassess Sally's talents.
www.sanctuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
David Kidman August 2007
Talk about spooky coincidence. There I was having a passing thought wondering whatever happened to Sally Oldfield. And the next day, there's her new album in the post. Rather less a household name than her Tubular brother, with whom she once formed 50% of the fey and folksy duo Sallyangie, Oldfield's only ever had one encounter with the UK charts in the form of her debut single, Mirrors, back in 1978. Even the generally well reviewed accompanying album, Water Bearer, failed to trouble the Top 75. Away from such statistics, however, she's maintained a respectable following in Europe for her intermittent solo albums, her musical interests recently adding Space Age and Sci Fi to her New Agey folksiness. Her latest continues her quest to express through music the spiritual awakening she underwent on the M4 back in 1979 that gave rise to her hit single. So, file under Mind/Body/Spirit along with dolphin songs and Celtic Forest soundtracks then. Well, not quite. While vast swathes of the album wouldn't sound too out of place played next to Sallyangie's Children Of The Sun, the track Samurai of the Sun (the kids have grown up and taken to wandering I suppose) has an undercurrent of dance that, in the spoken elements actually calls to mind Madonna. Indeed, with her global rhythm textures, the chill out ambience and floatation tank chants, you could make a convincing case for her as a proponent of folk-trance.
Whether or not you buy into the god-force, spirit of fire on the moving water (an image she uses in both Ascension and One To The Power of One), one soul New Age spiritualism the music itself is hypnotic, the intricate harmonies revealing more on each listen, the opening title track's melodic mantra and the African drums padding out on Samurai of the Sun quite intoxicating to the blood stream. The album actually closes with a dance remix of Mirrors, its South Seas undulating ripple now clocking at just under 10 minutes worth of soul washing inner luminescence and already filling the European summer dance floors.
Mike Davies
www.copperplatedistribution.com
David Kidman
Ever since 1965, this trio (Larry & Gerry Kearns and John Howarth) have specialised in authentic, wholly enchanting and suitably lively renditions of "local songs, ballads and darnfool bits" from their native Lancashire (most particularly the Oldham locality). In the 1970s they recorded for the Topic label a series of five albums which, together with the late-60s anthologies Deep Lancashire and Owdham Edge, formed a cornerstone of a renaissance in the appreciation of the wondrous lyrical lore contained in that branch of this country's folk heritage – a renaissance instigated by the encouragement of, and research work carried out by, Harry Boardman. Over the past few years, the admirable Pier label has been systematically reissuing all of the Tinkers' Topic output. The good folk at Pier started with a test-the-market compilation masterminded by long-standing Tinkers champion Andy Kershaw (A Fine Old English Gentleman), following the astounding success of which they then gradually proceeded to reissue all five of the group's LPs, each one boosted by bonus tracks taken from the aforementioned multi-artist anthologies. The project now draws to an end with CD number five, which gives us the entire contents of the third of the Tinkers' LPs (1975's For Old Time's Sake), topped up with the four remaining hitherto-unavailable-on-CD tracks from their first (1971's Oldham's Burning Sands) and the very last Deep Lancashire selection (Hop Hop Hop). It makes for another most agreeable programme, with plenty of contrast; it typically embraces the delights of Lancashire humour, with moments of true pathos and some delicious settings of indigenous dialect poetry. Street songs and historical songs happily coexist with morality tales (The Condemned Cell and the celebrated Come Whoam To Thi' Childer An' Me), ballads of popular folklore (The Lancashire Witches), accounts of local customs (The Maypole) and fun tales of characters from local mythology (Billy Winker, Johnny Bugger). And of course no Tinkers album would be complete without another episode in the John Willie saga (John Willie's Horse)! As with all previous reissues in the series, the standard of remastering is just fine and full original notes are included in the package. Unless you're allergic to the Lancashire accent, the music of the Oldham Tinkers is "gradely" irresistible.
David Kidman August 2006
The Oldham Tinkers - Best O'T'Bunch' (Pier Records)
There is a serious side to The Oldham Tinkers - believe it or not - which gets an airing here with 'The Four-Loom Weaver' as popularised by Ewan MacColl. 'A Cob-Coaling Melody' and 'I Mean To Wait For Jack' further show that The Tinkers have played their part in keeping the fire burning for local traditional songs from the North West. Even in the days when we can look up www.oldhamtinkers.com and John Howarth has gone all Google on us, these CDs are little treasures. Reminiscent of an innocent time when a good laugh could be had for an itchy-coo or two. It's still there for those who want to shell out a few quid for this CD.
Steve Henderson
Following the success of the 'A Fine Old English Gentleman' compilation, The Oldham Tinkers have 'A Lancashire Band' surfacing on CD. This was the last of the four albums from this seminal bunch of reprobates. Somehow, it was missed when last year's compilation was put together. So, either, Andy Kershaw who compiled the record was distracted by the fits of laughter induced by The Tinkers, or, it's just a cheap excuse to get more Tinkers stuff out there. Whatever, we can be grateful for this oversight because it not only allows the release of this record on CD but is a good excuse to add on three contributions from 'Owdham Edge'. Indeed, the same tracks as are to be found on 'Deep Lancashire'. The latter record being highly recommended to all estranged Lancastrians who are feeling a little homesick.
I'll get my slight moan out of the way and say that the recording quality on a few tracks on this CD is rather dodgy but all the more reason why someone should be getting some new recording sorted out with the boys. One of my favourites on the record is 'Eawr Sarah's Getten A Chap' (also on 'Deep Lancashire') which is a warning to all parents with daughters of a certain marriageable age. Contrast this with the, now, historical view of 'Old King Coal' telling its tale of Lancashire mining days and the hysterical 'John Willie's Grand-Dad' which, quire rightly, advises you to 'never rub yer head against a ruffyed's ead....because a ruffyed's ead's reet ruff'. From this you'll get the picture that there's humour and history in rich veins all over this record. As a source of culture from the North West of England, there's nowt better. John Haworth, the lead man with The Tinkers, was pleased with their appearance alongside Carthy, etc. on a recent compilation of English folk on Topic Records. Let's be honest, it's no more than these boys deserve.
Steve Henderson
PS If you want to buy the CD, call John Howarth on 0161 624 0008
David Kidman
If there was ever proof that misery can breed beauty, it's probably the latest solo outing by the former Jayhawks man. When divorce from Victoria Williams was followed by the loss of his home and his father's suicide, Olson took off for a soul-searching journey, experiencing the travelling blues he refers to on the keening National Express as he trekked round such places as Cardiff, Krakow and Oslo and crashing on friends' couches.
Clearly, judging by the songs written on his travels, it was quite a musical healing process, putting him back in touch with the swirling melodies and that warbling nasal twang so often absent from his days with the Creekdippers.
It's sad but hopeful, mournful but uplifting. Both the train rhythm chugging Winter Song and the gentle acoustic Sandy Denny treat on things lost as 'the windows of our lives become boarded up in time' while, poignantly, Keith is a remembrance of his father.
But he also sings of 'such joy and sweet moments to be found in this world' on the rolling alt-country of the title track and finds 'hope in our heart...a future in our souls' on the strummed Clifton Bridge where, harmonising with Cindy Wasserman, he notes 'some people come here to die, we came here to live'. There is, perhaps, a touch of self-pitying to the keyboard doodling My One Book Philosophy, here in its original raw demo version. But for the most this is a collection of songs veined with the realisation that the sun generally tends to rise after the night. And those warm rays illuminate the 'grace of love' as they stream through the opening folksy waltzing tearstained ballad My Carol and Poor Michael's Boat, a jangling guitar and organ driven number from the Jayhawks archives that finds former bandmate Gary Louris on harmonies and sets the stage for their eagerly anticipated reunion album.
Well packaged with slip cover and lyric book, the European edition also features two extra tracks, Copper Coin and Your Time Will Come, both recorded during his stay in Norway.
www.hacktone.com
www.myspace.com/markolsonmusic
Mike Davies October 2007
Mark Olson & The Creekdippers - Creekdippin' For The First Time (Fargo)
Inspired by their rustic California life, desert dust and cool creek waters are the dominant moods blowing and lapping through these sparsely recorded (guitar, the occasional harmonica, fiddle, er locust beans), downhome folk-country roots songs, watched over by the ghosts of Gram Parsons and the Louvins. Mostly the tempo almost never rises above a lazy, drifting doodle, allowing the Southern spiritual ache to shine through Olson's cracked weary voice and wife Victoria Williams' counterpointed purity