Margeson on the Music
Margeson on the Music
A full nine reviews now! Some great stuff out now from Ireland, Scotland and the States. All these would be well added to your music collection, so here they are :
1. “Greengold” is by The Cast. Now, The Cast is two extraordinary artists from Scotland, Mairi Campbell and David Francis. Mairi Campbell has a gorgeous alto of a voice, and plays a wondrous fiddle and viola. Let us repeat. Gorgeous. Francis remains on the cutting edge of trad guitar playing. This album may show us The Female Vocalist of the Year, as well as Composition of the Year, “Jean Yelland”. This is the group’s third album. It is terrific. Great technique meets real soul. Geez, this is great! Out on the powerful Greentrax label, so it ought to be widely available. Rating: Highly Recommended
2. “Turning the Tune” is a new double album out from the great musician, Charlie Lennon. In this outing, we have Charlie giving a tour de force on fiddle. This is a beautiful textbook of music at its best, played with total understanding and grace. This is for real trad lovers only. It is required for all aspiring Irish fiddlers, not only for the technique, but the vast array of tunes on offer. In a double album we would have wanted more airs, but you can’t have everything. This is a corker. Rating: Recommended
3. Matt and Shannon Heaton moved to Boston from Chicago years ago. Our loss. Their album, Dearga, shows us the totality of it all! Shannon is a really accomplished flute player with great touch and phrasing. Matt centers in on the guitar, and both do vocals. They are well tuned into the trad scene, and musically very, very hip. We love them. Heatons Come Home!! (More on their new album anon!) Rating: Highly Recommended
4. Michael Black has his first solo album out, appropriately entitled, “Michael Black”. You know him. One of the Black Family. He and his brothers have toured for years, and have a couple albums out. Although Michael’s sister, Mary, is the more famous of the siblings, we have long preferred the brothers,. Mary has wandered away from the tradition into less familiar and suitable music for her. The brothers have remained true to the bone. We love this album. Just let us say this. It is an immediate contender for Male Vocalist of the Year. It is on Compass, so you can find it everywhere. A winner all the way through the 11 cuts. Produced by the man, John Doyle, there are lots of guest stars. A great, great piece of business, altogether. Rating: Highly Recommended
5. There are certain labels where you know. You just know. Anything that comes out on them will be fab. Clo-Iar-Chonnachta is one of them. Now comes, “Pride of the West” featuring the flute of John Wynne and fiddler, John McEvoy. It is in the north Clare style. That is not important. What IS important is that if you like trad, this one is a must-have. Accompanied by the legendary Arty McGlynn on guitar and Paddy McEvoy on piano, this is a delight. Tons of tunes, perfectly played. Perfectly. Great lift and ambience. There are 14 sets of tunes. We wanted 14 more. Many are rarely, if ever, heard. We adore this album. Rating: Highly Recommended
6. Copperplate comes through again. The most reliable company in the world for Irish music quality is located in London. Under the directorship of Alan O’Leary, like Clo Iar-Chonnachta, Copperplate means quality. If it ain’t, O’Leary doesn’t handle them. So, here comes Tim Dennehy. “Old Boots and Flying Sandals” is the name of this stunner. On Sceilig Records, Tim Dennehy gives his latest take on the music with his incredible voice. There is nothing harder to review than a vocal album. How do you describe someone’s voice? It is either pleasing or not pleasing to each individual listener. But, there are these artists like Dennehy. OK. OK. He masters a song. Great phrasing. Nuance. He takes his time. You know the deal. “Master at work”. Yup. That good. It is hard for us to imagine you not loving his voice. Like the legendary Sean Tyrrell, Dennehy is not afraid to be lushly romantic, and to lose himself in a song. It is harder for male artists to do this, for some reason. But, the best do. And, so does Dennehy. This is a gorgeous album from a talented, gifted singer who “gets it”. You should get it, too. Rating: Strongly Recommended
7. For the pure trad lover comes a “must have”. “The Merry Love To Play”. Out of the West comes 81 year old Peter Horan on wooden flute (of course!) and Gerry Harrington on fiddle. This is a follow up to their highly regarded and loved, “Fortune Favours The Merry” of a few years ago. This is unaccompanied. A daunting challenge today, both in artistic and commercial areas. This takes musicians of quality and real substance. This is not easy to pull off. These two do it gloriously. Again, this is for the real, true, down to the bone trad fanatic. Others of a more commercial bent may want to stay away. But, if the real deal is your deal, this is for you. This is brilliant. Horan’s solo version of “The Coolin” is worth the price of admission, alone! Rating: Highly Recommended For The True Trad Purist
8. Here is another from Copperplate. “Highly Strung” by Padraic O’Reilly. It is a piano album, and we didn’t get it at first. The more we listened, the more we got it. This is a great album by a musician of soul and understanding. Very, very,very good, indeed. There are so many beautiful takes on this 15-tune set. The hardest thing to do on an Irish piano album is the airs. There is so much to know and be good at. In his mid-20’s, O’Reilly is already there. He is accompanied here by The Corofin Chamber Orchestra. The regular reader and knowledgeable trad fan will know Corofin, Galway as a real hotbed of traditional music, including super-families such as the Scahills. Add O’Reilly to the Corofin recipe. A great debut! Rating: Recommended
9. One of our favorite fiddlers, the iconic Kevin Burke is joined on a brill piece of work, just out on the Loftus label, “Across the Black River “. Beautiful magic. We have always loved Burke’s light and graceful touch on the violin. Here, it is on the best display, with a wonderful accompanist turn by Cal Scott on guitar, mandolin, bouzouki and a lot of other instruments. Joined by some of the best in terms of guest stars, every one of the 11 cuts rings true. Sitting in are Michael McGoldrick (need we say more?) on flutes, Johnny B. Connolly on button box and Phil Baker on double bass. Great. Brill. Fab. Dingin’. Bona. Massive. Huge. We could go on. You get the message. A contender for Instrumental Album of the Year, more power to Burke, Scott, et.al.. Rating: Highly Recommended
Notes:
* Blarney on the Air. Mondays, from 7-9 at night, Chicago time. WDCB. 90.9 fm. www.wdcb.org All Irish music, and my continuing and fruitless effort to educate co-host Shay Clarke on ANYTHING regarding music, never mind Irish music. How could a Dub be so clueless?