The Early Recordings 1985-86
Musical Traditions Records MTCD405
Another Fine Mess; Cliffe Hornpipe; French Schottische; Clee Hill; 79th Highlanders' Farewell; Boatman's Dance ; Ashling / Shantey; Johnny Mickey Barry's / Freedom of Ireland; Bromsberrow Heath; Redower Polka; Kelly's Home Schottische; Swiss Boy; Mr Prime's; Art Wooton's Quadrille; Polka Volta; Gloucestershire Hornpipe; Queen's Jig; Stack of Wheat; Sophie Bourbon's Hornpipe; Walls of Butlin's; Swiss Boy; Bourée a Gaston Tommier
Musically this is a mixed bag - but it's a big bag at almost an hour and a half, so there's plenty to explore. 100% instrumental, at times the 'instru' is optional as the band bring blues, reggae, rock and creole elements into what is basically English and French rural music. There are touches of Scottish and Irish traditions in the hornpipe, Little Stack of Wheat, plus a pair of Irish polkas, and a version of The 79th's Farewell which Swarbrick had mastered 10 years earlier is busily deconstructed here. That seems to be the pattern on most tracks - a simple melody is established, usually on melodeon, and then percussion gradually overwhelms the melody, stripping it back to occasional notes, with perhaps the addition of Hawaiian electric guitar, or Reggae bass, or both.
There are some exceptions where the tune holds its own - The Gloucestershire Hornpipe, Art Wooton's Quadrille and a couple of fine French tunes. The order of tracks is roughly chronological, reflecting four separate sets of recordings, so some later tracks add dubious brass and more guitar. The intriguingly titled Stradling composition, Walls of Butlin's, seems to feature someone scrubbing out a saxophone, mostly in time with the music. There's a nice evolutionary twist as the final two tracks reprise pieces from earlier recording sessions. Swiss Boy is now much more of a punchy dance tune, and the final bourrée gets an authentic French name, although it is known by several different ones throughout central France. The sound quality is better too - less muddied than the opening Another Fine Mess - although there are one or two murky tracks in the middle of this collection. Something for everyone, then, but I expect only a few will appreciate the whole collection.
Alex Monaghan - in Living Tradition
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