Properganda 0

Properganda 10
Properganda 10
CONTENTS
Page Main Features
37
Page Main Features
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The Properganda Team
20
30
As well as 48 individual reviews, there are more exclusive interviews
than ever before and some new contributors have signed up to
bring you even wider coverage of the world of specialist music.
Thanks to one and all.
17
18
27
We had a great summer around various festivals giving Properganda
out to the assembled masses and hopefully there will be a few
more of you out there looking forward to this issue. It’s the usual
action packed affair, with even more pages than before. Even, if
your picking up an issue for the first time you are most welcome.
15
16
28
elcome to the autumn/winter issue of Properganda, our
first ever push-me-pull you edition. We had so much to tell
you about that we had to put a cover at either end. This is the
month that Bellowhead and Also Drever, McCusker, Woomble
release new albums into the world. In DMW’s case it’s their debut
and we are lucky to have John McCusker Roddy Woomble as our
guest contributors for this issue.
Bellowhead
Navigator Records featuring
Mawkin:Causley, John McCusker,
Dean Owens and Mary Hampton
World Reviews
Traditional Crossroads
Dub Colossus
Seun Kuti
Seu Jorge
Beat Assailant
Jazz reviews
The BBC Jazz Awards
The Portico Quartet
Blues Reviews
Blues Caravan and Rich Man’s War
John Muskers Track Selection
Guest Editorial from Roddy Woomble
Review Round Up
Miracle Mile
Review Round Up
W
26
14
25
Hello
24
12
13
22
7
11
23
6
21
5
Original Spin with Kerfuffle
Ralph McTell
Folk Reviews
Fellside Records featuring Rachel & Lillias
Jack McNeill & Charlie Heys and
The Maerlock
Drever, McCusker, Woomble
Megson
Folk Reviews
Country/Americana Reviews
Joan Baez
Art Garfunkel
Catherine Maclellan
Signature Sounds and Six Shooter
Hot Club Of Cowtown
Hightone featuring Dave Alvin,
Buddy Miller and Tom Russell
Country/Americana Reviews
4
Contributors:
Andy K (AK), Simon Holland (SH), Jon Roffey (JTR),
Jon Lusk (JL), Cliffy (C), Clive Pownceby (CP),
David Kidman (DK), Alan Levermore (AL), Stuart Nicholson (SN),
Howard Male (HM), Ken Smith (KS), Drew Hobbs (DH), David
Sinclair (DS), Andy Snipper (AS), Lewis Robinson (LR),
Ruth Redding (RR), Jim Soars (JHS), Andy Washington (AW),
Tony Morley (TM), Sid Cowens (SC), Colin Irwin (CI),
J O’Ragan (JO’R), Garth Cartwright (GC), Andy Robson (AR),
Jane Cornwell (JC), Neil Pearson (NP), Erin Spurling (ES),
Neil Spencer (NS), Andrew Cronshaw (AC).
Photographs supplied by artists and their labels unless credited.
Proper Music Distribution
The New Powerhouse Gateway Business Park Kangley Bridge Road SE26 5AN England
Tel Int +44 (0) 20 8676 5100 Fax +44 (0) 20 8676 5169
www.properdistribution.com www.myspace.com/propermusic
Editor: Simon Holland
Layout: Don Ward
Artwork: Deborah Wilds
Properganda 10
We wanted to explore music from closer to home
T
FOLK
his award-winning
four-piece is one of
the most exciting and
promising bands on the
UK folk scene.
Discovering Kerfuffle
at Fairport’s Cropredy
Convention 2007
was a revelation.
Their exuberance,
accomplished playing
and obvious, knowledgeable passion for folk music won the
crowd, despite their new-comer billing. Hannah James singing
the Pentangle classic Light Flight really caught the collective
ear. Her skilful phrasing, echoing a young Jacqui McShee, but
retaining a unique, signature style set off rippling murmurs
of approval. As the set progressed, their firm grasp on the
traditions combined with youthful energy, creating a vibe
reminiscent of the glory days of the 60s’ folk revival and the
festival’s venerable hosts in their youthful heyday.
The four members – Hannah, bothers Sam and Tom Sweeney,
and Jamie Roberts – all began playing in their early teens and
their musicality and sophistication has grown exponentially over
four albums, with the latest release, To The Ground, hitting a
new musical peak. Featuring mostly traditional English material,
the choice of songs is thoughtful, and the treatments and
arrangements are refreshing and distinctive. Hannah explains“,
“We wanted to explore music from closer to home so there is
Ralph mctell
A
release from Ralph McTell
is always newsworthy and this
autumn sees a welcome burst of
creativity from Britain’s best-loved
singer-songwriter. It is not often that
any artist puts out three products
simultaneously in three different
media but that is exactly what
McTell has done with a concert DVD,
a book and a triple CD.
McTell On The Mall is a full-length
DVD featuring highlights from three
concerts performed on consecutive
evenings at London’s prestigious
Institute Of Contemporary Arts
in Pall Mall. The videotapes were
believed lost, but have recently
resurfaced and both footage and
soundtrack have been painstakingly
mastered to paint a vivid portrait of
McTell at his spellbinding best.
As Far As I Can Tell is the title of both a book and a triple
CD, the culmination of a major project by McTell. Originally
published in two hardback volumes, McTell’s autobiography is
now available in paperback with additional chapters illustrated
by photos from the McTell family album.
Much more than a run-of-the-mill rock star biog – anyone
expecting an exposé of 1970s excess will be disappointed
- rather, McTell’s sharp recall of his early life and his keen
Properganda 10
a predominantly English thread
running through this album.”
But testament to their burgeoning
To The Ground
knowledge, they’ve managed
Rootbeat Records
to avoid the obvious standards
RBRCD006
and delved deep to deliver less
familiar fare. There’s greater
unity evident than on the band’s
previous releases and almost a ‘concept album’ feel, with dark
and joyous themes handled with equal satisfaction to create a
cohesive album from start to finish.
Musically, the album is underpinned by supple-and-strong
rhythms from Tom Sweeney, his powerful bass guitar lines are
extremely effective. Sam Sweeney (also in Bellowhead’s ranks)
is a technical wiz on fiddle and shines particularly brightly,
especially on the instrumentals Rondo and The Trip. Recent
recruit Jamie Roberts (a graduate of the Leeds College of Music)
brings an edgy guitar sound, creating strong couterpoint. “Jamie
has brought a whole new style into the band,” Sam confirms,
“and that’s given us new energy.” And over it all soars Hannah
James’ pure and vibrant voice. This new album shows off the
whole group’s dynamic vocal range too. Take, for example, the
song Arise Arise, the rich harmonies conjure Steeleye Span’s
supreme vocal strength.
Kerfuffle’s reputation as a live act is assured and the band
have delivered a smart, new album, brim full of originality and
superb musicianship. To The Ground is on a par with the best
of the best.
Andy Farquarson
A CD, an autobiography and a
DVD this autumn
observation provide a fascinating glimpse of working class life
between VE Day and The Beatles. It offers intriguing insights
into the stories behind many of his songs and is a richly
rewarding read, not only for McTell fans, but for any reader
interested in Britain’s recent social history.
As a songwriter and musician, he is working in a more familiar
environment on the complementary three-CD set. Five years
in the making, the set features McTell reading extracts from his
autobiography interspersed with songs. The readings and songs
have been carefully chosen to illustrate how much of McTell’s
life is reflected in his songwriting. In a wide ranging journey
through his extensive repertoire, over a dozen songs have
been specially re-recorded for this triple CD together with three
brand new compositions.
“Recording the songs anew was a discovery for me,”
says McTell. “Several are nearly forty years old and I
seldom sing them these days. It was
like meeting an old friend you haven’t
seen for years – still young, the future
still uncertain.”
Consummate production and
mastering by Martin Bell ensures a
satisfying cohesion between words
and music, a unity of the spoken and
the sung. The mix of re-recordings,
readings and rarities make As Far As
I Can Tell a veritable treasure trove to
return to again and again.
Andy Farquarson
As Far As I Can Tell
Leola Music
TPGCD28
reviews
Tiny Tin Lady
Phil Hardy
Ridiculous Bohemia
Revisted
Tiny Tin Label
TTL10208 Hobgoblin Music
HOBCD1008 CR
JO’R
Ridiculous Bohemia follows last year’s debut
CD from Merseyside-based Tiny Tin Lady; and
the all-girl group has certainly overcome that
difficult second album syndrome.
Revisited is a compilation of all the very best
tracks from Phil Hardy’s earlier recordings
on his own label, and tracks previously only
available as downloads. A gifted tunesmith
using traditional and world music flavours in his
compositions, he is a commendable tin whistle
player/ instrument maker and composer. Phil
Hardy’s work offers a wealth of melodic vistas of
expression, far beyond the normal confines of a
musician associated with the flute and
low whistle.
The trio line-up has now been augmented
by fiddler Kat Gilmore who adds shimmering
melodic texture. As before, rock solid bass
from Helen Holmes underpins the whole and
members of Fairport Convention contribute to
some tracks.
However, the band’s trademark is the spine
tingling close harmony singing by Beth and
Danni Gibbins. The sisters also take solo leads,
their soaring voices complementing and
contrasting with one another. The album’s
twelve songs are mostly composed by elder
sister Danni, her lyrics characterised by rich
imagery and poignancy.
Recorded and produced by the renowned
Mark Tucker, the resulting brightness and
clarity highlights the band’s musicality without
overwhelming it. Compared to the debut album,
Ridiculous Bohemia shows Tiny Tin Lady rapidly
maturing in both songwriting and performance.
“A unique blend of roots honesty and rock
sensibilities not to be missed”
Mojo
Simon Hopper
Band
The Less Blessed
Control-Shift Music
CSMCD03 DK
Simon’s latest CD forms a plausible sequel to
his widely acclaimed 2006 collection A Land
For The Many. Here again he powerfully and
uncompromisingly addresses contemporary
issues such as the wholesale destruction of our
heritage by rampant consumerism and apathy.
Simon’s own intelligence and insight are
matched by creative and satisfying folkrock backings from his small band, which
complement the traditional-sounding
construction of many of the songs. At the same
time, his own earthy vocal style forcefully brings
the sentiments home, especially effectively on
songs like Lammas Leaves (highlighting the
elemental force of nature) and the unsettling
Olive Tree (the erosion or dismissal of our
roots), while he also displays a feel for the
lyrical in his portrait of the rolling Downs (Seven
Sisters) and on The Ballad Of The Suffolk Five
(restoring a human perspective to the tabloid
coverage of the murdered Ipswich girls). Simon
has much to say: ignore him at your peril.
“Satisfying songs with bite, edge and
contemporary relevance”
fRoots
Jez Lowe &
The Bad Pennies
Northern Echoes
Tantobie
TTRCD11O AL
His work inhabits traditional Celtic idioms
and wider melodic terrains. Mrs Murphy’s
Camel inhabits an Egyptian bellydance groove
while Paddy’s Paradise basks in a Carribean
atmosphere. Cun Ana is a cool slice of whistle
magic recalling Davey Spillane, a Moving Hearts
vibe caresses Leaving Friday Harbour and
Cormac Breatnach’s Lakeside, which appears
as a bonus track. Revisited offers a master class
of Celtic inspired and cotemporary traditional
music painted large on a world canvas.
www.kerrywhistles.com
Blue Blokes
Three
After Mike Harding called Jez Lowe “an unsung
hero of British folk music”, things are being put
to rights in 2008 with nominations as Folksinger
Of The Year in the BBC Folk Awards, for Album
Of The Year in America’s Indie Acoustic Awards,
and with this new set of seventeen of his best
songs, many long-unavailable on CD, recorded
live with The Bad Pennies, featuring fiddler
Kate Bramley, piper and pianist Andy May, and
bassist David de la Haye.
Jez also steps out solo, reflecting a breadth
of performance that makes him one of the
busiest performers around, both in the UK and
overseas. A bonus DVD is also included, filmed
during last year’s acclaimed Song For Geordie
tour, with Tyneside singer Benny Graham and
fiddler Shona Mooney guesting, and songs by
North Eastern writers like Tommy Armstrong,
Alex Glasgow, Alan Hull, Mark Knopfler, and of
course Jez himself.
www.jezlowe.com
Chris While &
Julie Matthews
Together Alone
Stubble
Fledg’ling Records
FLED3068 CP
Like tin, like content. A trio of bluesy male
acoustic pickers, probably the wrong side of 30
(!) comprising Ian Anderson, Lu Edmonds and
Ben Mandelson on various frets with an eclectic
repertory encompassing Trad.arr, self-pens,
Memphis Minnie and Elmore James.
The resonant Preacher’s Blues harks back
to Ian’s Hot Vulture days, there are no weak
moments throughout and with well-wrought
arrangements, never a dull moment. The
ensemble playing is tight and shot through
with the genuine love all three have for their
material. The elegant Lovin’ Henry sits easily
alongside the fuscous traditional ballad Lord
Allenwater, and stir into the mix A Fool Such As
I - hey presto, diversity needle enters the red
area!
The fun these geezers had making this album is
self-evident and this is music so satisfying that it
would stick to the ribs!
“Long may their razors remain underused!”
fRoots
FOLK
Fat Cat Records
FATCD021 DK
Chris and Julie’s latest studio collection is,
unsurprisingly, another polished, sublime set
with a feelgood demeanour celebrating triumph
over adversity. Its title both epitomizes and
acknowledges the paradox of modern living
that unites all of humanity, and the songs within
draw positives from that situation and our
experiences.
Dealing so very tenderly with simple universal
truths, they achieve their impact by an astute
economy of expression allied to warmly
accessible melodies and arrangements.
Highlights? Julie’s Healed and Chris’s A Simple
Twist Of Fate, also their revisits of the heartrending The Sum Of What I Am (taken from
the HIV-themed Radio Ballad) and Julie’s
gorgeously melancholy Blue Old Saturday
Night, both already familiar to Chris’n’Jools
fans. And Take These Bones and Single Act Of
Kindness, both inspired by specific people or
events. Expert backing from Messrs. Brookfield,
Lees et al. sets the seal on this typically classy
addition to the distinguished While & Matthews
canon.
“Two of my favorite singer songwriters in the
whole wide world”
Beth Nielsen Chapman
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Properganda 10
Sparkling new CDs from Fellside’s younger generation:
F
ellside, one of this country’s foremost small independent folk labels, can never be
accused of ignoring up-and-coming young talent. In the case of this triumvirate of
new acts, label boss Paul Adams is clearly ahead of the pack in recognizing their potential
and having the foresight to sign them
pronto! For each has a strongly-defined
character and illustrates a different aspect of
the incredible vibrancy of today’s folk scene.
FOLK
Harpist/singer Rachel Newton and flautist Lillias Kinsman-Blake
met while degree students at Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Their debut
CD is chock-full of fleet-footed, fresh-toned and clear-textured
performances of songs and tunes in roughly equal proportion. The
six songs are with one exception drawn from the tradition and learnt
directly from recordings of source singers, two being sung proficiently
in Gaelic. Rachel’s voice is pure in tone, yet also has depth, excellent
diction and a supple maturity of phrasing. The duo’s treatment of
Young Horseman and their cover of Gillian Welch’s Dear Someone
are especially beguiling. The instrumental tracks mix invigorating selfpenned tunes with modern and traditional items, all played with a
life-affirming zest (a highlight being the Hoi Lieffie! set). The lasses’ natural musicianship possesses
both a lithe and nimble quality and an expressiveness that virtuosity can easily belie, and a canny
feel for syncopation (gently augmented by percussionist Paul Jennings on five tracks). The delightfully
unpretentious contentment and joy in the playing proves equally uplifting for the listener.
Jack and Charlie, currently studying classical music at Birmingham
Conservatoire, were finalists in last year’s Radio 2 Young Folk Awards.
Rachel & Lillias
Bravely, the material on their debut CD is entirely non-traditional in
Dear Someone
origin: a collection of thoughtful and intelligent songs penned by Jack
Fellside Recordings
and instrumental pieces composed by violinist Charlie. The songs,
FECD215
though often distinctly personal in nature, are thought-provoking and
refreshingly devoid of archetypal student introspection. Most impressive
among these perhaps are Breakwaters and the intense Quiet The Child. Jack’s singing style is
forthright, confident and strongly individual; his guitar work, in contrast, is deft and imaginatively
melodic, whereas Charlie’s rich-toned accompaniment is supremely innovative in its approach
to phrasing and contour. In all, although initially Jack and Charlie’s debut offering may have less
immediate an impact than the other Fellside releases in this crop – uncompromising, a trifle
elusive, even daunting – paradoxically, it’s actually these qualities that make it so exciting. So it’s
worth persevering with close listening and eventually, yes, it will light up all your beacons.
The Maerlock’s debut is a cathartic and welcomingly
unpredictable experience. The band members met while
studying at the Royal Northern College Of Music; their
diverse musical sensibilities enable them to inventively
transform pieces from Britain’s heritage into a veritable
cocktail of folk and various global musics. Salma Adam,
Sarah Stuart, Paul-Isaac Franks, Olly Hamilton and Toby
Kearney together employ a broad instrumental palette,
with occasional creative enhancement from electronics, and
the lead vocal role is taken by Salma: cool and jazzy yet keenly
expressive. Macedonian Tune starts with stabbing rhythms that
melt into a freer Latin groove then funkily gear-change into a
Jack McNeill &
frantic tumbling reel. Salma’s flute and Sarah’s fiddle provide a
fiery front-line through which Olly weaves gleeful
Charlie Heys
jazzy-classical improvisations. The five songs
Light Up All The
tease out some intriguing treatments: I Drew
Beacons
Fellside Recordings
My Ship is given an eerily atmospheric setting,
FECD213
Two Magicians an exuberant Latin vibe, and Twa
Corbies an Eastern European feel. The disc’s
encore introduces the 13-piece Maerlock Big
Band, which augments the quintet with horns, rhythm section and
extra fiddle – mega-impressive!
Fellside have backed three clear winners here, all of whom proudly
proclaim an individual take on the concept of folk music, and have
something genuinely unique to offer the listener.
Properganda 10
David Kidman
The Maerlock
Sofa
Fellside Recordings
FECD214
David Gillanders
FOLK
D
rever McCusker Woomble may sound like a dilapidated
firm of chartered surveyors, but they’ve come up with
one of the most unexpectedly fresh and entrancing albums
of the year.
McCusker worked together on a Kate Rusby tour – on which
a short solo showcase effectively triggered Drever’s solo
career – and they’ve been united in mutual admiration and a
common desire to break new territory ever since.
Well, maybe it shouldn’t be considered that unexpected.
This is, after all, a Scottish supergroup of sorts. A supremely
imaginative guitarist, singer, multi-instrumentalist and
arranger, Orkney’s Kris Drever is one of the hottest new
talents in the UK, both as a member of the all-conquering,
improvisational trio Lau and a brilliant solo album Black
Water that’s not only won him various awards but a glut of
invitations to work with other people. Like fiddle star John
McCusker, an iconic figure dating back to seven years on the
road with the Battlefield Band, 10 years with former partner
Kate Rusby, a couple of solo albums and, most recently, a
seven-month world tour with Mark Knopfler. Drever and
The third member of this holy alliance of chartered surveyors
is even more intriguing…Mr Roddy Woomble, mainman
with Idlewild, rock band of this parish but an avid, if unlikely,
convert to folk music. “I’ve been getting into folk over the last
few years. After a while in a rock band you start becoming
more open-minded about music and I started listening
to people like Fairport Convention, Trees, Pentangle, Bert
Jansch – people I never knew anything about when I was 18.
And I’ve become a big fan of Dick Gaughan, especially his
Handful of Earth album, which I saw him play live at Celtic
Connections.”
Properganda 10
Does this mean the end of Idlewild? “Not at all. We’ll be
doing a new record next year. But at the moment this is my
main thing and it’s been a great experience working with
John and Kris. Kris can take a Scottish song from 300 years
ago and make it current to 2008 – there’s a bit of genius
about him. I also love his guitar. There’s also amazing scope
and imagination in what John does. He has a real instinct
for arrangements and is quite filmic in the way he presents
things. So it was very exciting to work with them and see how
they developed the songs. When we got together none of us
knew what was going to happen.”
What happened was Before The Ruin, a mesmerising
collection of songs performed with belief and relish by three
musicians, each bringing something enticingly different to
the party. Other star guests also dip in and out of the action.
Radiohead drummer Phil Selway for one. Teenage Fanclub
singer Norman Blake for another. “We just got a bunch of
mates in to help out,” says John McCusker. It’s just lucky that
these mates also include Capercaillie’s Donald Shaw, revered
multi-instrumentalist Mike McGoldrick, guitar god Ian Carr,
two of the finest accordion players in the land, Andy Cutting
and Phil Cunningham, bass players Andy Seward and Ewen
Vernal, percussionists Francis Macdonald and Keith Angel and
Irish singer Heidi Talbot (McCusker’s partner).
As all three primary participants are in such big demand,
just getting them together in the same room at the same
time was a complex feat of planning. When they did finally
assemble in McCusker’s flat in Edinburgh, there was no
template to work from. Woomble, a former drummer, doesn’t
play any instruments now, but he arrived with a book of lyrics
(he religiously writes something new every day), a laptop
and a deluge of ideas, and the versatility and instrumental
virtuosity of Drever and McCusker did the rest..
“It was amazing,” says Woomble. “I just came up with the
words and a few songs and presented them to the other guys
and they came back with these incredible arrangements. It
was very exciting.”
McCusker was equally amazed by the turn of events. “We
met five or six times in my flat and wrote about 12 songs. We
didn’t know what we were doing. I’d literally play a tune and
Kris would join in on guitar and then Roddy would just start
singing. Simple as that. It was exciting to be in a room starting
playing something with no idea where it was going or where
it would finish. We didn’t know if it was going to be a folk
record or a rocky record or what. We didn’t know what we
were doing, but everybody was bouncing off each other and
it all came together really quickly. There’s a real live feeling on
the record. Sometimes records feel too safe. You always try to
make records beautiful, but sometimes looking back, you lose
that feeling you get when everybody’s in a room together just
going for it. You know, the way they used to make records. On
this one we didn’t know what would happen, but we all went
for it. I think that’s why it feels so good.”
The songs on Before The Ruin – with their sumptuous
melodies and soaring choruses - are largely driven by
Woomble’s lyrics, which invariably sound hefty and profound,
although he’s not desperately keen to explain them. Now
DMW
Properganda 10
32, Woomble has come a long way since the early days of
Idlewild, once variously categorised as punk or heavy metal,
but who gradually mellowed to the point that they were
booked to play an acoustic set at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
“It’s not something that was ever considered, it was just a
natural change. I never woke up and thought right, now I’m
going to do folk music. I just started listening to different
things and grew to love folk music.”
In 2006 McCusker produced Woomble’s first solo album
My Secret Is My Silence on Kate Rusby’s Pure label. It
surprised a lot of people – not least Woomble himself
– and effectively established his parallel career as rock
star turned folk hero. “Yes, I’m proud of that album
and I’m delighted by the way it was received,” he
says. “I wasn’t expecting anybody to take any notice
of it, but it got some great reviews. It was just so
different. Kate Rusby’s dad gave me a box of 50
CDs to go out and sell at gigs, which wasn’t
the way I was used to doing things, but
is maybe the way it should be. There
may be people in the folk world who
think I’m an imposter and are very
suspicious about me, but I haven’t
come across them. As far as I’m
concerned the folk scene has
been very open-minded and
welcoming.”
little more coy. “I don’t like to analyse them too much. A
lot of it is inspired and influenced by writers and poets, but
it’s not specific.” But the title track, Before The Ruin, Roddy,
with lines like ‘When all these things have gone/They’ve
gone in love and they’ve gone in wonder/And cracks
appear in rocks/As the cabin shakes in thunder…’ That’s
about the environment, right? “Erm…no, not really, it’s
about…landscape. Some of the songs are about the sea as
a metaphor for life. They are influenced by the writer George
Mackay Brown, who’s a big inspiration.”
Ask him about the songs on
Before The Ruin and he’s a
Phil Selway’s involvement in the album is
particularly fascinating. A fan of Kate Rusby,
the Radiohead man met McCusker at a
couple of Rusby gigs, struck up email contact
and they started hanging out. McCusker
remembers with pride the night Selway
came to see the John McCusker Band playing
at Nettlebed Folk Club in Oxfordshire. “He
joined the folk club and everything. At the
end of the night he was helping to put the
chairs away!” When Selway decided to make
a solo album of his own songs, he asked
McCusker to produce it and put a band
together. “It hasn’t come out yet but it’s
a great album. He has a gorgeous voice,
not that different to Thom Yorke’s voice.
I don’t know when it’s coming out, it’s
difficult with all the Radiohead projects
– he’s deadly serious about it and
doesn’t want it to be the Radiohead
David Gillanders
DMW
Properganda 10
David Gillanders
drummer’s token solo album. When we were doing this I just
called him up and he was delighted to help. He loves Kris and
he loves Roddy and he came up and recorded the drums in
the engineer’s front living room. Wish I’d taken a picture!”
This is no vanity project. Inspired by the enthusiastic initial
reaction to the album, Drever McCusker Woomble will be
touring together – another complicated meeting of diaries.
Even getting them together for the Properganda cover shoot
involved timing of military precision between international
plane flights.
“This just feels like a new beginning,” says McCusker. “I spent
seven years with Battlefield Band and then that felt like the
end of something and then I had 10 years with Kate (Rusby)
and then that came to an end. Kate and I thought we could
keep working together despite splitting as a couple, but we
were a bit naïve and it became too difficult. A couple of days
after I left Kate’s band I got a call from Mark Knopfler to go
on tour and I thought why
not? That was different again.
Now this project has come
up and we’ll see where it
takes us.
Before The Ruin
Navigator Records
NAVIGATOR1
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Properganda 10
Properganda 10
“It’s not folk musicians trying
to rock out and Roddy isn’t
trying to be a folk singer.
I don’t think of it as folk
or rock. It’s more like, I
dunno, Bonnie Prince Billy
or something, somewhere
in between. Roddy doesn’t
play an instrument and
he doesn’t come from the
folk world so he brings this
whole other thing. I’d like to make more records this way. Not
necessarily quickly, but sometimes you spend so much time
on little details – and I do love to do that – but you can lose
the excitement and passion that way. This was a very exciting
record to make…
Even after the Drever McCusker Woomble adventure,
the three of them may reunite again on Under One Sky,
McCusker’s celebrated creation designed to unite Scotland
and England in melody and song originally commissioned for
Celtic Connections and Cambridge festivals and now set to
become an album with a tour at the end of the year to back
it up. “None of us are in this for the money – it’s all about
making music that excites you. I never want to get in a rut.”
Colin Irwin
Return to their Northern roots
FOLK
W
hile acoustic folk pioneers Megson continue to raise their
profile by picking up rave reviews at festivals and
venues across the UK, their recorded albums are equally as
accomplished, and Take Yourself a Wife marks the third
release in their trio of excellent albums.
Where Smoke of Home had subtle links to their native NorthEast, this album has 300 years of North-Eastern history as its
heart and soul: it’s a collection of songs that chronicle the life
and times of real people and communities, and they were all
written by residents of Teesside, Tyneside, County Durham and
Northumberland.
While the songs cover a broad time-scale, none of them ever
feel traditional – the writers of all the songs are known, and
just this small piece of information rather than a ‘trad. arr’ tag
helps put the songs into context, from the light-hearted almost
comical Take Yourself a Wife, through to the protest song The
New Fish Market these are songs that reflect real people and
their everyday lives.
Although only a few years into their career, Megson already
have a distinctive feel to their sound, their bright, fresh
recordings with the driving, rhythmic mandola and guitar of
Stu Hanna, and beautifully clean vocals from Debbie HannaPalmer make them instantly identifiable. It’s a sound they
continue to build on by adding a small but well chosen range
of instrumentation to the mix, including fiddle, bass, mandolin
and concertina; add to this the songs where Stu takes the lead
and the pieces they share, and they turn a simple duo into a
varied and accomplished acoustic band sound.
Stu’s skill as a producer has not gone unnoticed in the folk
industry either, and his ability to create a fresh, contemporary
sound with traditional instrumentation has been recognised
with production credits for the recent albums by Benji
Kirkpartick, Faustus and Mawkin:Causley.
This sound is best showcased on
Little Joe written by Joe Wilson,
a well known nineteenth
Century writer, where the
fantastic arrangement and
production make a 150
year old song sound like
it was meant to be arranged the way Megson present it. In
truth, that’s the strength of the whole album, the songs may
have been written many years ago, but the issues, emotions
and characters that populate the lyrics still have resonance
today; put this together with a contemporary musical
approach and it makes the disc a compelling and attractive
collection.
As an album so proudly and firmly rooted in the North-East,
you’d expect a few songs relating to the pits and mines of
the area, and the two they’ve chosen are both evocative and
graphic depictions daily life, Fourpence A Day feels like an
authentic industrial folksong of the time chronicling work and
conditions; whereas The Oakey Strike Evictions vividly paints a
picture of the ‘Candymen’, the dockers who were recruited as
bailiffs and brought in to evict striking miners.
Other songs touch on the wrench of emigration (O Mary
Will You Go), the execution of a street vendor for the murder
of her mother (Jane Jamieson’s Ghost) through to the final
track Sandgate Lassie’s Lament, a song that covers the loss
of a young man press ganged into service in the Navy – it’s a
tender song that is beautifully sung by Debbie, and a fitting
end to an exceptional collection.
CTP Template: CD_DPS1
Compact Disc Booklet: 8pp Booklet
Catalogue No.
Job Title : EDJ015-8PPBOOKLET(N)
Colours : 4/4, cmyk
FRONT & BACK
Take Yourself a Wife is confident
and brave, and even if the
concept of it may at first
glance feel a little odd for a
contemporary young duo,
the execution of it makes
perfect sense: the result is
a mature and expressive
album full of songs that still
have stories to tell many
years after they were written.
EDJ015
Neil Pearson
Take Yourself A Wife
EDJ Records
EDJ15
“This is first rate - if you don’t like this music you have a problem! Peaches and cream harmonies,
melodic roots consciousness and a huge sense of individuality. ” fRoots
Properganda 10
11
FOLK reviews
Solas
Blackthorn
Steve Turner
For Love
And Laughter
The River That
Runs Below
The Whirligig
Of Time
Compass Records
COM74490 Hobgoblin
HOBCD1009 The Tradition Bearers
LTCD1103 JO’R
DK
JO’R
Irish American Celtic super-band Solas has
seen its share of changes since its inception in
1996. Now featuring original members Seamus
Egan and Winifred Horan with Mick McCauley,
Eamon McElhom and new vocalist Mairead
Phelan they confidently enter their second
decade. Much of the powerhouse energy of
yore is still intact Vital Mental Medicine still
operates on manic overdrive while Eoin Bear’s
Reel is a compulsive opener.
The second album from these Celtic music
specialists par-excellence surpasses even
their accomplished, well-received Far From
Home. With an infectious musicality born
out of many years’ combined active service
to the music business, the five members of
Blackthorn conjure a constantly bright, fresh and
scintillating sound, uniformly confident in all
departments.
Mancunian singer Steve Turner was a constant
face on the early to mid 80s UK folk club
circuit. Recording three well received albums
for Fellside his career seemed assured, but
somehow he slipped into early retirement.
The rootsier Americana strains of There Is A
Time add a fresh cosmopolitan sheen and the
presence of The Dhuks allows a deeper dive
into the American hinterland. Mairead Phelan’s
vocals exhibit a reserved coolness best found on
the elegiac Molly na gCuach Ni Chuillean while
the driving Seven Curses presents a melodic
challenge she rides successfully.
Expertly mixing traditional roots with
contemporary wisdom, Solas has achieved a
unique synthesis of rustic and urban folk forms
and For Love And Laughter further displays their
creative genius.
Led by strong flute and whistle (Philippe
Barnes and Sarah Mooney) and bolstered
by assured guitar and bouzouki rhythms, the
breezy front-line textures are also inventively
contrasted with fiddle (Alex Percy), concertina
(Mannie McClelland) and occasional banjo
and mandolin from bouzoukist and co-founder
Fergus McClelland, with some nice syncopated
jazzy bass adventures. All band members are
multi-skilled instrumentalists (three of the five
play guitar) and, amidst the intelligently realized
tunes from all over Britain (with an emphasis on
Irish), Fergus also turns in honest and upfront
performances of three traditional songs.
www.solasmusic.com
Trust me, contemporary bands playing Celtic
repertoire don’t come much better than this.
Catie Curtis
“Musicianship of such a standard deserves
recognition and success”
Sweet Life
Compass
COM44912 ES
This is Catie Curtis’ first album to have been
recorded in Nashville and where her previous
albums have been stripped right down, here
she has produced a sound that is full without
being cluttered and over manufactured.
It’s Catie’s tenth album and her focus this time
is the beauty and joy in life even when things
around us are not going as well as they could.
The whole album is honest and uplifting as she
works her way through life’s pain and worries
looking for silver linings in the storms. The title
track reminds us that the pain we bear, as well
as happiness, contributes to make us who we
are today and therefore we should not look
back on things with regret.
Although she remains mostly in the folk-pop
camp, other influences come through including
her affecting cover of alt-rocker’s Death Cab for
Cutie’s Soul Meets Body. If you like genuine,
heart-felt music in the vein of Beth Nielsen
Chapman or Sarah McLachlan, this album is an
absolute must.
“A refreshing departure from the stale formula
offered by many of today’s singer- songwriters”
Rolling Stone
The Folk Mag
Mary Black
“A shining example of the music the British folk
scene is capable of producing”
fRoots
The Demon
Barbers
Demon Barber
DBS001 Dolphin Traders
TUCD008 SH
AL
Mary Black showcases a wealth of memories on
this 25th anniversary retrospective. This double
CD collection 25 Years/25 Songs contains
25 songs spanning her illustrious career and
considered to be her most popular recordings
as well as two brand new songs Sweet Love and
Tom Waits’ If I Have To Go recorded specially for
this project.
Drawing the bulk from her breakthrough period
of the late 80’s and early 90’s, Black glistens
in the hands of her preferred writers, Jimmy
McCarthy and Noel Brazil. Many of these tracks
have been remixed and all have been fully remastered from the original albums.
This compilation is a snapshot of a formidable
interpreter who, by the sounds of the bonus
track Tom Waits’ cut, may have another career
awaiting her as an interpreter of international
songwriters. A justly eclectic celebration of an
artist ever in search of the unploughed furrow.
fRoots
Other classic narrative ballads Bonnie George
Campbell, Young Waters and The Poor And
Single Sailor display a power undiminished
by time. Finally, Where E’er You Walk, which
is often better known as Handel’s Largo
finishes things in a quietly sublime style. The
Whirligig Of Time welcomes back a mature and
accomplished folk talent.
+24db
25 years/25 songs
“Shows just how well she has
mastered her interperative craft”
After too long a wait, however, Steve Turner
returns with a brand new CD The Whirligig
Of Time. His rich voice and subtle English
concertina accompaniment harks back the
golden age of 70sUK folk but his interpretative
power with narrative ballads reigns supreme.
The Whirligig of Time is a selection of mainly
traditional material arranged by Steve including
his setting of The Isle of St Helena covered by
Mary Black.
Wittily named after founder and leader Damien
Barber, this young combo is pushing at the folk
envelope with all their collective might. Their
live reputation is already established with Mike
Harding describing them as “one of the best live
bands I’ve ever seen.”
Unusually the band’s individual biogs list
influences that include Miles Davis, Flux Of Pink
Indians, Sepultura, Bananarama and Madonna,
but this mini album is most definitely folk music
folks, both in its familiar instrumental make
up and delivery. Well mostly. There are four
songs that come with Trad.arr credits, a new
instrumental and two new songs. Of the latter
Jerry Garcia’s Friend Of The Devil is neatly recast for the English tradition and Damien’s own
Good Old Days is a lively, sly opener.
It’s the washes of fuzz bass riffing and dub-style
arrangements that mark them as something
to watch, however, and fiddler Bryony Griffith’s
closing Under The Rock fiddle frenzy suggests
that Mr. Harding has got it right.
“They are brilliant”
Mike Harding, BBC Radio 2
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12
Properganda 10
reviews
COUNTRY AMERICANA
The Duhks
Doc Watson
Cadillac Sky
Fast Paced World
Gravity’s Our Enemy
Sugar Hill
SHCD4042 Americana Master
Series: Best Of The
Sugar Hill Years
ES
Sugar Hill
SHCD4044 Since their last album, the Duhks have lost
two of their original members, and for many
bands that would spell the beginning of the
end. However, siblings Sarah and Christian
Dugas have filled the vacancies seamlessly.
Sarah’s superb voice takes the lead– imagine
Amy Winehouse meets KT Tunstall. Although
true to their country and folk roots, they are
never afraid to transcend the restrictions of
music genres, as they mix and match their
foundations with blues, jazz, French, Irish and
rock influences.
The album gets underway with the traditional
song Mighty Storm which instantly showcases
the strength of Sarah’s soulful voice, but
most tracks are band originals, including the
melancholy This Fall and nicely contemporary
Toujours Vouloir, sung beautifully and entirely
in French.
Also exceptionally talented musicians they
romp through instrumental pieces, Ship in High
Transit, Adam’s 3-Step and New Rigged Ship.
Overall this is the Duhks’ strongest album yet
and the new line-up seems to be fit like a glove.
www.duhks.com
You’ll be dazzled by Doc Watson’s talent on
this wonderful CD. Every single track stands
testament to his genius at bluegrass picking and
supreme musical arrangements. Whether he’s
performing a dazzling solo, is part of a band or
is partnering such luminaries as mandolinist
Marty Stuart or his son Merle, he plays with such
a virtuosic touch and presence, he makes other
country pickers want to throw their guitars away.
It’s mesmerizing stuff. Listen to the intricacies
involved in the 12 string playing on My Little
Woman, You’re So Sweet or the interplay
between Marty Stewart’s mandolin and Doc’s
vivid guitar work on the Bill Monroe tribute
Watson’s Blues. And what about that classy
banjo picking on Dock Boggs’s Country Blues?
Doc Watson is without equal. Do yourself a
favour - get this CD, marvel at the beauty of
his music and then pick up the rest of his
recordings on Sugar Hill.
“Always a joy”
Maverick
The John Henrys
Donna The
Buffalo
Sweet As The Grain
Silverlined
Sugar Hill
SHCD4047 KS
JHS
Hailing from Trumansburg, New York and
celebrating twenty years together this latest
release from Donna The Buffalo contains an
intoxicating mix of styles, from the reggae
flavoured opener Temporary Misery to the pure
country rock of Broken Record, with tabla and a
seemingly unaccredited brass section adding to
the exoticism.
Guests on the album include David Hidalgo (Los
Lobos), Amy Helm (Ollabelle) and Bela Fleck.
All 13 tracks were written by band members Jeb
Puryear and Tara Nevins who also handle vocal
duties as well as playing a mixture of guitar,
pedal steel, fiddle, accordion and scrubboard.
Jeb and Tara both have a wonderful vocal
delivery, Jeb having that much loved whiskey
soaked style shown perfectly on tracks such as
The Call. Tara on the other hand has that crystal
clear country vocal that when combined on
the reggae influenced tracks make for a highly
original and thoroughly engaging listening
experience.
www.donnathebuffalo.com
Skaggs Family Records
SKFR2109 ES
Cadillac Sky have realised a bluegrass band for
the 21st century and while the basis of their
music remains firmly traditional, the lyrics and
arrangements are thoroughly modern.
Their songs necessarily eschew the troubles
of rural/mountain life and focus modern and
universal themes – relationship break ups,
drinking your troubles away and high school
bullying. That is not to say that this is an album
full of doom and gloom, there are brighter
songs, particularly Carousel, a gentle ballad
celbrating the ride of life to the full.
The impact track simply has to be Bible by the
Bed, the tale of an abusive husband and his
wife’s attempts to forgive him – ‘She keeps a
gun under her pillow and a Bible by the bed.’
Two instrumentals give the band the chance
to shine musically, and the vocals maintain
the traditional tight harmonies and glorious
mountain cry that you would expect of any fine
bluegrass band.
“Taking newgrass to a new level”
Maverick
Annabelle
Chvostek
Resilience
9LB Records
270088 Borealis
BCD193
CP
DK
The band name and organic-sounding title
track would seem to promise to sing us back
home, to a simpler, more rural way of life,
delivered in spades here. Mainstream Country’s
traditional conservative image portrayed as
much, whilst appealing to a honky-tonking male
demographic in love with truck-stop girls.
Toronto-born Annabelle, who for a time was
a member of the wonderful Wailin’ Jennys,
now resumes her solo career with Resilience,
which shows her to be an impressive (if mildly
idiosyncratic) songwriter and performer in her
own right: a brilliantly agile vocalist and multiskilled musician.
That audience base is still there but this
Canadian 5-piece, formed in 2003, roll down
the Gram Parsons-pioneered route of Cosmic
American music to also embrace R&B and
rootsy Folk influences for its 2nd album.
Melding the low-key, and delicate Lost In
The Canyon with the rockier, bluesy material
Thought Yourself Lucky the band coheres
around Rey Sabatin’s vocals.
The aptly-named Resilience portrays a tough,
independent talent, capable of reflecting
poignantly, often through the metaphor of
relationships, on how humankind survives and
deals with its own foibles. This can result in
some determinedly crazy music (like the quirky
junk-country of I Left My Brain), but for the most
part Annabelle overlays basic acoustic textures
with more subtle ornamentation, displaying
influences from her earlier musical activities
(including electro-acoustic composition and,
on The Sioux, old-time); guests include Bruce
Molsky, Bruce Cockburn and Mary Gauthier.
Featuring band compositions entirely, a varied
instrumental palette including mandolin, banjo,
with rock backline conjures an image of pickup
truck rather than pink Cadillac and blue collar,
blue jeans and wide blue hoizons. No bumpy
ride though, just an immensely enjoyable roadtrip.
www.thejohnhenrys.com
With its warm and enveloping sound and
clever variations of ambience, this fascinating
album really does live up to Annabelle’s own
description of “a big complicated hug”.
www.annabelle.org
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Properganda 10
13
COUNTRY AMERICANA
W
ith this exceptional new collection (her 24th studio
record!), Joan effectively completes a trilogy of albums
with Steve Earle a link, which began with 2003’s Dark Chords
On A Big Guitar and continued with 2005’s live set Bowery
Songs. Day After Tomorrow was produced by Steve, who also
plays guitar and contributes harmony vocals. For this album
he’s assembled a small dream-team of acoustic musicians from
Nashville’s A-list (multi-instrumentalists Tim O’Brien and Darrell
Scott, bassist Viktor Krauss and drummer Kenny Malone), all
tremendously sympathetic musical collaborators.
Joan has always performed and recorded songs by
contemporary songwriters whose work resonates with her
own sensibilities, and the ten songs comprising Day After
Tomorrow continues this practice. The set is bookended by
two of Steve’s compositions: the opener God Is God, already
familiar to fans from Joan’s concert sets, receives what is surely
its definitive performance here, whereas Jericho Road forms
a spirited though reflective a cappella
gospel-style closer. Tucked in the centre
of the disc is Earle’s timeless-sounding,
Guthrie-esque I Am A Wanderer, following
a pair of songs sharing a war theme: the
stirring Elvis Costello/T-Bone Burnett Cold
Mountain anthem Scarlet Tide and the
emotionally charged Tom Waits-penned
title track, surely an album standout. Here
Joan’s own skilled and gently understated
guitar playing provides all the bareDay After Tomorrow bones accompaniment her powerful and
Proper Records
passionate delivery needs to get that
PRPCD034
song’s message across.
I
n the mid-1980’s, Art’s obsession with long-distance walking
began with a three week hike across the rice paddies and
back roads of Japan. By 1984, his walks across America became
a major part of his annual schedule. Having completed his
walk across the United States in 1996, Disney released a
documentary-style video that chronicles Art’s 12-year walk as
well as a celebratory concert at the Registry Hall on Ellis Island,
where Art’s ancestors had first stepped onto American soil. “My
goal,” says Art with Across America, “was to feel my connection
with America, one step at a time.”
For the first time Art Garfunkel’s epic Across America
performances are caught together
in one live CD and DVD package,
which includes the full album and
filmed footage from the two-night
stint at the Registry Hall in April
1996. It features captivating, new
live performances of Garfunkel
classics from his solo career and
also his seminal combination with
Paul Simon.
The musical arrangements are fresh
and new while keeping the essence
of the original tracks: Graham Lyle’s A
Heart In New York still sounds tailor
made for Garfunkel’s clear vocals
while All I Know and Mike Batt’s
classic Bright Eyes still retain
Elsewhere Joan
continues to
champion the work
of outstanding female
songwriters: Diana
Jones’ account of
an American mining
disaster, Henry
Russell’s Last Words,
with eerily effective
instrumentation
including harmonium
and tambura, is
another disc highlight
and Patty Griffin’s
religious allegory
Mary (with the help
of Siobhan Kennedy’s
harmonies) also
captivates. We’re
also treated to a pair
of lovely songs by
Austin’s Eliza Gilkyson , the near-traditional-sounding gem Rose
Of Sharon and Requiem. After which, on Thea Gilmore’s The
Lower Road, Thea herself supplies the harmony vocal (repaying
the favour granted by Joan when she duetted on Thea’s own
recording of the song earlier this year). Needless to say, Joan is
in excellent voice throughout, with today’s huskier tonal depth
every bit as attractive as her trademark crystalline soprano. All
of which adds up to a very special record indeed.
David Kidman
their distinctive aura; A new strength runs through The Sound
of Silence and Scarborough Fair; A Poem on the Underground
Wall and Homeward Bound sound fresh and timeless; Mrs.
Robinson, with altered lyrics, raises some enthusiastic crowd
reaction while Lennon & McCartney’s I Will charms in its
simplicity; The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy), April
Come She Will and Goodnight, My Love close the proceedings
quietly.
The DVD intersperses the concert footage with Art’s travelogue
and philosophy, creating a fascinating insight into his motivation
for this epic quest. There are great sweeping shots of the
American landscape, both rural and urban, that give subtle
hints of the scale of the undertaking. There is also poignant
footage, echoing the concert performance, of Art with James
Taylor singing Crying In The Rain sitting on the windy shore of
Ellis Island with the Manhattan skyline, complete with the Twin
Towers, as a backdrop.
What’s obvious from these performances, as well as Garfunkel’s
command of song craft, is the sheer enjoyment he brings
to the material. He seems to revel in the narrative power
and emotional quality of these
songs, emitting performances of a
consistently high artistic level. Art
Garfunkel has connected step by
step with the American heartbeat
and Across America shows a master
communicator at work.
Art Garfunkel
14
Properganda 10
John O’Regan
Across America
Proper Records
PRPCD042
anadian singer songwriter Catherine MacLellan has been attracting a lot of
attention in her huge nation with the release of Church Bell Blues (True North
Records). This album of original compositions finds MacLellan mixing folk, country,
even touches of blues and rock. If her sound is classic Americana MacLellan’s
gorgeous voice sets her apart from the herd. MacLellan lives in Halifax, the largest
city on Canada’s East Coast, but one that is only home to 150,000 citizens. This, she
emphasises, suits her.
“Halifax is big enough to be a city but it still has a very small town feel and I like that,”
she says. “There’s a really vibrant music scene here – folk, Celtic, rock, pop, indeed –
and lots of small venues. We support one another too and that’s what makes it special.”
Canada’s music scene – after years of being the butt of jokes about the nation’s best
musicians all hightailing it to the US – has taken off with Arcade Fire now one of the
world’s most popular rock bands.
Patrick Nichols
“I’m aware of all those bands coming out and becoming big internationally but I don’t
really feel part of that scene. See, they’re rock bands coming out of big cities like
Montreal and Toronto. I’m part of an East Coast folk scene so I’m more connected with
folk clubs and festivals happening up and down the coast and that includes America.
Touring Canada is hard work as it’s so big. You play a gig and then you might have to
drive all day before you reach the next town!”
COUNTRY AMERICANA
C
MacLellan’s father was the noted singer-songwriter Gene MacLellan (he wrote many
standards including Anne Murray’s Snowbird). He died while MacLellan
was still a teenager but she counts him as her formative influence.
“My dad definitely remains one of my biggest influences. We both write
from a similar point of view. Also, he passed on a lot of his influences to
me so I’ve learnt to write songs from the same artists he did. When I was
a teenager and buying awful 80s pop he would go to the dollar bins and
buy me old albums by Dylan, The Band, stuff like that which has really
helped me develop. I guess he saved me from listening to Paula Abdul
for the rest of my life!”
MacLellan’s loose, relaxed music, blending as it does country and folk
with touches of rock, recalls Canadian alt-country pioneers The Cowboy
Junkies. Were they, I wondered, an influence?
“Funny you should bring them up as someone else recently made that
comparison. I did once own that famous album of theirs, The Trinity
Sessions, so maybe that has unintentionally influenced me. I’d never list
them as an influence but I can see how we approach making acoustic
music having certain similarities, sure.”
MacLellan will make her first UK journey ever in November when she
arrives here with two other Canadian folkies to perform. “I’m so looking
forward to it. I’ve been dreaming about visiting the UK since I was a
child and now I’m going to arrive here and sing for you guys! The people
I’m performing with are really talented – Old Man Ludecke is a great
storyteller and banjo player. You gotta come see us.” I try and warn
Catherine about the rotten weather that has bedeviled these islands this
year but she shrugs it off.
Church Bell Blues
True North
TND502
Patrick Nichols
“I grew up on Prince Edward Island so I
know plenty about bad weather. We have
a pretty long, tough winter way up here.”
Is Prince Edward Island comparable, I
enquire, to Canada’s far eastern Newfound
Land as famously portrayed in the book
and film The Shipping News? “No,” laughs
MacLellan, “they really have it hard up
there. Halifax might seem distant and cold
to someone in London but we have it easy
compared to them.”
Garth Cartwright
Properganda 10
15
S
ignature Sounds and Six Shooter are two great labels either side of the Canadian border. The former based around
Northampton MA and the later a little over 400 miles North West in Toronto. They can both claim some of the most
adventurous and just plain great music on the US roots scene.
Take the Signatures most recent release by the Sacred
Shakers, which grew out of drummer Jason Beek’s country
gospel brunch concerts. Each week vocals would be shared
three ways by Beek, Daniel Fram and Eilen Jewell, with
upright bassist Johnny Sciascia, fiddler Daniel Kellar and
rotating guests completing the line up. Regardless of your
religious persuasion something undeniably wonderful is
happening here. From the rockabilly opener I’m Gonna Do My
Best, through the dark and moody howl of John The Revelator
and the bluesy hip-shake of Titanic. Proof indeed that the
Devil didn’t get all of the best tunes.
Most of the Shakers also appear on Eilen Jewell’s wonderful
Letters From Sinners And Strangers, released last year and
already covered in issue 9. But listening to it afresh on the
back of the above has only cemented its stature as a truly great
record. Eilen has been in and out of the UK drawing favourable
comparisons with Gillian Welch. But with songs like Rich Man’s
World, questioning her worth in it, How Long inspired by the
words of Martin Luther King and the jaunty High Shelf Booze,
complete with clarinet she is certainly a one off.
It will be great if Mark Erelli makes it over to support his latest
CD Delivered due out here in October. It’s also intriguing to
here him expand his range beyond the trade mark, intimate,
finger-picked, acoustic gems. Shadowland is an out and out
rocker, Unravelled Dylanesque, while Delivered and Abraham
have the spooked quality of Daniel Lanois at his best Once is
like prime Paul Simon.
With Crooked Still going strong despite line up changes
(another CD reviewed in our last issue), their quest to fuse
20’s Appalachia with 21st century style undimmed, there are
at least 4 reasons to follow the course of Signature sounds
releases through the year and into next.
Not that they have the monopoly on great roots music as Six
Shooter, who in continental terms are almost neighbours,
clearly demonstrate with Luke Doucet’s And The White
Falcon’s Blood Too Rich. It’s superbly crafted and the band are
presumably named after Jason’s guitar of choice, which does
the obligatory twang through to CSNY like country-rockers, of
which Cleveland and First Day (Y especially) are outstanding
examples that the senior gentlemen could probably do with
referring to. Even the slightly offbeam choice of Love Cats does
the business. Fans of classic Americana from Green On Red
through to Ryan Adams could have a new poster boy here.
Elliott Brood (as in a brood of Elliotts) are an altogether odder
proposition. As veiled in myth and mystery as their new CD is
dense and dressed in dark robes of inkblot Rothko, this is a
really intriguing prospect and one for the long winter nights. (I
haven’t quite got the hang of what their singing about yet, but I
intend to find out). It comes on like the Violent Femmes passed
through the Smashing Pumpkins blender on an ever changing
backdrop of driving acoustic guitars, banjos, thumping drums
and passionate vocal delivery. There are plenty of tunes to drag
you into their foggy notions and at 47 minutes it’s a one sitting
record. Apparently the drummer uses a plastic suitcase as a
bass drum. Hmmmm!
We also reviewed Justin Rutledge’s Man Descending in the last
issue and rather Like Eilen above, feel duty bound to mention it
again as a steady grower that getting under the skin. Check out
Alberta Breeze on his myspace for haunting beauty, or Penny
For The Band, which offers the pearl “This life is like a setlist
scrawled across a nation,” simply gorgeous stuff.
Sid Cowens
16
Properganda 10
COUNTRY AMERICANA
How do they like to
swing in Azerbaijan?
W
ho knows? But the recently rejuvenated Hot Club Of
Cowtown do.
The story begins with a classic musical travel adventure: an
ad in the music section of New York City’s Village Voice. In
the mid-’90s Elana James was looking to join a “gigging
band” when Whit Smith answered her ad.
More than a decade later, the Hot Club of Cowtown
has grown to be the most globe-trotting, hard-swinging
Western Swing trio on the planet. From early days busking
for tips in San Diego, the band has grown and developed
into a formidable international sensation. The Hot Club’s
ever-growing presence on the international festival scene
has grown with its relentless touring over the years
alongside the release of five critically acclaimed CDs
released in USA, Japan and the UK.
Today, after a two-year hiatus, the Hot Club of
Cowtown has resumed touring and recording in
anticipation of a forthcoming release in the Autumn
of 2008.
Some things haven’t changed. The band--Elana James
on violin and vocals, Whit Smith on guitar and vocals,
and Jake Erwin on bass and vocals--still swings
harder than ever as they continue to develop their
unique, ever-changing sound.
In the United States, the Hot Club of Cowtown are among the youngest members ever to
be inducted into the Texas Western Swing Hall of Fame, in 2006 they also toured as musical ambassadors for the
US State Department and were honored to be the first American band ever to tour in Azerbaijan. These days, tours with Bob
Dylan, Willie Nelson, the Mavericks and others keep the Hot Club of Cowtown busy dazzling new audiences both nationally
and internationally throughout much of the year.
When they went their separate ways in 2005, they expected that the Hot Club
would only ever be heard again on their old records.
“(Whit) was just sort of tired of having to be in the band,” James says, “and at
the end of 2004 he said he didn’t want to do it anymore. So that was it, we were
fairly certain. Everyone scattered in the four directions and people had time to play
out their scenarios.” For James, that included playing in Bob Dylan’s touring band
and putting out a solo album, while Smith toured with his own combo, the Hot
Jazz Caravan.
“It had a lot to do with associates we worked with,” Smith says of the break.
“We had a cliché bad manager that came out of a David Lynch movie. There
were all the personal stresses of being together all the time. We’d done it for so
long, maybe we didn’t have quite the right perspective on it. Some relief time
was required.”
The band never officially broke up, and occasionally played
together as the Hot Club during the hiatus. In late 2006
they got together for a U.S. State Department-sponsored
tour of the Caucasus, including Azerbaijan (the first American band to ever tour there), Armenia and
Georgia. This autumn, they’re heading for Europe for their first concerts in London, Berlin and Paris.
Devoted travelers all, James, Smith and Erwin (their fourth and longest-serving bassist is an Oklahoma
native who has been with the band since 2000) agree that it’s important to get out of town to have a
successful career as working musicians — sometimes, way, way out of town.
The Best Of...
Hightone
10984
Eventually, their personal and musical chemistry exerted a gravitational pull that they couldn’t ignore.
“After about a year and a half I just started playing with Elana again,” Smith says. “You just get some
time away from each other and you realize no one’s keeping you from doing anything.”
Andy Washington
Properganda 10
17
COUNTRY AMERICANA
HIGHTONE
O
riginally founded in 1983 by Larry Sloven and Bruce Bromberg and with a catalogue of over 300
albums, Hightone can claim to be one of America’s most important roots labels. It’s a hugely
impressive catalogue, now acquired by Shout Factory, itself an independent entertainment company,
founded by veterans of the wonderful, eclectic Rhino Records Richard and Garson Foos and Bob Emmer.
The good news is that the pedigree of these protagonists ensures this great music hasn’t simply been grabbed
to sit in a vault somewhere gathering dust. The first signs of new life are 4 superb artist retrospectives, from Dave
Alvin, Hot Club of Cowtown (see page 17), Buddy Miller and Tom Russell. Distinguished by being compiled by
the artists themselves, these aren’t mere compilations, but more essential guides to the artists and to the whole
American roots music scene at its best.
Dave Alvin
Alvin is a name
synonymous with the
early 80s’ roots rival
in American music, as
brother’s Dave and Phil
formed the legendary
Blasters. They forged
a souped up amalgam
of rockabilly, blues,
country, rock ‘n’ roll
and even a little
jazz and blazed a trail across the USA and Europe. As is
often the case when the prevailing musical frontiers are
challenged, critical acclaim remains infuriatingly inverse
to commercial success and with the pressures rather than
sales mounting, Dave quit in 86.
After a brief spell with LA punk legends X Dave went solo, but
with sales still elusive he found himself without a record label
by the end of the 80s. It’s at that point that our story really
begins. Enter Hightone, the Oakland based indie, who had
started life by releasing Robert Cray’s Bad Influence.
Garson Foos of Shout Factory explains
what’s behind their acquisition of
Hightone.
“As Rhino Records alumni many of us
here are big fans of Hightone as we have
a long standing relationship with and
fondness for the label. There was always
great integrity in the music, so we want
to reissue the catalogue and maintain the
high standards set – proper compilations,
great sound and packaging. And any new
album on Hightone must reflect the fact
that great roots music that has always
been found on the label.
18
Properganda 10
The first fruit was Blue Boulevard, which contributes 4 tracks
to this set. Dry River with its repeated couplets hints at the
blues via Dylan, with vivid imagery of man at odds with
nature in his native California used to express the bitterness
of unrequited love. Haley’s Comet ups the tempo and cleverly
mourns the decline and death of Bill Haley, sounding very akin
to an American Richard Thompson. Blasters fans will instantly
dig the barrelhouse rocker of Wanda And Duane, while Why
Did She Stay With Him is an easy rock ballad spiked by Dave’s
lyrics of lovers in turmoil.
Museum Of Heart and King Of California from 93 and 94 add
six tracks between them, including the title tracks from each
with Dave swapping from electric to acoustic mode, proving
equally adept at both. Indeed, King Of California’s folksy lilt is
a stark contrast to its predecessor’s high-octane, brass-fuelled
boogie. Black Jack David and his Grammy winning Public
Domain provide all bar three of the rest of the 18 tracks, there
isn’t a false note to be heard. It also has to be noted that
Dave is a published poet and his songs are packed with acute
observations, a forthright humanity and an eye for the devil in
the detail.
Anyone who already owns all Of Dave’s records, well done,
you probably don’t need this. Everyone else does.
We’re going to release a new album by Tom
Russell in late summer 2009. There may
be additional artists that we sign that are
appropriate for Hightone. We’ll be active
with reissues and are currently looking at
a Robert Cray multi-disc set, hoping that
Universal will allow us to licence tracks
spanning his career.
We’re also considering more best of
collections for a few other artists, including
the great modern bluesman Joe Louis
Walker. It’s also possible that we will make
new albums with other artists
from the Hightone roster.”
E RECORDS
Ohio born and Nashville
resident Buddy Miller
is one of country
music’s truest stars
and amongst those
who know, a doyen
of the genre. As these
words are written, he’s
adding guitar to the
live experience of the
Mercury Music Prize
nominees Robert Plant
and Alison Krauss’ global tour. What’s the betting that he’s
adding the crucial twang factor with a beloved, vintage
Wandre guitar and a Vox AC30 with the tremolo up, as he
has for so many others??
Indeed Miller’s collaborations and productions read like a
who’s who, with Emmylou, Solomon Burke, Shawn Colvin,
Patty Griffin, Linda Rondstadt, Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch,
Allison Moorer and Steve Earle amongst those that have
called on Buddy in one way or another. And that’s without the
Tom Russell
Genius is a word that
is overused, except in
the case of Tom Russell
where its probably not
used often enough, or
at least widely enough.
This double disc set is
all the proof you need.
Apart from having led an
extraordinary life, he is
a musician of incredible
vision. He is also a
tireless champion of the underdog, the dispossessed and the
down trodden. His pen frequently pierces the heart of the rank
hypocrisy that threatens to sour the American dream. But in
keeping with his adventurous character he also sees the joy in
our humanity, without prejudice.
songwriting for the Dixie Chicks, Lee Anne Womack and John
Mayall amongst many others.
All of which, naturally signals another very fine compilation
indeed, which kicks off with The River’s Gonna Run, one of
four duets with his wife Julie on this set. The opening lines set
the scene, with typical Miller economy, for much of what’s to
come, as he bemoans “I’ve got a hole in my pocket, I got a
tear in my heart, I got a door can’t unlock it, I live in shadows
in the dark.” My Love Will Follow You from his debut follows
the Americana blue print to a tee, but by the third track, I
Can’t Get Over You, we’re into the first of the aching ballads
that grace the CD. Whether acoustic or electric, like the reverb
drenched That’s How Strong My Love Is, Buddy finds some
real tenderness and whole heap of soul in the delivery.
It’s not all downbeat stuff, however, with When It Comes To
You having an almost JJ Cale shuffle feel. Hole In My Head
playfully informs a prospective partner that that’s how much
he needs her. All in all, this is a great introduction to a man
who has probably spent more time in the band than centre
stage, but who has total respect from his peers this evidence
it’s easy to see why.
COUNTRY AMERICANA
Buddy Miller
of memories, with the object desperately salvaged from a
fire. There’s a reprise too, for Haley’s Comet, (see Dave Alvin
above), but here it’s reshaped in a Tex-Mex style pumped
along by the accordion.
Disc two brings the collection up to date with more of
Russell’s astute commentary. His El Paso base increasingly
focuses his ire as the difference between the Tex and the Mex
becomes more pronounced. Stealing Electricity and Who’s
Gonna Build Your Wall are scalpel sharp at the rotten heart.
But spare a thought and a wish for The Pugilist At 59. No cross
is easy to bear.
This set comes on like an epiphanic production line. Play it
and a revelation might just land in your lap.
Simon Holland
His voice tumbles out like a cross between Johnny Cash
and Lee Hazelwood on these 37 hand picked tracks. Shawn
Colvin, Barance Whitfield, Nanci Griffith, Iris Dement, Dave
Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmour pepper disc one with guest
collaborations, but there’s no doubting the star of the show.
The second track, Cropduster, sets out Russell’s store
perfectly with his love of the Puerto Rican women farm
labourers and flying his plane too close to the ground. If he
crashes he suggests making wine from his remains, vintage
“cropduster49.” US Steel nails the truth of the decline of home
grown industries, it’s not just the products, it’s peoples lives
that are sacrificed as high economics decrees production
moves to cheaper environs. Who really gains when so many
lose? Navajo Rug tells of a furtive tryst and the real value
Properganda 10
19
COUNTRY AMERICANA reviews
Ricky Skaggs
Otis Gibbs
Tish Hinojosa
Best Of The Sugar
Hill Years
Grandpa Walked A
Picket line
Our Little Planet
Sugar Hill
SHCD4045 Wannamaker Records
WANNAMAKER1 DK
SC
Ricky’s impressive pre-solo career took him from
Ralph Stanley sideman to Country Gentleman,
also encompassing recordings with Keith
Whitley and a stint in Emmylou’s Hot Band.
He brought a broad-based musical virtuosity to
bluegrass, gospel and country and his role as
torch-bearer for this rootsier music was key to
the early success of the Sugar Hill label.
Having “fanning the flames of discontent”, at
the top of his myspace page is a good sign and
it’s doubtless this kind of attitude that has led
to the support slot on Billy Bragg’s UK tour this
autumn.
This sensible retrospective charts Ricky’s Sugar
Hill years, taking four cuts from the landmark
album with pioneering band Boone Creek that
formed the label’s debut release, two from
Ricky’s first solo album Sweet Temptation,
three from his duet album with Tony Rice, and
a couple of less obvious but no less welcome
choices drawn from more obscure releases,
including Ricky’s duet with Sharon White on
Townes van Zandt’s If I Needed You (from
the Seldom Scene 15th anniversary album).
This great little collection sure encourages
reassessment of Ricky’s original Sugar Hill
releases.
“Blows the loudest rock’n’roll band away
with sheer energy”
Rock’n’Reel
Impressively bearded, he has the look of a
trucker with baseball cap welded in place.
The CD in its utilitarian brown board package,
with what looks like a wood print design of a
man addressing a skeletal looking gaggle of
protesters against a factory back drop, is very
effective.
Continental Song City
CSCCD1049 DK
For a number of years, clear-voiced singer/
songwriter Tish has specialized in her own
personal blend of contemporary folk with
Tex-mex, bluegrass and country flavours. Her
latest offering, recorded with long-term musical
partner Marvin Dyckhuis (mandolin, guitar and
vocal harmonies), brings a further collection
of entirely likeable, elegantly-expressed songs
that deal gently yet memorably with romantic
concerns, couched in fairly stripped-back
instrumental colours.
Billy Bragg
I Hope Forever You’ll Be Mine has all the simple
appeal of a Carter Family number, Turned My
Heart Away is a neatly crafted country ballad
(with idiomatic pedal steel by Greg Leisz) and
the heartfelt, accordion-backed Mi Pueblo
could melt away any opposition. The catchy It’s
Good To Love Someone and We Mostly Feel
That Way both exhibit more of a pop sensibility
perhaps, while Count Me In is an easy-rollin’
honky-tonker on which label-mate Dale Watson
guests (as do Carrie Rodriguez and Rosie
Flores elsewhere). A charming and disarmingly
straightforward record.
Lisa Redford
“A rare gift for melody that’s perfect for
Hinojosa’s lovely, relaxed soprano”
His voice is a bear growl and with a crack team
marshalled by producer Chris Stamey, this CD
surprises. Gibbs has an astute way of making
the political personal that keeps you hooked.
The polemic is neatly camouflaged by tales of
truck drivers (Beto Junction), snake–oil conmen
(Preacher Steve) and a cast of characters that
breathe real life through the songs.
“He’s carrying on the tradition”
Clouds with Silver
Washington Post
Long Road
Parrot Records
PR1152008
Cherryholmes
Compass Records
COM 4487 AL
Drew Emmitt
JHS
Revered as one of the most innovative
mandolin players on the newgrass scene today,
Drew Emmitt’s third album also highlights the
fact that he is no slouch when it comes to song
writing. He contributes seven of the eleven
tracks, with Into The Distance and Beat Of
The World being outstanding examples of his
skills, chronicling over 25 years on the road as a
touring musician.
Guests on the album include bluegrass royalty
Stuart Duncan and Tim O’ Brien, Chris Pandolfi
and Andy Hall (The Infamous Stringdusters) also
lending their skills. Take The Highway shows
that Drew also has a love of that Southern Rock
jamband sound, this track originally performed
by the Marshall-Tucker Band.
Recorded in New York City and Norfolk (UK),
with string overdubs in Nashville and coproduced by Brad Albetta (Martha Wainwright,
Teddy Thompson), Lisa has been able to call on
a pool of The Big Apple’s most talented players
to flesh out her acoustic ballads. Four of the
eleven self written songs are also enriched by
some beautiful string arrangements, provided
by one of Nashville’s most highly regarded
producers, David Henry (Josh Rouse, Alison
Krauss, REM) and violinist and Ryan Adams
cohort Claudia Chopek.
This is a winning mix of bluegrass, straight
ahead country and deep Southern rock and
there’s also a great cover of the Supertramp
hit Take The Long Way Home, adding another
pleasing surprise into the road themed mix.
There’s an immediate connection to the
emotional territory of the songs, which imbues
an easy familiarity and regular listeners to Bob
harris will already know Lisa’s voice, with its
subtle tremolo and classic country lilt. Infused
with a real intimacy on tracks like NY Song, Call
Me and the melancholic New Year’s Day and
The Boy Who…, she can also up the volume for
songs like the anthemic Makes Your Heart Sing
and the band driven When You Come Home.
This is classy and assured. Lisa is one to watch
for sure.
www.drewemmitt.com
“A sensational breeze of fresh air”
Maverick
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20 Properganda 10
Cherryholmes III:
Don’t Believe
Skaggs Family Records
SKFR2020 JTR
This misleadingly titled album from the
Nashville family group is actually their fifth, and
finds the band still ploughing ahead with the
same momentum that kick-started their career
back in 1999.
For those not yet in the know, think of a highoctane Union Station with six lead vocalists and
you’ve got a rough idea of their sound. This is
dyed in the wool bluegrass with an “if it ain’t
broke” attitude. And broke it ain’t…
The title track is a masterclass in old-time
songwriting, matching frantic virtuosity with
longing harmony vocals. Broken adds brooding
chamber strings to a dark mountain waltz, while
instrumental track Sumatra is a blaze of fiddle,
banjo and guitar that finds the family gelling as
barnstorming masters of the genre.
Not bad for a band with four members who
only picked up their instruments less than a
decade ago!
www.cherryholmes.net
sj_dl:Layout 1
5/9/08
14:49
Page 1
SEU JORGE
presents
“A significant artist for years
to come. A real spokesman”
GILLES PETERSON
AMÉRICA BRASIL
TOUR
2008
Oct 29 Belfast Festival 028 9097 1197
Oct 30 London Roundhouse* 0844 482 8008
Oct 31 Brighton Dome 01273 709 709
Nov 2 Leeds University Stylus 0870 534 4444
Nov 3 Bristol Colston Hall 0117 922 3686
* with support from Gilles Peterson
Check www.comono.co.uk to buy tickets and for updates.
New Album AMERICA BRASIL out now on
39 Properganda 10
CONTENTS
Page Main Features
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24
23
22
21
Page Main Features
THE
25
4
Don’t forget that you can get involved. We are actively recruiting
a street team and you can find out more at out blog at
properblog.wordpress.com, where you can also pick up news
and have your say.
The Properganda Team
26
5
As well as 48 individual reviews, there are more exclusive interviews
than ever before and some new contributors have signed up to
bring you even wider coverage of the world of specialist music.
Thanks to one and all.
27
6
We had a great summer around various festivals giving Properganda
out to the assembled masses and hopefully there will be a few
more of you out there looking forward to this issue. It’s the usual
action packed affair, with even more pages than before. Even, if
your picking up an issue for the first time you are most welcome.
28
7
elcome to the autumn/winter issue of Properganda, our
first ever push-me-pull you edition. We had so much to tell
you about that we had to put a cover at either end. This is the
month that Bellowhead and Also Drever, McCusker, Woomble
release new albums into the world. In DMW’s case it’s their debut
and we are lucky to have John McCusker Roddy Woomble as our
guest contributors for this issue.
Original Spin with Kerfuffle
Ralph McTell
Folk Reviews
Fellside Records featuring Rachel & Lillias
Jack McNeill & Charlie Heys and
The Maerlock
Drever, McCusker, Woomble
Megson
Folk Reviews
Country/Americana Reviews
Joan Baez
Art Garfunkel
Catherine Maclellan
Signature Sounds and Six Shooter
Hot Club Of Cowtown
Hightone featuring Dave Alvin,
Buddy Miller and Tom Russell
Country/Americana Reviews
W
11
29
12
30
13
Hello
14
31
15
32
17
33
16
34
18
35
Bellowhead
Navigator Records featuring
Mawkin:Causley, John McCusker,
Dean Owens and Mary Hampton
World Reviews
Traditional Crossroads
Dub Colossus
Seun Kuti
Seu Jorge
Beat Assailant
Jazz reviews
The BBC Jazz Awards
The Portico Quartet
Blues Reviews
Blues Caravan and Rich Man’s War
John Muskers Track Selection
Guest Editorial from Roddy Woomble
Review Round Up
Miracle Mile
Review Round Up
20
37
Contributors:
Andy K (AK), Simon Holland (SH), Jon Roffey (JTR),
Jon Lusk (JL), Cliffy (C), Clive Pownceby (CP),
David Kidman (DK), Alan Levermore (AL), Stuart Nicholson (SN),
Howard Male (HM), Ken Smith (KS), Drew Hobbs (DH), David
Sinclair (DS), Andy Snipper (AS), Lewis Robinson (LR),
Ruth Redding (RR), Jim Soars (JHS), Andy Washington (AW),
Tony Morley (TM), Sid Cowens (SC), Colin Irwin (CI),
J O’Ragan (JO’R), Garth Cartwright (GC), Andy Robson (AR),
Jane Cornwell (JC), Neil Pearson (NP), Erin Spurling (ES),
Neil Spencer (NS), Andrew Cronshaw (AC).
Photographs supplied by artists and their labels unless credited.
Proper Music Distribution
The New Powerhouse Gateway Business Park Kangley Bridge Road SE26 5AN England
Tel Int +44 (0) 20 8676 5100 Fax +44 (0) 20 8676 5169
www.properdistribution.com www.myspace.com/propermusic
Editor: Simon Holland
Layout: Don Ward
Artwork: Deborah Wilds
Properganda 10 38
Hugo Morris
FOLK
F
amously conceived during a particularly infuriating traffic
jam on the M25 when John Spiers and Jon Boden were
musing on how they could get to top the bill on Saturday
night at festivals, Bellowhead have swiftly become a band
that defies all logical assessment. Look at the facts: 11
musicians, 20 instruments (including English bagpipes,
cello, oboe and a sousaphone!), impressive pedigrees
in classical, jazz, avant garde, world and traditional folk
music, surreal dance routines (including Benji Kirkpatrick’s
37
Properganda 10
death-defying leaps around the stage), rampant humour,
daring and innovative arrangements and the ability to
turn a mausoleum into a seething all-singing all-dancing
one band festival. This year already they’ve blown apart
several festivals and blasted away cobwebs at the London
Royal Albert Hall during the Proms…and now they’re also
releasing their eagerly awaited second album Matachin.
“Hmmm…yes, I suppose it is a strange title,” concedes John
FOLK
Spiers, he of the rampaging accordion and the small one in the
Spiers & Boden partnership that first started lighting up the UK
folk scene with their Through & Through album in 2001. “The
closest we ever get to having a fight in the band is trying to think
of album titles – people seem to place much importance on these
things. Matachin is a traditional sword dance that comes from
the Spanish in South America. We liked it because it’s a word
that looks like it hasn’t been used before but actually represents
something. It’s traditional but slightly…dangerous. That idea
appeals to us.”
If Bellowhead’s 2006 debut album Burlesque caused a rumpus
(a couple of senior denizens from the folk world were particularly
affronted by their knockabout Tom Waits approach to the
traditional song Flash Company) there’s likely to be a few more
explosions as they go for broke on the new one. “A magnificently
murky and rum-sodden collection of 11 traditional and original
songs…no whimsical maidens or gentle stories of love gone
wrong, instead you’ll get dragged along on an exhilarating
journey filled with cholera, whiskey, the high seas and the Cold
War…” is how they describe the album themselves and for once
the hyperbole isn’t misplaced.
On Matachin they’ve made the leap from being a bold experiment
– the Spiers & Boden big band hatched up on the M25 – into
a truly democratic band with a million ideas and a long-term
future. Inspirational percussionist Pete Flood, in particular,
plays a pivotal role on some of the darker, more complex and
adventurous arrangements. Spiers’s favourite is Widow’s Curse,
an old broadside which he describes with unnerving relish as
“an absolutely horrible, verbose Dickensian story of twisted evil,
fire and brimstone.” He laughs evilly. “Mind you, Pete’s other
arrangements aren’t light either…there are some very complicated
passages of music but it always ends up sounding pretty mighty.
All the tracks use the entire instrumentation – it’s not easy to
make Bellowhead sound simple.”
With 11 disparately talented and wilful musicians and a communal
desire to challenge themselves and the music, you wonder how
they manage to put it all together so coherently. “It would be
harder if there was an even number in the band,” laughs Spiers.
“Everyone wants the band to be as good as it can be. We all have
strong views, but in the end it comes down to a vote.”
When Bellowhead made their debut at the Oxford Folk Festival
in 2004 nobody – least of all the band themselves – had any
idea how enthusiastically they would be received. “Some people
accused us of being a hype, but there was no hype – we just
thought we’d give it a go and see what happened. Listening back
to recordings of some of those early gigs is a bit embarrassing
– we sound like a school orchestra playing folk music but the
arrangements were so different people were very forgiving and we
certainly improved.”
Spiers has no such reservations about Matachin. “It’s a move
on from album Burlesque. It’s
more band inclusive with more
arrangements from the nonfolk members and because of
that it’s more diverse. It’s a true
fusion of musicians and the
whole thing feels right.”
Hugo Morris
Colin Irwin
Matachin
Navigator
NAVIGATOR17
Properganda 10 36
Y
ou may remember our feature on Navigator records in the last issue of Properganda,
where we likened the fledgling folk and acoustic label to a performance sports car
going from zero to sixty since revving up less than a year ago. As this latest batch of
releases shows they’re still racing ahead without so much as a pit-stop so far in 2008.
FOLK
MAWKIN/CAUSLEY
Mawkin/Causley are a self proclaimed ‘folk Boyband’, two words you don’t often hear in the
same sentence, but check the facts… They’re young, good-looking, sharp dressers with a nice
line in rock star photoshoots.
They’re also technically a supergroup, combining the talents of acclaimed Essex band
Mawkin with ex Devil’s Interval singer Jim Causley. The combination of the instrumentalists’
enthusiastic vibrancy with Causley’s rich voice is a great match, helped by the warm, woody
production of Megson’s Stu Hanna.
Traditional songs and tunes like Botany Bay and New York Trader are respectfully but
thrillingly re-arranged, on this 6-track track mini-album, a great taster for things to come.
JOHN MCCUSKER
John McCusker is becoming something of a one-man music scene in his native Scotland. He’s
also one of the cover stars of this month’s magazine with Drever, McCusker, Woomble, so this
timely 2CD re-issue of two of his earlier solo albums works as a welcome reminder of how
he got where he is today.
Largely inspired by traditional Scottish music, McCusker’s style on the fiddle, whistles and
cittern is light and airy, allowing the tunes to dance along with an infectious swing. Even the
slow airs move with an uplifting breeze.
DEAN OWENS
Dean Owens is a Glasgow singer/songwriter who’s debut album Whiskey Hearts is an
affecting slice of life that has earned the praise of renowned author Irvine Welsh as well as
fellow Scottish songwriter Eddie Reader for its understated emotional drama.
Raining In Glasgow is a touching portrait of loneliness that finds beauty under grey skies,
evoking the warmth of home on the rainy streets of a big city.
Man From Leith is a heart-wrenching ode to Owen’s father. Like Martin Simpson’s similarlythemed Never Any Good, it’s the small, personal details that really get you, as the singer
recalls snapshot childhood memories to paint a bigger picture of his departed father’s life.
As Irvine Welsh points out in his sleevenotes to the album, “every time he sings a song, he
means it and feels it with his every fibre of his being. Now that is something special.”
MARY HAMPTON
Mary Hampton is perhaps Britain’s best kept secret at the moment, but that all looks set to
change with the release of her debut full length album My Mother’s Children.
Already gaining the praise of mainstream press, as well as the Eliza Carthy stamp of approval
(“an album I know I’m going to love for life”), Mary’s childlike dream/nightmare-scapes are
like an even darker version of Rachel Unthank and the Winterset’s ethereal hypnotism. Some
of the songs on this album are genuinely scary. Her delicate soprano voice may bear the
English folk stamp of Anne Briggs or Shirley Collins, but the creaking cello, plinking parlor
piano and dry, ambient production gives the album a ghosts-in-the-attic sheen, invoking a
severe case of the willies if listened to alone at night!
Mary’s wide-eyed journey through this Lewis Carroll-esque world of talking dogs, frozen
sparrows and quaint, Victorian Englishness is charming, eccentric and chillingly beautiful.
So still we wait for the Navigator label to put a foot wrong, although at this rate it looks like
we’ll be waiting for quite a while. Good thing they’ve given us some great records to help
pass the time!
35
Properganda 10
Jon Roffey
WORLD reviews
78s From The
Emi Archive
Sir Victor Uwaifo
Various Artists
Guitar-Boy Superstar
1970-76
Elektrikos Organikos
EO102 Honest Jons Records
HJRCD36 Soundway Records
SNDWCD012 JR
GC
GC
“This is Radio Pashm calling” proclaims the
voice that opens this latest from Brighton based
godfather of global groove Max P and with that
we’re off on a 12 track odyssey of sun kissed,
klezmer infused dancefloor mayhem, all shot
through with a healthy dose of humour.
Legendary Portobello Road record shop/label
Honest Jon’s has spent the last eighteen
months delving through more than 150,000 78
rpm records in the extensive EMI Archives at
Hayes, Middlesex. The results of this trawl is an
epic series of compilations covering recordings
of music made early in the 20th Century and
drawing on recordings EMI talent scouts made
in Iraq, Turkey, Caucasia, the Lebanon, Greece,
Iran (including sides made in Old Street,
London, in 1909), Egypt and the Belgian Congo.
Brighton’s Soundway Records have released a
brilliant series of Nigerian recordings of the 60s
and 70s under the banner Nigeria Special. With
this focus on Nigerian attempts to make rock,
disco and funk, Soundway have unleashed a
lost seam of West African music making, one
that existed alongside the efforts of Fela Kuti
and King Sunny Ade but never gained any
international recognition (until now).
Max Pashm
Never Mind
The Balkans
Pashm originally emerged as a producer,
remixer and DJ back in the globalbeat boom
of the mid 90s, here he’s supported by a
fine five-piece band (including the excellent
klezmer clarinet Merlin Shepherd and Bulgarian
singer Eugenia Georgieva) who strut their stuff
over Max’s bubbling base of percussion and
electronica.
Highlights include the peacenik’s call to
arms Fight On The Streets, a riotously radical
reworking of Shepherd’s The Tongue and
Klezmernaki, which manages to be sexy, silly
and rootsy, all at once. Any album that features
samples of Groucho Marx and Joyce Grenfell all
in one tune is surely worthy of your attention.
www.maxpashm.com
Far Out
Bossa Nova
Various Artists
Far Out Recordings
FARO133CD C
Far Out’s contribution to the celebrations
surrounding fifty years of bossa nova was
originally intended for download only but such
was the success of these thirteen tracks that
they decided to make it available on CD, quite
rightly so as it is a fine selection drawing on
their rich archive of recordings that the label has
amassed over the last decade.
Generally I am not really a huge fan of the genre
but this compilation is fresh and appealing
precisely because it steers away from the
obvious well-worn bossa nova standards in
favour of some excellent new compositions.
There is a well-worked balance between
original bossa nova artists like Roberto
Menescal, Marcos Valle and Victor Assis Brasil
and the younger generation including the
delightful chantueses Sabrina Malheiros and
Clara Moreno.
There are also some interesting collaborations
including Ivan Lins and Arthur Verocai , but
perhaps the most engaging is that of Joyce and
Dori Caymmi who open up the album with an
enchanting duet Rio Bahia setting the standard
for the rest of the album.
Much of this music has never been made
commercially available before – EMI seemingly
filed it in Archives and forgot about it: until
now. The first two volumes – Living Is Hard:
West African Music In Britain, 1927-1929 and
Give Me Love: Songs Of The Brokenhearted
– Baghdad, 1925-1929 have been released to
huge acclaim. Volume 3, Sprigs Of Time, is a 30track compilation that pairs archive recordings
of well known names (Fairuz, Mighty Sparrow)
with field recordings from Georgia, Indonesia
and beyond. A fascinating and very listenable
document.
Sir Victor creates a languid funk enriched by
some brilliant guitar playing. While he never got
a knighthood from the Queen he definitely is
musical nobility! Indeed, reading the informative
sleeve notes it appears Sir Victor is a superstar
in his home state of Edo, Nigeria. The music
here is extremely supple, Victor singing and
playing superb guitar, while the band build
a very organic groove around him. There’s a
psychedelic funk feel to some of the tunes so
making for a music that cooks both on the
dance floor and the hi-fi.
“Brilliant eccentric funk”
Word
Grupo Fantasma
www.honestjons.com
Sonidos Gold
Big Blue Ball
Various
Me & My Other records
MMOCD2005 Real World Records
CDRW150 JL
HM
The most extraordinary thing about Peter
Gabriel’s epic international project is not that it
took 18 years (from first performances to final
mix) to complete, but that it’s such a cohesive
recording. Considering the vast number of
musicians who dropped by the idyllically
situated Real World studios in Wiltshire to
strum, hit, blow or simply sing something, credit
must be given to producer, Gabriel, for the fact
that the end result isn’t a muddled, over-egged
pudding.
The opener Whole Thing with its epic drum
sound and warm, embracing chorus is
reminiscent of the man’s best work of the
1980’s and would make an excellent single. But
the best track here is Jijy with its warped drum
‘n’ bass rhythm and the seismic throb of Jah
Wobble’s bass. Some Madagascan rapping and
swaggering blasts of brass complete the barmy
but oddly compelling picture. Roll on Big Blue
Ball 2, I say!
“Among the most exciting moments I have
ever had”
Hailing from Austen, Texas, this 10-piece Latin
funk orchestra arose from the ashes of two
other bands in 2000, and have since carved
out a hard-gigging reputation. Sonidos Gold is
album number four, and continues their highoctane exploration of diverse Latin sounds from
a refreshingly different perspective.
Colombian cumbia is one major obsession,
although their take on it veers towards its
psychedelic Peruvian cousin chicha on the likes
of El Sabio Soy Yo, Cumbia De Los Pajaritos,
Rebotar, and Soltero which feature plenty of
wah-wah guitar and some delightfully luminous
keyboards. Elsewhere, there’s a distinct
Afro-Cuban vibe, with Naci De La (Rumba
Y Guaguanco) offering a convincing take on
rumba – complete with a Yoruba chant – as
well as a zestful cover of the Irakere classic
Bacalao con Pan. Gimme has strong echoes
of Tito Puente’s Oye Como Va and there’s a
Brazilian carnival feel to the samba-driven Arroz
Con Frijoles.
“Real musicians playing real music.”
Prince
Peter Gabriel
www.faroutrecordings.com
Sprigs Of Time
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Properganda 10 34
Crossroads
WORLD
Traditional
A
seductive, serene, almost vocal sound, like a clarinet on
the verge of tears – the Armenian duduk. Lost
Songs From Eden sees it in the masterful hands of Gevorg
Dabaghyan, not in the traditional context, accompanied
by a second duduk providing a drone, but surrounded by
the Komitas String Quartet in heart-rending
arrangements by Vache Sharafyan of Armenian
folk tunes collected at the beginning of the 20th
century by ethnomusicologist, composer and
priest Komitas Vardapet, Armenia’s equivalent of
Béla Bartók or Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Perhaps that makes it sound like an academic
or classical kind of thing, but this is an album
that, once heard, is likely to have the same
effect on people as do Vaughan Williams’s
Fantasia On A Theme By Thomas Tallis or The
Lark Ascending.
Dabaghyan is the leader of the Armenian
traditional instruments group the Shoghaken
Ensemble, whose albums, together with the
most substantial collection of Armenian music
(including 1914 recordings of Komitas himself
singing folksongs) to be found on any nonArmenian label, are also on the Traditional
Crossroads label, which is based in New York
and headed by Armenian-American violinist,
clarinettist and RCA archive audio restoration
producer Harold Hagopian.
The present-day and historic music of
Armenia’s neighbour Turkey is also well
represented on Traditional Crossroads. Label
best-seller Gypsy Fire is a collection of all-time
bellydance classics recorded not, as the title
and packaging might suggest, with cheesy
synths, but by a star acoustic ensemble
including Hagopian and his oudist father
Richard, Turkish multi-instrumentalist Omar
Faruk Tekbilek, Bulgarian Roma sax star Yuri
Yunakov, Armenian guitarist Ara Dinkjian and
BBC Radio 3 Award For World Music winning
percussionist and Armenian Navy Band leader
Arto Tunçboyaciyan.
Another Turkish album that deserves new
attention is Sulukule – Rom Music Of Istanbul,
featuring the wild, ecstatic sound of Roma
violinist Kemani Cemal Cinarli and his band
of three unison female singers, oud, darbuka,
sobbing clarinet and rippling kanun. Full of
33
Properganda 10
sparkling, spaciously-recorded swirl and atmosphere, it was
released in Turkey in the 1970s and reissued by Traditional
Crossroads back in 1998.
A striking recent Traditional Crossroads release comes from
the label’s shelf of klezmer albums. For Midnight
Prayer Joel Rubin has put together an all-star
ensemble – his own hot clarinet plus two violins,
accordion, trumpet, bass, and the arpeggiating
skitter of two forms of hammered dulcimer, the
pedal-equipped cimbalom and smaller tsimbl
– to make a big-band sound in an elegantlybalanced mix of the energetic dance music of the
klezmorim repertoire and the moving nigunim
melodies of the hasidic movement.
Gevorg Dabaghyan
Lost Songs From Eden
Traditional Crossroads
CD4335
Richard Hagopian &
Omar Faruk Tekbilek
Gypsy Fire
Traditional Crossroads
CD4272
Joel Rubin Ensemble
Midnight Prayer
Traditional Crossroads
CD4332
One of the members of the Joel Rubin Ensemble,
showing the brilliance and versatility that
make him a world leader on his instrument, is
Hungarian Roma cimbalist Kálmán Balogh. A new
release on TC is a Bavarian Radio recording of
a set by his Gypsy Cimbalom Band, which isn’t
band of cimbaloms but a line-up of cimbalom,
sax, trumpet, violin, guitar and bass. There’s
plenty of virtuosic playing, particularly the highspeed dazzle of Balogh’s flying beaters, but
their versions of material including Roma song
melodies, Bulgarian, Macedonian and Romanian
dance tunes and a repossessed Brahms’s
Fifth Hungarian Dance show fine musicianly
communication and lightness of touch.
There are plenty more doors opening on richlyappointed musical chambers in the Traditional
Crossroads mansion: the first recordings of
extraordinary yodel-hocketing polyphonic male
vocal groups in the Republic of Georgia in 1902,
Irish traditional musicians in 1920s America,
pre-Taliban field recordings from Afghanistan,
Ukrainian cimbalom ace Alexander Fedoriouk,
Kayhan Kalhor’s Iranian kamancheh, maestro
Djivan Gasparyan’s duduk, Iranian Kurdish santur
innovator Ardavan Kamkar, Theodosii Spassov’s
Bulgarian kaval, Wu Man’s Chinese pipa meeting
with Julian Kytasty’s Ukrainian bandura, Indian
sitar, Gambian and Senegalese kora griots,
Bulgarian wedding-band reeds aces Ivo Papasov
and Yuri Yunakov reunited, Cuban tobacco
music…
Andrew Cronshaw
hen Nick Page (of TransGlobal Underground and Temple
of Sound fame) decided to combine his love of Jamaican
dub reggae and Ethiopiques-style 70s’ funk he didn’t just
take the easy route of sampling and combining a bunch of
vintage recordings on his laptop. He actually got on his bike
(so to speak) and went out to Ethiopia’s unofficial capital city,
Addis Ababa (from where the album gets its punning title)
and linked up with the best Ethiojazz singers and musicians
he could find. The resulting album is an endlessly fascinating
soundscape which at times, with
its Taxi Driver-era Bernard Hermann
brass arrangements and spooky
atmospherics, sounds like the
soundtrack to the best movie you’ll,
unfortunately, never see.
But even though four of the track
titles end with the word ‘dub’ there’s
a lot more going on here than
just a tone-perfect tribute to King
Tubby and co. For example Tazeb
Kush opens with seductive sax and
then expands into a meandering
ballad featuring the crooning vocals
of Batha Gerbrehehiw. This track
wouldn’t have been out of place on
the recent Very Best Of Ethiopiques
compilation, which the likes of
Brian Eno and Elvis Costello have so
enthused about.
Then we’re on to Sheguye Shegitu (Blue Nile Mix) which
takes the template of a fairly standard blues and twists it into
something wholly new and gripping, with its aircraft-hanger
ambience and slide guitar licks courtesy of Little Axe. Another
highlight is Shem City Rockers which is clearly a nod towards
the Clash doing reggae, although it never, even for one
moment, descends into mere pastiche. Instead, it voyages off
into uncharted waters with its spy-movie guitar riff and the
mercurial, sensual vocal gymnastics of Mimi Zenebecl.
WORLD
W
And just when you think you’ve got a handle on where Nick
and his collective are coming from, the final track Mercato
Music presents yet another facet to
their sound. It’s a breath-taking jazz
instrumental which builds and builds
in intensity for five minutes before
eventually collapsing in on itself like a
black hole.
But the biggest surprise with... Addis is
that the two ostensibly disparate forms
of Ethiojazz and dub reggae make such
exciting and comfortable bedfellows.
This is certainly one of my favourite
albums of the year and surely has to be
one of yours too.
Howard Male
In A Town Called Addis
Real World
CDRW155
C
elebrity offspring basking in reflected glory are a
phenomenon of modern music, though their success rate
is, to say the least, mixed. Anyone for Sean Lennon, Rolan
Bolan or Dweezil Zappa?
Sometimes, though, the inspiration gene truly seems to
pass on. Seun Kuti is a case in point. The youngest son of
Fela Kuti, Afrobeat pioneer, political firebrand and Nigeria’s
most reknowned musician, Seun has carried the torch for his
late father since Fela’s death in 1997. It hasn’t been an easy
role. Fela was not just a great artist but a confrontational
figure whose disputes with the national government saw his
home and club destroyed by government troops, his mother
murdered and himself imprisoned.
Furthermore, Seun arrives in the wake of his half brother,
Femi Kuti, who has already made a more than decent job of
continuing Fela’s musical legacy.
What can Seun bring to the party? As his debut album, Many
Things, attests, a surprising amount. For a start there’s Egypt
80, the big band his father assembled,
a sprawl of blazing brass, relentless
percussion and call and response
vocals that’s a Nigerian equivalent
of the James Brown Revue. Of its 16
players, a dozen veterans remain from
Fela’s glory days.
Many Things
Tot Ou Tard
8345105852
Awesome on stage, Egypt 80s sound
has been deftly updated on record,
with inflections of rock guitar and
loping bass lines reminiscent of
George Clinton’s Funkadelic on tracks
like Think Afrika and Don’t Give That
Shit to Me. While this reflects Seun’s
desire to make Afrobeat for
the twenty first century, credit
also goes to producer Martin
Messonnier (who has worked
magic for King Sunny, Alpha
Blondy and many others) for the
clean but still muscular sound.
Seun’s gruff baritone vocals may
lack the agility of his fathers,
but his political message is as
scathing as anything Fela produced. Mosquito, which links
malaria with social policy (and has a buzz unsettlingly woven
into its melody), and the title track, which ridicules Nigeria’s
politicians for the many things they claim to be doing,
are, if anything, more subtle critiques. As Seun told The
Independent this year, Instead of get up and fight it’s going
to be get up and think.
The spirit of defiance and vitality pours from music and lyric
alike. At a time when a new generation are discovering the
legacy of Afrobeat via vintage reissues and the interest of
rock bands like Vampire Weekend, the arrival of Many Things
couldn’t be more timely; the son also rises.
Neil Spencer
Seun Kuti & Fela’s Egypt 80 play Cargo,
London 5th & 6th October 2008
Properganda 10 32
WORLD
D
ubbed ‘the coolest man on the planet’ by the likes of
Vogue Brazil and the Daily Telegraph, Mr Jorge reaffirms
the mantle with the release of América Brasil – the album that
critics are calling his best yet. This, of course, is saying something:
Jorge’s samba-centric excursions have been celebrated ever since
his 1998 debut, Moro No Brasil (I Live in Brasil), recorded with
his band Farofa Carioca. It was this album that got him featured
in a documentary on Brazilian music, which led in turn to that
star role as Knockout Ned in the 2002 Oscar-nominated favela
drama City of God. Acting has since become a second career
for the goat-eed singer/songwriter, a favela boy whose teenage
brother was killed by police and who – without a few lucky
breaks – might have ended up very differently indeed. “The more
I work,” he’s said, “the luckier I become.”
Jorge garnered further cred by appearing in the acclaimed
Brazilian art-house film House of Sand, but it was Wes
Anderson’s 2004 sea comedy The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
which made the biggest, um, splash. Jorge’s performance as a
guitar-strumming crew member with a
penchant for singing David Bowie songs
in sensuous samba form proved so
popular he released them on an album;
Bowie would later remark that “had Seu
Jorge not recorded my songs acoustically
in Portuguese I would never have heard
this new level of beauty he has imbued
them with.”
América Brasil
Discos Como No
DCN001CD
Having built up a large worldwide
following with his live shows, Jorge
enjoyed a commercial hit with 2005’s
Cru, an album of rootsy originals.
Between now and then, ever the
polymath, he’s kept on touring, writing,
composing. Oh, and acting: this summer’s Brit-flick blockbuster
The Escapist saw him busting out alongside Brian Cox and
Joseph Fiennes. “I think it’s better not to be one thing or
another,” he said. “It’s better to be like an old Hollywood star,
like Fred Astaire or Frank Sinatra, who danced, sang, acted. You
shouldn’t have limitations.”
This sky’s-the-limit attitude informs América Brasil. With a
line-up comprising everything from acoustic guitar, the ukelelelike cavaquino and percussion to keyboards, violin and flute,
Jorge sets about exploring relations between North and South
America and invents a new genre (the Brazilian barbeque
hoedown, anyone?) along the way. Fuller production and
instrumentation makes this a lush affair from start to
finish; rhythms are melded on the stirring América do
Norte (North America), all wild violin and squeaky
cuica drum, while Mina do
Condominio comes
complete with
infectious chorus
and an upbeat
samba funk.
There are bossa
ballads, too (the
dreamy Marianna)
and even, with
Samba Rock, some
all-stops-out blues.
Jorge might be
cool, but he still
knows how to let
himself go.
Jane Cornwell
a ten-piece band formed under the Beat Assailant name and
hit the road.
“We started playing small clubs and now we’re busting out on
the main stage at big festivals in front of 30-40,000 people,”
says the rapper proudly. “Our music has a lot of jazz and funk
influences and we didn’t want to rely on a DJ programming
samples and beats but to get that big live groove thing going.”
JAZZ
New album Imperial Pressure finds rapper and band ripping
through 17 original compositions designed to rock clubs and
festivals. All tracks remain rhymed in English; when is Beat
Assailant going to adopt the language of his native land?
B
lack American musicians taking up residence in Paris is
nothing new – Sidney Bechet and Miles Davis set the
template many decades ago – so when Atlanta rapper Beat
Assailant landed in the French capital he was maintaining a
tradition. Not that he originally saw things this way.
“I just came to Paris to visit, no intention of staying – I didn’t
speak French and didn’t have any idea of what the French rap
scene was like – but I started meeting a lot of people in music
and when I met Max Lebidois we began working together
in his studio. And through that the first Beat Assailant album
came about.”
Beat Assailant’s
2005 debut album
Hard Twelve found
the rapper joined
by a trinity of
French musicians
on horns and
keyboards. The
response to the
album was strong;
“Well, I’d like to but right now my vocabulary is too limited. If
I’m gonna rhyme in French then it’s gotta be as hot as when
I rhyme in English. I don’t’ wanna rhyme something wack like
voulez vous, y’ know?”
Was, I wondered, the American surprised at how passionate
the French are about hip-hop?
“You bet! Hip-hop is really big here. I couldn’t believe it when
I first arrived and found people rapping
here. I can walk into a club here and
close my eyes and the sound, the vibe,
it’s just like being back in the States.”
For now Beat Assailant is gearing up to
tour Imperial Pressure. Hopefully, he
says, this will lead to a Eurostar journey
to London.
“London’s like home to me. I can’t wait
to blow up in the Jazz Café.”
Garth Cartwright
Beat Assailant play The Jazz Café,
London 21st November 2008
Imperial Pressure
Dirty Dozen Records
DDRUK001
JAZZ reviews
Phil Robson
Six Strings &
The Beat
Babel
BVD2876 SH
With a clever punning title that refers both to
Robson’s guitar and the line up of six stringed
instruments and a drum kit, there’s clear
evidence of a sharp mind at work. Robson is
a blisteringly good guitarist and proves also to
be a composer of note, and with the Basquiat
Strings (two are present here) having opened
the door, the string-quartet-does-jazz works
exceedingly well. Robson bubbles and fizzes
on top, with Peter Herbert’s inventive bass and
the solid, occasionally skittering drums giving
excellent foundation.
Alec Dankworth
Spanish Accents
Basho
SRCD212 JC
Enamoured of Spanish music and language
since childhood, bassist/composer Alec
Dankworth has embarked on a new phase of
his impressive career with a band that fuses jazz
with un acento español.
A host of top players – saxophonist Julian
Arguelles, guitarist Phil Robson, violinist Chris
Garrick, French bagpiper Jean-Pierre Rasle and
Barcelona-based drummer Marc Miralta – assist
the British jazz scion in reinventing the likes
of Corea, Gillespie and Metheny; on Rodrigo’s
Concierto De Aranjuz they take up where Miles
left off.
Michael Occhipinti
The Sicilian
Jazz Project
True North
TND516 JC
Right from the opening swirls of The Almond
Sorters, a traditional Sicilian song augmented by
strings and samples and sung in Sicily’s Middle
Eastern-sounding dialect, this isn’t your average
fusion project. Tracing one’s family heritage
through music has become commonplace for
musicians of African descent; here the Canadian
jazz guitarist/composer Michael Occhipinti
explores his Sicilian roots through the lens of
modern jazz, aided by his bass-playing brother
Roberto and assorted talents on everything
from accordion to trumpet.
With singer Christine Tobin draping velvet
smooth tones over Hold You and using her
voice as an instrument on Wishing Well,
reminiscent of 70’s Brit-jazz experimentation,
the ideas keep flowing. Songbird inspired by
Malian music has the required urgent exoticism.
The McLaughlin-esque, fuzz squall adds the
drama to Louisiana, a post Katrina elegy. There
are moments of real beauty and also those of
real daring-do here, not coffee-table-easy by any
means, but supremely good.
Folk songs and originals in flamenco rhythms
are played with an easy camaraderie that belies
the complex nature of the pieces. Dankworth’s
arrangements are as agile as his bass playing,
while Arguelle’s tenor sax improvisations lend
proceedings a clean, ECM sort of feel.
Younger sister Emily Dankworth lends her cool,
pure vocals to two tracks; the great Cleo Laine
turns up on Dreams Of Castilla, singing of
soaring birds, silent grief, and love.
Using the 1950s field recordings of famed
ethnomusicologist Alan Lomax as a template
(think traditional music performed by sulphur
miners, tuna fishermen, folk entertainers),
Occhipinti reinvents and rearranges in ways
both innovative and respectful. Flashes of
electric guitar punctuate Vitti ‘Na Crozza, a song
about a skull that speaks; the jaunty, horn-heavy
Nnuena is led by cane flute and imbued with
a reggae beat. The music of Sicily – ancient,
eclectic, proudly multi-cultural - lives on.
“Jazz of the exploratory and definitely nonboring kind”
www.alecdankworth.com
www.michaelocchipinti.com
The Chris
McGregor Septet
John Heavens
Mojo
Azymuth
Butterfly
Far Out Recordings
FARO134CD SN
These days the mention of “fusion” is enough
to induce sucking-lemon expressions among
die-hard jazz fans who are quick to claim it’s not
even jazz. But one should be cautious about
throwing the baby out with the bath water.
Azymuth are a fusion band alright – a trio in fact
– but it’s a fusion of jazz, funk and samba, or as
the band like to call it, samba doido meaning
“crazy samba.”
Up to Earth
Fledgling
FLED3069 SN
It is fascinating to speculate what impact this
unreleased album, recorded in 1969, might
have had in the context of British jazz at the
time. This joyous celebration of free jazz
and South African Township Jazz combines
musicians such as Dudu Puckwana on sax,
Mangezi Feza on trumpet and Louis Moholo
on drums with John Surman on baritone, Evan
Parker on tenor and either Barrie Phillips or
Danny Thompson on bass, all presided over by
Chris McGregor on piano.
Here they are augmented by guitar, percussion
and strings and the results are impressive.
One of the most exciting bands in their native
Brazil, this album is a tour-de-force of light,
free-flowing compositions full of jazzy motifs
and dancing rhythms. From the classic samba
of Catitu to Triagem, full of classic South
American melodies and harmonies, there’s
some sparkling musicianship on display until
finally the carnival ends with a gentle mood of
melancholy on Meu Doce Amigo. It’s an album
guaranteed to bring a bit of sunshine into a wet,
soggy British autumn.
It is truly a meeting of giants, who combine with
seamless ease to produce an album of huge
historical significance in the story of British jazz.
Here is luminous music, seemingly pushing in
several directions at once, yet incredibly centred
in its adventurous spirit. The saxophone trio
were incredibly powerful, yet united in their
purpose, such as their playing on Midnight
Aloe and the title track, with Moholo’s pulsating
drumming mediating the ebb and flow of this
exciting music.
“Dance music played by human beings
rather than computers”
The Guardian
“This was a world-class free band… A volcanic
force on the British scene”
Big City Calling
Jazzizit
JITCD0848 JC
This one’s a real gem: a labour of love from
a man with an astounding soul voice and
a genuine feel for jazz. Inspired by Duke
Ellington’s devotional Mass The Sacred Concert,
John Heavens puts his all into this sparkling
debut, creating nine original compositions
– co-written with the jazz composer/arranger
Andrea Vicari, here on piano – that tell their
own unique story.
The opening track, Monday On Freedom
Street, takes soul-destroying 9-5 jobs to task, a
message rapper Jahaziel underscores with some
powerful freestyling; Transatlantic Love Affair
soars with the help of soprano sax and gospeltinged backing vocals. With their toe-tapping
grooves and clever arrangements, all tracks
feel Brit-funk fresh; Heavens’ voice, which he
‘discovered’ at church, is subtle, clear, beautifully
intoned (he’s been trained by world-class
vocalists, and it shows). Accordion and tabla
add an extra dimension, especially on the two
instrumental tracks. A stylistically diverse album,
then, that rewards repeated listening.
“Funky, witty and diverse… an impressive affair”
Ian Shaw - Voclist of the year 2007,
BBC Jazz Awards
Sunday Times
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Properganda 10 30
I
JAZZ
f you want to put your finger on the pulse of the British jazz
scene, then look no further than the annual BBC Jazz Awards,
hosted by BBC Radio 2 and 3. This year the showcase event was
held in The Mermaid Theatre in London and was presented by
radio personality Paul Gambaccini. Each year a panel of experts
compile an extensive list of nominees, announced this year in a
special ceremony hosted by Gambaccini in Ronnie Scotts’ jazz club
in June, and during the next month, fans were invited to vote for
their favourite artists, either by post or on-line.
Here’s your Propergandist picks of the crucial winners on the
night, with a special mention also due for Alan Bates, who won
the Services To Jazz Award, preseneted on the night one of many
artists whose career he undoubtedly fostered, Jamie Cullum.
29
Properganda 10
Just to confuse things, The Blessing announced they were
changing their name to Get the Blessing right after accepting their
award which was presented by DJ and producer Goldie. The band
then took the stage to play Cake Hole, livening up the audience
with their engaging and upbeat blend of jazz, punk and post-rock.
Best Vocalist – Christine Tobin
Irish born singer/songwriter has lived in London since 1987,
and has recorded six albums for the Babel label. Her semibiographical album Secret Life of a Girl is reflective and rich
in original melodies and sharp observations on the human
condition. Currently touring the album, The Guardian raved,
“There are no weak spots in this excellent collection.”
Best Instrumentalist – Tony Kofi
Saxophonist Tony Kofi has always sounded like an award winner,
his emotional intensity and knowledge of the jazz tradition
marking him out from the very beginning of his career. His latest
album The Silent Truth is his homage to the organ and sax combos
of the Fifties and Sixties in general and jazz legend Dr. Lonnie
Smith in particular, “The album will take you on a historical musical
journey, a journey of my own life experience, future passed,” he says.
Jazz Line-Up Band of the Year – Tom Cawley’s Curios
JAZZ
BBC JAZZ AWARDS
Album of the Year – All Is Yes by The Blessing
Curios comprises Tom Cawley on piano, Sam Burgess on bass
and Joshua Blackmore on drums. Playing original compositions
by Cawley, who is also keyboard player in the critically acclaimed
Acoustic Ladyland, this exciting piano trio narrowly missed picking
up the Best Album of the Year award last year for their debut
album Hidden. Their recently released Closer has been described
by Time Out magazine as “state of the art.”
Jazz on 3 Innovation Award – Fraud
Fraud, a quintet that boasts two drummers, was formed by multiinstrumentalist James Allsopp and drummer Tim Giles. Their
current album eponymously titled album, released last year, mixes
free, improv, punk and electronica which they call “experimental
jazz/thrash” and “abbatoire improv meets ruthlessly trimmed funk”
on their MySpace site. It earned them a nomination for Album of
The Year in the 2007 BBC Jazz Awards and much praise from the
jazz press.
BBC Jazz Awards 2CD Set
Of course for the complete overview of the process you can
do no better than snapping up this annual treasure trove of a
compilation. It features all of the nominated artists,with 22 tracks
over two discs. For the merely curious to the outright buff there
is something here to suit all tastes, with every single shade of the
blue notes represented. That is the great joy of this music after all,
it never stands still and nor should it.
Stuart Nicholson
Hanging out with the Nationwide
Mercury Prize nominees
t’s been an amazing journey,” laughs Nick Mulvey as he looks
back at the last two years of the Portico Quartet. From buskers
on London’s South Bank to nominees for the most sought after
of musical awards, the Mercury Prize, who would have thought
that a band whose debut album, Knee Deep In The North Sea, was
originally financed by the guys’ own student grants, would now
be going mano a mano with such giants of the music world as
Radiohead and Robert Plant.
Mulvey, percussionist and hang man for Portico (and more of
the hang anon) is understandably chuffed.
“The Mercuries are a stamp of recognition: for ourselves it’s
good to know that what we’re doing is the right thing.”
And the right thing as far as the Quartet is concerned is
making music that is fresh, hook laden, irresistibly melodic
yet also rich with the improvisatory surprise of jazz. There
are other elements, such as the band’s use of taut rhythms
gleaned from minimalist composers like Reich and Glass. But
what really brings a sonic identity to Knee Deep In The North
Sea, is the hang.
The band’s first hang was bought almost on a whim by
drummer Duncan Bellamy. It looks like a wok and sounds
like a cross between a charm bar and Caribbean steel pans.
But that does no credit to the hypnotic, cyclical patterns
that Mulvey and Bellamy weave, laying down grooves that
magically mix the trance like qualities of dance with the
hypnotic repetitions of an Indonesian gamelan.
JAZZ
“I
“Without being overly cocky, we’re confident we should be
at the Mercuries. We’ve always believed in the music and in
a way we’re already winners in that the nomination brings
attention to what we’re doing.” Nick Mulvey
the mysteries of the title track to the irresistible dance of
Cittagazze.
So the Portico Jazz Quartet are as jazz as you like, as world
music as you like and definitely as cool as you want. And for
good measure they’re still horribly young and loving every
minute of their arrival in the spotlight.
“It’s just a great adventure,” explains Mulvey, “there’s an
element that feels like an hilarious joke that four friends have
got to here, almost on a whim, although we’ve always been
totally driven and serious about the music.”
And don’t worry, you can still catch them busking on the South
Bank – rave reviews of albums are great, prize nominations are
fab, “but we’re still skint!” muses Mulvey…
Decorate these glimmering, shifting shapes with Jack Wylie’s
fragile yet graceful saxophone and anchor it with Milo
Andy Robson
Fitzpatrick’s stomping double bass and you’ve concocted a
sound that appeals to a multitude of audiences. After all, you
won’t find many bands that can wow punters at such different
venues as the Glastonbury Festival, the Brecon and London
Jazz Festivals or the altogether more dancey Big Chill as these
guys have done over the last year. Cruise the airwaves and
they’re as likely to crop up on XFM as they are Radio’s 1 or 3.
Come autumn the Quartet will be back in the prestigious
Real World Studios to work on their new album, an intriguing
prospect because although their live concerts are refreshing
for their acoustic qualities, the band are also intrigued by
loops and beats and have even upgraded to acquire a four
octave marimba which has
Mulvey drooling. And Mulvey
hopes the Mercury nomination
“will give us access to other
artists for collaborations…that
would be very cool indeed, to
work with someone like Rokia
Traore, the Malian singer...”
Knee Deep In The
North Sea
Bable/Vortex
BVOR2769
But for now we have the riches
of Knee Deep In The North Sea
which moves from the melodic
ecstasy of News From Verona
to the groove driven bounce
of Zavodovski Island, from
Properganda 10 28
BLUES reviews
Ruthie Foster
The Phenomenal
Ruthie Foster
Lil’ Ed And The
Blues Imperials
Erja Lyytinen
Grip Of The Blues
Full Tilt
Ruf
RUF1141 Proper Records
PRPCD040 Alligator
ALCD4926 KS
KS
Watch out for this woman - she’s set to be
something big!
After playing together for more than twenty
years, this band has developed into a welloiled unit that rocks out wild lawless blues and
boogie with just as much intensity as Hound
Dog Taylor did in the old days. The revving
rhythm guitar, thundering bass, pounding
drumming and the constant drive of Ed’s
squealing, screaming slide guitar along with his
great lived-in voice, all add up to a thundering,
squalling mess of tremendously invigorating
blues music that I didn’t think existed anymore.
To get an idea of her truly soulful music, mix
a dash of the old Hi sound from Memphis
with a touch of Mavis Staples’ pleading gospel
vocals and then add some really spectacular
arrangements featuring the warm, funky sounds
of the Wurlitzer electric piano and sparkling
acoustic guitars.
She’s got a classic soul voice that soars on songs
like Maya Angelou’s Phenomenal Woman,
gets down and dirty in the gritty blues of Son
House’s People Grinnin’ In Your Face and then
delivers pure gospel on Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s
Up Above My Head. And she has song writing
talent too. Harder Than The Fall and Mama
Said would be the best tracks on the CD if it
wasn’t for the glorious twists and turns on the
serious slab of real funk Heal Yourself.
The Phenomenal Ruthie Foster ain’t called
‘phenomenal’ for nothin’!
KS
The whole album is a blast - from the psychotic
energy of Hold That Train and Don’t Call Me
with its brain-shredding guitar to the slow-butpowerful late-night feel of Life Got In The Way
and its fabulously tough vocals with bonechilling slide solos.
Hell, it’s all brilliant. Full Tilt is one of the most
exciting and exhilarating blues albums I’ve
heard in a while!
Direct from Finland, Erja Lyytinen is a strong
singer/songwriter as well as a killer slide
guitarist. After signing to Ruf three years ago,
she hasn’t looked back - recording first with Ian
Parker and Aynsley Lister and then releasing her
own CD of tough guitar-led blues with Junior
Kimbrough’s sons David and Kinney.
Despite the title of this latest release, Erja has
actually loosened her grip on the blues. As
Finland’s answer to Bonnie Raitt, she uses the
blues as a base for her music which borrows
from pop, jazz and folk. She can slip into a
shimmering ballad like Wish I Had You as easily
as she lets rips on the sultry funk of Wanna Get
Closer.
She has a great voice but she excels on
guitar achieving a fine tone on everything
she attempts, at times outclassing many of
her contemporaries. Listen to the opening
instrumental Broadcast and tell me I’m wrong!
“Blues and slide riffing of the highest quality”
www.liledwilliams.com
Blues Matters!
“Will convert those hungry for some real, hot
soul.”
JJ Grey & Mofro
Los Angeles Times
Orange Blossoms
Carolyn
Wonderland
Blue Harlem
Alligator
ALCD4925 I Dare You!
Harlem Records
HARLCD008 TM
Blue Harlem’s fourth album is classic
Rhythm’n’Blues and swing that would have
been equally at home at the Apollo or the
Savoy in the 40s as it is today and the first to
feature fabulous new singer Sophie Shaw. They
continue their exploration of the urban blues
and artists such as Louis Jordan, Percy Mayfield,
Charles Brown, Ruth Brown are all represented
here, along with new material from the band
itself and the song writing partnership of beat
generation survivor Fran Landesman and Simon
Wallace.
It’s their best recording to date: the individual
soloing is inspired and the tight ensemble
playing will swing you off your feet. Sophie,
who sounds as good as she looks, has done
a fantastic job re-interpreting and styling
these songs. The Maxwell Davis inspired
arrangements are terrific and bring the 1940s
small swing band sound bang up to date.
So sit back and enjoy, or better still - roll up the
rug and boogie on down – I Dare You!
www.blueharlem.co.uk
Miss Understood
Ruf
RUF1143 SH
TM
Picking up seamlessly from where last year’s
superb, Country Ghetto left off, the cast is once
again assembled in the Retrophonics studio,
St. Augustine, Florida under the watchful eye of
co-producer Dan Prothero. The funk-factor is still
turned up to 11 and JJ’s blue eyed soul is even
more convincing.
Over the four albums that Alligator released (the
first two credited to just Mofro) JJ’s song craft
has gelled into something utterly compelling.
Take the beautiful She Don’t Know for example,
the Wulitzer piano and drums provide a simple
platform for the strings and JJ’s excellent voice.
This is proper soul music. As it gives way to The
Truth you know that this is a very special record,
with its B3 surges and once again the intelligent
use of strings. The following pair of tracks WYLF
and On Fire are, well, on fire.
If you’re hankering for something that picks
up Gram’s gaunlet of Cosmic American Music,
The late-great Eddie Hinton’s passion or
Lowell’s country-funk. Stop here and buy one
immediately.
It’s the driving lap steel at the heart of
Misunderstood that sets the tone for this fine
new CD from the Ruf stable. For a start it
establishes this latest Texan blues siren as a real
player. Secondly it has such a groove you know
you are going to be strapped in for the ride.
Hailing from Austin, Carolyn has been making
CDs since the mid 90s and apparently touring
the world, although quite how she’s slipped
beneath your reviewer’s radar is a mystery. (She
can name Bob Dylan amongst her fan club.)
With a smoky drawl somewhere between the
Bonnies Bramlett and Rait she oozes soul on
Bad Girl Blues and can funk it up with the best
of them on I Found The Lions and Walk On.
The band sound gig fit and ready As Trouble in
the City and Throw My Love prove in spades.
Superb stuff and that’s crystal clear from here.
www.carolynwonderland.com
“Favourable comparisons to legendary
southern rock outfits like Lynyrd Skynyrd
and Little Feat”
Blues Matters
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27
Properganda 10
BLUES
Candye Kane is a larger-than-life blues diva who has a knack
of picking great crowd pleasing songs. You Need A Great Big
Woman is a sassy, self-satisfied song describing the benefits of
a lady her size, and Crazy Little Thing is full of
rocking rolling verve.
Deborah Coleman steps up next with her choppy
opening to Bad Boy. This is a choogling Chicago workout
that catches fire when she gets that guitar smokin’ on the
wailin’ and screamin’ solo. I’m sure
she learned her trade from Buddy Guy
and Albert King – listen to I Got To
Know and Luther Allison’s warhorse
Fight and you’ll know what I mean.
Blues Caravan
O
ver the last three years Ruf Record’s
Blues Caravan has toured the world to
great critical acclaim. The roster of artists is fluid but this CD
from the 2008 line-up was recorded live in Germany and stars
three indomitable ladies: British blues guitarist Dani Wilde and
from the USA, big blues shouter Candye Kane and great guitar
slinger Deborah Coleman.
Dani Wilde has a driving guitar style that is laced with peppery
runs in the high register, clanging riffs and tension-filled
sustained notes. She favours a big blues sound on her first
two numbers but I prefer the funky shuffle of Come Undone
where she sounds like Rickie Lee Jones would if she sang the
blues, and the slow burner I Love You More Than I Hate Myself
where she gives herself space to release her more soulful side.
The whole things builds to a
crescendo when all three gals get on
stage to blast out a fine arrangement
of ZZ Top’s Jesus Just Left Chicago and
a storming version of Something’s Got
A Hold On Me.
That was one mean night!
Guitars & Feathers
Ruf
RUF1140
New blues and roots songs of peace and protest
R
Rich Man’s War
ich Man’s War is a collection of
wide ranging powerfully political
protest songs by blues singers, country
singers and folkies that’ll entertain you
and make you laugh as well as getting
you to stop and think. It’s a very smart
release considering the current state
of the American political scene and
the run-up to the Presidential election.
Ruf
RUF1144
Some songs get right to the point like
Norman and Nancy Blake’s simple
Don’t Be Afraid Of The Neo-Cons,
which explodes with sardonic criticism
of the war in Iraq, the neglect of Katrina ravaged New Orleans
and the ineptness and stupidity of George Dubyah and his
crazy gang. David Evan’s Bring The Boys Back Home has
simple old time clanging guitar and story-telling lyrics that give
it the nostalgic feel of old Vietnam folk songs of the sixties.
Guitar Shorty’s angry wah-wah guitar on We The People fuels
his indignant stance on high prices, low wages, redundancies
and the hard times ahead.
track Mr Wesola’s Lucky Number Dream Book Part 2 but just
as you’re tempted to attempt the boogaloo, you’ll realise that
Pat is getting pretty agitated about damn near everything
- from capturing Bin Laden and right wing radio talk show
hosts to a democratic Iraq and black helicopters! Charlie
Wood’s ironic report on the nation’s apathy, You Don’t Really
Wanna Know is wrapped in a warm, jazzy feel provided
by a cool electric piano player and late-night organ grooves
while Charlie asks “why can’t things ever go a different way
from how they always go, do the haves just have to keep on
reaping everything the have-nots sow?”
A couple of the songs are just damn clever. Amid the humour
and general wackiness of Roy Zimmerman’s song about
indecisiveness, the brilliantly titled Chickenhawk there’s some
real pearls of wisdom and Doug Macleod’s laid back talking
blues Dubb’s Talkin’ Politician Blues lays out all America’s
current ills with the candour of Woody Guthrie and the
resigned sarcasm of Phil Ochs.
Ken Smith
Others sneak up on you. Pat Boyack might snarl out his
shouting-blues over a raggedy funk-filled dance
Properganda 10 26
John McCusker’s
Properganda choice of tracks
Bellowhead – see page 37
Matachin – I Drew My Ship Across The Harbour
This is a great track from Bellowhead’s new record. They’re a
great bunch of people and it’s been brilliant watching them
turn into one of the most exciting and popular live acts on the
UK folk scene. There are lots of great tracks on this album but
my favourites are this one and Fakenham Fair.
Mary Black – see page 12
25 Years Of Mary Black – Song For Ireland
I’ve been a huge fan of Mary’s ever since she was a member
of De Dannan. I used to listen to this song and all of Mary’s
album Collected on vinyl loads when I was in school. She’s
got an amazing voice. I got to meet her a couple of weeks
ago at a festival in Denmark. Myself, Heidi Talbot, Eddi Reader
and Mary stayed up ‘til the very wee hours singing songs and
drinking beer…a brilliant night!
Solas – see page 12
Love And Laughter – Sunday’s Waltz
I’ve been a huge fan of this band since their first record.
They’re all amazing musicians and incredible to see live.
The reason I picked this track is because I love the way
Seamus Egan plays tunes on his guitar. He is a genius
multi-instrumentalist, everything he picks and plays is totally
brilliant. You should check out his soundtrack to the Ed Burns
movie The Brothers McMullen. Top soundtrack to a top movie.
Chris While and Julie Matthews – see page 5
Together Alone – The Sum Of What I Am
Chris and Julie are both magic singers. Like Jez Lowe I got to
play with both of them on last years fantastic radio ballads.
This powerful song comes from the program The Enemy That
Lives Within. This is a really great record.
The Sacred Shakers – see page 16
Ready To Go Home
This is a lovely song from this American group. I love the
laid-back feel they create and the voices are gorgeous. They
are based in Boston and make old time, country gospel
influenced music...you can hear a lot of Hank Williams and
the Stanley Brothers in this.
Cherryholmes – see page 20
Don’t Believe – My Love For You Grows
This Nashville based family band are fantastic. I saw them
play at Celtic Connections in Glasgow this year and they blew
me away. The father Jere is the band leader and he used to
take the kids to festivals when they were growing up which
explains why the whole family is so full of music.
Joan Baez – see page 14
Annabelle Chvostek – see page 13
Day After Tomorrow – Day After Tomorrow
I love this track. It features the brilliant fiddle playing of Bruce
Molsky and it’s a gorgeous song. This is a really lovely album.
Steve Earle produced this album and it features amazing
players like Tim O’Brien and Darly Scott. This is a great version
of the Tom Waits song. My friend John Doyle is touring with
Joan really soon and it sounds like it will be a brilliant show.
Reslience – The Sioux
Phil Hardy – see page 5
Revisited - Edinburgh Jig
Phil makes brilliant whistles played by Michael McGoldrick,
Julie Fowlis, myself and loads of other musicians. This tune
was written by Phil after a trip to the best city in the world!
Doc Watson – see page 13
Best Of The Sugarhill Years – My Dear Old Southern Home
I can’t recommend this record highly enough. It’s a great
introduction to Doc’s music…but really you should go buy
all his records! The man’s singing and playing is impeccable
and he always surounds himself with incredible singers and
musicians.
Jez Lowe – see page 5
Northern Echoes – A Call For The North Country
Jez writes brilliant songs and is a great performer…so a live
CD from him is a perfect combination. I got to work a bit
25
with Jez last year on the BBC 2 Radio Ballads. He wrote and
performed very powerful songs on the series.
Properganda 10
Alec Dankworth – see page 30
Spanish Accents – El Levante
Alec is a jazz bass master and has worked with loads of the
great jazz players including Stefane Grappelli, Dave Brubeck
and Van Morisson. I love his playing and with every record he
always finds something new to do that is always exciting. The
musicianship on this record is outstanding.
Cliff Edwards – see page 34
Sprigs Of Time 78’s From The EMI Archive - I Aint Got Nobody
Cliff Edward’s nickname was ‘Ukelele Ike’ and he was really
popular in the 1920s and early 1930s. He was in lots of great
movies as an actor and was also the voice of Jiminy Cricket
in Pinocchio! This is really brilliant music, you can tell there
were no overdubs back then… just capturing the brilliant
performance. The old sound of the record makes it even
better I think.
M
uch has been written about Bob Dylan. In fact rarely a month goes
by when his face is not peering out from a magazine cover on the
shelves in the newsagent. In- depth, ten page articles on how particular
albums were recorded, news on unheard bootlegs, or in even rarer
circumstances and interview with the man himself, or at least somebody
who knows him. Rarely has a recording artist had so many words written
about him. But then again, rarely has a recording artist written so many
great songs. Really great songs, with lyrics, phrases and hook lines that
have embedded themselves in popular culture, for over forty years.
Like anything, there are people who care and people who dont. Those
who live by his music and his words, those that cant stand his voice,
and those that like a few songs, but prefer Elton John. But whatever you
feeling, his presence over popular music is undeniable and continual.
He put poetry in the jukebox according to Allen Ginsberg and
changed the landscape of modern American music.
Most people of my generation find Dylan through their parents who found
him about the same time he was finding himself. My parents preferred
him when he was folky but they also went off the Beatles when they went
weird. The first Bob Dylan album I heard was the best of bob Dylan which
I liked, but not as much as the best of Simon and Garfunkel which sat next
to it on the pile. Both albums gave me the same feeling that I got from
looking at pictures of my grandparents when they were young.
Impossible now to imagine as a reality, I took Empire Burlesque out of the
library a few years after that, but took it back the next day because even at
the age of thirteen I got the feeling that I was far too young to be listening to
music like this. I stuck with Iron Maiden and AC/DC for another few years.
The English poet Simon Armitage talks about there being something
inevitable about a music fan eventually finding Dylan’s work, and talks
about his own experience as one where it took a Dylan anorak to take him
under his wing and give him a Bob Dylan birds and the bees conversation
as almost an altruistic act of Dylan-aid. That’s true for me also, but it didnt
take a person, it took a summer travelling around Europe just after leaving
school to discover his music properly. I left Dundee station with five of his
albums taped from library LPs to listen to on my Walkman, and five weeks
later came home a different person. Id been through Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, France, Germany, Switzerland, Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61,
Bringing It All Back Home, The Freewheelin and Blood On the Tracks.
Id done some travelling, physically and mentally.
The feeling of being on the move, passing through moments of other
peoples lives every day, all that stuff, not being able to put your finger on
why you’d ended up someplace, but being glad that you had. Something
was happening here and I didnt know what it was, and the more I thought
about it, the more I preferred it that way.
His Lyrics get to the heart precisely because you’re never exactly sure what
he’s going on about, so they embody a state, one where you don’t really
need to understand what’s going on around you, to get a feeling that you
do. Or as he puts it “I learned a long time ago to trust my intuition”. I think
if you listen to Bob Dylan, its a lesson he teaches us all.
Properganda 10 24
ROUNDUP reviews
Joy Askew
The Pirate Of
Eel Pie
Red Parlor
RPJA0808 Joy Askew’s biography informs that the
Newcastle-born musician once toured as
keyboardist for Joe Jackson, Peter Gabriel and
Laurie Anderson and has held down a residency
at Ronnie Scott’s. Not a bad CV!
Now a US based singer-songwriter, Askew’s
training has left her willing to take chances
– the sound here, while lead by Joy’s voice and
acoustic guitar, is shaped by a collage of looped
sounds and some very plangent jazz bass.
Askew is such a confident, distinctive musician
she plays most of the instruments and layers
her vocals so harmonising with herself.
Joy is a distinctive songwriter, unafraid of
stealing a title from Sam Cooke (A Change Is
Gonna Come) for her own tune or observing
how a bad boyfriend falls apart (Jimmy’s Gone
Now). On Jack Kerouac she uses the doomed
writer as a metaphor for looking for truth on
the American road. In a market crowded with
female singer-songwriters Joy Askew stands out.
www.joyaskew.com
Johnny J &
The Hitmen
Louisiana Rockabilly
Blue Viper
BV004 Shanachie
SHANCD5165 20 years before P-Funk, George Clinton began
his musical odyssey as lead singer of a doo-wop
vocal group, The Parliaments. Here he revisits
- with wry amusement, quirky arrangements
and an oddball sense of genuine affection - a
dozen ‘Oldies But Goodies’ that were R&B/Pop
hits for others during those two decades (plus
three originals), variously accompanied by
equally zany chums Sly Stone, The Red Hot Chili
Peppers, The RZA and others, including Carlos
Santana playing his familiar ethereal guitar
dance on George’s version of The Impressions’
1961 classic Gypsy Woman - one of the more,
ahem, ‘normal’ tracks on the album,
Other artists’ old hits reconstructed include
Dean Martin, Johnny Ace, Little Willie John, The
Heartbeats, Marvin Gaye and Barry White. Full
marks if you spot the references to George’s
own back pages. It’s whacky, it’s weird and it’s
ultimately great fun if you’re not too uptight
about the sanctity of the original versions.
www.georgeclinton.com
Neil Ardley’s New
Jazz Orchestra
Camden ‘70
Dusk Fire
DUSKCD105 SN
KS
Legendary Dale Hawkins, who uses Johnny
J & The Hitmen as a backup band, produced
this terrific CD and it features some of the best
rockin’ music ever to come out of Louisiana.
This is high voltage rockabilly from a three-piece
band that has been blowin’ the joint apart since
the mid-80s.
Among the twelve obscure songs are all-outrockers from Al Ferrier Let’s Go Boppin’ Tonight,
country boogie from Johnny Horton I’m A One
Woman Man, black rock’n’roll from Roy Brown
Diddi-i-Diddi-O and a frenetic train boogie
from Dale Hawkins Bang Bang. They get a nice
shimmering Dave Alvin-ish feel to Tony Joe
White’s I Want My Fleetwood Back and they
show you what rockabilly is about with their all
out manic attack of Jerry Byrne’s Light’s Out.
As you’d expect with Hawkins at the desk,
you get excellent authentic rockabilly that’s
guaranteed to get the dance floor shakin’ within
seconds. Five star stuff indeed.
www.johnnyj.net
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Properganda 10
Gangsters Of Love
CW
GC
23
George Clinton
This previously un-released concert by the
New Jazz Orchestra directed by Neil Ardley is
a wonderful slice of British jazz history. The
ensemble is substantially the same as the one
that recorded one of the lost classics of British
jazz, Le Déjeuner Sur l’Herbe in 1968, and
draws on several compositions from that album.
So included are Rope Ladder to the Moon,
Study, Dusk Fire and the title track which acts
as a rousing climax to the concert recorded at
the Jeanette Cochrane Theatre in London during
the 1970 Camden Festival. Effectively powered
by Jon Hiseman’s drums, the members of
his iconic progressive rock band Colosseum
were also NJO stalwarts and from the opening
Stratusfunk through memorable versions of
Mike Gibbs’ Tanglewood ’63 to a brilliant
Ardley arrangement of Nardis, the album bursts
with rhythmic energy.
With fine solos from the likes of Henry
Lowether on trumpet and Dick Heckstall-Smith
on saxes, Camden ‘70 captures your attention
from the first note and does not let go until the
band end a memorable night with a version of
the National Anthem that somehow manages
to mutate into a Tango.
“This is a little slice of history, of that
marvellous period in British jazz when
it danced with Rock music, as if the
two were made for each other”
Jazzwise
Greg Laswell
Three Flights From
Alto Nido
Vanguard
VCD79854 JHS
Greg Laswell, lyricist, multi-instrumentalist
and producer now presents his third volume
of a trilogy on the theme of heartbreak and
redemption. An eminent song writer who
has had songs featured in Greys Anatomy,
Smallville and One Tree Hill here delivers an
aural masterpiece showcasing eleven new
compositions on the tuneful end of the lo-fi
spectrum.
The album opens with It’s Been A Year, a
lament on the theme of lost love and yet
realising that the time is right to move on,
delivered in a hushed, intimate vocal. That
It Moves picks up the beat and volume, the
writer directly addressing his muse with a clever
lyrical twist about writing the song. His lyrics
have the complexity of Michael Stipe, oblique
yet charged with truth. Sweet Dream, Days Go
On and Farewell are further testament to his
exquisite style. Fans of Wilco’s oeuvre should
tune in immediately.
www.myspace.com/greglaswell
Mutter Slater
Band
Riding A Hurricane
Thoroughbred Music
TBRED9001 CP
Welcome back Michael Slater! Background;
- heretofore, a freshly-moved-in Mr B. Bragg
called in for a lime and soda at his new West
Dorset local when his ears were pricked by
local band Little Dixie, led by the ex-frontman of
1970/1976 legendary quirky, hard-to-categorise
rockers Stackridge. (Openers: first Glastonbury
Festival: reformed in 2007)
Billy’s encouragement and production skills
have resulted in this essentially acoustic trio
album – Chris Lonergan on bass and slide,
Ady Milward, drums, complement our hero’s
vocals, guitar and flute and a sensible shoes,
no-nonsense sound results. It’s a rare treat. The
sound is stripped-down, live, and immediate
but Mutter’s husky, brit-blues voice, the best this
side of Paul Rodgers, is what makes it special.
His songs tell of regret, compromises, trains,
juke boxes, dangerous liaisons. Pick of the
bunch is arguably the rousing Moth To A Flame.
Coming soon, to a muddy field near me?
I Hope so.
www.mutterslater.com
New Album ”Blue Again!“
BLUE AGAIN!
feat.
Out 13th October 2008
on hypertension-music
Digi-Pac Double-CD
RICK VITO
incl. 4 Track-Bonus CD
HYP 8263
Miracle Mile
T
hree Insights: “For the truly creative artist, perfection
can never be achieved for more than a fleeting moment.
Painting the ultimate landscape or writing the definitive
song inevitably redefines the standard of what might be
possible…” Two, “So, this is like a family photo, with most
of the family still locked in the attic. Let’s hope that Coffee
And Stars compels you to visit those neglected children in
situ, on their original albums. We hope, like us, that you’ll
come to love them all.” Finally, “I’ll often leave a song with
Marcus, as a small performance, maybe just acoustic and
voice. When I return to the studio weeks later, he’ll pull
the comfy chair up between the big speakers and, with a
twinkle, press play. The icy grandeur of this arrangement
was a shock; the back of my neck confirmed its potency.”
The first is from Johnny Black’s sleeve notes for this
compilation, the second and third are from Trevor Jones,
witty, disarming e-mail to the small but dedicated Milers
group out there, firstly describing the album and then the
track Alaska. In the latter case I know exactly what Trevor
means.
Offering these quotes has taken up half of the word
allocation for this review and if this seems a cop out,
there are no better words that can be offered to persuade
you of the riches on offer amongst these 18 tracks. You
will need to find them out for yourself, as this collection
of songs could last you a
lifetime. In fact a deserted
island with a solar powered
walkman and this CD is
very appealing right now,
as track 12, Papillon, is in
the earphones while this
sentence is written. Simple
rage against the obstacles
to the world hearing
and really getting this is
probably not enough.
Coffee And Stars
So if the world seems
askew and even if
it doesn’t, then the
prescription is a track a
day, until you do really get
it. Here’s a CDs worth of tunes to offer a little solace and
another place to be. Perhaps there’s a grant available to
travel the land playing it to people. Drop an e-mail to
properinfo@proper.uk.com and perhaps we can set up a
relay. No, really. Let’s see what we can do.
MeMe Records
CDMM13
Simon Holland
feat.
RICK VITO
CELEBRATING 40 YEARS
OF THE ORIGINAL FLEETWOOD MAC
FEATURING THE ORIGINAL HITS AND NEW BLUES
“Oh Well” | “Rattlesnake Shake” | “Albatross” | “Black Magic Woman” ...
Mick Fleetwood, the iconic co-founder of Fleetwood Mac, is celebrating his
blues heritage with his new band, The Mick Fleetwood Blues Band. The
band features a tribute to the original Fleetwood Mac, the all-male blues
band that started it all in 1967.
Presented by Hypertension &
on Tour in UK
OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2008
24. October
25. October
26. October
28. October
29. October
31. October
01. November
02. November
03. November
Peterborough
Canterbury
Southampton
Liverpool
Newcastle
Holmfirth
Ipswich
Croydon
St. Albans
The REAL MUSIC Agency
Broadway Theatre
Marlowe Theatre
Mayflower Theatre
Philharmonic
City Hall
Picturedrome
Regent Theatre
Fairfield Hall
St. Alban Arena
01733 316100
01227 787787
02380 711811
0151 709 3789
0191 2612606
01484 689759
01473 433100
020 8688 9291
01727 844488
MIDGE URE – “10”
Brand new album “10” (HYP8264)
Released on the 29th of September 2008
Midge Ure‘s own interpretations, of his favourite songs, by
other songwriters. The songs, on the album, left a profound
mark, on Midge, throughout his youth and his intention in
recording them was as a mark of respect to the writers.
www.midgeure.com
www.hypertension-music.de
ROUNDUP reviews
Johnny
Osbourne
Truth And Rights
Deluxe Edition
Heartbeat
HBCD7840 SH
Responding to others plundering his hugely
successful catalogue and with the benefit of a
studio upgrade, Clement Dodd ended the 70s
by remixing and re-voicing a number of his own
hits. In the process he ushered in the dancehall
style that would come to dominate reggae.
Among those to benefit was Jonny Osbourne
whose nascent recording career had climaxed
prematurely in the 60s with a move to Canada.
This CD is all the evidence of how good the
concept could be, classic rhythms expanded
to 16 track from the original four track tapes,
with live studio overdubs and Johnny’s superb,
easy vocal style. The lyrics are still conscious
and laced with Rasta philosophy and culture on
tracks like Truth And Rights, Nah Skin Up and
the outstanding Jah Promise. Fleshed out with
extra and extended mixes and engaging booklet
notes, this is a five-star-buy-it-now-package.
You’ll be “Up Town Top Ranking” all night long.
“This is Studio One music at its best”
Echoes
French, Frith
Kaiser, Thompson
Invisible Means
Fled’gling
FLED3702 JTR
A long awaited CD re-release for the second
album by an extraordinary quartet, complete
with a bonus live version of the Stones’ Play
With Fire.
A band consisting of such notorious boundarypushers could easily be in danger of over-thetop muso noodling, so it’s to the player’s credit
that they rarely over-indulge, instead working
as a ramshackle but supportive unit for each
other’s material.
Beefheart drummer John ‘Drumbo’ French
delivers an out-of-character power ballad
with To The Rain, while Richard Thompson
(supposedly brought in for a dose of
commercial appeal) supplies March Of The
Cosmetic Surgeons – a bizarre mini-opera,
complete with guest mezzo-soprano vocalist
Catherine Keen.
Amongst the far out time signatures and Henry
Kaiser’s swooping sci-fi solos, traditional anthem
Loch Lomond is played as a straight-ahead
rocker, proving that when the potential musical
possibilities are endless, doing something
normal is often the weirdest path to take. Unlike
the lyrics to that song, this album avoids the
high road and the low road, opting instead for
the scenic route.
“One of the more radical beat combos to
blaze between rock and a hard placein the
late-1980s”
Jazzwise
21
Properganda 10
Surinder Sandhu
7 Samurai!
Saurango
SAURANGO101 Poets Club
PCR045 JC
C
World jazz experimentalist Surinder Sandhu
knows how to think big. Having garnered
an international reputation with works that
combine East and West, jazz and classical music,
he takes on all-comers with The Fictionist – his
most impressive recording to date.
Over the last five years Bavarian beatmeisters 7
Samurai have carved out a name for themselves
with a series of cooking re-edits and remixes.
Now their first album El Mundo Nuevo brings
together over a dozen of their best productions
from this period with a heady mix of styles from
Latin to Afro disco and dancehall to jazz.
The Fictionist
El Mundo Nuevo
Commissioned to celebrate Liverpool’s
designation as European City of Culture 2008,
it’s an epic collage made all the more visionary
by its collaborators: two choirs, twenty soloists,
the 75-strong Royal Liverpool Symphony
Orchestra and a wealth of stellar musicians
on everything from kora (Tunde Jegede) and
trombone (Dennis Rollins) to tabla, sarod and
sarangi.
Armed with the latter Sandhu summons up
the city’s multi-ethnic vibrancy on ten pieces
that amount, really, to a glorious extended
symphony. Ancient Indian instruments create
such modern sounds as funk and free jazz;
throughout, possibilities are explored with a flair
as deft as it is audacious. An inspiring testament
to a giant imagination.
“A must listen! Jazz, Indian Classical UK Pop,
Classical and even more on a single CD that
unites a nation through the power of his music”
Courtney Pine
www.myspace.com/7samuraimusic
Crucible
Love & Money
The Bittersweets
Fellside
FECD212 Goodnight,
San Francisco
CP
Compass Records
COM44862 GC
The Bittersweets are a country-rock trio from
California who relocated to Nashville to cut this
album – thus the album’s title. San Francisco
may once have been a famous music town but
it’s more psychedelic in flavour than country so
The Bittersweets must have stood out. This also
explains their shift to Tennessee – their melodic
songs are more likely to attract attention in
Music City than Silicon Valley.
Lead by Chris Meyers (guitar, keyboards) and
Hannah Prater (vocals, guitar) – with drummer
Steve Bowman keeping things tight – The
Bittersweets record a particularly melodic and
affecting music, with songs like Is Anyone
Safe and When The War Is Over suggesting
urban alienation shot through with hope. Their
sound is lovely, quite ambient yet dynamic and
focused. Unlike so much Nashville music today
The Bittersweets refuse to compromise; this is
21st Century country music that will appeal to a
very wide audience.
“They have the kind of chemistry that country
rock legends are made of”
Seattle Post
Unlike many other remix albums which can
often be boring there is no danger of that here
with so much good material on offer. The
album eases in with a couple of slabs of solid
Brazilian grooves kicking off with a wicked
Jorge Ben remix, followed up by an equally
catchy reworking of Sol De Verro – listen to the
original to see how they have transformed this
track for the better. It doesn’t take long for the
tempo to take off with an afro-disco monster
called Kikiriboom deftly following the wicked
reworking of Idea 6’s It Ain’t Necessarily So.
The second-half of the album also does not
disappoint with some solid soul, reggae and
hip hop productions including a swinging jazz
mix of Andrea Pozza Trio proving that El Mundo
Nuevo was definitely worth the wait.
There’s plenty of steel in this third outing from
the Sheffield-based quartet comprising Jess
and Richard Arrowsmith, Gavin Davenport
and Helena Reynolds which proves that their
template is capable of vibrant expansion whilst
remaining true to the essentially traditional
English flavour that marked out its predecessors,
Changeling and Crux.
The creative interplay bonding guitar, fiddles,
violas, melodeon and border pipes, shows
how impressively focused this band is. Here
is beautiful, finely honed music with the
convincing ring of just-rightness about it.
Exuberant flourishes on Old Mrs Wilson/
Dorsetshire Hornpipe betray their individual
roots in dance outfits such as Heckety and
Jabadaw, this groundwork providing a muscular
lift to the tune sets.
Harmonies mesh on the tasteful assembly
of mostly traditional songs (True Love, Three
Maidens) essayed here; - effortlessly beguiling,
fresh-air sweet and providing enough variety to
prevent any onset of ennui. Crucible have found
their collective niche and fill it estimably.
“A definite triumph”
fRoots
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