December 2009 RELEASES
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Ballads (re-issue) Folk / TSCD576D Topic - $A33.00 
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The great traditional ballads are storytelling at its dark, urgent best and the greatest exponent of this folk art was Ewan MacColl. Traditional narrative ballads are at the centre of the British Folk Tradition. They told stories which helped define the English and Scottish national characters; stories about murder and intrigue, love and discord on both the epic and domestic scale, but stories that told us about ourselves. |
Steel Skies (re-issue) Folk / TSCD427 Topic - $A30.10
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Scored for a group of musicians including fiddles, flutes, mandolins and Alistair Anderson`s concertina and Northumbrian smallpipes, Steel Skies is a magnificent suite of composed tunes with roots deep in the traditional music of the British Isles. The compositions take from the tradition but expand on it creating a rich and rewardingly-subtle whole. Originally released in 1982, this wonderful album has a justly sterling reputation among those who have heard it, calling out for a re-release on CD. Alistair Anderson`s mastery of the concertina is legendary, but it is the concept and the beauty of the music here that may take your breath away. |
I Never Played To Many Posh Dances (re-issue) Folk / TSCD581D Topic - $A33.00
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Lewis ``Scan`` Tester was born in Sussex in 1887 to a musical family. He was something of a prodigy playing from the age of 8 at all sorts of social functions where music was required. While his greatest prowess was on the Anglo-German concertina, he was first rate step-dancer, a fine singer and he also played fiddle, melodeon and tambourine. He was famous in his local area and played almost every weekend at The Stone Quarry Pub for over 40 years. In the mid 1950s, folklorist and musician, Reg Hall met him and invited him to play in his loose-knit band of musicians. Their playing schedule covered the usual pub gigs and private parties and also included a trip to London where Scan played before a full house at the Royal Festival Hall. Game to go anywhere, Scan accepted invitations to clubs and festivals around the country and thus became known and loved by a public beyond his own place and time. Mostly recorded by Reg Hall, these 55 tracks - expanded and remastered from the 1990 vinyl LP - open a window to our musical past. |
Yellow Like Sunshine Folk / CDTRAX342 Greentrax - $A28.30
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The Poozies began their career in 1990, after Patsy Seddon and Mary MacMaster - also known at the time as Scottish harp duo Sileas - had worked with singer Sally Barker on her second solo album. The Poozies have undergone lineup changes from time to time, but in 2009 their world turned full circle when original member Sally Barker rejoined the band. Seventeen years down the line, The Poozies seem to have found the secret of eternal youth. Still with the three original members, they have been energised by the perfectly compatible addition of Eilidh Shaw and Mairearad Green, and remain as fresh and delightful as ever. The Poozies` recipe is a fragrant casserole of inventive interpretations, creative collaborations and melodic mastery, saturated by the spice of open-mindedness with which they happily explore the musical universe. |
Sark O` Snaw Folk / CDTRAX344 Greentrax - $A28.30
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One of Scotland`s finest traditional-style singers, who deserves to be more widely recognised this album should certainly enhance Mick`s reputation. A lover of song since he was a child, when he sang in the church choir and around Scout campfires, it was after a move from Glasgow to Boscastle in Cornwall as a teenager that Mick`s love of folk music was kindled there he listened to local farmers singing their traditional songs. Mick is equally at home singing traditional Irish songs, and has a great fondness for these. |
Bellowhead Presents: Umbrellowhead Folk / MEGAFONE112 Megafone - $A28.30
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Umbrellowhead is a collection of songs from individual members of the mighty musical juggeranault, Bellowhead. Remarkably, when this multi-award winning collective are not busy touring the world, recording as Bellowhead or appearing in a myriad of musical projects as Band in Residence at London`s Southbank Centre, the 11 band members also find time to explore a range of individual projects. From marimba to fiddle, from the Balkans to Bangladesh and onwards to Japan, some of the staggering range of influences of this accomplished and original group are revealed in this latest album. |
Singled Out POP / MOSACD406 Mosadisc - $A30.10
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This is the new album from Ireland`s highly acclaimed Eleanor McEvoy. Singled Out tells of a journeyman and modern day troubadours songbook , salubriously talking you through a vast collection of Eleanor`s independent singles in habited by that unmistakable voice and that particular way she has with love, lust (lost and found), humour and our world. It also distinctively notes the progression to when Eleanor moved from a band format to a singular creation and her own music. |
Snapshots POP / MOSACD305 Mosadisc - $A30.10
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Music From The Atlantic Fringe Folk / COM4526 Compass - $A28.30
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The songs and tunes of the Atlantic Fringe – the combined traditions from Ireland to Appalachia and beyond, are the result of generations of movement and migration, of leave-taking and homecoming, back and forth across the ocean in an endless tide of cultural exchange. Lyrics and melodies borrowed from one land wash ashore on another, only to return again later transformed, peopled with new characters and set in different modes. The rich traditions of both sides of the Atlantic have come the source and inspiration of the music of The Unwanted - three Sligo-based musicians, each with exceptional talent and a lifetime of dedication to their music. |
Prodigal Son: The Concert Folk / TSDVD580 Topic - $A28.30
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With the release of Prodigal Son in 2008, Martin Simpson created a contemporary classic that effortlesly crossed musical boundaries and exhibited what many had known for years - here is one of this generations most talented songwriters, singers and guitarists. On this special DVD, Martin takes us on a 2 hour live journey through the album, expanding and re-interprating as only he can. As an added bonus, there is a unique short film made by Martin called "You Can Go Home" retracing the steps of his youth under the shadows of the blast furnaces in his native Scunthorpe. It is both a revealing and, at times, highly humorous backwards glance.
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