The first word that comes to mind when listening to this is rich. It is a rich record in every aspect. 18 tracks, 12 instrumental sets and six songs clocking in on just under 80 minutes, the Battlefield Band and 12 prominent guest musicians, and a booklet with extensive presentations of every musician and track on the album. As I wrote, rich.
Battlefield Band was formed in 1969. I came across them in the middle of the 1980s, just after the release of Anthem for a Common Man, an album which combined Scottish bagpipes, modern keyboards with drum machines and some fantastic songs. At that time, keyboard player Alan Reid and multi-instrumentalist/singer/composer Brian McNeill fronted the group. McNeill left soon after and Reid as late as 2010, the last original member to do so.
In total 20 members have passed through the ranks, including John McCusker, Ged Foley, Davy Steele and Karine Polwarth, but in spite of all the lineup changes there has always been a distinctive Battlefield Band sound. Through all the changes they have retained a constant direction. Nowadays they are down to a trio, Mike Katzon highland pipes and lots of other instruments, Alasdair White, the longest serving present member, on fiddle and banjo, and Sean O’Donnell on guitar and vocals. They still sound like Battlefield Band.
On this album they have retained that sound but augmented it with the guest musicians, often one or two on each track. They have given each track its own distinctive sound, often by the choice of lead instruments. Of course you get a couple of tracks with both the large Highland Pipes or the Scottish smallpipe fronting, with the typical Scottish pipes and rolling snare drum on “Fingal’s Weeping/Caberfeidh/Gillespie’s Hornpipe”, and the traditional Battlefield treatment with pipes and driving guitar rhythms on the opening track, but there is much more. On “McCarthy’s Quickstep/The Drunken Piper” Mike Whellan’s harmonica carries the tune with Katz’s smallpipes. “Ellen’s Dreams” is a slow air with Alison Kinnaird on harp and cello, together with White on fiddle and whistle. The list is long.
I also appreciate their effort to steer away from loud and boisterous jigs and reels. As usual Battlefield Band gives us a good selection of all kinds of tunes, from slow moving airs, over strutting strathspeys and steady marches to the reels and jigs. The songs are good as well. O’Donnell takes the lead on most of them, but Aaron Jones is brought in to sing “One Night In My Youth” Christine Primrose sings a Gaelic verse at the end of “The Blantyre Explosion”, my favourite song on the album, that and the whole “An Gille Mear,” and Nuala Kennedy is there on harmony vocals and some lead verses.
I lost track of Battlefield Band about ten years ago, but this album shows they are till a driving force in Scottish music and has given me reason to catch up on them. Full marks to everyone involved.
(Temple Records, 2015)
[Editor’s note: The Green Man Review has previously reviewed Battlefield Band’s rain, hail or shine (1998), Leaving Friday Harbor (1999), Happy Daze (2001), and Time and Tide (2002). Battlefield Band has a website.]
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