There are very few groups who can honestly claim to have created their own brand of music. The Easy Club is one of these very few. Beginning life in 1982 as an offspring to Jock Tamson´s Bairns, with founder members Jack Evans (guitars) and Rod Paterson (vocals, guitars and bass) playing in both groups for some years, they took their name from an 18th century drinking club in Edinburgh.
Their first album was released in 1984 and coined the phrase Scottish rhythm and swing to describe their music. And it was a very appropriate phrase, the band sounding like a mixture of Scottish folk music and any group with Django Reinhart. By the time the album was released they were a four piece, including Jim Sutherland (cittern and percussion) and John Martin (fiddle).
Chance or Design was the group's second album. As the first one it is a mix between songs fronted by Paterson's remarkable voice and instrumental sets, where they are led by Martin's fiddle and Sutherland's cittern. Sutherland, a very inventive player, at some points tackles his bodhran with brushes, and there is also a short bodhran solo at the end of the album. And at the bottom of the sound you always found Evans's Reinhart-like rhythm guitar.
When it comes to songs Chance or Design introduced a novelty, two songs written by Paterson. "This for That" is the best of them, with a lovely first verse: "They say it is money that buys your body and it is love that buys your soul/When they sell you, hope to hell they sell you whole". It is a very swinging song with some lovely guitar and percussion work and a jazzy guitar solo by Evans. The title track is about relationships and is a slower affair, more based on the opening guitar riff than the rhythm.
Of the other three songs, John Watt's "The Eyemouth Disaster" is the best. The group relaxes a little to tell the gruesome tale of how a large proportion of 140 men went under in a storm. Paterson underlines it with a very simple, but effectively syncopated bass line. The traditional "Black Is the Colour" is given the traditional Easy Club swing-treatment and makes for an great opener to the album, giving you a clear sense of what is to come. "The Diamond" is a bit disappointing. A classic song by all means, the group do not really lift it the way one would expect.
More than half of the tunes are written by Jim Sutherland. You can sense that he is well rooted in Scottish traditional, but at the same time not afraid to expand his boundaries. Tunes like "West Pilton Circus" and "Neal Slessor Thomson" have clear traces of 1930s jazz in them, while his other tunes could almost pass for traditionals.There is only one set that included traditional tunes, "The Dhu Hill" and "Auld Wattie" (a tune also used for the song "Haughs of Cromdale"), but even then the group mix them with Sutherland's tunes. Martin and Sutherland take turns in handling the medolies, with Sutherland playing rhythm when Martin is in the lead. Sutherland gets a very chunky sound from his cittern, while Martin is more of a traditional player.
I liked the Easy Club very much when they first appeared and I must say that their music has aged very well, just like a vintage wine. For those of you who like groups taking the tradition further Chance or Design is a must. Easy Club are the Scottish equivalent of Pentangle, and it is a great to loss they only made one more album after this. Very highly recommended.
Find out about the full history of Easy Club.
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