I have to confess, up to now I have never been a great fan of harpists, if only because I have never paid them much attention. On the few occasions I have encountered a harpist playing and singing at a folk club, their repertoire has been somewhat dull or limited. However after listening to this album I am changing my opinion. Jenny Crook is a master musician. I seem to remember her as a runner up in the finals for the BBC Young Musician of the Year award in 1993. Henry Sears is of course another master multi-instrumentalist, playing the fiddle, low D whistle, mandolin and viola. Both Jenny and Henry have been members of the quartet Madigan since about 1997.

Jenny provides the lead vocals and plays the Celtic Harp. I have to say that when the CD arrived I looked at the cover and saw the harp and with the aid of my magnifying glass briefly read the cover notes, then put the CD down to play it later. When I did put play it I was immediately blown away by the sheer artistry of their musicianship. Nowhere in my wildest dreams could I imagine a harp and violin or low whistle blending so well. I was very impressed and could only detect some over dubbing on 3 tracks.

There are 12 tracks on the album and most of them are tunes in one form or another. Four of the tracks were written by Jenny. Two of them are traditional favourites: 'Mary and The Soldier' and 'Ten Thousand Miles'. The other two caught my attention as Jenny and Henry wrote them. The first is 'Under The Moon', a cheeky little traditional-sounding song in which a young maiden is persuaded (with the promise of marriage) by a Dragoon soldier to dance naked by moonlight! Err…you can guess the rest. 'The Footpath To Farliegh' is also a nice simple song, on a similar theme as 'Claudy Banks' and many other lost love or broken token ballads.

One track haunted me for a while because I could not make up my mind where I had heard it before: 'An Raibh tu ag an yCarraig', a slow Irish air. I know it isn't, but it carries a strong resemblance to the theme tune written by James Horner, as the eerie ghostly tune from the sound track of the film Titanic, especially at the end when Rose as an old woman drops the diamond over the side of the ship and re-lives her old memories of the ship. Listen to it, see what you think.

The only thing I found annoying about this album, is the size of the font used on the back and inset cover notes. When set against the orange photos it is very difficult to read. But this is an album well worth having. It may even turn out to be a classic folk album and much sought after by collectors in years to come.

[Peter Massey]