Full Frontal Folk, Storming The Castle (self-released,
2002)
John Leeder, Fresh Forest Breeze (self-released,
2001)
Here are two self-released CDs which are part Folk and part
Celtic -- and more! Full Frontal Folk is four women from Pennsylvania who
harmonize, weave melodies and pose discretely nude on the front cover of Storming
The Castle. Though the album is manufactured from the same lowly CDR that
I use to rerecord my Kimmo Pohjonen accordion bootlegs, the music itself,
like Kimmo's, is very nicely performed and produced, and quite a pleasure
to listen to! The traditional and cover songs, backed by the many acoustic
instruments, include twang (Steve Young's "Seven Bridges Road"), American
trad (the a capella "Wayfaring Stranger"), Celtic (a serving of "Colcannon"
with light bodhran), and more. Full Frontal Folk sings Andy Irvine's pretty
Balkan "Blood and Gold," the second version I've heard on a new release within
the past couple weeks. And can't you just hear the Ulyssean convicts dragging
their chains on "Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby"!! The gals' voices contrast
quite a bit, one gritty, one like a little bird, and the other two in the
middle, and the arrangements differ too. All the genres and voices and arrangements
make for a fresh and captivating variety, and the Frontals do really sing
and play well!
Five-string banjo player John Leeder is from Calgary, Alberta. Friends and
family from The Buccaneers, Gan
Ainm, and The Sunday Night Band join him on Fresh Forest Breeze, a folky
acoustic album with Celtic songs and some very Canadian originals. It's always
great to pick up a new traditional song, and "The Jam On Jerry's Rock, "is one
I have never heard. Interestingly this song is one very similar to Slaid Cleaves'
"Sandy Grey," but I suppose these log jam disasters are all fairly similar.
The peppy banjo tune, "La Bastrique/Ragtime Annie" is fun, and Leeder has some
nice nuevo-traditional tales here, several of which are transportation inspired.
"Painting Over the N.A.R. is about the Northern Alberta Railway being sold to
the government and delocalized. Another, written in 1976, is about the haphazardness
of travel in the early days of "The Hudson Bay Line" I rode to Hudson's Bay
in the '80s; the train backed up 10 miles to Churchill because the drunken cook
had threatened a traveler with a butcher knife! Leeder puts words and tunes
together well, but his voice isn't very strong and sometimes not in tune; he
sings best when the tempo is quick and he is close to talking. It's a problem,
but as they say, folk is music by and for real people!
[Judith
Gennett]
Full Frontal Folk can be found storming castles here.
Wendy Fuhr plays in So's Your Mom as well in
FFF, and you can find album reviews here.
John Leeder should be in this Web
forest but it doesn't seem to be
there. You might use his e-mail
