Occasionals, Reel Of Four (Greentrax, 2004)
Tulca mor , Into The Night (Own label. 2004)
Cara, In Colour (Artes Records, 2004)
This omnibus is generally entitled 'Celtic bands from everywhere' because like the promotional blurb for 'Ronseal' (A UK brand of timber undercoat) -- 'It does exactly what it says on the tin'. Here we have music from Scotland, Australia, and Germany, all bearing the Celtic logo of some description or other.
The Occasionals are a Scottish Ceilidh band as opposed to an Irish Ceili band. There lies the subtle difference linguistically but both are essentially public dance gatherings. Reel of Four, their latest album from Greentrax purveys a choice selection of Scottish Ceilidh and social dancing tunes. It features four well-known names: Freeland Barbour -- ex Silly Wizard accordionist, fiddler Ian Hardie, Kevin Macleod on electric tenor banjo, tenor guitars, bouzouki and mandolin, and Gus Millar on drums. The basic line up of box, fiddle, banjo and drums keeps the dance band style in order but guitars and small pipes creep into the mélange also betimes and adding considerably to the quality of the music and the variety of the arrangements. The selection features familiar Scottish dance sets like Military Two-steps, Gay Gordons, Waltzes, Highland Schottisches and more. They credit the type of dance and origin, which is worthwhile from an information point of view. The ensemble playing is tight, fine-tuned and lively. Reel of Four is an unpretentious Scottish Ceilidh dance album played by experts in their collective field -- recommended.
Tulca mor 's second album Into The Night sees this Australian band playing Irish music with some local songs and original tunes. They play in a nice uncluttered style -- no flash, or hyper-speed, just good music well played and arranged. Production is spacious and clear with instruments and vocals breathing in syncopation and harmony, and the result recalls Altan in places, especially on 'Willie Coleman's'. Accordionist Claire Fitzpatrick and fiddler Fed Graham are both adroit instrumentalists and Steve Cook's bouzouki and guitarist Andrew Heath back up complimentarily. Jenny Fitzgibbon's voice fits into the equation like a glove and her readings of The Widow's Lament and the 7-minute epic Ronald Ryan both composed by Mark Cryle echo as standout performances and she injects Richard Thompson's Galway to Graceland with a fresh poignancy. Into The Night is a uplifting, enjoyable,and noteworthy -- all that a good Celtic album ought to be.
Cara's In Colour introduces a German band playing Irish music and original material, fettering multi-instrumentalist Gudrun Walther of More Maids fame. The others are in domestic Celtic outfits including Dereelium, Steampacket and more. Musically they are solid enough with a Lunasa-sounding outcome betimes, especially with flute and fiddle as the frontline, supplemented by guitar and bass. Hints of The Bothy Band also creep in at times. Claus Steinhort's concertina adds some pleasing moments on 'The Skippy Jigs' and the harmony vocals between Gudrun Walther and fellow singer Sandra Gunkel are quite pleasant, especially on the Kate Rusby/Kathryn Roberts-influenced opener 'The King and the Fair Maid' and 'Three Ravens', the latter subject to a hunting treatment. Much of their material is self-penned including 'Buddeja', a very beguiling set composed by Sandra Gunkel, and Jurgen Treyz's Balkan influenced 'And off he went'. Cara's sound is melodic, attractive and their musicianship highly accomplished. In Colour is a very fine debut album promising much for the future.
Musically the results are very pleasing and this selection of diverse releases upkeeps the Ronseal blurb- 'It does exactly what it says on the tin'. This is quality modern Celtic music fair and square.
