This is the second disc by Legacy; their first, Bamboozled crossed my path a few months ago, but was already a few years old at the time, whereas this disc is fresh out of the pressing plant. As I noted in my previous review, the fiddle position in the new line up is occupied by Tim Cotterell, after Jules Bell received a free transfer.
As opposed to Bamboozle, this is an EP (surely a misnomer if ever there was one - - a better term would be SP, as in 'shortened play') which plays for a comparatively lengthy 29 minutes. As there are only five tracks on this disc, one can do the math and calculate that there are some long tracks to be heard (the lengthiest, "Bonnie Ship/Launching" runs for seven and a half minutes). I would have preferred more songs, at a shorter length.
Whilst there are many good moments on this disc, there are also mistakes made, such as the extensive length of each song. Although sometimes the phrase "get a producer!" is touted as a panacea, I think that in the case of Legacy an outside pair of ears would do a great deal of good. For example, take the second song, "Stretched": this features a fine jazzy flute solo over the verse structure. The initial phrases are a joy to hear, but unfortunately the entire solo stretches over three verses, during which its effect weakens and dissipates. A producer would have shortened the solo and cut out the extraneous bridge sections between verses; a cosmetic surgeon would have nipped and tucked until the final result would have been an object of beauty.
There are times when Legacy's sound approaches that of Lunasa, without the uillean pipes, of course: the percussive guitar of Paul Burgess, jazzy flute of Clare Sanders and princely violin of Tim Cotterell all have their counterparts in the Irish group. But where Lunasa know to keep the sound taut, Legacy tend to stretch out with less impressive results.
Two tracks from this disc, the aforementioned "Bonnie Ship/Launching" and "Mountain Road", recorded in Ireland with special guests, are available for download in mp3 format from Legacy's Web site , so readers can form their own opinion.
I'm not too sure that these are the best choices; the opening instrumental track, "Rob Roy/Cup Of Tea", canters along at an impressive pace and shows Legacy in a better light than "Mountain Road." I also would have preferred "Stretched" to "Bonnie Ship," displaying Clare Sanders' voice, as opposed to percussionist Mal Simms' gruff rendition. The eponymous "Factory Girl" is another Sanders vocal, but I found this less impressive than "Stretched."
I feel a definite closeness to Legacy, maybe because of Paul Burgess' guitar playing, which is in a style which I like (I play like him, to give the ultimate compliment), and so I wish them much success. In my humble opinion, the way to do this is to tighten the songs and so give more bang for the buck. In the meantime, Factory Girl is more than all right, but they can and will do better.
