In this review I look at not one but three albums released by Mustard's Retreat in 2005. I first discovered Mustard's Retreat back in 1993 and I should have 2 other albums, Back To Back and A Resolution of Something in my library, but one of my friends borrowed them and they haven't been returned yet -- always a sign there is something good or special about an album.

Mustard's Retreat, duo David Tamulevich and Michael Hough, are based around Michigan, USA, and have been performing for over 30 years. After listening to these three albums, it's clear they have steadfastly stuck to their guns, writing and performing top class contemporary American folk songs. For the benefit of the uninitiated on this side of the pond, if you have never heard Mustard's Retreat, if you are a fan of James Keelaghan, The Kennedys, Paxton, Lightfoot, or here in the UK maybe The John Wright Band, you are sure to like Mustards Retreat and more so.

Mustard's Retreat's The First Album Plus is just that: a re-release of the first album on vinyl made in 1979 but remixed in 1985 for cassette. There were 10 tracks on the original vinyl, and the plus comes from 6 more tracks added to the CD version. All told this is a great CD and a 'must buy'. It has the original recording of 'The Ballad of the Crafty Lady' and if ever any one song was going to catapult them to fame, it was this one, receiving a lot of air play on country radio stations. In 1980, its story of truckers on a CB radio was magnetic. One of the other tracks that was to make waves in folk circles is their haunting rendition of 'Shenandoah' (traditional). Of the six other "plus" tracks added to this album, making it good value for money, I have to single out 'Captains Song' as amongst my favourites. The last track on this album is 'Mustard¹s Retreat', the tune that the band took as its name.

Truly this is a great album, with 16 good songs. Often a band puts out its best creative work before they are famous, when they more hungry for it.

A Gathering of Moments is an apt title for this album, for it was born out of what or was not put on a previous album called A Resolution of Something, recorded at a time they simply had too much material for one album. The tracks were recorded over several years. Realizing that they were simply too good for the cutting room floor, they made the 12 tracks into a nice album. If you already have A Resolution of Something in your collection you may want to have this album, just to see what you have missed. I found the album slightly mellower in its content compared to other Mustard's Retreat albums. Seven of the tracks are instrumentals and these are interspersed for the most part with gentler love songs of one sort or another, except 'The Night Goes Forever', whose lyrics were written by a group of students in a song-writing workshop held at Harbor Springs High School, MI. It is probably the best song on the album, and it is interesting how a collection of minds can come up with something great. You know who you are, guys. Well done.

Mustard's Retreat MR7, as the title suggests is the seventh album. On this album they are joined on several tracks by Pete and Maura Kennedy (The Kennedys), along with guest musicians Danny Cox on drums, Tyler Duncan on Uillean pipes, Alan Finkberiner on percussion, Jermy Kittel on fiddle, Karrie Potter on vocal octave mandolin and piano, Joel Mabus on mandolin, Mark Braun on piano, Pete Ruth on harmonica, Jim Bizer on lead guitar, and the Yellow Room Gang for vocal harmonies.

Once again, most of the songs are written by David and Michael, the exceptions being 'Harvest Moon' by Chris and Meredith Thompson and 'Threnody', a poem by Dorothy Parker set to music by David, and '(I'm Singing) State Of Mine' by Jay Stielstra.

The input from Pete and Maura Kennedy is the strongest; demonstrated by the arrangement of the first song 'You Won¹t Know Me'. The song originally appears on the first album. However, I think I like this arrangement best. It's simpler yet stronger. It's hard to pick out a favourite track from this album for they are all good, but 'When the Moon Howls and the Wolves are Still' stands out for special mention; it's a good song, and the Uilleann piping give it a Celtic feel. Another standout, 'Strawberry Joan', is about the mystery of reading a palm; it stands out for its story line and musical arrangement.

There are 15 songs on this album and it ends with a superb folk anthem called '(Ours Is) A Simple Faith', a song about common sense not organized religion, and is sure to be picked up and sung in folk clubs throughout the world. It is a pity it only has two verses and the first verse is sung as a chorus.

So there you have it, in my opinion three superb albums with some cracking songs that I am not going to lend to anybody. Go out and buy your own! I refuse to be drawn in and say which one album is the best. You need all three. What's more you can buy them online at their Web site.

You lucky people!