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Album Reviews Music to do John Barleycorn proud

WILL STONE reviews albums by Daniel and Emma Reid, Fairport Convention, and Clannad

Daniel and Emma Reid
Life Continuum
(danielemma.se)
★★★

THIS plaintive collection of folk songs draws on both the British and Scandinavian tradition — Daniel and Emma Reid reside in Sweden — and, at moments evoking pastoral landscapes, Continuum is almost entirely instrumental.

Exceptions are the softly sung lullaby Golden Slumbers, a tune they honed while putting their two children to sleep, and Keep You In Peace, inspired by a Celtic blessing. Polska Fran Morko is their take on a traditional tune not far from where they live and Ensamheten (Loneliness) captures the feeling of isolation it no doubt sets out to evoke.

Most fascinating is the duo’s distinctive sound, with the pairing of fiddle and saxophone — an instrument more associated with jazz — lending it an almost cinematic feel. Indeed the album, their third, is inspired by a theatre piece about the endless cycle of birth, ageing, dying and rebirth, a subject to do John Barleycorn proud.

 

Fairport Convention
What We Did On Our Saturday Night
(Matty Grooves)
★★★

ANOTHER Fairport Convention live album is perhaps not what even their most avid fans need. That said, the legendary group turned 50 last year — no mean feat — and this two-disc collection is the surviving document of their live show at Fairport’s Cropredy festival in 2017 to mark their anniversary.

And an impressive set it is too, including a cover of Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne, the beautiful Sandy Denny track Who Knows Where the Time Goes and their most famous tune Matty Groves.

Celebrating their heritage in style, the show features a merry-go-round of past members including, from their original line-up, guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nichol as well as bassist Ashley Hutchings. Also joining are Iain Matthews and Judy Dyble, who had been in place by the time the band released their self-titled debut album in 1968.

But, like all live albums, you really had to be there.

 

Clannad
Turas 1980
(Mig)
★★★

RESURRECTED from a pivotal era in Clannad’s rich history, this live recording from a show in Bremen in 1980 documents the stage before the Irish folk-rock band were to enjoy a decade of chart success and stardom.

From humble origins in a Donegal pub a decade earlier, the group, made up of a sister, two brothers and two uncles, were by the 1980s creating theme tunes for film and television. For a short time they were joined by sister Enya and both she and bandleader Moya Brennan have enjoyed successful solo careers since then.

Many of Clannad’s songs are inspired by stories told to them by locals during their travels in Ireland and featured here are Paddy’s Rambles Through The Fields, about a man who follows an enchanting tune that can always be heard one field away from him and The Yellow Bittern, the tale of a thirsty bird and a drunk poet.

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