Connie Converse "One By One"

Colour Green: The Story Of Sibylle Baier.

For quite a few years now I have been bored with the modern music scene. It is very rare that I hear any new music these days that interests me. What I like to do is to look back to the past and find music that was overlooked at the time and is only now being discovered. People who fit into this category that I have written about previously include the likes of Karen Dalton, Anne Briggs, Vashti Bunyan, Linda Perhacs and Shelagh McDonald. You will notice that all the people I have mentioned are female singers. Maybe the reason that a lot of great female singers disappeared from sight is that they weren't so concerned about the trappings of fame and fortune as male singers or maybe in a male-dominated industry where hustle is the name of the game they just didn't get the support or couldn't be bothered to compete.

 Anyway, I recently discovered another fabulous female singer who I want to tell you about. I found her on youtube whilst looking for something else and I listened to one song which I thought was great, and on the strength of that I ordered her album called Colour Green. Her name is Sibylle Baier. As soon as I put the CD in the music machine in my kitchen I knew I had stumbled across something quite wonderful. The sound of her voice is so intimate and crystal clear that you would almost think she was there in the room. Her restrained guitar playing in the background is just perfect. I immediately thought of the early Leonard Cohen albums as a comparison. Sibylle is German but to me she doesn't sound as Germanic as the only other female German singer that I am familiar with which is Nico. Sibylle's english like most German people I know is perfect. I looked on the Allmusic site to find out more about this album and words they used to describe it include calm/peaceful, dreamy, insular,light, springlike, sweet, wistful, delicate, gentle, intimate, bittersweet, earnest, melancholy, poignant and reflective. I couldn't agree more and that has saved me having to think up my own adjectives. It is a rainy Monday afternoon as I am writing this story and listening to the album and I must say it is perfect rainy day music. I won't discuss the whole album song by song but I have put one song below for you to listen to.

 I haven't been able to find out much biographical information about Sibylle. All I know is that she was born in Germany in 1950. As well as singing she was also an actress and was discovered by film director Wim Wenders and she had a major role in his road film Alice In The Cities. Between 1970 and 1973 she recorded some of her songs at home on a reel to reel tape recorder. She lost interest in acting and singing and gave it all up to concentrate on bringing up her children. Thirty years after she made the tapes her son Robby discovered them and made cd's for family and friends. He also gave a copy to J Mascis of the band Dinosaur Jr. He realized what great music it was and passed it on to Orange Twin Records who released the album in 2006. Since then Sibylle's reputation as one of the great singer-songwriters has steadily grown although apparently she can't understand what all the fuss is about. There is an interesting footnote to the story. In 2008 Wim Wenders who hadn't heard from her in decades was in a record shop and was astonished to find an album by Sibylle Baier. He contacted her and asked her to write a song for his film Palermo Shooting which she did. Since then though nothing else has been heard from her so I don't think she has any intention of singing again. We will have to be content with her one brilliant album which is Colour Green.       

Sibylle Baier - Tonight

Review: Kate Rusby's Christmas Show At Bath Forum 5/12/2015

Storm Desmond was battering Britain on Saturday evening as I headed for the Railway Station where I met my friend Dave. Luckily there was no travel disruption in our area and we caught the 17.46 train for the short journey to Bath. The city was bustling with Christmas shoppers as we made our way to the pub for a pre-show drink. The Lion & Lamb was so crowded it was impossible to get to the bar and we gave up and left. All this bustling was getting on my nerves. We tried another pub called The Cork and managed to get served and sat outside. The wind had died down and it was very mild weather so I cheered up. Then it was time to go to the Forum.
                                                                                         The show was about fifteen minutes late starting because of the traffic chaos causing delays. They decided to give everyone a chance to take their seats. Finally Kate and her band took the stage. She looked great in her sparkly dress. Kate said jokingly that she was trying to look like a human mirror-ball. The first song was called Bradfield. I think in Yorkshire the various versions of Christmas carols are named after the places where they originated. Apart from Yorkshire the other area of the country that has the tradition of wassailing at Christmas time is Cornwall so the second song was called The Cornish Wassailing Song. The next song was Hark, Hark, What News?. This was really good and then Kate introduced her band who are Arran Jones, Nick Cook, Duncan Lyle, Stevie Iveson, and her husband Damian O'Kane.

I hope I have got everyone's name right. Then they sang Little Jack Frost which is a song that Kate wrote for an animated film which I think is on the telly this Christmas so I will have to look out for that. As I Sat On A Sunny Bank  was next and is another song from Cornwall. Kris Kringle was the next song and featured Gary Wyatt on trumpet. As well as her regular band the Christmas show features a brass section. When they are playing there are eleven musicians on stage. There is no expense spared with Kate. It must cost a fortune to keep this show on the road so you have to admire her for that. Cranbrook  was next sung to the tune of  On Ilkley Moor Ba Tat. Kate informed us that Cranbrook is actually in Kent so the Yorkshire national anthem originated in Kent. It is very educational going to a Kate Rusby concert. The first half ended with a fabulous rendition of  Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem. The brass section on this song were absolutely wonderful.

                                   
  During the interval I met someone I knew from Westbury called Norman who was working there on security and I asked him if he could inquire for me with the manager if I could have the large poster from outside. I didn't hold out much hope of getting it though. I bought a t-shirt at the merchandise stall and returned to my seat.
                                                                                  The first song of the second half was called The Frost Is All Over which is the title track of Kate's new Christmas album and is great. Kate said she was inspired to write it after taking her dog Doris for a walk on Christmas Day last year. Here We Come A Wassailing was next followed by The Dilly Carol which is sung to the tune of Green Grow The Rushes O'.  Mount Lyngham was next which is a mixture of two versions of While Shepard's Watched Their Flocks By Night. Kate then had a break and left us in the capable hands of the boys in the band who performed three tunes called I think Swonk Fing, The God Daughter and Castlerock Road which I think is in Coleraine where two of the band come from. Kate then returned and sang the brilliant To Drive The Cold Winter Away which was followed by her equally great version of Walking In A Winter Wonderland. I really enjoyed Sweet Bells as well from her previous Christmas album which I bought last year after seeing her Christmas show in 2014. If you scroll down I have put a video of this song below which I found on youtube. All the band and Kate took a bow and left the stage but soon returned for an encore. I had put my notebook away and I know they did The Holly And The Ivy which was great but I can't remember what the very last song was.

         In the foyer on the way out we met Norman again who gave me the poster. Good old Norman. That deserves a pint next time I see him. I'll get that poster framed and put on my living room wall as a great souvenir of a really good night out. Thank you very much Kate Rusby, the band, the brass section, the sound man, all the crew and the Bath Forum for a memorable show.

Kate Rusby - Sweet Bells

Review: Rhiannah Warm & Tony Floyd Kenna, Live And Acoustic.

I met Rhiannah Warm in Belfast at the end of August when she and her friend Christine Robinson kindly gave me a lift from Van Morrison’s concert on Cyprus Avenue to the post-gig party at the Park Avenue Hotel. I knew Rhiannah was a musician so a few days later out of curiosity I looked on youtube and found a video of her and her friends playing in O’Donaghues in Dublin in the very seats where I had been sitting just a few days before. I liked what I heard and recently Rhiannah told me they had a new CD coming out so I ordered a copy which arrived two days ago. I must say it is a most enjoyable CD as well. On opening the package the first thing I thought was that I really liked the artwork by John A Rubery which is very attractive. The sleeve notes tell us that the album was recorded live at Ram Alley Studio in Belfast in September. There is practically no post-production so I would imagine that this is exactly how they would sound if you heard them live in a club.

The first track is called Light And Shade and written by Tony. He is an excellent guitarist and sings the lead vocals on this track. I am pleased to say that all the songs on this album are original. There are no cover versions which shows how clever they are. The next song was a collaboration of Rhiannah & Tony called My Bones Belong In This Place which demonstrates what a good vocalist Rhiannah is. The following song Cold Lonely Nights was written by Rhiannah and is one of my favourite songs on the album. It is quite up-tempo and driven along by Tony’s guitar work. The next four songs were all written by Tony. The first of which is Suzanne Vega’s Eyes. Tony sings this one and the lyrics are quite humorous. Rhiannah’s vocals are very soulful on the next track, My Man Blues. Her bluesy voice also excels on All The Colours which to begin with reminded me of ‘Motherless Child’. It is a complete change of mood when Tony takes the lead on Bought And Sold. The quite angry social commentary of the lyrics show what a good songwriter he is. The next track was written by Warm/ Cunningham and shows that like Van the man Rhiannah can sing any genre of music with the country flavoured Texas Plates. This is a very enjoyable pop song and probably the most immediately accessible song on the album. The final song is their homage to Belfast written by Kenna/Mannah McMeeken called Belfast, City Of Life which ends the album on a very optimistic high note.

I must say I have really enjoyed listening to this music on a dark rainy Saturday afternoon and if you ever get the chance to see Rhiannah Warm & Tony Floyd Kenna at a folk club or a festival then I urge you to go along. I certainly would.

You can visit Rhiannah & Tony's Facebook page here-
https://www.facebook.com/Tony-Floyd-Kenna-Rhiannah-Warm

To order the album you can contact them on Facebook or visit the website here-

https://tonyrhiannahbluesrock.wordpress.com/

                          

Review: Glastonbury Abbey Extravaganza 2015

The annual extravaganza at Glastonbury Abbey was a huge success despite the disappointment of the non-appearance of Joan Armatrading. I think this is the 19th year that the great Michael Eavis has organised this event in the ancient setting of the abbey grounds. This is the 5th time I have been since 1999 when Michael was kind enough to send Kim and I two free tickets to see The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra play here.

 This year I went with my friends Chris, Chrissie and Sasha. It was a beautiful summers evening when we arrived. Already there were about 15,000 people there enjoying picnics in the sunshine.It seemed even busier than the crowd for Robert Plant last year. We had to walk all the way across to the far side until we found a nice spot with a good view of the stage. When we arrived there was already a band on-stage called 'The Drystones' who had been drafted in at the last minute because Joan Armatrading had pulled out due to acute Laryngitis. It will be interesting to see if she makes her next gig in Scotland on Tuesday. The Drystones are a local folk group and the crowd seemed to quite enjoy them. The most memorable song for me was their version of Plastic Bertrand's 'Ca Plane Pour Moi'.

  We tucked into our picnic after that. As usual we had brought far too much food so I will be living off picnic food for the next few days. We had also brought copious amounts of wine, cider and beer. The next band on were 'The Shires'. They are an English country duo of Ben Earle & Crissie Rhodes. After only one album they have attracted a lot of attention and are the first English Country band to be signed by a major Nashville label. I though they were quite pleasant but compared to other Americana influenced bands such as 'First Aid Kit' I don't think they are that great. The most memorable songs for me were their versions of 'Dreams' by Fleetwood Mac and 'Islands In The Stream' by Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton.

           It was up to Ray Davies and his band to make the night really memorable and I must say he was on great form and delivered a brilliant set of songs which included 'I'm Not Like Everybody Else', 'Tired Of Waiting For You', 'Sunny Afternoon', 'Dedicated Follower Of Fashion','Dead End Street', 'Victoria/20th Century Man', 'Till The End Of The Day', 'Misfits', 'Come Dancing', 'Long Way From Home',' Rock N Roll Cowboys', 'Oklahoma USA', 'All Day And All Of The Night', 'Days', 'Waterloo Sunset' , 'Lola' and 'You Really Got Me'.  I think there were a few other songs as well but I didn't know what they were called. I was a bit disappointed that he didn't do Village Green Preservation Society but there can be no doubt that Ray Davies is one of the greatest songwriters in the history of British popular music. Easily up there with Lennon, McCartney, Jagger, Richards etc. He is 71 now so it was a privilege to see such a great artist performing so well.

                                                                   The evening ended with a spectacular fireworks display and then we packed our stuff up and headed homeward after a brilliant evening.   Thank you very much Michael Eavis for organising the event

and thank you to Ray Davies for a great show.

The Wild Children ( Born in 1945).

 We were the wild children born 1945

When all the soldiers came marching home
Love looks in their eye

Tennessee, Tennessee Williams
Let your inspiration flow
Let it be around when we hear the sound
When the spring time rivers flow, when the rivers flow

Rod Steiger and Marlon Brando
Standing with their heads bowed on the side
Crying like a baby thinking about the time
James Dean took that fatal ride, took that ride.

I'm going to two concerts in the next few months of artists who are celebrating their 70th birthday this year which means they were born in 1945. In May I am seeing the great Christy Moore in Bristol just three days after his birthday.and in August seeing Van Morrison play on Cyprus Avenue, Belfast on his actual birthday. Both these events will be memorable.

 I just looked on Wikipedia to see what other musicians were born in 1945 when the soldiers came marching home from war. The list is quite astounding. Stephen Stills, Rod Stewart, Bob Marley (R.I.P), Elkie Brooks,Arthur Lee of the group Love (R.I.P), Mickey Dolenz and Davy Jones (R.I.P) of The Monkees, Eric Clapton (Birthday today), Lowell George of Little Feat (R.I.P), Richie Blackmore and Ian Gillan of Deep Purple, Stu Cook, Doug Clifford and John Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival, Bjorn & Anni-Frid of ABBA, Hugh Hopper of Soft Machine (R.I.P), Tammi Terrell (R.I.P), Rita Coolidge, Bob Seger, Keith Jarrett, Pete Townshend, Gary Brooker of Procol Harum, Gladys Horton of The Marvellettes (R.I.P), Gordon Waller of Peter & Gordon, Benny Gallagher of Gallagher & Lyle, Carly Simon, Debbie Harry,Kim Carnes, John Lodge of The Moody Blues,Al Stewart, Pigpen of The Grateful Dead (R.I.P), Doug Ingle of Iron Butterfly,Jose Feliciano, Dee Dee Warwick, Bryan Ferry,Don McLean, Donny Hathaway (R.I.P),Brian Connolly of The Sweet (R.I.P), Melba Moore, Neil Young, John McVie, Bette Midler, Peter Criss of Kiss and Lemmy of Motorhead. If you know of any more let me know. I make that 45 well known musicians including a lot of legendary figures. I just looked at 1955 by way of comparison and I could only find about 12 musicians that I have heard of so I think 1945 must have been a vintage year for great musicians to be born.

                                                                        I don't know about any of those other musicians on that list but the only one that I can think of to celebrate in song the fact he was born in 1945 is Van Morrison in his song Wild Children on his seventh album, the very underrated  Hard Nose The Highway released in 1973. It also features on the greatest live album ever made called It's Too Late To Stop Now.I don't know if Van's dad was in the army during the war because he worked in the Harland And Wolff shipyard and was probably kept busy building ships but that is beside the point. Wild Children is probably my second favourite song on the Hard Nose album after Warm Love , (You can listen to the song below if you want) and is about the influences on the kids of 45 growing up in the 50's and the people who inspired them such as Marlon Brando and James Dean, films like On The Waterfront and the plays of Tennessee Williams. Anyway at the concert in Cyprus Avenue on Van's birthday I think as well as the song Cyprus Avenue he should include Wild Children in his set-list. I have never seen him perform it live so that would be great. Roll on August 31st!. 

                                                                     

Review: Village Pump Folk Festival 2015.

We had a great time at the Village Pump Folk Festival this year despite all the rain. This is what happened.
                                                                            My friends Jacky & Bill arrived at my house in Westbury on Wednesday and Thursday afternoon we loaded up the car and headed for the festival site which is only five minutes away. We collected our wrist-bands at the entrance and soon found Margaret, Wayne, Hannah, Sam, Ellen, Daisy and the one and only George. Hannah's brother Paul joined us on Saturday to complete our gang. As well as their tents they had also brought an event shelter which was great when it rained and was the envy of the camp-site. Lots of people asked where it came from and with a long table,lots of chairs and Sam's music machine we partied in there every night. The festival didn't officially start till Friday evening so after a couple of hours at the club house we chilled out most of the night back at camp. Outside the club-house though I got talking to a lady from Kent who was playing the violin in some band and it turned out that she is a good friend of Rob & Alison who were my mates on the litter-picking at Glastonbury. What a small world it is.

                                                                                       Friday morning I was rudely awaken by the sound of rain on my tent. Jacky, Bill & I went back to my house for breakfast and the rain got heavier. Apparently a months rain fell in one day on the Friday. We were in no mood to hurry back so we didn't return on-site till about 5.00. At about 7.00 I decided it was time to hear some live music so I wandered down to the White Horse Stage and caught some of  Jez Lowe  who I thought was really good. I discovered him years ago listening to Mike Harding's radio show.

Then on the main stage were a great band from Wales called Up The Creek. I suppose they could be described at Bluegrass music but they did some great cover versions of all sorts of genres of popular music. They are really nice people as well because we had a little chat with them later on. The Broonzies were on next and they are a super-group of legends from the folk world comprised of Jez Lowe, Rod Clements, Ian Thompson, Maggie Holland and Chris Parkinson. They were excellent. The last band I saw on the main stage on Friday night were Willie And The Bandits. I think they come from Cornwall and I find it very difficult to describe their music. Some of it sounded like progressive rock. I only listened to about twenty minutes of their set because I lost my friends after I went to get a pint. I found them again listening to Barbara Dickson at the White Horse Stage. I thought she was really good especially a song from the play Blood Brothers which she was in . After that the night was a bit of a blur. It stopped raining about 1.00 in the morning and we partied till about 2.30 listening to Van Morrison, Christy Moore, Dylan, Neil Young and lots of other stuff.

                                                                             Saturday was the best day. It was sunny all day long. We went back to mine and after breakfast Jacky & Bill went up to the White Horse for a while and I went to bed for a couple of hours and walked back to the site in the afternoon. I found all the gang up by the main stage. It was incredible after all the rain how quickly the ground dried out and you could actually sit on the grass and listen to the music. I can't remember who we were listening to on Saturday afternoon because we spent a lot of time outside chatting and telling jokes. I know Saturday evening I saw Polly Barrett on the White Horse stage who I had never heard of before. She comes from Cork and I thought she was great.

The Carrivick Sisters were really good as well. On the main stage we caught some of the Roving Crows, Show Of Hands who were excellent and recorded their set for a live album available only to the festival goers and Edward 11 a great reggae and folk influenced band. The last band I saw on Saturday were Treacherous Orchestra who are a Scottish band hard to define. I thought they were great at first and there is no doubt they got the crowd dancing but after a while I started to get a bit bored. Like the Peatbog Faeries last year, without songs as such it starts to sound a bit samey to me. I went back to camp and found my friends. One of the great things about Saturday had been meeting up with some local friends such as Andy & Alex and quite a few others.

                                                                                 The rain returned on Sunday but I really enjoyed the day. Jacky & Bill love walking so on Sunday afternoon I took them to Lake Shearwater and we had a nice walk round it. It was raining but we had all the wet-weather gear so it didn't matter and stopped off on the way back to site at a nice pub called the Angel Inn. That's the great thing about the Village Pump Festival if you don't want to be on site all the time there are lots of nice places to visit nearby.
                                                I got back in time to catch the end of a performance by Keith Christmas. He is a great singer-songwriter and guitarist who I have seen a few times now. I think Keith was the first act ever booked for the Village Pump Folk Club at the Lamb Pub in Trowbridge in 1970 so it is great to see him still going strong. I particularly liked the final song called 'If The Kids Won't March' which is a new song and shows Keith is still writing topical relevant songs. I'm looking forward to a new album soon from Keith.
                                                                                                                                                   At the main stage I just had time to hear some of a great set by a Welsh band called Calan. Then I dashed back to the White Horse Stage because I wanted to see two legends of folk music Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick. I have been a fan of Swarb' for about 45 years,ever since he joined Fairport Convention and he has survived some terrible health issues in recent years so it was great to see him still playing his violin and he still has his great sense of humour. I last saw Martin playing in a band called Imagined Village with his daughter Eliza at the Cheese and Grain in Frome a couple of years ago. I think their set was the musical highlight of the weekend for me.

 Later that evening we saw Jenna Witts followed by the Kelston Cobblers Club who were a last minute addition to the bill after the Strawbs had to pull out. They were great. Another great performance was The Oysterband  who really set the place alight. We went back to camp then to see what was going on but after a while me and Sam went out for another walk and caught some of Mad Dog McRea and finally ended up in the club house. I don't know who the band were but they were doing cover versions of all sorts of hits which had the place jumping. It was a great atmosphere.

                                                                                                                I crawled into my sleeping bag about 2.00 in the morning and next day we had the tents down and packed and left by about 9.00. It had been a brilliant weekend despite the rain. Thank you very much John Alderslade and all the team for all the hard work in creating such a great festival for us all to enjoy. Long may it continue. See you next year !

Review: Emmylou Harris And Rodney Crowell, Colston Hall Bristol July 12th 2015.

It was 1975 when I first bought the album 'Pieces Of The Sky' by Emmylou Harris and fell in love with her pure crystalline voice. Another reason I liked her was she was really nice looking. (I got into Linda Ronstadt at about the same time for the same reason !) In all the 40 years since I had never seen Emmylou play live so I was really looking forward to Sunday's concert. I took my friend Jacquie along with me. I didn't know much at all about Rodney Crowell except that he wrote  'Till I Gain Control Again'  which is my favourite song on Van Morrison's Pay The Devil album. They had played in Spain the night before so they must have been tired but Emmylou, Rodney and their excellent band were all on fine form. Here is the setlist but please let me know if I have made any omissions or mistakes.
'Just Wanna See You So Bad'. ( Written by Lucinda Williams)
'Return Of The Grievous Angel'  ( I first heard this on a Gram Parson's album about 42 years ago which my friend Fred had. Gram co-wrote this song with Emmylou I think. Really nice pedal steel guitar on this one.)
'Pancho And Lefty'  ( Written by Townes Van Zandt)
'Till I Gain Control Again'  ( Sung by Rodney)
'If You Needed Me' ( Also written by Townes Van Zandt I think. Really nice accordion playing on this song)
'Invitation To The Blues' ( A Roger Miller song)
'Red Dirt Girl'  ( Emmylou at her best)
'The Houston Kid' ( Rodney sings one of his own songs)
'Love Hurts'  ( Brilliant classic song)
'Back When We Were Beautiful' ( Wonderful song from one of their duets albums)
'Bring It On Home To Memphis' ( Another great duet)
'Travelling Kind' ( I think they said this was written by Cory Chisel)
'You Can't Say We Didn't Try'  
'The Weight Of The World' ( Really nice keyboard playing on this song)
'Chase The Feeling' ( I think this is a Kris Kristofferson song)
'Dreaming My Dreams' 
'Tulsa Queen'
'Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight' ( Accordion gives this song a nice Cajun feel)
'We Are Counting The Stars'
'Old Yellow Moon' ( One of the highlights for me, a really nice duet)
Encore.
'Stars On The Water'
'Even Cowgirls Get The Blues' 
'Boulder To Birmingham' ( Fabulous song, my all time favourite Emmylou song which she wrote in the aftermath of the death of Gram Parsons)

                                                                         I think I might have missed a couple of songs where I didn't know the title of the song so didn't write anything down. A big hand for Emmylou, Rodney, their excellent band and especially the road crew for getting the show from Spain to Bristol. What a great night it was.

Review: Christy Moore At Glastonbury 2015

I have been going to Glastonbury Festival since 1979 but I must say that Glasto 2015 rates among the best festivals I have ever attended for many reasons. The highlight for me was seeing His Holiness The Dalai Lama twice in one day, once in the Peace Garden in the Sacred Space and later on the Pyramid Stage with the great Patti Smith. Musically one of my absolute favourite performances was seeing Christy Moore when he headlined on the Acoustic Stage on Friday night.  It had been a long day. I awoke at 4.30 to begin work on the litter-picking team at 6.00. We finished work at 12.00 and in the afternoon I managed to see Red Sky July, Stornaway and Duke Special and a little bit of JD McPherson and walking back to base caught a little bit of Motorhead's set.

 Like Christy, Lemmy of Motorhead is 70 this year, quite amazing really. After dinner in the recyclers restaurant I fell asleep in my tent so I would be fit for the evening. When I awoke, "Oh no", it was 9.00. I pulled on my wellingtons and marched down Muddy Lane and turned left heading for the Acoustic Stage. All The Proclaimers fans were leaving. I was disappointed because I had hoped to catch some of their set because my friend Dave had given me a copy of their recent album. However, it did allow me to walk up the side of the audience right to the front and then weedle my way into the centre right on the front barrier. 

This is the nearest I have ever been to Christy when he is singing live. While waiting for Christy to begin I got chatting to a lady who lives in Glastonbury town and I told her that I would write a review, so I hope she likes this. As in Bristol a few weeks ago Christy was assisted by Declan Sinnott on guitar,Jimmy Higgins on percussion and Vicky Keating on backing vocals. Being this near the front I was able to see Jimmy's deft work at close quarters for the first time but I sometimes think maybe Vicky's vocals could be turned up a smidgen in the mix. Declan who I occasionally think looks a bit serious was beaming all over his face tonight and Christy obviously loves Glastonbury and seemed really pleased to be back. The stewards at the front held up signs saying 'No Flash Photography Please' so I had to respect that request. The performance began with A Pair Of Brown Eyes' which was great and made me think how nice it would be if Shane McGowan would return to Glastonbury one day. The City Of Chicago was next and was followed by Ride On which the audience sang along with. "You're singing well", said Christy.

  McIlhatton was next, and then Yellow Furze Woman in which I was really impressed with  Declan's great electric guitar playing. Natalie Merchant's beautiful song Motherland followed. The next song was a highlight for me. It was Ewan McColl's Go,Move,Shift. Christy introduced it by saying that this was his fifth Glastonbury and his second was 1985 which coincided with the notorious Battle Of The Bean-field exactly 30 years ago which happened right here in Wiltshire. After the coal miners strike Thatcher was obsessed with 'The Enemy Within' and gave the nod to the police to brutally attack a convoy of New Age Travellers who were trying to get to Stonehenge to celebrate the Summer Solstice. Their vehicles were diverted into a field and then the police went on the rampage. I remember it vividly. There were many low points of Thatcher's regime and that was one of them. It showed to me what a great memory and awareness of the history of Glastonbury that Christy has. The next song was also by Ewan McColl which is the one he wrote to win back Peggy Seeger The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face. Next up was Missing You and at the end Christy said, "I'm Missing You Baby" which I found quite moving.  Somebody in the audience shouted out a request for Joxer Goes To Stuttgart and Christy said "Joxer will be here in about half an hour, he is backstage with Kanye West having the craic", which was hilarious. 

The great Spanish Civil War song Viva La Quinte Brigade followed which the crowd really enjoyed and Christy said, "This is the biggest Folk Club I've ever played in !". North And South Of The River followed and then Christy said he would like to sing a Scottish song as a tribute to The Proclaimers which was Black Is The Colour Of My True Loves Hair by the late Hamish Imlach. Declan's acoustic guitar was quite outstanding on this one. The audience loved the sing-along Don't Forget Your Shovel. Christy then asked Declan to sing a song which I hope is called Little Light Box. Christy then played the bodran and sang Well Below The Valley which took me right back to seeing him sing this song on the Pyramid Stage in the 1980's. Jackson Browne's great Before The Deluge was next, but today I think it was after the deluge because we had two hours rain earlier in the afternoon, but the weather was great for the rest of the festival. Declan and Jimmy were both outstanding on this song. Ordinary Man and the very profound Yellow Triangle  followed and then Richard Thompson's fabulous Beeswing.

Another sign of Christy's great generosity and humility is that he tells the audience who wrote the songs. A lot of performers don't give the songwriters the credit. I knew that the show was coming to an end when Joxer Goes To Stuttgart finally appeared and the crowd went wild. Some of them were sitting on their friends shoulders and singing along. Christy and his three companeros all took a bow, but I knew he still had a couple of tricks up his sleeve and sure enough they returned for the classic Nancy Spain and finally the best song ever written in celebration of a festival Lisdoonvarna. All four took another bow and left the stage in triumph with the applause ringing in their ears. As I trudged back up the hill I could hear Florence And The Machine playing in the distance but I wasn't interested. Back at base I sat around the camp fire drinking cider and telling jokes with my camp-fire mates and finally crawled into my rancid sleeping bag at 12.30. It had been a 20 hour day and another epic day at Glastonbury was only 4 hours away. Thank you very much Christy Moore for making Friday night so memorable.     
                                                                                                           
                   

Review: Christy Moore & Declan Sinnott. Colston Hall Bristol 10/5/2015

I saw the great Christy Moore again on Sunday night. I went with my friends Jacquie, Pat, Smithy, Judy and Sian. Christy came on stage at the Colston Hall at 7.30. As usual he was accompanied on guitar by Declan Sinnott. To help out he also had Jimmy Higgins on percussion and Vicki Keating on backing vocals. I had never seen Vicki before so that was a nice addition. The show began with Jackson Browne's great song Before The Deluge  Christy is a great interpreter of other peoples songs as he proved with the next one which was Richard Thompson's beeswing. Jimmy Macarthy's Missing You followed and then the very moving On Morecambe Bay written by Kevin Littlewood. I think Smithy would have really enjoyed this one as it is part of his own repertoire. Christy started singing I'm A Bogman next but it all went wrong and he said to Declan "I'm making a balls of this one", much to the amusement of the audience. This changed into Motherland from his 2003 album Burning Times which was written by Natalie Merchant.

Then Christy paid tribute to the great Ewan McColl whose 100th anniversary is this year with three songs Go, Move, Shift,The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face and Companeros. Just what I needed after the election results. City Of Chicago and Shane McGowan's A Pair Of Brown Eyes were followed by a John Spillane song but I don't know how to spell it. (Hilary tells me it is called Gortatogort which is the place in West Cork where his mother came from). I did once read that John Spillane went to Africa and made a documentary with African musicians and wrote in his journal about the evils of the slave trade and I am sure that Christy is aware of the fact that the Colston Hall is named after Edward Colston who made his money from the slave trade. There was a big debate a few years ago about changing the name of the hall but it never happened. Then it was Delirium Tremens, Farmer Michael Hayes, Ride On and Viva Le Quinte Brigade. All great songs. I had to go to the toilet and I missed a song by Declan which was a shame and I might have missed one more as well, North And South Of The River was the first song when I got back in my seat followed by the beautiful ballad Black Is The Colour and the very moving Does This Train Stop On Merseyside. Declan played some great guitar during Smoke And Strong Whiskey. 

Christy then sang a request from somebody right near the front. I don't know what the song was called but it mentioned Hull and Halifax in the lyrics.( Hilary just told me it is The Dalesman's Litany, I should have known that because I have heard Christy sing it before. It is written by Dave Burland). Another request followed for Caitlin or is it Cathleen or Kathleen?, anyway it was very moving and called So Do I. The hilarious Honda 50  was followed by the classic Nancy Spain. A song from the Graffiti Tongue album Yellow Triangle was very sombre and powerful. They all left the stage but returned to sing Ordinary Man, another song with a powerful political message. A great show of two hours ended with Mandolin Mountain/ Water And The Well. 

Thank you very much Christy, Declan, Vicki and Jimmy for a great show and I'll see you again at Glastonbury in a few weeks time.

Review: Graham Robins, Parish Papers & Short Stories.

It has been four long years since I discovered the music of Graham Robins when I first heard his album 'The Shipping News' but finally the long wait for a new album was over when a signed copy of his new album 'Parish Papers & Short Stories' came through my letterbox. I eagerly opened the package and I must say I like the sleeve design which depicts Graham browsing in a second hand bookshop. He is obviously a man of my own heart because I spend a lot of my own time scouring bookshops looking for bargains. In the sleeve notes Graham tells us that this album is a collection of old songs that he has tweaked, enhanced, re-recorded or remixed. That is fine by me because they are all fresh and new to my ears.
             The title track Parish Papers is the opening song. The Parish Papers was a collection of short stories by Victorian writer George MacDonald but I don't know if that is where Graham got the idea for the song title from. Anyway is is a great pop tune to open the album with. Lots of sha la la de da's in the chorus. It is very catchy and I especially like the contribution of the horn section of Paul Devonshire and Matt Wych. If I was on Juke Box Jury I would definitely vote it a hit. Starting Over Again is another great track with a driving beat featuring Ronnie Johnson who is a great guitarist and Chris Savage is also excellent on keyboards and lets not forget the backing singers of Lee Devine and Sue Gray. Martine by contrast is very different in mood, sombre and brooding featuring Lou Short on guitar. It is a very dark song and makes me want to reach for the bottle but I really like it and Graham's bluesy soulful voice sounds great. Lonely Heart is one of my favourite songs on the album, sparse and effective featuring Graham's acoustic guitar and Mike Adcock on keyboards.It is a beautiful ballad, quite outstanding and to me Graham's voice has never sounded better than on this track. The words are great as well, very moving.I have posted a video of this song below which I urge you to listen to. Elysium Fields is the next track. The Elysium Fields was a concept of the ancient Greeks of the afterlife. To quote Homer in The Odyssey- ,'Where life is easiest for men, no snow is there, nor heavy storm, nor ever rain,but ever does ocean send up blasts of the shrill-blowing west wind that they may give cooling to men'. so there !. Mr Robins is obviously very well read. I love the imagery in this song and the string arrangements of Claire March, Liz Guest and Marion Hill deserve a mention as well.

 I suppose in the old days of vinyl Walking In The Footsteps Of A Soul Man would be the opening track of side two on the album. Like the first song this is a great slice of up-tempo pop. If you were looking for a hit single I would put this out as a double A side with the first song. The tragedy is though that this sort of music doesn't have hit singles any more. The brass section are great and Sue Smith helps out with  backing vocals. Going Down To Georgia follows. What is it about Georgia that inspires such great songs?. Otis Redding gets a mention here. Richard Symonds keyboards and James Litherland guitar are both excellent on this song. Strong is the right title for the next song because believe me this song is strong. I love it. It has an eerie bluesy mood. The guitar work of James Litherland is outstanding. It reminds me of someone else, maybe Gary Moore and that is quite a comparison to make.The keyboards are great as well. This is one of the best songs on the album. Hold On To The Light is another very moving ballad. A great simple love song which gives full justice to Graham's vocals. Crossing The Rubicon brings this great album to a close. As you know The Rubicon is a river in Italy that was crossed by Julius Ceasar and his army but it means that you have committed yourself to a certain course of action and there is no turning back or as Van Morrison might say " It's too late to stop now". This is another wonderful song in which Judy Garland has a cameo role and Kansas City gets mentioned as well. I'll put a video of this song below so you can judge for yourself. Also I have re-posted my previous review of 'The Shipping News' below because that is another great album that I urge you to listen to.

 In short I must say that I think this album is quite wonderful, There isn't a bad track on it and in this age of Pop Idol and X-Factor this album proves that Britain has got talent and its name is Graham Robins. You can find out more about Graham if you go here-http://www.globalsessions.co.uk/