No such luck - I actually enjoyed myself - although I can't speak for anyone stuck at a red light with me since last Thursday.
Disc 172 is...Scottish Drinking and Pipe Songs
Artist: Ewan MacColl and Peggy SeegerYear of Release: 1984, but there is no sign of the date on the disc itself - I had to search for the title on the 'interwebs' just to get this information.
What’s Up With The Cover?: A collection of Scottish ale and spirits - and an ashtray. This cover makes me thirsty.
How I Came To Know It: This is a disc I believe my Mom bought at some garage sale or similar event for next to nothing. She didn't like it, but I fell in love with a few of the tracks, and asked if I could have it - and here it is.
How It Stacks Up: I only have one CD featuring Ewan MacColl or Peggy Seeger, and I only have one CD that anthologizes Scottish Drinking and Pipe Songs - this disc is it on both counts.
Rating: 2 stars
While I was looking up the date of release of this disc I inadvertently learned a bit about its creation, which actually made me enjoy it that much more. As it happens, a fellow by the name of Alan Lomax, travelled all through Scotland and recorded songs that were sung in small town pubs all over the country.
Then, he worked with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (and a few other 'guest stars') to put them all down on disc. If it weren't for labours of love like this, some of these songs might be lost over the years, so commendations to those folks taking the time to keep that from happening.
This album is very raw - the production values vary widely. The opening tune, which is a bagpipe medley is turned up so high that it feels like the pipes are going to burst your eardrums. Of course, that is how the pipes are meant to be heard - so you're welcome, fellow drivers! Glad to share some musical history with you.
Other tracks are recorded so low or poorly, even turning them up doesn't resolve all the issues. This record is not about slick production however - if anything, it is the Platonic ideal of rustic. No shadowy reflections of the rustic on cave walls here - this is sheer, unadulterated folk music, belted out with neither pretense nor apology.
My initial interest in this album was a fascination with one song, "He Widna Wint His Gruel". This fascination has bordered on obsession over the years, and if you ever hear me singing that lyric out loud in a Scottish brogue, this album is the reason why. Also it may mean I have been drinking - but not necessarily.
"He Widna Wint His Gruel" is Scottish dialect for "he wouldn't go without his porridge." It is a song about a guy married to a beautiful young bride, trying to catch his attention for more amorous pursuits, but the man is obsessed with eating his porridge before he does anything else.
At one point she offers him a tray of sweetmeats and wine, but his reply is:
"Gae on gae on with your falderall
For I've nae had ma gruel."
At least I think that's what he says. The album is full of tracks where the combination of the accents and the dialect itself is so difficult, that at times it takes a while just to know if they are singing Gaelic or English. I found this experience exhilarating.
When the record is on, it is really on. In addition to the gruel eating song I noted, there are great Jacobite war songs, songs about people being abducted by fairies and tracks describing all manner of bawdy behaviour. My favourite of the latter being "Never Wed An Old Man" which tells:
"When we went to our bed, he lay as he were dead
Maids when you're young never wed an old man."
Not so good are long rambling tracks where Ewan MacColl interrupts himself to explain the lyrics, or is himself interrupted by old women providing very uninteresting oral history about how they had no liquor, because in their youth they were too poor. Another track "Gentle Lady" was originally sung to soothe cows during milking, which I file under 'tracks that shouldn't qualify as drinking songs unless they end with The Dude mixing a white russian' (Hint: it doesn't).
There are twenty-five songs on this album, and as usual it results in way way too much filler. Of the twenty-five, I'd say about eight are good, eight are passable and the rest are either laughable or awful, and usually both.
As for the singers, Ewan MacColl has a gravelly voice, and Peggy Seeger has that singy-songy voice that is so common to hard cover folk music. Neither is great. Ewan sounds like he's working on his third pint at times, and Peggy's voice occasionally takes on an effect that sounds like she's taken out her dentures.
That said, their voices are perfectly suited to the rustic feel of the album. They aren't polished, and it is the lack of polish that helps give the record its charm.
This album is messy in places, and and times it sounds downright amateur - but it also sounds authentic, and I felt frequently transported back to 1996 when Sheila and I visited a few small Scottish pubs ourselves. The people of these small towns were so welcoming to us; full of good humour and quick to offer a pint and a kind word to a stranger.
In one small town, near Skye, we were staying at a B&B and having dropped off our bags, wanted to head out to the local pub. When we were ready to leave, we couldn't find a lock for the door to our room and worse still, our hostess had disappeared while we were unpacking.
Eventually, we gave up and began walking into town. About a mile later, sitting on the deck of the neighbour's house was our hostess, knocking a few back with a few other locals. She called down and asked if we were heading to the pub - or if we'd like to join them.
"We're heading for the pub" I said, "But we were wondering how we can lock our room for the night."
Everyone on the deck had a good laugh and she replied, "Lad, you don't lock your door here. You're in the Highlands now!"
This album reminds me of that story. If you're looking for some key to critically review it, you'll be flummoxed. Just approach it with an open heart, pour yourself a scotch (and a beer to chase it) - and raise a glass to the Highlands. It isn't any more complicated than that.
Best tracks: Bagpipe Pipe Tunes, Never Wed An Old Man, He Widna Wint His Gruel, My Rovin' Eye, Jack MacGraw, Lament for William Chisholm, Soldier's Song, Aikendrum, The Gairdener Chyld, The Maid Gaed to the Mill.
No comments:
Post a Comment