Welcome to a light hearted, non-technical (very) review of the Pipe Band scene here in Scotland. All views are my own and are not the responsibility of Rootsworld. Well, they are really as they're letting me write here!! I hope to be able to keep in touch with results as they happen and any happenings, gossip or daft judging and results.
THE BIG BIRL by P/MAJOR ROBERT MATHIESON
Lismor, Scotland
Just when you think it's safe to buy another piping CD up comes Rab and smacks you between the ears with yet another innovative (massive understatement!) compilation!
Fourteen tracks of sheer enjoyment from start to finish, with a few raised eyebrows just to keep you honest!! Premiering on this CD are the new Small Pipes from Shepherd and these give a pleasing alternative to the GHB. Mind you, I think just about everyone is trying to get in on the act - I know of one guy in Edinburgh who's made a bellows set from aluminium! He reckons "ye cannae brack 'em - Ah'll sell mair this way!" Hmmmm.........
Anyway back to business - the CD starts with a cracker of a Slow Air followed by two reels all composed by Rab. Tracks two & three are jigs and the title track named as a 'Reel Pipe' - yeah right!!
Track four is a beaut of a minuette - Chopin? Who he? Two Polkas follow and then comes a Slow Air & Jig. The air is in the Breton style, one which I thoroughly enjoyed as I have many friends in Brittany and they never cease to amaze me with their ingenuity. Track seven is one I can't stop whistling, the Red Fox, in fact my daughter's threatening to wallop Rab for composing it!! She states it used to be one of her favourites 'til I got hold of it!!
Now comes a track that, if you don't break out in a big grin you must be dead!!, has to be one of the best "fun" tracks of all time - Calypso. Two tunes composed by Rab, The Carnival Reel & the Calypso Piper and you ain't heard nothing like it before! - steel drums a la Caribbean plus inventive backing produces a mini classic. I asked him what he'd been drinking when he let rip with this, I only asked as I don't think I could have managed a pint!!
Track nine comes with five foot-tapping jigs followed by track ten Gaelic Air & March. I thoroughly enjoyed the March - The Staffordshire Highland Gathering - excellent tune.
Okay, now comes the smack in the ears! After listening to Calypso you'd think he'd take it easy but Oh No - not our Rab! I'll not give this one away save to say Desert Storm the tune will never be the same again!!
Track twelve comes back to some sense of normality (!) with an Air & another Reel-Pipe followed by Track thirteen with two more of his own jigs.
The last track is a Slow Air in commemoration of the Massacre at Dunblane. It would have been oh so easy to produce a sickly sweet tune to remember the bairns by but I honestly think that this tune has the right depth of emotion without going over the top. Shotts & Dykehead also played this in their selection at the World Championships this year and it works well as a Band tune also.
Summing up is difficult for me as objectivity should rule, but being a Rab fan it's not easy to reign back the enthusiasm. Is it as good as I've made out? Too right it is. Is it as 'pushy' as stated? Yep! Do I get free copies? Nope, I buy them as do you. Would I recommend buying it? Not if you think piping should be stuck with the Heavy stuff and nothing else!
If, however, like me, you enjoy Piping as music, fun, & enjoyment - you simply cannot afford to pass this one by - it's up there with Simon Fraser 'Live in America' - Field Marshal Montgomery's 'Debut' & 78th Fraser's ' Live in Ireland' - in short I've no doubt this will end up a classic of it's type.
ENLIGHTENMENT featuring P/M DAVIE BARNES
R.T Shepherd & Sons/Scotland - http://dspace.dial.pipex.com/shepherd-bagpipes/
Remember when DYSART & DUNDONALD PIPE BAND were up there challenging Shotts & Dykehead under the great Tom MacAllister? Can you also remember the Pipe Major's name? Right , OK, you read it at the top!! Well Davie Barnes has recorded a magic CD on Tom Shepherd's new Scottish Smallpipes and some sound Davie gets from them. With all the newer CDs coming onto the market it takes something special to get your interest and keep it going and this is undoubtedly one of these.
13 tracks of everything up to and including a beautiful Piobaireachd.
Do I like it? You bet I do! Would I give it as a present to a lover of Pipe music? again you bet I would! This CD can be enjoyed by all as it contains a fine cross section of the Pipe music 'field' and won't blast your grandmother's spectacles off when you play it! I remember seeing Davie take on Dysart & Dundonald three years ago at the Cowal Championships and leading off the selection with a Gaelic Air followed by Slow Air! You just knew the judges wouldn't give them a thing but I and others listening had a ball listening to them, and sure enough they got slated for it! Some things never change and neither does Davie's adventurous spirit. Long may he keep it!
Gossip and news!
Gossip went wrong! The Pipe Major that was to be going to the USA is
definitely not going now. Irelands retention is the US' loss.
Didya notice Shotts & Dykeheads new ties? I want one -- NOT!
For those that think I only rate Shotts, may I take this opportunity to say
that I thought Field Marshal were definiteley better than 5th, that Victoria
Police were better than 3rd and that Simon Fraser were not worth the 2nd. No
disrespect at all intended towards SFU, they're one heck of a Band but on the
day I feel the judges, yet again, got it wrong!
All opinions expressed here are those of the author. Complaints to him, or to The Guest Book if you prefer public debate!
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