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THE GARY FORREST CEILIDH BAND - Both Sides Of The Border

THE GARY FORREST CEILIDH BAND - Both Sides Of The Border
Private label GFCB05

There was a time when the Scottish / English border country was simply known as “the Debatable Land”, because nobody could agree where the line of the border actually ran, and nobody really cared anyway, since they would choose their nationality according to whom they were dealing with. That position is a little bit clearer nowadays and linguistically and musically it’s possible to take a good guess as to which is the side of origin.

Gary Forrest has managed to take the varying cultures of the two sides and fuse them together into a cohesive whole, drawing on a range of traditional tunes as well as more recent compositions by himself and fellow band member Roddy Matthews, as well as other local composers.

The accordion-led arrangements fairly crackle along at a great tempo (don’t let anyone fool you that Borderers play slower in general than those from further north!). The balance of instruments is just right, with the overall sound always crisp and clear. The sets are conveniently labelled under dance titles, so you can use this for a home ceilidh very easily indeed by simply rolling up the carpet and letting rip. Guest guitarist Chris Newman, in addition to providing delightful melody lines throughout, also has his own feature track, The Hawk, halfway through, to give dancers a rest before carrying on.

With clean and clear sound throughout, this is a well-arranged and engineered production which should get even the most reluctant of dancers up onto their feet and having a go.

www.garyforrestmusic.com

Gordon Potter


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This album was reviewed in Issue 107 of The Living Tradition magazine.