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Sleeve not available
VARIOUS ARTISTES "Glorious Scotland" Foot Stompin' Records CDFSR1724

The naff sleeve and scant notes are a real shame for this album, as it is full of traditional gems from one of Scotland's finest stables. Anna Massie is the virtuoso guitarist us mere mortals can only dream of aspiring to - and her version of The Trip to Windsor is a perfect showcase for her. Emily Smith's Green Grass Grows Bonny suggests a maturity of voice well beyond her years. Simon Thoumire is another demonstrator of instrumental pyrotechnics, as expected, and Martyn Bennett demonstrates again his expertise in using the latest technology to recreate ethnic sound forms (sickles and threshers this time). Throw in standards by Eilidh Shaw (via Keep It Up (also with Thoumire) and Corrina Hewat, and seriously busy instrumentals from Back of the Moon and.well I think you can get the picture. A barnstorming album from the best of their ilk in Scotland today. Trip to Windsor also gets the Thoumire treatment (Anna Massie and Simon Thoumire - now that would be some musical collaboration! [this is your ideal opportunity to make a direct comparison of styles, if that is your wont]).

In balance, this is a great album to listen to, but there is hardly any supporting evidence: readers of the sleeve (rapidly becoming another traditional craft) will be disappointed unless they spot the deliberate clue - the footstompin' web address which is repeated on almost every spare bit of jacket, and which you have to access to glean the gen on the acts.

Grem Devlin

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This album was reviewed in Issue 57 of The Living Tradition magazine.