Rod Paterson sings
Burns. Need I say any more? The singers who can interpret the songs of
the Immoral Bard better than this man can be counted on the fingers of
a mitten and his ear for a good song and the ability to deliver it are
faultless.
Rod describes the
songs on this album as ones which have attracted him at various times
for various reasons over the last fifteen years. He hasn't recorded or
sung them before, but laid them aside for a project such as this.
Enter stage left Fairy
Godfather Ian Green and with one wave of his wish-fulfilling label, Rod's
been able to transform these "Songs from the Bottom Drawer", as he calls
them, into a shiny silver disc. And what a good job he's made of it. Aided
and abetted by an all-star backing band of Norman Chalmers on concertinas,
whistles and instamatic; Wendy Stewart on harps and vocals; Mike Katz
on pipes, whistle and bass; Tony McManus on acoustic guitar and Jack Evans
on acoustic guitar, bass, whistles and ukelele (note: this is not a misprint),
the album cooks from start to finish.
But don't let the
reggae-influenced first track of "Mary Morison" give you the idea that
this is Burns-For-The-Sake-Of-It, with the link to the poet being in name
only. There are a couple of songs here done in a version considered now
to be as near to authentic as we're likely to reach without carbon-dating
and a long ladder and you know in your heart that Rod Paterson cares too
much for his work to allow a No Holds Bard attitude to creep in.
You'll find some old
favourites and some surprises. You might expect "Parcel of Rogues", "Green
Grow the Rashes, O" and "A Man's a Man", but there are also some you're
unlikely to hear at your local Rotary Club Burns Supper, such as "Guidwife
Coont the Lawin'" and "Gloomy December", and there's an enjoyable visit
to The Gray Twins - not Ronnie and Reggie - but Wee Willie and Duncan
making their recording debut together.
Rod is in excellent
voice throughout in what is a belated but very worthy and enjoyable addition
to the Burns canon.
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this CD online from The Listening Post The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 19 of The Living Tradition magazine. |