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DAVE BURLAND AND THE AWKWARD SQUAD - Okkard

DAVE BURLAND AND THE AWKWARD SQUAD - Okkard
Fat Cat Records FATCD037

June Tabor called him “one of my all-time heroes”. Martin Simpson said he “is a beautiful guitar player and a great accompanist”. That said, Dave Burland emerged back in the late 1960s and is 76 years old. So can this traditional singer with a not-so-secret passion for rock and roll still do the business? The answer is an emphatic “yes”. His relaxed, warm, stylistically varied voice must be the envy of those 40 years younger, and his impeccable diction puts many singers to shame.

Burland’s guitar playing changes effortlessly as the album moves from traditional to contemporary, and the instrumental work by his two conspirators from Shagpile, Dave Fisher (keyboards and guitars) and Bryan Ledgard (percussion) is excellent and appropriate throughout. There is a sense of rhythm, pace and drive which springs from their long association. One always feels they are playing music which means something to them and which they enjoy. Occasionally perhaps the keyboards are a shade dominant over Burland’s guitar, but Fisher’s brilliant playing brings such excitement to the album that other folk may disagree.

It’s almost impossible to pick out highlights. Steve Goodman’s the City Of New Orleans sounds fresh and almost new rather than the tired version one sometimes gets. Kitchener’s Finger had me wondering from which traditional collection it came until I realised Burland wrote it. Willie Nelson’s Crazy and Dylan’s Lay Down Your Weary Tune have an authenticity that sometimes eludes British musicians.

In sum, then, a great album – buy it!

www.daveburland-awkwardsquad.com

Frank Bechhofer


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This album was reviewed in Issue 120 of The Living Tradition magazine.