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LYNDA HARDCASTLE & ALAN ROSE - To Take Another Turn

LYNDA HARDCASTLE & ALAN ROSE - To Take Another Turn
Private Label RCRCD1

There’s a great variety in the material here, an excellent representation of the repertoire of two of the folk scene’s finest stalwarts, recorded here with a determination to keep everything as near to a live performance as possible. This is something with which I sympathise and concur, but it has to be said that some studio effects can enhance without detracting from the veracity of the end product, while declining to use them can leave things very bare, exposed; and that is sometimes the case here.

But that’s my only reservation. The great majority of the songs here are from contemporary sources, albeit with a mainly traditional flavour, but they range from David Bowie and Gilbert O’Sullivan through the Carter family to Robin Morton, Dave Goulder and Bob Pegg (whose Instructions To A Young Larkman is one of the CD’s most memorable tracks). The playlist comes to 15 tracks, but three of these are well conceived tandems, giving a total of 18 songs – pretty good value.

The last three tracks show these two in their natural environment – their home club, the Bacca Pipes in Keighley – and amply demonstrate their ability to hold an audience in the palm of their hands, an ability they’ve both been honing throughout their musical lives.

Lynda will, of course, be familiar to many as one third of the much-lamented Grace Notes, while Alan’s profile goes back to the 70s and Mountain Ash, moving on through a long-time interest in old time music and various other groups to this more recent venture with his partner. A couple of pounds from each sale will go to schools in the Gambia, so there are a couple of reasons to get this CD.

John Waltham


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This album was reviewed in Issue 124 of The Living Tradition magazine.