DAVID FAULKNER & STEVE TURNER - More Tunes About Baggage And Hills
Eelgrinders EELCD07
This is the second duo album from this paring of traditional musicians, who also form one half of the Eelgrinders quartet, a Devon-based collective. Faulkner (border pipes and trumpet) and Turner (accordion) have here self-recorded 11 tracks of, mostly, traditional tunes from manuscripts dating variously from 1625 to 1823, and which have not been recorded elsewhere. The material is varied, including hornpipes, airs and jigs, and these are presented as an intimate collection that emphasises how tight this pair of musicians’ playing is. An early highlight is Playford’s Mount Hills from 1701. The Scottish medley The Auld Goodman/Any Second Now is a captivating pairing of jigs that rocks along nicely and demonstrates the close harmony playing that this duo is brilliant at.
Probably the most thought provoking set is Lancashire Pipes, which describes in the form of a tune cycle, a fox chase, from the initial announcement and moving off through the chase and the kill to a lament for the fox and the final blowing of the horns. Well constructed, and played with gusto. Great stuff.
David Faulkner contributes an atmospheric piece called Where Rivers Meet, while Steve Turner concludes the album with The Coleford March, which actually sounds like it could be of Northumbrian origin, despite being so contemporary. This is an excellent demonstration of the collective talents of this pair – and for those interested, the pdf manuscripts are available from the Eelgrinders website.
www.eelgrinders.co.uk
Grem Devlin
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Many CDs we review are available from The Listening Post. Check to see if this CD is available. The Listening Post is the CD mailorder service of The Living Tradition magazine. This album was reviewed in Issue 121 of The Living Tradition magazine. |