REVIEW FROM www.livingtradition.co.uk

Ed Miller - Lyrics of Gold
Wellfield Records Wellcd027

Ed Miller, singer and football fan, has lived in Texas for some years now, but he continues to make a fine job of singing the songs of his native Scotland. Here he joins the ranks of the many that have put out a record of Robert Burns songs, and pleased I am to see it, having been a Burns buff since first reading many years ago, but so often sadly disappointed when hearing his work sung. Too many times have I quailed at hearing tenors and sopranos air their beauteous voices in tarted up and tartanised versions throbbing with 'sound' but devoid of feeling.

Not this time! This time we get an album wherein the words of the songs, these Lyrics of Gold, are allowed to shine and tell their stories clearly. Ed Miller's voice is warm and weathered; his phrasing well suited to the earthy, gentle, sorrowful, joyous, songs of humanity's immortal spokesman.

As for the songs, from the opener 'The Rigs o' Barley' to the close with 'Auld Lang Syne' (not to the usual tune) and titles like 'Ae Fond Kiss', the tongue twisting 'Hey Ca Thro', 'My Love is Like A Red, Red Rose', and my favourite 'A Man's A Man' included along the way, they are an irresistible pleasure.

Karine Polwart adds her lovely voice occasionally, and Rich Brotherton, Brian McNeill, E.J.Jones, John Taylor, Marty Muse, Tom Van Schaik, Lawrence Drummond, and Alasdair Fraser deploy a couple of dozen backing instruments between them without ever getting in the way.  Marty Muse, by the way, plays Pedal Steel guitar on two tracks. Perhaps Texas dwelling is rubbing off on Ed after all?

Roy Harris