Storyteller
Part II
By
Walter
Holland
Written by
Andy Rogers
Storyteller Part II is very much a companion album to the
Storyteller Part I album. The album
opens with Ralph McTell’s song “Peppers
and Tomatoes”, a forceful song that tells of a man trying to live
peacefully and keep his family safe in the face of aggression … forcefully sung
and played, which I found chilling.
We move on to Black is the Colour, a traditional Scottish song about a lover who
has failed to return; this was later adapted and sung in the Appalachians. Next
up is Hallelujah which has become Leonard Cohen’s best known song these
last few years. Walter’s version has just him and a piano plus backing vocals
and is very effective.
There is a return to acoustic guitar
for track 4, The Three Ravens, a sad
tale of a slain young knight who is saved from being eaten by the ravens by a
pregnant doe who carries him off and buries him. Sadly the doe dies carrying
out the noble deed.
Our next delight is the classic river
man’s and sailor's song Shenandoah, here
it gets a very nice acoustic treatment with a superb electric guitar solo in
the middle.
Next up is the much loved Scottish
folk song Wild Mountain Thyme, here
going by one of its many alternate titles The
Braes o’ Balquhidder, beautifully sung to the perfect acoustic backing it
was very hard not to join in on this one!
The next piece is Emmanuel, is a simple but
emotive take on the 12th Century advent hymn O come O come Emmanuel. This is followed by Hame Hame Hame, this starts like Pink Floyd’s Shine on you Crazy Diamond then brings in vocals with Moody Blues style strings... Scottish
Traditional Prog-folk-rock maybe, unclassifiable yet truly wonderful and in my
opinion the high point of the album!
Carrying on with this “prog” feel is Follow the Drinking Gourd, this is based
on a folk song that provided directions for escaping slaves. The Big Dipper is
also known as the Drinking Gourd, and its position in the night sky served as a
guide for those seeking freedom.
The last track on the album is The Bewlay Brothers, originally on David Bowie’s album Hunky Dory. Bowie himself has said the lyrics made no sense. Walter
has put together a very good version here, thankfully not going for the very
odd ending on the original Bowie version.
No comments:
Post a Comment