Thursday, November 21, 2024

Storyteller Part II By Walter Holland

 


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.

I loved this album: I found it intriguing, memorable and mesmerizing. A great choice of material with superb performances means that the 45 minutes play time just flies by. Even if you’re not a fan of Folk music, I can safely say you will love listening to Storyteller Part II.

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